R04/R01 TR: Florence, Goddard Canyon, Reinstein Pass, Upper Goddard Creek, Mt Goddard Summit 9/3-9/12 2022

[kuhio]

Flew in from Michigan to SFO and met my buddy at his house in San Ramon. Packed up that night, drove up to Prather the next day and picked up the permit out of Florence. Had a hotel booked in Madera but tried to see if we could stay at the new casino near closer to Prather. Place had a weird vibe and also we could not get out of our Madera booking so settled for some pizza in Madera hit the road the next morning at 4am to get the first ferry after the long ride up KP road. Made it.



This would be a 9 day trip with some plans of base camping in Upper Goddard Creek area. We like to have some luxuries when it comes to food and comfort so we were not light. Did not weigh my pack but I am sure I was at least 45lbs after fuel and water. Goal was to be camping at Martha lake on night 2, staged for Reinstein pass morning of day 3. First break was at MTR. My buddy had lost some weight since our last trip 3 years prior and his waist belt could not quite get tight enough giving him a shoulder strain that would bug him the rest of the trip. That said, we are in our mid forties so wouldn't be right if nothing hurt.



Coming from low altitude that day, did not want to push too hard. As mentioned we were unseasoned and heavy. We planned to camp at the junction of the JMT and the Goddard Canyon trail before the JMT switchbacks to Evolution. Trail was very well graded with the expected crowds along the JMT. Soaked the feet in the creek and enjoyed a fire that night. Woke up ready to get off the JMT highway.

Waterfall in Goddard Canyon:



More Goddard Canyon



Took a break at the confluence of North Goddard Creek and ate some lunch. There was a tent setup on the other side of the creek but seemed nobody was home. The heavy weight taking a bit of a toll on both of our feet. I was wearing light trail runners even with the high pack weight. This would be a bit more of a problem off trail with my ankle stability later in the trip but these shoes had never given me blisters. The fast miles with the heavy weight may have made a difference this time. Tried to get some protection on the hot spots right away after soaking feet in the creek and enjoying some tortilla with PB&J.

The only person we ran into was shortly after lunch after leaving the trail heading up to Martha. Guy said he was doing a big dayhike loop from Davis Lakes, summiting Mt Goddard and then heading back to Davis up North Goddard Creek. He looked a bit tired and ready to get back to his base camp. We hoped to summit Goddard ourselves later in the trip.

View back down Goddard Canyon:



Arriving at Martha Lake:





First order of business was to try a little fishing. Never fished on any previous Sierra trips but decided to buy some lightweight gear and give it a try this time.



About 4 casts with a brook trout colored Kastmaster later....



My first fish in the Sierra. I guess its a Golden trout? (not a Sierra fish expert) We had plenty of food and didn't really bring the right cook setup anyway so happy to release this guy.



Got camp setup and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset at surreal Martha.










More later...

[Gogd]

Goddard Canyon is a great hike with great side trip opportunities. Nice how much less traffic is on the trial, after parting ways with the JMT. It always made me feel I am leaving the world behind.

No reporting of your high pass and Mt. Goddard activities? I gather your TR has a sequel?
Ed

[kuhio]

Yep, more to come. Bit late here on east coast time.

[cgundersen]

Like Ed, I'm looking forward to more on this report. Your photos have amazing depth, so it will be interesting to see some of the long range shots from higher elevations! Cameron

[Harlen]

Congratulations on what looks like a great trip. I too am keen to hear the rest of your story. Nice first Fish!!

[kuhio]

Had a little trouble getting to sleep that night. Partly the elevation and also likely some anxiety/anticipation of next day's agenda which was to go over Reinstein pass and make our way to lake 9797 where the idea was to base camp for up to 4 nights while we explored the area. Neither my buddy nor I have much off trail experience. In fact, this is only our 4th backpacking trip only having to chance to get away once every couple of years. Our previous trip 3 years prior we did North Lake to South lake via Lamarck Col with a side day hike up into the basin under Mt McGee from Evolution Valley. That is basically the extent of our off trail experience and even with that the McGee side trip was without packs. We had planned to do more off trail that trip but my friend was having knee issues that trip and even struggling with any downhills on trial so we scrapped most of the more adventurous plans.

After the 2 day hike to Martha, my buddy had no knee issues so the next morning we were up early thinking we would give ourselves plenty of time while expecting however that it would be a shorter day hitting the (no) trail at about 8am with expectations of getting into lake 9797 perhaps even as early as 1 or 2pm with hopes of having some time to relax. This would prove to be a little overly optimistic.

We decided to head around the north side of Martha even though the distance looked a bit longer to avoid the talus spilling into the lake on the South side. Had previously read that others had done the same without regret. Its an easy walk around the north side until the talus starts as you approach the lower slopes of the pass.



After picking our way through some easy talus, we started up towards the pass. The bottom has more boulders but nothing tricky and as you ascend these give way to slabs which offer many routes up toward the pass.



Back towards Martha halfway up the pass.



Heading up the slabs






Upper Goddard Creek and our destination, lake 9797, after cresting the pass.



The Martha side of the pass proved really quite easy and straight forward and we were making good time. This would start to change after cresting as the other side is not only a greater distance to get down but also more elevation and is an exercise in route finding. Given our lack of experience at that point, the route finding slowed us down more than it would have had we had more experience I am sure. This would prove out when we went back up the east side a few days later. While I don't think there is a simple best path down this pass, one piece of advice I would give is to head a little south under the peak of Mt Reinstein near the top rather than try to go straight down the cliffy slabs that are right in front of you when you crest the pass, which is what we did, and ended up requiring a few class 3 moves. My buddy tended to like to charge up or down whatever was in front of him while I tended to favor spending more time looking for easy routes. He won the day as we started down the pass lol.

Heading down the cliffy slab ramps (would avoid most of this if doing it again)





Somewhere on the way down the ramps.



You can spot my buddy doing his thing in the middle of this photo a little lower after getting off the ramps at the top.



There is probably an easier way than this



Lake 10232 coming into view finally getting down.





Not gonna lie, it took us quite a while to get down this side of the pass due to our lack of route finding experience and heavy packs. After finally reaching lake 10232 we decided to head down the west side of Upper Goddard Creek staying close to the creek to head down to lake 9797. This was not the best choice either as we later found out it was better to head down the east side and up the slope a bit to avoid being in the trees so much and negotiating in and out of creek drainages and deadfall. While not arriving at 9797 as early as I would have liked, we did arrive with plenty of time to setup up camp and eat. There is a nice flat open area on the north side of the lake on the east side of the creek. We were beat, but happy to be at our planned destination.

Lake 9797

[Wandering Daisy]

I too am in the "route finding" camp rather than the "direct straight line" camp. I have gone from Martha Lake to Lake 9797 over Reinstein Pass via a longer route, more of a switch-back route. I do not recall doing much if any 3rd class. There are lots of slots on that slope that do not show up on the topo map. It is tricky. I am looking forward to your next installment! Your photos are excellent. Thanks for posting.

[cgundersen]

Hi Kuhio,
I'm curious why you targeted lake 9797 rather than staying at 10232? That photo of the various water sluices trickling down the hillside is an iconic feature of the upper lake and I think has inspired plenty of other HST folk besides me. But ignoring that matter, you guys clearly had fabulous weather and the rain from earlier in the Summer definitely helped with creek flows and lake levels. And as I've learned over the last decade, who cares how long it takes you to get up/down a pass like Reinstein: with views like that, it hardly matters, no? Cameron

[michaelzim]

Keep the reports coming!...Such an iconic trip region and great photos too - bringing back fond memories.
I share Cameron's query about the choice of 9797 for a base camp rather than 10232 though think I can see why if I zoom out on the map. Will be interesting to see where you go on your 4 days of foraging from there. (Hopefully lots of pics and some detail photos of 9797 requested too please).
Looking forward to the next installment.

Best ~ Michaelzim

[kuhio]

Hi Kuhio,
I'm curious why you targeted lake 9797 rather than staying at 10232? That photo of the various water sluices trickling down the hillside is an iconic feature of the upper lake and I think has inspired plenty of other HST folk besides me. But ignoring that matter, you guys clearly had fabulous weather and the rain from earlier in the Summer definitely helped with creek flows and lake levels. And as I've learned over the last decade, who cares how long it takes you to get up/down a pass like Reinstein: with views like that, it hardly matters, no? Cameron

Hi Cameron,

The decision to stay at 9797 instead of 10232 is sort of a funny story. When doing some research on the area prior to the trip I came across Jeanne Panek's blog post on her Enchanted Gorge adventure ( https://www.jeannepanek.com/mountains-a ... nted-gorge) and noticed the following quote.

I finally got to the headwaters of Goddard Creek, possibly the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, at 9,797’. It has no name, but is surrounded by mountains, granite to the west, metavolcanics to the east. It lay on the very border between the two.

In retrospect, this comment was likely more to do with the elation that she had made it to the lake after her experience in the Enchanted Gorge, but this comment stuck with me. Couple this with the fact that if we are going to base camp for 4 nights by buddy really like to be able to have a fire so being below 10K feet left that possibility open.

I had also seen all of the glowing commentary on 10232 in my research but figured we would have a whole day to walk back up and spend a day there it was ok not to camp there.

We were blessed with great weather, this would start to change a bit later in the trip but we could not have asked for a better day to go over Reinstein.