R01 TR: Kings canyon/Sequoia, August 2021

[goldberry]

This forum was very useful for planning our trip and people gave great feedback when I posted the route, so I thought I’d pay it back by giving a trip report . We had an awesome time - this was my first time in the area, and it was quite the introduction.

Get ready for a bit of a novel! Also, having some issues with uploading pictures, so photos are a bit grainy here and I'm splitting this into two parts.

Briefly, who we are: moderately experienced backpackers, with some but not much off trail experience (him more than me). Late 20s/early 30s, overall reasonably fit but not incredibly so. We’d planned to up our workouts leading up to the trip, but work was pretty crazy, so we ended up spending the month leading up to the trip sitting at our desks. Also, I have an old ankle injury that began been bothering me a few weeks before the trip began, which will come up again below .


Day 1: Roads end -> Granite Lake
This was a tough climb, given that we weren’t acclimated and weren’t in good shape. That being said, I’m inclined to agree with what Wandering Daisy said when we were planning our trip - that this is an incredibly well graded trail, and that overall it’s not nearly as bad as it’s made out to be. The fact that we could get to granite lake without preparation or acclimation (and with a week of food on our backs) testifies to that.

We miscalculated on water - higher up the climb, all marked streams were dry, and the basin was dry until we were nearly at the lake. The distance from the lip to the lake itself was the hardest of the day - very very hot, high enough to affect us, and I was pretty exhausted.

Granite lake was gorgeous though, and well worth the long day. We had the place to ourselves (well, it was us and a troop of marmots). I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many marmots at once - at any time, one could look around and count at least five or six, sitting out on various rocks.

Day 2: Granite Lake -> East Fork Dougherty

Granite Lake was so beautiful, and the previous day had been a bit tough, so we hung around granite lake for a slow start, and then had a short day.

The climb to granite pass was short and fast, but the rest of the handful of miles dragged on. It was very hot, and I was feeling the altitude. We decided to start hiking way earlier going forward. After this day, we generally started walking somewhere between 6 and 6:30.

Made camp around 2pm on a granite slab above the creek - good practice for later, as our new tent is only semi freestanding, so it takes a bit of work to set it up on rock. Lazed about reading and enjoying the shade. We saw one person all day.

Nothing wrong with this day, but I think the acclimation (both to the elevation and the exercise) was hitting us. I’m glad we took it easy, but overall: probably the least exciting day.

A question for experts: what’s up with all the fences around places like granite basin? To keep stock in/out?

Day 3: East Fork Dougherty -> along Middle Fork Kings (~2 miles below the JMT intersection)

This was a magical day.

The early morning views from the top of the descent down to Simpson’s Meadow were just absolutely spectacular. This is the first moment where I really felt like we were in a special place.

Descent took a couple hours, but was pleasant and shaded, and the sun hadn’t come out in full force yet. Simpson’s meadow was pretty, if a little bit buggy, and we began the ascent up the valley.

The first section was nice, but it was the later half of climbing along the river that was just magical. The cliffs, the water, the greenery, the blue skies - this was just such a great day. We had lunch at some point with our feet in the water, and continued.

There was a large section of this trail that was alternately in the sun (very hot) and in the shade (protected from the wind, so there were a lot of flies). No mosquitoes though, and the views were so spectacular that it didn’t bother us much.

I’d read that this whole trail was poorly maintained and easy to lose, but that wasn’t our experience - sure, it was a bit overgrown in a few places, but it was definitely well marked and very easy to follow. Maybe it’s been cleaned up recently?

At some point we started to get pretty tired, and decided to make camp a bit below the JMT (a mile or two, I think?). We found a lovely spot between the trail and the river, where the trail is far enough from the river that there was plenty of room for legal camping between the two. I’d been a bit worried about flat spots for camping, given how steep sections of the valley were, but our spot was great and not terribly hard to find.

We ate, washed our feet in the water, and passed out around sunset. Unfortunately, this night one of our poles got left a few feet away from our tent, instead of where we usually store them tucked against the tent in the vestibule, and someone chewed through the strap and ate a big chunk out of the handle. Not our best moment.

Day 4: Middle Fork Kings -> Palisade Lakes


Today we joined the JMT! And it was pretty gorgeous all around.

The last mile up to the JMT was the least well maintained of the trail, and we had to push through some good sized clumps of bushes. Trail was clearly marked. We did see an awful lot of bear poop, and as my hiking partner kept pointing out - it was steep enough that bears would need to use the trail too. The trail was thorny enough that this wouldn’t have been fun in shorts.

The JMT was a bit of a shock after a few days of near complete solitude. We’d very quickly gotten used to singing as we walked and not worrying about people being around - it was strange to constantly be passing and passed by various groups of people.

The walk along the JMT started as a very gently sloped, pleasant climb, but it grew steeper and steeper, with an awful lot of switchbacks leading up to Palisade Lakes. Like the day before, this would’ve been pretty unpleasant with the heat if the views weren’t so stunning. We ate lunch only a mile or so from Palisade Lakes, but by the time we made it to the lakes the sky was starting to look ominous ( and the lakes were just so darn pretty) that we decided to not go over the pass. As we approached the lakes some guy came to warn us that there was almost certainly no camping between where he was and the pass. This made no sense, but he was very confidant and very worried about us. One day I’ll figure out what it is that makes people everywhere assume I have no idea what I’m doing.

Found a lovely but *very* established spot a bit off the trail, and wandered around for a few hours - we went down to the lakes and wandered between them, up the other side, etc. I was surprised by the quantity of horse poop down at lake level.

Day 5: Palisade Lakes -> Lakes south of Pinchot Pass

This was a long (but fantastic) day. Up early and resisting the urge to make too much noise as we passed one tent after another. Why are the established campsites on the JMT so close to the trail?

The first pass of the day (Mather) was a lovely, straightforward walk up, and we had gotten an early enough start that we didn’t see anyone the whole way. As much as I like my sleep, the light in the mountains near dawn is just so very special.

We sat at the top for a while before descending. To overuse a word - this was beautiful! Gorgeous little lakes scattered the landscape.

Descended, enjoying the pleasant walk and landscape, eventually into the trees. Midday walking was much more pleasant with the shade, and we kept a good pace up.

We passed a caravan of [mules? Horses?] heading north, all of them with big metal boxes on their backs and then additional items strapped on top. What do these guys carry? My guess was resupplying a ranger station, maybe?

We had a long lunch at Lake Marjorie before deciding to head up and over Pinchot Pass. The sky had looked pretty clear over the course of the day, but clouds started rolling in from behind us as we climbed the pass. I don’t like cutting things close, but the blue sky ahead of us looked safer than the increasingly dark clouds (and no good cover) behind, so we pushed up and over. The other side was sunny and lovely, and a gorgeous descent. I kept stopping to take pictures, and my partner kept reminding me that we’d like to make camp *before* we got rained on.

Passed a group of heavily antlered deer. I’ve never seen a group of so many male deer hanging out like this - pretty cool. They seemed very unperturbed by us.

We dropped off below the path not terribly far below the pass on the south side, and made camp a bit above the little lakes there. Lovely campsite, and we got the tent up just before it started to rain.

Day 6: Below Pinchot Pass -> Rae Lakes

Yet another great day! I didn’t love the crowds on the JMT, but there were some pretty unbelievable views on this stretch.

We started with a long walk down (plus some backtracking when I realized I’d left my glasses on a rock where we’d made camp). Everyone was pretty shocked that we’d come over the pass the previous afternoon - apparently they’d had some serious hail lower down in the valley.

I did not like the bridge at woods creek - I do not like bridges that move under my feet. My hiking partner found this pretty amusing, given that I have no problems with height otherwise.

Rae Lakes are quite a sight. Not the first or last stunning lake we saw, but I see why they’re such a draw. Saw several very unafraid deer, and we found a lovely camp spot above the trail between upper and lower Rae lakes. Nice views from the tent, and crazy views down Lower Rae Lake from where we ate dinner.

Day 7: Rae Lakes -> Independence, CA

This was a shorter day, as we wanted to be down and out with plenty of time. The hike up the pass from the lake was (as everything had been) really gorgeous. A group of hikers were sitting and drinking at the top - I think they had come up to see the sunrise. They must have started very, very early, as they were all clearly very uncomfortable making progress on the rocks (we watched them descend for a while).

Down and then back up Kearsage pass with no issue, and we only saw a few people while heading up the pass. This was a pretty easy walk up - maybe the most gently graded pass yet, and we made much better time than we’d expected. Views were incredible on the way up - in no way did it feel like we were making a detour and missing out, this was just another cool pass! Passed a lovely couple who was worried about us getting into Independence, and offered to cut their hike short to drive us. We had plans for a ride already, though.

The way down from Kearsage was less fun - a bit smoky, and there were an awful lot of people. A couple came up to us when we were filtering water to ask what we were doing, and they were shocked at the idea that we’d been out away from civilization for a week (and even more shocked that we’d just drink water from *the ground*). The walk down was long and hot, but we were pretty excited about showers.

We caught our ride down to independence, resupplied, showered, and spent the night there. Still not sure if this is allowed in our permit, but the ranger who supplied it had no concerns, and it was well needed. Clean clothes, clean hair, and a good meal - we felt like new.

[goldberry]

Part 2!

Day 8: Independence, CA -> Junction Meadow

This was a slow day - slow start getting back to the trailhead, and then by the time we got there it was quite hot already. The climb up to Kearsage pass with a week of food took some time, and the way down wasn’t as beautiful as it had been the day before - some smoke had rolled in. On top of that, my partner was feeling a bit off, so he took quite a few longer rests.

No problem though - those days happen! And despite that there were absolutely stunning moments throughout. Kearsage pass was truly spectacular despite the smoke, and the walk to junction meadow was some of the most pleasant walking we’d had.

Day 9: Junction Meadow -> Lake at 3496 m, east of Longley pass

Bonkers day. First: the climb to East Lake, which took longer than expected. East Lake was unbelievably gorgeous, though, so no complaints there. Sat for a while and snacked, watching the fish leap out of the water. Does anyone here know why they’re doing this? To catch bugs? But - so beautiful.

Headed farther up to Lake Reflection - easy enough to get there even though the trail was a bit faint in a few places. We could tell why it was called Lake Reflection - the lake looked like a mirror. Lovely, and here is where we properly left the trail!

We started by circling Lake Reflection. I’d heard that this could be tricky, but we had an easy enough time with route finding staying very low - nearly at water level. It was basically a straight walk around. Feeling great about ourselves, we started up towards Longley pass, with the idea of going up and over that day.

This climb was… tough. There’s presumably a good route, but we found ourselves pushed back and forth between very large talus (difficult to climb), medium talus (okay), and thick bush (not great). Not ideal, and it was slow going. We eventually made our way up to the lake at 3496 m, and decided to make camp there rather than try to go any farther, as it was getting late, the sky looked a bit iffy, and we were exhausted. Views back down to lake reflection were not half bad, though .

Day 10: Lake 3496 -> tiny lakes at head of Table Creek

This morning I learned a lesson that I have learned before, and will relearn again: if you camp high above the tree line, it is very cold at 5 am.

This was a very long but crazy gorgeous day.

The climb up to Longley pass was relatively straightforward. We followed Secor’s guidance about a ramp up to the tarn just below the pass, and sat at the tarn finishing breakfast and eyeing out a route to the top. All along here, the views behind us in the early morning sun were just spectacular.

The final climb to the top of Longley pass took some time, but wasn’t technical - just slow because the ground was quite steep and pretty loose - a lot of fine gravel. The top was really something though.

Down the other side, feeling great!

Here I think we made a routing mistake - instead of going all the way down to Cunningham creek, we stayed south of it. We basically went straight from the Longley pass to the two small lakes south of Cunningham creek (this was fine but fairly steep in a few places), and then contoured around from there. I think we would have had an easier time if we had gone lower, but oh well.

The climb along the three small lakes up to thunder ridge pass was slow, talus-y, and, again, slow. I think we made poor routing decisions here too. It had gotten pretty hot, so at some point I started regularly soaking my hat just to help me cool down.

The lakes were of course quite beautiful, but this was just awfully slow going.

The last section - from the uppermost of the lakes to thunder ridge pass - was probably the hardest terrain of the whole trip. Big, tricky talus. Broadly - we went nearly due east from the lake’s eastmost point, along a wall of steep rock, and at nearly the top of this found a place where we could turn south. From there, we followed a more or less direct line to the top. I had fun here, despite how slow moving it was - I’m slow on this terrain, but I enjoy the challenge. My hiking partner, on the other hand, is faster than me but didn’t enjoy this section much at all - he found it to be too much of an anxiety inducing slog.

On the way down, we were wiped, and my partner wasn’t feeling great about the past few hours, so the sight of the small lakes at the top of table creek was an incredible relief. Beautiful enough to make him feel pretty amazing about that climb we had just done . These didn’t show up as well in pictures as I would hope, but they were super cool in real life - bright turquoise colored!

Made camp, and passed out.

Day 11: Head of table creek -> N tip of whaleback

We had camped high again, because those turquoise lakes were just so pretty. This morning (both I think for elevation reasons and just weather changes) was COLD. We were moving by 6, and as we hiked I watched the sun rise, but it took several hours for it to actually reach us in the valley.

This was a lovely day. The walk down table creek was relaxed and comfortable (if a bit chilly), and, of course, beautiful, and Talus pass was very straightforward. We did hear what sounded like a pack of dogs below us as we were coming up the pass (although we couldn’t see them).

The walk down the next valley was lovely and straightforward. We then cut across towards Colby Lake, which was, like so many things on this trip, just strikingly gorgeous. Had a lovely relaxed rest and nap in the sun, and then followed the trail down towards the tip of the whaleback. We made camp just south of it.

Day 12: Cloud canyon -> Tarn above Lion Lake

This day was, while beautiful, probably not our best day (see the later half), although lion lake was a real highlight. See issues below.

To start, we finished the last short segment of trail to the bottom of the whaleback. Then, I left my hiking partner with our stuff as I went off poking around in search of a use trail up the valley. I’d heard there was one on the west side of the creek, and I explored around the trail in hopes of picking it up. No luck, so we followed a well-used very short trail on the E side to a very established campsite, and then started pushing our way through bushes. Crossed the water fairly early on, and the next hour or two were just… not fun. The views were nice but not great yet, and the going was just slow and not fun. I think someone here warned me about this section when I had asked for route feedback, but I had completely forgotten about it .

Eventually the bushes cleared, and the going improved dramatically, and from here things were fun again. We’d originally planned to go over copper mine pass, but as we were a bit ahead of schedule, we decided to go towards Lion Lake, with the idea of continuing to nine lakes basin, and picking up the trail over there.

Lion Lake pass was no problem for us - the usual talus, but route finding was easy and the rocks were stable and well sized. At one point we found ourselves at an angle where it looked like the last 30 feet to the pass were going to be a problem, but once we got closer it was clear that there was an easy route.

By the time we got up though, we were (or at least I was) truly exhausted - that long hike up cloud canyon and all of the bushes really took a lot out of me.

We decided not to push to a second pass that day, and instead aimed at the tarn above Lion Lake. My partner went ahead, and I very slowly made my way down. I suspect there’s a better route than I took - it was an awful lot of steep ground, and a bit of sliding. That being said, the view of lion lake was worth an awful lot - just gorgeous, and with the smoke it looked like the world ended at the other end of the lake.

When I took off my shoes that night, I discovered that somewhere (probably in that descent?) I’d done something to my ankle - the motion of taking off my shoe was very, very painful, and over the course of sitting around in the evening it got more painful to move with my ankle. I was having a tough time walking.

We consulted the maps, and decided that the route down to Tamarack lake was enough shorter that we should consider changing plans, given my ankle. We decided to make a decision in the morning, and I slept with my ankle elevated.

Day 13: Tarn above Lion Lake -> base of Elizabeth Pass

In the morning, my ankle was very stiff and I was getting some pretty sharp pain when I stepped on it, so we decided: shorter route was better. I’m still not convinced this was a shortcut, but it was a pretty amazing day. I think this was probably my hiking partner’s favorite day.

This was our last day camping so high and above tree level, and was our last time relearning the lesson that that makes for a very cold morning.

First things first: we descended to lion lake, and circled it on the north side. This was relatively easy going, at least compared to what came next. Very very fortunately, by the time we got around lion lake my ankle was warmed up and barely bothered me at all. It would have been a real issue otherwise, as this turned out to be not much of a shortcut.

We then (following instruction from Secor) tried to descend to Tamarack lake on the S side of Lone Pine Creek, but after finding ourselves cliffed out twice, we decided that the N side looked far more pleasant, so we went up, crossed and came back down. And it was more pleasant, for quite a while!

However, we did hit a cliff, and a big and steep one. There was a lot of backtracking and (genuinely fun) route finding here - I do like climbing up and down stable rocks.

Our eventual route would only have worked in as dry of conditions as we had, and was (approximately), for those looking for a way down: we descended a narrow, grassy gully to a large shelf. The gully had a trickle running down it - I would not have felt safe if the rocks had been wet, as it was quite steep. Exposure was very minimal, though. The gully ended in a shelf above a very steep cliff section, and despite trying in several places, we did not feel safe going down it anywhere.

As a last ditch effort to not climb way back up, we decided to try to cross to the other side of Lone Pine Creek. The water at this point was mostly in a very deep narrow canyon, but (it turned out) the base of the waterfall onto our shelf was actually *not* in any sort of canyon, and big boulders made it a very easy dry crossing. Not far downstream was a big drop, so I would not have wanted to cross here if the water had been high.

From the other side, the going was slow but straightforward: zigzagging down talus, with easily avoidable cliffs. I did manage to dislodge a rock nearly the size of a car when I stepped on it, which scared the living **** out of me, but I was fast enough to hop off, and my partner was not below me. The “swamp” above Tamarack lake was totally dry, and truly gorgeous with the cliffs above us.

The last bit of the climb down to Tamarack lake was straightforward. We headed north a ways from Lone Pine Creek, and then found an area in the cliff (which was marked by a single cairn) where, despite it looking quite improbable from above, every move had an obvious and easy next step to take us down.

We saw a camp (but no people) at Tamarack lake with some astonishingly bad bear safety practices (smelly nonfood just out, and food in the laziest bear hang I’ve ever seen). Would’ve talked with the hiker if they were around.

The walk down from Tamarack lake (and the lake itself) were, of course, stupidly gorgeous. Not much smoke, too!

This took us much of the day , so we walked down the trail to the base of Elizabeth pass. We passed a huge trail crew encampment, and camped near the turn towards Elizabeth pass. Although smoke had been pretty light all day, it seemed a bit worse in the evening.

Day 14: Base of Elizabeth Pass -> Partway up Avalanche Pass

This morning was bright and early and smoky! The climb up Elizabeth pass was totally fine, if a bit long. The smoke was very present, and made for some interesting lighting.

It was pretty amusing how differently maintained the trail was on each side of the pass - the south side was a bit overgrown and in a few places could have used more markers, while the trail on the north side was excessively built (annoying small rocks when everything surrounding was pleasant slabs).

The walk down the valley was pleasant but, again, too smoky to be gorgeous. No problem, as we were a bit overwhelmed by all the beauty we’d seen, and were enjoying making distance on a proper trail. This was probably our longest day by mileage, and with the pass it ended up being quite a long day. Made a dry camp a mile or so below the pass.

Day 15: Avalanche Pass -> Roads End.

We expected the last day to be a bit of a slog, especially as we had heard that it was very smoky near Road’s end. Instead, it felt like a great finish!

The climb up the last bit of avalanche pass was straightforward, although we lost the trail near the top. One last bit of route finding, and we were on our way down.

This trail was quite pleasant, if steep in a few places, and we moved pretty quickly. At some point we started passing day hikers, and then once we merged with the Rae Lakes loop there were people everywhere. No problem, and we enjoyed the views of the valley as we descended to our car. Overall: pretty incredible trip, and I would recommend everything we did . I hope to come back to the area sometime in the not-too-distant future!




A final question: I’m planning a honeymoon (with my fiance/hiking partner) for Patagonia - does anyone have any recommendations?

[maverick]

Thank you for taking the time to post this wonderful TR!

In regards to your question about Patagonia, please post that question in the forum linked below.
viewforum.php?f=8

[sekihiker]

Impressive trip and report. Thanks for posting.

[Flamingo]

Thanks @goldberry for sharing this great TR. I appreciate how your route started on-trail, and then you progressively moved into more difficult terrain, including Longley and Lion. I also love that you hiked your own hike, to use a popular phrase. Many people with two spare weeks would simply thru-hike the JMT---which is amazing, but there's so many places to see beyond it, as you discovered. I'm looking forward to seeing your TRs from this coming 2022 season

[wsp_scott]

Great trip report, thanks for sharing

[wildhiker]

Thanks for sharing your trip report and your positive attitude! You covered a lot of miles by my standards. Oh, to be 20 again!

-Phil

[balzaccom]

Yep. And thanks for taking me on a beautiful hike on Christmas morning. What a treat!

[kpeter]

Beautiful adventure, and a wonderful one to follow on this Christmas day. I particularly like the photo with the buck in front of Rae Lakes. Spectacular.

[LMBSGV]

You covered a lot of gorgeous territory and an impressive number of miles on this lovely trip. As Flamingo said, you hiked your own hike. Thanks for sharing.