Seeking feedback on Great Western Divide Traverse route

[tahoerob]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to do a week-long trip, probably leaving next Wednesday after this little cold/wet snap, and have several routes in mind. I'd like to do a few peaks. One of the routes/areas I'm considering is the Great Western Divide Traverse and was hoping to get some feedback. It's probably going to be a solo trip, so I want to stay reasonably conservative with my route.

I'm comfortable with class 3 and easy class 4, but I'm not wild about huge exposure. I've been longing to check out the Great Western Divide area since I did a trip many years ago over Shepherd's Pass. We did Williamson and Tyndall and then looped around to LSA, took a look down Harrison Pass and said "screw that", and looped back and out over Forrester and Kearsarge. A few years ago a friend and I tried to do a North Guard and Brewer loop but got massively rained out on the way up to Sphinx Lakes and had to turn back (mainly because he had time constraints and we couldn't afford to lose a day to the rain).

So maybe third time's a charm...

I live in Tahoe, so I can access the area via Kearsarge or Road's End. I'm leaning towards Kearsarge mainly because I prefer the drive down 395. I've considered going down Bubb's Creek and up to Sphinx Lakes, doing Farquhar, Sphinx Pass, North Guard, Brewer, and South Guard, or saving the Sphinx Lakes area and Farquhar for another day and approaching via Brewer Pass from East Lake. Any thoughts?

It sounds Like Farquhar, North Guard, Brewer and South Guard will all be doable for my skill/risk-tolerance level. Thunder and Table sound a bit spicier and I was hoping to get some feedback on these. After South Guard, the Traverse route drops down to Longley Pass, around to Thunder Pass and then MacLeod Pass. From what I've read, Thunder is a pretty exposed class 4 summit, so I might be skipping that one, but how are Thunder and MacLeod Passes?

Next up, west side of Table Mlountain sounds doable, but dropping down the east side sounds a bit sketchy. From what I've read, it's class 3, but the route is a bit difficult to find, so I'm considering camping in the upper Table Creek drainage and doing Table as a day hike, staying on the west side, and continuing over Talus Pass versus carrying my pack up and over Table. Thoughts?

If I do that, it looks like I'd drop down to the Colby Pass Trail and over Colby Pass. At that point I could either stay on the trail until it meets the Upper Kern Canyon trail...or I could travel through Milestone Bowl and over Milestone Pass and hopefully do Milestone Mountain and/or Midway Mountain before descending the Milestone Creek drainage and connecting with the Kern Canyon Trail. Another option would be Midway Col. That would be shorter and more direct. Of course going up and over Table Mountain is the most direct and loses the least amount of elevation.

I'd appreciate any feedback the community has to offer on this area and the various route options. I want to avoid torturous bushwhacking (I've heard Cunningham Creek below Longley Pass is pretty awful). I'd also appreciate any feedback on good camping spots up in the high country along the traverse route. Thank you!

[maverick]

Hi tahoerob,

Please take advantage of our “search feature” to get a treasure trove of information.

Also, our “Cross Country Passes” section has information, including photos, on sections of your proposed route.
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