High Sierra Topix

I had originally planned to take this trip in 2023, but postponed after the heavy winter. It was nice to have a shelf ready itinerary ready to go for this year. I’ve been backpacking for over 30 years, but have only recently started to do more off trail trips. I really like a hybrid on/off trail, trails give a really nice relief factor and break to my legs. I’ve long dreamed of seeing some of these areas, and even though this turned out to be one of the most physically difficult trips I’ve ever taken, it was really amazing.

Day 1: Taboose Pass trailhead to the creek that drains from Striped Mtn Lakes
I have been up Taboose Pass before, but it was in 2006, when I swear the road was much better and I drove a 2WD pickup truck! For this trip my husband graciously loaned me his Jeep. That guy is a keeper. I had a campsite down below for the night before day 1, but ended up using it as a rented spot to have dinner and stick my feet in the creek, it was really hot down there and I had planned to sleep in the car. At dusk I drove up to a flat spot off to the side just below the trailhead; I was treated to both a beautiful sunset and sunrise, and the temperature got down to the low 70’s. I had some trouble getting to sleep though, and was a little slow this morning; I hit the trail by 7 AM. I put my head down and braced myself for the long uphill trek.
Within a couple of miles, I met a woman coming down with her dog. She told me that the 1st creek crossing was treacherous, described some tree branches that had been placed across the whitewater, and said that she got across by crawling on them. I was taken aback; I said, “you literally crawled?” She confirmed this; said she was with some men who kept going, but helped carry the dog across for her when she turned back. Well, this sounded rather terrifying, so I continued up feeling a bit of dread. While it was raging whitewater, the branches were solid, and I understood why she didn’t want to walk on them. Because she had said there were some deep holes, I took her advice and stashed my poles and boots in my pack, put on water shoes, and used my hands to guide me along the branches. The water was refreshing after the long hot climb up. After the crossing I enjoyed some nice shade for the first time that day. Soon I ran into another hiker, and he told me that the 2nd crossing was washed out and was a deep chasm, and indicated that he crossed it maybe 30 feet below the trail crossing where there was a break in the brush and it only involved one rock step across, then came back up on the talus on the other side. That was great advice, I was glad I ran into him.
I continued up; I remembered the seemingly endless series of rock piles (moraines maybe?) that you had to ascend, which would have a brief break between them before you went up another. It was still tedious, but at least not as demoralizing as the first time I encountered it. The trail was washed into deep ruts in several places. At one point it went through willow over my head. All in all, though, it was easy to follow. I reached the top at around 4 PM, enjoyed the view of Bench Lake, and headed down to the creek below Striped Mountain where I found a nice comfy spot in the trees with a great view of Cardinal Mountain. Day 2: Striped Mtn creek, over Cartridge Pass to Lake Basin
I was still pretty fatigued from the day before, so I was slower than usual in the morning and despite my best efforts didn’t get onto the trail until 8 AM. I enjoyed the downhill to the Southfork Kings crossing, and since my legs were feeling pretty shaky still I opted to wade across rather than take a log further upstream. The old Murro Blanco trail was easy to follow for awhile, until it abruptly ended at a talus field that came down nearly to the water, but the alternate would have been to fight through thick brush at the water’s edge. I had seen a spot not much earlier where it appeared that the trail I was following crossed the river, but opted not to do that because the old trail wasn’t shown as crossing. In hindsight I probably should have crossed, but being unfamiliar with that part of the river I thought I might have trouble crossing back later on, so onto the talus it was. It was stable, just slow. It turned out to be the 1st of 2 of these talus fields and after that I found the trail again briefly, then lost it again, and bumbled around until I found where the old trail began its assault on the hillside above. I had heard it was steep. Oh my….it was. I used a slow walking and power breathing technique I have used before to keep myself from just panting and wearing myself out. Amazing views started to open up to the east – soon I could see Mt. Pinchot and Mt. Wynne. This was a nice distraction.
When I reached the lake I lost the trail around it, so ended up going up and down around rock outcrops and located the trail again when it began to head uphill. Soon I was up high enough to see Bench Lake again! It was still another 1,000 feet up to the pass, and I was tired, so it was slow going; I reached Cartridge Pass at 4:30 PM. The views of the lakes on the other side were stunning, as were the mountains rising all around. I could even see the Kaweahs now. The north side of the old trail was really loose. I continued to be amazed that this used to the part of the JMT. No wonder they wanted to find a better route! My destination for the night was Marion Lake, but due to the lateness of the day I opted to stop short of that. There were a few campers at the first lakes – the first people I had seen since leaving the JMT earlier that morning. It was lovely walking around all of the lakes and seeing the landscape open up before me, there were flowers and birds everywhere, and wonderful light from the setting sun. At the lake I stopped at, I encountered my first mosquitoes, but only a few, which was nice. I didn’t have to deploy the bug spray once on this trip. Day 3: Lake basin, over Dumbbell Pass, to unnamed lakes further down the basin
I took a rather circuitous route upon leaving, thinking I might get a view down to Marion Lake below Red Point, but I couldn’t. I headed up towards Dumbbell Pass through meadows and past small lakes. Flowers were everywhere. I was still too taken aback by the vistas to take any pictures of the flowers, but I did notice the scents, particularly the spicy scent of the pennyroyal. At a small lake on a bench I ran into my favorite trees, a nice stand of Mountain Hemlock. Skirting around the lake I was captivated by the texture of the grasses floating near the shore, and the holes in the mud, and then noticed at little garter snake swimming. Not long after continuing the ascent above this lake, I stopped for a break, looked back, and then…..oh my god, there was Marion Lake. It took my breath away – I have never seen anything that color blue. All the way up I kept stopping to look back at it. Wow.
I reached Dumbbell Pass and enjoyed the nice large open area at the top. There was still a big snowfield which approached the talus that would be the main descent; firm packed, but not too angled, which was nice as I had not thought to bring traction devices for my boots. Before me now lay what I had been getting ready for – there would be no more old trails to follow for a couple of days. I had read descriptions of the descent down the north side of the pass, and had read some accounts of people seeing the talus to the east and thinking that the route didn’t look like it would go, but that the other alternative would take you down the draw and might cliff you out. This rang true for me; I so wanted to go down the draw! It was choked with snow though, and I nervously plunged ahead to the east on the smaller talus. It was stable, and I picked my way carefully down it until I arrived at a kind of bench, then headed northeast and followed a final talus filled chute down to the lake, near the southeast shoreline. At the shoreline I finally discovered what people mean when they describe talus hopping! The talus that contoured around the lake was on relatively flat ground, large, and stable, and walking easily on it did feel like gravity was lessened, as close to “hopping” as I could feel, I guess. It was a nice break.
I continued on down the drainage from Dumbbell Lakes to a small set of lakes. It was now about 2:30 in the afternoon, and I came to a decision. My original plan had been to continue over Observation Peak Pass down to Lake 10,565 on this same day to camp before coming back up and going over Cataract Creek Pass. I have been a bit obsessed with this lake ever since I saw Claude Fiddler’s photograph of it in a book of his about 20 years ago. Back then I actually found a poster of it in Mammoth, purchased it, bought a frame kit from Michael’s Crafts, and it has been hanging in every place I’ve ever lived since then. I have long dreamed of seeing it in person. But now, I was tired, and the reality of how long these off trail miles were taking was setting in. I had to let it go. I needed to stop and get some rest. The ground around the lakes was very rocky, and it took quite awhile before I found a spot that I could work with to get the tent pitched. After a couple of long days, it felt so nice to stop early. My little spot looked down the drainage below, where the lake drained through a small meadow with a little pond.

Continuing Day 3 pictures.

Day 4: Over Cataract Creek Pass to Amphitheater Lake
It was an easy walk on gravel and up a drainage to get to the pass, sort of. I actually went up something that looked to be parallel to the route I needed to take. Once I realized this, I had to go down just a little to get into the correct draw. Along the way I was amazed at how many small birds were flitting about; they were everywhere. All I could think was maybe Rosy Finch, but I am not adept at bird identification and wasn’t able to get a picture of one. There was also a lot of blooming Spirea, another favorite plant. It smelled both sweet and spicy. Upon arriving at the top, I walked down a little way and then my heart sank. There, in front of me, was the cornice. Had I heard that the cornice was probably there? Yes. Had I seen a white dot a few days prior on the Sentinel EO Browser? Yes. Was I, with my big exciting trip plan in front of me, maybe suffering from denial brought on my commitment bias? Oh, you betcha. I had heard there was a class 3 bypass. When I hear class 3 my palms begin to sweat; I don’t like it. I dropped my pack and scouted, tried a spot and didn’t like it, then dropped my pack and scouted again. The thing was, it was really loose stuff, and the thought of getting loose and tumbling over something even though it might be a short fall was very intimidating especially because I was alone. After a loose downhill scoot on my butt, I ended up at a little narrow slot maybe 5 or 6 feet tall (?) that I could shimmy down and finally get below the thing. I sent my pack down first, and then followed, and was down. After a brief walk on loose small sandy and rocky mix there was a large angled snowfield that I was able to get around on more talus. I took a break here to soak in the views and admire the moraine to the west of me. I spent a lot of time as a kid rockhounding with my dad, and I loved all of the colors found in the rock here.
Next, it was up another talus slope to walk around the rim above the lake. From where I had taken a break it looked pretty easy; once I was on it, the rock was larger than it had appeared, so it took me a little while longer than I thought. Still getting used to how long off trail travel can take, I had to laugh at myself since at one point I thought I could get set up at the lake and then go back up, climb Observation Peak, and get a view of Lake 10,565 as a consolation prize. Ha! I found good small benches to switchback down to once I was past the outlet of the lake, backtracked and found a nice spot to set up camp for the night. It was fun to see Mt. Agassiz and the Palisades from this perspective. Late in the afternoon I noticed the smell of smoke, and saw it wafting overhead. Checking in with my husband I learned that there were some fires around Simpson Meadow and in the Monarch Wilderness. The night was clear, and once again I was treated to great views of the Milky Way.

Day 5: Amphitheater Lake, down Cataract Creek to Upper Palisade Lake
I think from looking at the map I had estimated it was just over 2 miles down to the Deer Meadow crossing and then back on to the JMT, so I figured this would be a quick day. I found Cataract Creek to be aptly named; the creek plunged down via steep waterfalls. I lost a chunk of time staying too high on the route and then having to navigate down climbs, thinking I might get into a cliffy section if I got too close to the creek too early. When I did approach the creek, it was at the old prospect site; I couldn’t really see much of it in the cliff band above me and the sun was at an angle that shone right into my eyes. After crossing the creek here, there was a short bushwhack section through willow. I was looking for signs of the old trail, but did not see it, and continued down. I had noticed some small cliff bands above me, and decided that I would follow the logic that seems to go with old trails, which is that they just follow the drainage. Not much further down though, I realized this wasn’t going to apply here; as I encountered another rock wall above the small dammed by talus area on the creek below, and had to backtrack uphill again. This time I found the trail and followed it down, walked through the talus next to the dammed lake, then found the trail again. I finally lost it once the terrain began to steepen and I hit a thicker part of forest, which had much damage from the 2002 burn in the area. This was really slow going; by the time I fought my way through the trees and brush to the crossing of Palisade Creek I realized this had taken me about 5 hours. Yikes! I had an old USGS map layer downloaded, and crossed the creek where the old trail was shown (although I didn’t see a trace of it) and came right out at the old trail crew camp, now abandoned due to the hazard trees. I wondered if this was actually a very old historical camp location from back when the mine was active.
I was very happy to be back on a trail now, although my delay did cause me to hit the bottom of the Golden Staircase at the hottest part of the day. Around 5 PM I made it to a nice spot along a creek above Upper Palisade Lake, cleaned up, and enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous sunset and then headed to bed. Day 6: Upper Palisade Lake to Striped Mountain Creek
Clouds had been rolling in since the previous afternoon, and they stuck around all night. With a chance of storms in the forecast I set an early alarm and headed out. After the heat of the previous day, the clouds provided a welcome relief. I was all alone up to Mather Pass. From there I could see several groups of people below heading north up the pass. I heard a lot of pika chatter, and was treated to a few sightings both up and down the pass. I have always loved the stroll heading south down Upper Basin, it is just so pleasant to pass by all of the lakes, see the peaks surrounding the valley, and enjoy the flowers around the little meadows. It had been a few long hard days to get to this point, and I was relishing it despite my lingering fatigue. About halfway down I got a fun surprise. I ran into the NPS trail crew; they were moving the CCC backcountry crew from Paradise Valley to Dusy Basin. A long time ago – in 1999! – when I worked on that crew we did the exact same camp move. It brought back some fun memories, and it was great to meet the CCC crewmembers too. It definitely perked me up.
A few hours later I was back along Striped Mtn creek, where I had camped on night one. I had planned to camp up at the lowest lake, but I did not feel like getting caught in rain. I got the tent set up, and almost immediately, at 1 PM, it began to rain. I enjoyed a nice cup of tea, and then took a nap. I heard some distant thunder to the south, but I only had rain at my location. The rain continued for a few hours before clearing up. I wandered around an enjoyed the play of light and clouds. Around 1 AM the rain returned briefly. Once again, I set an early alarm for the hike out; when I awoke at 4 AM all was clear.

Day 7: Back out Taboose Pass
After seeing this area in the later afternoon light, I enjoyed experiencing the early morning light, and the reflections on the pools in the meadow. When I was here in 2006, the trail crew was in the process of building some new trail that skirted above the meadow to protect it. I found this path much more pleasant to walk; not straight up and boggy the way the old trail was. I didn’t see a soul the entire way down to the trailhead. When I arrived at the trailhead it was about 12:30, 93 degrees, and I suddenly heard voices. Four backpackers appeared (they had parked a bit below, near the corral where the road is very rough), took some pictures at the sign, waved at me, and headed up the trail.
I headed to Independence for some ice cream, and then onto Lone Pine and a nice room at the Dow Villa in the historic section (my favorite part of the hotel), a much welcome shower, and an early bed time before making the drive back to the West side.

Whew! I think I felt out of breath just reading this report! Physically difficult indeed. Great route and report with a mix of the on trail brute force stuff (ie busting Taboose on day 1) and serious off trail backpacking, including that pass above Amphitheater which brought back some great memories reading.

Back in 1993 (a smidge earlier in the year and following a heavier winter) my wife and I headed up that pass from Amphitheater Lake over to the Dumbbell Lakes. As we gazed up at the pass from Amphitheater Lake it looked hopeless. A huge cornice blocked the pass and the bypass routes to the north (which are in fact class 2) were also blocked by cornices. It looked like our trip would end without us getting to our goal of Dumbbell Lakes but we decided to climb with the hope that unseen routes would open up upon closer inspection. As it turned out the snow had melted just enough next to one of the northern cornices that we could sort of wiggle up between the rock and snow. Once through that there were easy class 2 slopes north of the low point that allowed us to get over.

Thanks so much for your report which brings back many great memories. I've not done a trip like this that connected both areas. The Dumbbells trip of '93 went out the same way it went in, and I crossed Taboose in 1980 (overnighter to climb Split and Prater) and 1997 (descending at end of shuttle trip that began going up Sawmill).

Thank you for the excellent trip report! I went up Taboose a few years ago (and then looped south to exit at Sawmill) and have always wanted to go back in and check out some of the terrain you covered. The day we went up Taboose, the valley was smoky and I was not feeling good trudging up the pass - it's the only time I've almost turned around and gone home on a hike - a few minutes sitting next to the cool flowing air and water of that creek saved me and I was good for the rest of the hike up!

You've provided great inspiration to get back into that area!

Happy to see so many variations on this Taboose/Lake Basin/Upper Basin loop! My partner and I had planned this same route last August but Hillary had other plans and we ended up going north over Alpine Col, another story. As you said, KT5519, nice to have the route "shelf ready". Enjoyed papercup's variation a week prior as well going down to Amphitheater and over Upper Basin Crossing but hate to miss Palisade Lakes. That description of getting down to Palisade Creeks was both excellent and daunting! So, still weighing the Upper Basin Crossing option. Anybody out there done both?

Love this trip report. We did a very similar trip just a week before yours, with a few variations (Bench/10565/UBC, and no Cataract/Palisade/Mather) and it's really fun to see your photos and impressions of the same area.

I'm glad to see that you enjoyed the flowers and especially the scents. That was a highlight of our trip -- passing through big patches of coyote mint (I think) sent up a beautiful scent that provided a great distraction from my own sweat. And there were so many flowers that varied from place to place, with especially beautiful patches of columbine in some areas.

I thought that the descent of Cataract Creek Pass was probably the toughest part of the loop -- looks like you may have thought the same. I like your rejection of the idea of heading right back up it to climb Observation; the idea of going down-up-down that pass in one day is a definite no for me. It's one of those passes that just looks like an impassable cliff wall when viewed straight on from the bottom.

I love seeing the image of the descent of Cataract Creek. That looked like it would be a really fun descent when looking down the drainage, with the beautifully-framed views to the north.

Fviolich: Without having done the Cataract Creek descent, I can't really compare the two options for you. I will say that UBC was really fun, and doing it west-to-east is key to that enjoyment. It's also far more direct -- it took me maybe two hours to get from the outlet of Amphitheatre to the top of UBC. Looks like it took KT 5 hours to get from the same spot to the base of Cataract -- and then you still need to go up and over Mather. So I'd do Cataract if you like creek descents, really want to see Palisade Lakes, and think that this is a good spot to spend an extra half or full day of your trip. If you'd rather do a steep rocky pass and save that time for another destination in the area, then do UBC.

giantbrookie wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 6:09 pm

Back in 1993 (a smidge earlier in the year and following a heavier winter) my wife and I headed up that pass from Amphitheater Lake over to the Dumbbell Lakes.

1993 brings back memories for ME! That's the year that I moved to the Sierra from the east coast, to work in Giant Forest, and never looked back. Thanks for sharing your trip story with me.