High Sierra Trail Report/Pictures

“What a trip! Six of us(Hans, Dave, Bob, Brian, Mike and I) headed
out on a 72 mile, eight day trip which ended with a Mt. Whitney
summit.

Photos at Webshots
http://community.webshots.com/album/176046443sqjRpo

Day 1, Crescent Meadows to Nine Mile Creek, 8.8 miles

Starts and ends about the same altitude, but a lot of up and down
this day, aprox. 3000 feet up and same down. Big views start almost
immediatley. A hot stretch mid day.
Took break at Mehrten Creek, a pretty setting with campsites up
creek. Arrived at camp a bit tired. A rather large black bear was
pacing the hillside above camp, one of many to come. There is a good
pool of water to swim in below camp, Dave took a couple dips. We had
a warm fire, but Hans got a rather nasty burn on his wrist due to a
flying ember. A couple staying in camp gave us their wine, they were
hiking out in the morning, we gladly drank. In the middle of the
night we heard yelling and assumed that our group was scaring away a
bear turns out that Brian was having a nightmare of a bear coming in
their tent and had Bob and Mike convinced that it was so. Brian had
these nightmares almost every night.

Day 2, Nine Mile Creek to Big Hamilton Lake, 7 miles

Had another Bear visit camp in the morning, he headed straight for
our packs and came within 15 feet of us. We were able to yell and
walk towards him to get him to leave, he headed straight for our
tent which was located down hill. He stuck his head in and snarffed
all over Dave's sleeping bag. Ewwww.
This stretch passes by Bearpaw Meadows High Sierra Camp, a beautiful
spot with good views of the Great Western Divide. We saw ANOTHER
bear combing the hillside on the way down from Bearpaw, he was
rooting up logs and rocks looking for natural grub.
There is an impressive bridge crossing Lone Pine Creek made so by
the gnarled steel bridge that lyes crippled in its gorge, heard a
flood took it out.
Had lunch at a beautiful waterfall along Hamilton Creek, a popular
spot to take a break.
Arrived at Hamilton Lake, happy to see some good lakeside sites and
a pit toilet. No fires allowed at this lake, but views enough to
keep you entertained. Great sweeping sunset. We all dipped in the
water and rinsed our dusty clothes. Dave caught a Rainbow trout, a
tasty treat on the trail.
Another small bear rooting around above camp, he would play and
forage on the hillside for hours.

Day 3, Big Hamilton Lake to Big Arroyo Junction, 7 miles

Upon awaking heard a unnatural noise like a generator on the
hillside, couldn't figure out what it was and cursed at the person
making it. Turns out there was a trailcrew staying at the lake
making improvements to the rocky trail between Hamilton and
Precipice Lake. We thanked them and continued on. This steep
stretched is better conquered early in the AM, before the sun heats
up. There is a cool tunnel blasted through the rocks, a definate
photo op.
We stopped at Precipice Lake for a cold swim and lunch, this lake is
absolutely beautiful, a must stop and take it all in. Bone chilling
cold as far as the guys swim went though.
After lunch we headed for Kaweah Gap, 10,700 feet then down into
it's hot canyon to Big Arroyo Junction. A nice camping area with a
Historic Cabin sits along Big Arroyo Creek. Fish abound in it's
waters but they all looked rather small. We all rinsed our clothes
again and dried them out on the rocks, my pants slipped in the water
and headed down stream, luckily Brian was down stream and saw them
floating by, phew, I would have been pantsless!
It was a cold night and we had some precipitation in our single wall
tents, nothing a little sun couldn't take care of.

Day 4, Big Arroyo to Moraine Lake, 8 miles

This stretch has a few high mountain meadows, beautiful greenery
with wildflower displays.
Found a great lakeside spot with a fire pit. Walked around the lake,
Bob, Mike and Brian played a game of rock, log, root, walking around
the lake without touching the ground. There were so many downed
trees that this was actually possible. We were able to see Mt.
Whitney from the lakes westside. Bob swam acroos the lake stating
that it was much warmer in its shallow east side.
There weren't any fish in this lake so Dave struck out.
Heard a rather large animal grunting as it made it's way around the
lake, still trying to figure out what it was.
When it got dark we headed out lakeside and stargazed, lying on the
rocks we could see the stars reflected in the lake.

Day 5, Moraine Lake to Kern Hot Springs 7.5 miles

This day was a knee killer for me, a steep ascent into the Kern
Canyon pounded my knees into submission with pain in every step.
ouch. Thank goodness for the hot spings at the end of the day.
Chagoopa Falls is a good spot to take a rest.
The Hot tub is truely awesome, had to wait in line a bit but not too
long.
Pit toilet also at this spot.
Dave caught several fish, we ate two good sized ones with all
drooling at the prospect. Roasted them over the fire on a stick with
a little S and P, YUM!
Had a boyscout leader come over and tell us our fire was illegal,
NOT. Man I guess the guy couldn't read, he pointed us to some signs
that stated not to have fires in the MEADOW(also stated not to camp
in the meadow either, so accoprding to him we all should have packed
up and left). The guy would not admit that he was wrong and I did
not look forward to seeing him the rest of the trip.
Dave and I brushed up against some stinging nettle while we were
bush crashing, ouch, luckily it didn't sting anymore by morning.

Day 6, Kern Hot Springs to above Junction Meadow, 8.5 Miles

Tried to get an early start, everyone at Kern was jockeying for a
spot at Junction Meadow, seemed there were alot of Boy Scout/kid
Groups on this trip.(Note to self, next time you do this trip don't
go when schools are out for summer)nothing against backpacking kids,
just the large groups they form.
Rain was threatening, we used our pack covers. Saw a lot of Bear
poop on the way, never did spot the bear.
Decided to continue past Junction Meadows and try to get 800 feet of
the next days ascent out of the way, ended up finding a really nice
campsite just north of the cutoff to Wallace, I was glad we seeked
it out, it was huge, right on the Kern River and even had an old
cabin on it.
Dave caught another fish, there are plenty in this river and it
seems that they will bite anything.
Had a thunder storm roll in, lasted a few hours, holed up in our
tents and read. Stopped just in time for dinner and some photos of
the colorful sky and river.

Day 7, north of Junction Meadow to Guitar Lake 10.5 miles

Woke early to get another head start, I was very slow today and
couldn't get my engine revved up for a while. Hans decided to start
ahead and get us a spot at Guitar lake. We got off about an hour
after him.
A few good campsite are strewn along Wallace Creek on the way up to
the proper Wallace Creek campsite. Kept trucking to the Ranger
Station at Crabtree, turned out it was off trail so we had lunch at
the Junction.
Arrived at Guitar lake, couldn't find Hans anywhere, worried we
searched around the lake and even headed up the trail to the next
small lakes to see if he was there. Tried to enjoy the incredible
beauty of the area while waiting for Hans to show. Did he get lost?
Was he hurt? Was he waiting for us at the Crabtree Ranger Station?
Did he keep going? We waited for an agonizing 3 hours when an
exhausted Hans hiked into camp. He had hiked three hours off trail
when he missed a junction. Phew, thankfull he was OK, we tried to
prepare for the next days early rise and Whitney summit. The weather
looked threatening again and we had heard that it had been clear as
a bell in the early AM.
It was another cold night, none of us slept well at 11,400 feet.

Day 8, Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal, 17 miles

This was going to be a big day, lots of miles and lots of elevation
gain and loss.
We awoke at 5:30 and scrambled around to get ready, loaded up and
ready to go we left at 6:50am. We tackled the switchbacks with no
problems passing several people, we were pretty acclimated and trail
savvy by now, made the 5.5 miles/ 3000+ foot ascent in 2 1/2 hours.
The clouds started to heavily roll in while we were on the summit,
plus I had a bad headache, forgot my sunglasses on this stretch and
was paying the price. Over all felt much better ascending from the
west then I did the two other times from the east. We got off the
summit pretty fast, fearing lightening and rain we all decided to
meet up at Trailcamp where we decided rather then staying a night at
Consultation we would hike out the 6 miles to some good food and a
soft bed.
Trailcamp has a new toilet system, pack it out, but there is a
structure and a seat to use the bags on plus they have a garbage bin
to throw away the mess it. The outdoor toilet smelled much better
then the solar one which is still open and in use.
While on the switchbacks it started to hail and rain with thunder
and Lightening, the summit looked nasty and there were still people
headed up! It was really cold at Trailcamp with no sign of the
weather letting up. We all huffed it down to the Portal and had a
beer at Doug and Earlene's store, a perfect ending to an epic trip.”

“Great trip report, Paige. Thanks for the info.”

“Awesome pics. I liked so many of them but Precipice Lake is a special place to me. Your last day must have been a killer. I did that in two days and was glad.”

“awesome pictures. A lot of milage, but it sounded like so much fun.”

“Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.”

“Nice report.
Next time you run into nettles, rub the area with wet sand. Works like a charm.”

“Nice report. I'll keep that nettles tip in mind, too.”

“Great trip report and pictures! Thanks for sharing them. I am going to do this trip soon...”

“You brought back some great memories, of the trip my son and I made in 2001. I liked your pics, got mine out and took another look, plus the map. We took our trip in the middle of Aug. very few people until we got around guitar lake. Left them all at the lake and spent the night on top of Whitney. 6 of us on the top that night, the 4 in my group and 2 single people. Quite the veiw of a spectacular sun rise the next morning.”

“Great pictures from a classic route. I think I need to get out to Timberline Lake. Thanks for sharing.”

“Hey Paige, wowza, I was just checkin' out these photos of yours while dreaming of the wilderness, the High Sierra Trail specifically, and man, woman, you captured it so well! Extreeeemely nice pics!”

“bears!! I would have filled my fart-sack if I had seen that many bears so close to me. pardon the army expression.
last edited: 2/28/05 5:41:46 AM”

“I had never seen a bear in the backcountry before this trip, plan to see them if you're going. I too thought I would sheite my pants when I saw one, but by the second one I was charging them to save my pack. They really are rather scared of people and like to keep their distance.
We saw two at Nine Mile, one at Hamilton and one near Bearpaw chances are they will still be hanging out looking for a good meal this summer so keep your eyes open and your food stored. ;)”

“I didn't see one bear when I did the HST. Seems like everyone we met going the other way warned us there was a bunch of bears up ahead but none were there we got there.”

“bummer, perhaps they had their fill by the time you got there ;)
Which way did you travel? When did you go?”

“They probably smelled us coming. ~phew~

July '03 Crescent to Whitney and return via Kings Canyon Silliman crest to Lodgepole.

I've got a pretty extensive trip report on here.”

“HPM, that sounds like a great trip.”

“ah, yes, I remember, your trip report is how I ended up at thebackpacker.com. Excellent stuff, brings back many memories.”

“Gorgeous real estate you got out there Paige.
I remember you talking about what a stinker that trip was HPM.”

“The trip was awesome one of the best.
The hiker funk was parful (say it with a drawl) bad.”