High Sierra Topix

Yes, there were already a couple of very fine trip reports earlier this year, describing this area, with more ambitious itineraries than mine. But being late in the year, perhaps you can forgive the repetition and not find this one too tedious
Many thanks to those who have written on these places before me, providing valuable knowledge without which I would have had nary a clue what I was I was getting into.

I was, from the get-go, constrained to finish up (and drive home) on day 4 so that I would have sufficient time to get ready for a trip with my wife and some extended family; I would have loved to extend my trip by 2-3 days and extend my loop eastward to include Lonely Lake and Big Bird Lake, but these I will need to save for a future trip.

Day 1-
Having spent the night before at Lodgepole Campground, I got breakfast, then drove to Giant Forest Museum to pick up my permit, finally getting to the lot at Wolverton for a late-ish 8:45 start to my hike.

I started on the Alta Trail; this added an extra mile (versus the Lakes Trail plus Panther Gap cutoff option). But the walk along Long Meadow was pleasant, and seeing a mama bear (with her two cubs) in the meadow made the extra effort worthwhile. Reaching Panther Gap, the skies clouded over, which I welcomed as it made for cooler hiking conditions (and added interest to my photos). I took lots of wildflower shots and enjoyed views of the distant peaks; was rained on a bit around Mehrten Creek, after which the skies mostly cleared. Reaching Alta Meadow a bit before 3:00 (yes, slow for the 7 miles I did); I set up camp in the trees near the west end of the meadow and then explored for a couple of hours until I ate dinner and turned in.


wildflowers along the Alta Trail


late afternoon in Alta Meadow


hazy hills

Day 2-
I started out today by walking the remaining half-mile of official trail, then ended up bumbling around a bit finding my way through brush and some marshy spots until I headed uphill to drier (and clearer) terrain. Getting yet more photos of wildflowers provided an added distraction:

Lewis Flax

I then headed up roughly northeast through forest, until I reached more open ground, and crested the prevailing NW/SE-oriented ridge at around the 10,200’ contour. I walked up the ridge line a bit until it turned into a boulder field, so I turned more directly north, heading diagonally up (right-ward when looking up the slope) finding some easy ramps up the slabby terrain. I topped out at the east side of Moose Lake, having done 3.2 miles in about 4.5 hours; yes, I am super slow.

looking back on my route from Alta Meadow


view across Buck Creek Canyon, toward the Great Western Divide


heading up the slope toward Moose Lake


Moose Lake

I hung out along the shore for a bit, soaking my feet and eating some lunch. But being solo and not having an immediate way to occupy myself (incidentally, are there catchable fish in Moose Lake ?), I made my way north along the shore and reached its outlet.

Moose Lake - standing near the outlet

Continuing on northward, I reached the small basin just northeast of Moose; here my brain apparently stopped working a bit as I thought I should be heading up-slope to the northwest. Aside from this being the wrong direction (as I wanted to visit Lake 10,559’ the next day), it was also way too much work for the end of my day, so I dropped back down and found a nice-enough spot to make camp, with a view that included Peak 11,225’ .

small basin just north of Moose Lake

Day 3-
Getting ready to start this morning, I checked my map and quickly realized my mistake at yesterday’s end, and instead headed generally NNE and up an easy-to-walk slope:

heading to the Tableland

I soon topped out around 10,700’ or so at the first of several nice-looking ponds. As these seem to be in the Marble Fork drainage (and not Buck Creek / M.F. Kaweah), I supposed I was now officially in the Tableland ?? (not that there’s a sign or anything), and by the way, it it “The Tableland” or just Tableland” ?


Never having been here before, I always tried to picture the rolling terrain I read about in various trip reports. So I included this video, for no good purpose other than that I’ve always wanted to include a video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/CAbMLvKVV0U?feature=share

Continuing on, I had an easy walk to Lake 10,559’:

Lake 10,559’

I reached the south shore and walked out on the peninsula that juts almost halfway to the middle of the lake. I ate lunch, waded in a bit to cool off, and just generally enjoyed the views. Packing up again, I headed to look at the outlet (lots of Columbine in full bloom in boulder-shaded areas along the outlet stream). I took one last photo of the lake from this end:
Lake 10,559’

Back-tracking east a bit, I then turned south toward Table Meadow, then west following the Marble Fork.

Marble Fork Kaweah drainage, viewed from just below Lake 10,559’

Marble Fork Kaweah River (in Table Meadows)

Travel down the Marble Fork drainage was easy and straight-forward, at least until it reached a point where it narrows and the canyon sides get a little steeper. I ended up backtracking a couple of times to avoid some drop-offs, and crossed the riverbed at one point to find an easier way. The river was, at this point, down to a miserable trickle. By now, I was close to reaching the eastern end of the Lakes Trail. I intersected with the access trail to the Pear Lake winter hut, so I walked up to check it out. I had reserved a camping slot for this night at Emerald (rather than Pear) Lake, so upon getting back to the main trail, I decided to leave Pear Lake to a future trip and instead headed straight to Emerald, passing Aster Lake just before reaching Emerald.
I got to the camp area late afternoon, and saw several groups of people hanging out (the first people I had seen in a couple of days) and figured I would have some neighbors this night. I set up my tent, then went to explore the lake and took lots of photos. By the time I returned to cook dinner, everyone had left, so I had one more night of peace and quiet.

Emerald Lake

Day 4-
I woke early today, and got some nice early-morning photos.

outlet pond at Emerald Lake

I got an early start (for me, anyway) at around 7:30. I made quick progress toward my goal of an early finish (so I could drive home today). I really liked the Watchtower section of the trail, while also noting the couple of dicey-looking stair sections that must be the bane of spring-season hikers.

Watchtower Trail

Reaching the trail section past Heather Lake where it dives back into dense forest, I still enjoyed the stands of Red Fir and bits of meadow along this section. Finishing up back at Wolverton, I managed to drive home (in the L.A. area) early enough for dinner with my family.

I do not care if there were 100 trip reports of this area before; your photos are the best! What a great time of year to do this loop with the wildflowers and clear air. I do not think you were slow at all, considering the elevation gains and off-trail travel. I have never done your route to Moose Lake- meant to do it a few years ago but late season lack of water made me switch routes. Thanks for the report.

Very nice report with excellent photos! I really like this area. I did long trips through the Tableland in 2001 and 2011, but had to bail on another in 2017 due to thunderstorms and wildfire smoke. And your pace seems about right to me (also a slow guy)! I also was impressed by the many columbine flowers growing there! And how did you take that video without stumbling on that rocky terrain?
-Phil

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing! My favorite are those afternoon shadows over Alta Meadow. I love this part of the Sierra, and I always smile when I see TRs from this area.

Ah, this is exactly what we want to see at this time of the year when we're back home places like Moose and Pear Lake are snowbound (and probably frozen over, too). I haven't been up in the Tableland area since 2002. You had much clearer air than I had then (big fire south of the Park back when I went in 2002). I too like the section of trail by the Watchtower. I went that way on my very first backpack (to Pear Lake and a climb of Alta Pk) in the fall of 1967, then returned that way in 1979 (Tablelands + Glacier Ridge) and 2002 (Tablelands-Glacier Ridge-Colby-Triple Divide-Tamarack-etc).

Thanks for the report and the superb photos.
Reports like yours are almost as much fun as going there in real life.

I am really glad to have found this great trip report of yours Grampy. Your images are super sharp, and beautifully composed! I don't remember the fantastic scenery at Alta Meadow-- have you made it look even better than it is with your fine photography? Your photos: "View across Buck Creek..."
and "Small basin just north of Moose Lake," and "Emerald Lake" are our favorites, along with the last 2 photos, which also masterful!

Please crank out some more of these trip reports Grampy! Never worry about duplicating former reports-- we all would Love to see them!

Kudos, Ian and Lizzie.

What gorgeous photography...mind if I ask what camera you used? I particularly was struck by the color in the flowers and the sharpness in the individual blades of grass. Nicely done!

Thank you all for your kind words ! This trip turned out to be my season highlight; my two earlier trips were shortened by various issues, and my planned Bear Lakes Basin trip got cancelled due to a nasty case of Covid. So this one seemed like the best candidate for a TR.
I use an IPhone 13 for photos; I have considered getting a “real” camera, but I wouldn’t know an f-stop if it hit me in head, and I probably wouldn’t feel like lugging it with me anyway. Phone cameras have their weak spots; e.g. not ideal for most wildlife photography.
My image clarity is aided by using links to my Flickr account rather than compressing to an “embeddable” size; photos can be displayed at a higher resolution, up to full “original” resolution if I choose. One drawback of Flickr is the possibility of it someday going belly-up (as other hosting services have done), but it works nicely for now.

I mainly utilize a “shot-gun” photo strategy - take a LOT and hope something hits the target. But I do have a few basic notions of what factors make for nice photos, which I suppose get factored in (at least subconsciously) when framing my shots; some judicious cropping in the editing process also helps.
Videos shot “while I walk” are reserved for fairly benign terrain conditions; I can one-hand my phone about chest-high. A Go-Pro would work much better, but is not (in my opinion) worth the added distraction/expense/weight.

Anyway, thanks again !

Add me to those who really appreciate this trip report, the lovely, evocative photos, and want you to do more trip reports in the future. By the way, my wife and I stayed at Emerald Lake a few years ago at the suggestion of the ranger who said most people go on to Pear Lake and so one often gets more privacy and fewer people at Emerald. She was right as we also had no one there the first night and only one group the second. Thanks for sharing.