2022-08-26 to 09-03: Onion Valley > Dragon Pass > White Fork Pass > White Fork Saddle > Bench Lake > Pinchot Pass > Woods Lake > Baxter Peak (SoSHR alt route reversed) > Baxter Pass
WATER
Snow tiny swimming pool sized patches in occasional north facing slopes.
Most lakes were 1-3 feet low, but outlets of all major lakes were flowing and finding non-stagnant water wasn't an issue.
Slopes were dried out enough to be solid but terrain was still holding a good amount of groundwater from the monsoon. A best case scenario overall!
TRAILS & PASSES
Golden Trout Lakes Trail had a bit of erosion damage - it's normally a rough trail though.
Dragon Pass felt looser on the drop of the west side before it was sliding but self-braking. More care had to be taken as some of the smaller talus would start collapsing but it never felt unsafe and once down to a reasonable slope angle things felt normal. Took the wide approach to dropping to the pond below Dragon Lake vs the more aggro direct chutes.
We chatted with an old timer that HIGHLY discouraged a direct descent from Gould Pass, the normal boot-ski chutes below the pass had the soil "cemented" vs loose which was very treacherous. For context, he thought the 2/3 ridge walk from Kearsarge Pass to Dragon Peak was fun and didn't remember anything out of the ordinary for the eastern approach to Dragon Pass. Keeping wide would be advised.
Dragon Lake trail had some erosion in the middle at one point, but still very easily followable until down to the slabs above the PCJMT. PCJMT & Rae Lakes loop recieve ~2/3 of SEKI's trail maintenance funding so they were in good shape heh.
XC up to Window Lake was very straightforward, as was the mostly class 1 approach to White Fork Pass. The drop was pretty standard 2 - wiggle around from stable talus & grassy ramps & solid rock as terrain dictates.
White Fork lakes were surprisingly pretty, and the white fork, was uh, white. More so than other drainages in the area, reminded me of parts of Horse Creek out of Bridgeport. Easy traverse from the lakes to below White Fork Saddle.
Rarely visited area, so I'll toss in GPS coordinates for groomed camps (we only saw two) to minimize future impact. It usually annoys me when people point out popular camps in commonly visited basins, but this is different IMO:
A nice camp on the left (north) peninsula of the far lake (east) if dropping @ 36.91276, -118.43784
A camp above the white fork creek above the creek @ 36.91933, -118.43134. Clear water coming down from the NE above the white fork.
Don't make more if you come there!
I think we we stayed a bit north/high of the normal route, but it worked great - mostly low angle small grey talus which more or less locked itself into place, then an easy boot ski down the far side with minimal talus due to drop location before solid ground to the lakes below.
Bench Lake Trail was in good shape, as was the PCJMT up and over Pinchot Pass. We were at the "backup" peninsula and two backpackers came up to an existing party on the "prime" one an hour before sunset and wanted to camp right next to them. They were told off and went elsewhere after being told "there's plenty of sites that aren't 40ft from us" heh. That's what happens when photo locations become a "thing" I guess. Ugh.
We were originally planning to go over Coliseum Col (and Coliseum peak) but poor sleep had us taking the Sawmill Pass trail in, which was in great shape. It'd get weak in wet/meadowy areas but overall was great to follow.
Sawmill TH seems like it's 4x4 bypass, so in order to make a non-repetitive trip I decided to try the SoSHR alternate route of heading up to Baxter Peak from Woods dropping back down to Upper Baxter Lake. BAD IDEA. Cross Country Experience Required should be mountaineering experience and disregard for quality of life.
It was fine up until nearing the bottom chute (between the "g" of stocking lake and the O in CO on USGS quad), steps started talus moving ~3-4 feet above me which is always fun. Careful footing prevailed and I was happy to have a solid class 3 wall on climbers left of the chute. Once up the ridge itself was very solid, we kept close and off the west for the most part.
Getting from the ridge to the peak. Ugh. Nothing looked like safe Class 2, and the moderate 3 all looked to lead to large overhanging unstable talus. Wiggled up, sometimes kicking out talus until a slope was fit to step on, happy whenever on solid Class 3, and dislodged some fairly large talus when upclimbing chossy garbage.
Made it to the peak with some minor grazes, enjoyed the amazing view due to dramatic lighting, and felt justified at the amount of SPS baggers complaining about choss & it not being a fun/good climb. Slowly squiggled our way down to grasshopper pass where the talus stabilized, then slowly made our way down to the Pea Soup Lake and an easy down to Baxter where we encountered a tired backpacker 30min after sunset who refused to camp next to us and found his own spot. Still some people with style out there!
Baxter Pass Trail from the west was fine, it comes back firm again around the upper Baxter Lake and was pretty much going up McGee Pass with a few steep sandy spots you'd want to slow down a bit if coming down. No water from Baxter Lake to where the trail cuts near north oak creek ~11k, but not a bad carry for one of the four nasties.
Coming down was way better than I thought it'd be - some large talus on the trail, some minor spills on it, but always easily followable. Maybe 10 downed trees, some small, some not, but none of them were difficult to bypass or step over. A lot of bushes to brush past (having thicker long pants really helped!). One portion was genuinely overgrown, but could be pushed through easily. The upper crossing was a bit odd - the trail around that area would have been nicer before the fire, but the loss of shade was sporadic. Lots of small spots to camp between 9k and 11.2k. A hard washout had a lower bypass, areas that were less distinct were fairly well cairned (I added some)
I'd recommend dropping while there's heavy cloud cover - it wasn't much warmer than some of the sunny mornings at 11k since this monsoon system came in. Heard a rattlesnake just below the wilderness sign and watched it go under a rock well off trail. Slowed down the final half mile a bit.
