Trip Plan Feedback: Kaweah Group

[shtinkypuppie]

Hi friends,

Looking for a sanity check on a Kaweah group exploration trip I've been tinkering with for a long time. The full trip plan can be found at:
https://caltopo.com/m/H9B11

Specifically, I'm wondering about:
- Camping: are the planned campsites practical? I am very comfortable camping out in the open, but I sleep on my side so I need a relatively flat spot to throw my tent. It's hard to tell in some areas if there is actually any flat ground near the lakes I'm aiming for.
- Difficulty: I have quite a bit of x-country experience in the Sierra, but I also have a debilitating fear of heights, so I really want to keep it to Class 2.
- Other route suggestions: I am a lake/basin junkie, so any other basins I should check out, or any way to connect the basins I'm exploring without exceeding class 2, would be appreciated. I have already done Colby Pass, 9 Lake Basin, and the Big Arroyo.
- Picket Creek approach: I am having trouble finding detailed descriptions of the route from the Kern-Kaweah to Picket Creek, so any good information on that route is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Wandering Daisy]

I would stay in the lower Picket Creek or skip it altogether to spend more time/ extra day in Kaweah Basin. The lower lakes have fish. The lower large lake in Kaweah Basin is worth staying at instead. You have to go downstream a bit from your route line. There are lumpy but flat grassy spots in upper Keweah Basin but you have to look for them. Given the effort to get up to Kaweah Basin I would not try to also do Picket Creek.

I have done the Kern-Keweah loop. I camped at the round lake west-southwest of the one you propose to camp at. Here are photos of the three lakes on that bench. The first lake has the best camping.

the first lake, NE of your camp 3

Your Camp 3

lake below Pants Pass

[shtinkypuppie]

I would stay in the lower Picket Creek or skip it altogether to spend more time/ extra day in Kaweah Basin. The lower lakes have fish. The lower large lake in Kaweah Basin is worth staying at instead. You have to go downstream a bit from your route line. There are lumpy but flat grassy spots in upper Keweah Basin but you have to look for them. Given the effort to get up to Kaweah Basin I would not try to also do Picket Creek.

I have done the Kern-Keweah loop. I camped at the round lake west-southwest of the one you propose to camp at. Here are photos of the three lakes on that bench. The first lake has the best camping.

Thanks so much. Were you unimpressed with Picket Creek? It IS very tempting to add an extra day in Kaweah basin, but I could actually do both if I plan it right.

[Wandering Daisy]

I have never been to the uppermost part of Picket Creek. The mid-section is too stark for my tastes. The lower lakes are pretty, but fishing is their best attribute. Kaweah Basin has more grasses in the upper basin and more impressive peaks as a backdrop than Picket Guard.

I am sure you already know this; DO NOT go over Picket Guard Pass. It is really exposed almost class 3.

I know you like lake basins, but the Kern-Kaweah is a beautiful river. Personally, I would camp down on the river and day-hike to the lakes. However, early season the mosquitoes are horrible.

Once I went into Kaweah Basin very late season when vegetation was too dry. I went back mid-summer which I thought was a better time- grasses are green and there are patches of snow which add to the appeal. All depends on your objectives. Photography was better earlier season. There always seems to be smoke in the air late season. Every time I have been to the Kaweah basin I wished I had more days. If you camp in the upper basin, you are very exposed to weather - I would not camp up there unless the weather is stable. The lower lakes have trees.

[michaelzim]

Daisy... P.S. Did you mean Picket Creek Pass is the one to avoid with Class 3 terrors???

Ta. M

[Wandering Daisy]

No, it is not Picket Creek Pass.

The pass I am talking about is not on the HST map. It is the low point of the SW arm of Picket Guard Peak. It connects the unnamed lake below to Picket Creek. I did it from above the lake, up south-southwest, cliffy at the top, easy drop into Picket Creek. The cliffs are easy class 3 but VERY exposed. It looks a lot harder than it is.

[shtinkypuppie]

I have never been to the uppermost part of Picket Creek. The mid-section is too stark for my tastes. The lower lakes are pretty, but fishing is their best attribute. Kaweah Basin has more grasses in the upper basin and more impressive peaks as a backdrop than Picket Guard.

I am sure you already know this; DO NOT go over Picket Guard Pass. It is really exposed almost class 3.

I know you like lake basins, but the Kern-Kaweah is a beautiful river. Personally, I would camp down on the river and day-hike to the lakes. However, early season the mosquitoes are horrible.

Once I went into Kaweah Basin very late season when vegetation was too dry. I went back mid-summer which I thought was a better time- grasses are green and there are patches of snow which add to the appeal. All depends on your objectives. Photography was better earlier season. There always seems to be smoke in the air late season. Every time I have been to the Kaweah basin I wished I had more days. If you camp in the upper basin, you are very exposed to weather - I would not camp up there unless the weather is stable. The lower lakes have trees.

I love stark! I might split the difference and add a day to the trip, still exploring Picket but also taking a full day in Kaweah. Will also definitely visit the lake you photographed right below Pants. Thanks for the info!

[cgundersen]

Hi Shtinky,
From your proposed camp3, you really do not need to backtrack. Both those ridges to the south and southeast are perfectly "doable", but once you get into that basin to the south (Picket Guard basin?), there is absolutely no flat ground till you get down to the lakelet where you have camp4. It's incorrigibly rocky. OK hiking, just sucks for camping. From the camp 4 area into Kaweah basin is a snooze and there are gobs of ponds scattered all the way up Kaweah basin, so if you are not fishing, several of them offer adequate spots to park. I've seen some desultory comments about Kaweah basin, but I love the place, so it's worth finding out how it strikes you (some of the earliest posts I saw on HST were from Mav and Trailblazer/Greg Cope and their trips to Kaweah basin and they were very enthusiastic! Cameron

[CAMERONM]

From my trip in 2017, the Kaweah Basin and the last Picket Guard Lake were the highlights. I found the whole northern section around your camp 3 to be boring and stark. I did not find Picket Guard Pass to be scary or exposed, but it is certainly class 3. That lower lake in the Kaweah Basin you miss is a nice one. I would save a day or two and not bother with the north section. I was sorry that I did not climb Picket Guard Peak, but I was surgically focussed on a shorter trip which I cut back by two days when I learned of an impending storm. I remember Daisy posting about getting caught in that storm the next day. My trip:
https://www.trailnamebackstroke.com/kaweah-basin

[maverick]

When going over Pants Pass to the lake below it and then heading south towards the glacier, I did find a route that put me to your proposed Camp 4, but it takes some route finding and some climbing, so I would not advise.
To me the highlight of the Kern-Kaweah River is the section where you are planning to start up to Camp 3, I would skip that whole section, maybe do as a day hike up it, if you really want to see it.
I would recommend instead, that you go up to the lower Kaweah Lake (Island Lake) from the Rock Slide Lake area by following the creek up, not to closely, and base camp.
The next day hike over and into the Pickett Creek drainage and down to lower Pickett Creek Lake.
The following day climb over the shoulder of Red Spur, directly south of your basecamp, into Red Spur Lakes Basin, beautiful lakes and scenery that are very rarely visited.
The following day make a decision to either go up higher into KB to set up camp or continue doing day hikes into different sections of upper KB for the rest of the time you have left.
If, this wet pattern continues and we end up having very high snow percentages, then you may not be able to do this trip till mid August or later, unless you are comfortable with some snow travel, but even if you are, it would slow you down and significantly cut back on the time you will have to visit some of these locations.