WEEK 4 MAP After a chilly night I began out towards
Pants Pass. I had long decided to take the Southern ridge saddle and not hike up the
East Col. which looked like a steep lose scree mess. The area had about 70%
snow cover and the initial progress was easy on harder packed snow. Unfortunately I ran into many sections of knee deep post holing that slowed my
progress significantly. After allot of huffing, puffing and cursing I finally reached the end of the snow line and made my way up to the ridge which offered
beautiful views down on the Kaweah Gap. From here it was an easy 100 yards or so to dump onto the actual saddle of Pants Pass. Looking down the East slope of this pass and considering how easy the South Ridge is I couldn't imagine why anyone would go this way other than to say you had done it.
Beginning down the
lose mess was immediately proving to be allot of fun. It was the type of scree that you can just mash your foot in hard pushing into a nice step. The only danger to this was keeping an eye out for areas that might have a rock just under the surface that will cause you to slip. After a couple hundred feet down riding the scree happily suddenly the whole hill side began to go on me. I looked up to see that besides all the scree this section was filled with large boulders and they were also riding in the slide. I quickly began to run across the slope while riding the avalanche. Thankfully I got out of the path of the slide and it stopped after another 20 feet. After a few good chuckles I continued down. At one point another slide took off on me but not as dramatic as the first. As the slope curved left and then back right I fell onto my butt and I was in another mini slide which I did everything I could to stop because my trekking pole was lodged in the rock above me. Finally the scree mess gave way to more manageable slopes and I made my way over to the
small lake below the two Lion Rock Passes. From here both looked like an easy climb. I hooked directly left and began angling up the slope. This pass was nothing more then picking your way up a mix of grass ramps, small talus fields and large glacier polished slabs. I made it
on top of
Lion Rock 2 Pass in time to sit and eat lunch. As I began down the snow cover was about 90%. The snow cupping made it no good for a nice slide to the bottom. Instead I began sliding down being beat up as I went. By the time I was far enough down to continue on foot my hand was bleeding from the ice crystals on the surface of the snow.
I made quick work down the rest of the pass and began to angle to the right following the drainage. When
it ended at a steep cliff side I looked down it but could not see far enough to judge if this class 3 route could be taken. Not wanting to have to climb back up I hooked left and began down the slope on the
South shore of Lion Lake. This route took allot of micro route finding down small shelves that were littered with smaller lose rock. Without any real difficulty I was strolling along the shores of
Lion Lake. I crossed
the outlet and found a nice
large rock to lay out on for the night. A local Marmot eyed me with great suspicion but decided I could stay for the night. I took a miserably cold dip in the lake and began down the outlet towards Tamarack Lake in an effort to find some vistas. I did find a camp site but nothing that great for
views. Closing the night a cold wind was blowing hard. Maybe it had always been blowing since the wind never seemed to stop for this trip. My Western Mountaineering Summerlite was a bit smaller then my Versalite and nights like this I was reminded of it as I could never fully close off the draft and as I would roll and adjust a couple times the wind blew my bag off me completely. ARRRGGG!!! stupid wind!!!
As I set out around the
Northern side of the lake I began angling up towards Lion Lake Pass before I was below it which worked out well enough. Yet again this was an easy pass on it's South side following small glacier carved sections of rocks lined with grass. By the time I had reached
it's top however the icy wind was ripping over the ridge. I hunkered down and took a break before tackling the
slope below. Once again it was about 95% snow coverage but this time much steeper. The early morning snow was hard packed and I could barely maintain any footing. I was outside my comfort zone at this point and wished I had my ice axe. This was the only time on this trip I would feel this way. I slipped once and had to use my trekking poles to self arrest. Once again my hand was bleeding this time due to digging my finger nail into my skin. I could barely stand back up so I began a system of lowing myself down by stabbing my trekking poles into the snow at about my knee level and then lowering my body down some. When I had made it far enough to resume on foot I began
angling across the head wall of
Cloud Canyon. What at times was a pleasant scenic climb turned into a miserable nightmare of post holing. First it was unstable snow where you never knew if you were going to hold or fall in slightly. Then knee deep snow which was extremely difficult to move forward in. Then the snow gave way to thigh deep post holing and I could no longer walk. Cursing, kicking and fighting in despair I was forced to crawl on all four using my trekking poles in front of me in an effort for solid ground. Inch by inch I made my way up the slope until I was swearing I would never ever EVER!! come back onto this head wall with snow! RAWWWRRRRRRRR!!!! The last 50 feet of progress probably took me 30 minutes. Finally like a ship wrecked refugee I staggered onto the lose rock and stumbled up to the ridge line offering wonderful
views. As I made my way up
the ridge the icy wind continued to rip with a fury. 50 yards or so before being below
Peak 12,345 I found the old mining trail and followed it along then bailing off to make
the summit. Despite all the hardship
the views did not
disappoint. Checking the register I was the first to sign it for the season and I began down to
the West. Not very far down the ridge line I spotted a mine adit near by so I climbed out to it on some difficult scree slopes. It was a shallow opening with snow and ice inside but had some interesting
mine relics inside. I climbed out the rear opening but it did not lead anywhere interesting.
Back on the ridge
the trail was easy to follow and I made
my way down admiring Deadman Canyon once again. Moving down the
North side was a slushy and muddy mess but was not difficult. I passed by another mess of
relics where any other evidence of the mining was covered in snow.
I began angling across the
head wall but it proved more difficult then I would have thought from all the times I have seen it. It was a mess of soft snow fields, micro cliffs and slick water covered granite. After longer than I would have liked I crossed over the trail here and began up towards Horn Col.
Climbing this pass was easy as proverbial pie especially compared to last year when it had been all snow. After plenty of huffing I made my way
on top of the 3rd pass for the day. The year before I had climbed along the talus on the North Ridge but this time I dropped slightly down onto the granite slabs and made my way along the talus here. It took a bit more caution as the talus was sitting directly on top of smooth granite slabs and could be easily knocked down hill. After the last slopes down I was back at
Lonely Lake again. I set up in the same camp as the year before and closed a difficult yet rewarding day.
Leaving camp I was a bit torn on the best way to Pterodactyl Pass. I considered hooking out around
the bowl in front of me to avoid loosing altitude but after more detailed surveying of the terrain I decided that dropping directly down and crossing was the best way to go. After a few steep granite slabs and crossing by some mosquito encouraging
tarns I was on my way up. This past couldn't be much easier. Zig zagging along granite avoiding all talus and with little effort I was
on top. From the pass I hooked right moving North West in a wide arch avoiding more intermixed terrain littered with
some tarns. The area had more nasty mosquito pits and for one of the first times on this trip I was mounting my head net. The Tablelands are an unusual place to travel. A wide expanse of barren landscape offering some
vistas but generally is dull to travel. Easy yet irksome at times. I would mostly regard it as a connector zone that is best traveled quickly. After zig zagging and going over the small ups and downs I reached the edge looking down on
Table Meadows. As I made my way down this steeper bit of terrain I saw a man below making his way up. I figured our paths would cross but he seemed to make a point to stay away from me so I continued on my way down the valley.
Traveling down the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River proved to be a bit more difficult then I might have expected. The terrain was so mixed with granite micro cliffs and brush that I followed the creek through several more difficult areas which would not have been possible in higher water. Finally after an uneventful stretch I hooked left and over a small hump to get my first look at
Pear Lake. I began left across this granite area until I was walking on some steep slabs. I wondered what I must look like from a distance. Arriving at
the lake however I found it to be abandoned. I had noted the poor Ranger cabin that for some reason and been placed far below the lake. I wanted to go down and say hello but I was too lazy. I got set up and wandered around taking
pictures as a few more people began showing up. I quickly learned this area was a repeat of Franklin Lakes as the Marmots began assaulting my camp so I could have no rest. I attempted to teach a Marmot not to chew on my solar panel by stopping it every time it tried to do it. After the 15th time the Marmot wandered off to terrorize someone else's camp.
As I made my way out of the area I heard that familiar deep sounding call. As I came around the corned I finally caught my first view of the culprit. I was completely amazed to find that it was a
Grouse! A STUPID GROUSE! For the last four years I had been hearing that call and never knew what it was. I had been asked by countless people what it was and I had asked countless people and no one had an answer. It was nothing more then the mating call of a Grouse... I marched along quite happy that such a long running mystery had been solved.
As I reached the creek that runs between Emerald & Aster Lake I spotted a
Deer and her two babies. I watched them for a bit as they happily grazed. Then suddenly one of the fawns plopped down into the grass. I chuckled to myself that the poor little thing was so small it could not get it's head above the grass but time passed and it did not come out. I stood and watched as the curious mother searched the ground where her baby had fallen. She was upset and began digging at the ground. This went on for about 10 minutes when I realized that I was going to have to do something so I took my pack off and approached the mom slowly talking to her softly. The baby was crying and she clearly did not want to leave as by the time I got to where it had fallen she was about 6 feet away from me. I looked down to see that a deep cut water channel was running through the grass. The fawn was up to it's neck in water and was caught under some roots. I could tell it's struggle was futile and it would never make it out alive. I reached in and with a scream from both the baby and the mother I picked the poor thing out and set it into the grass. The mother had backed off 15 feet and just stood and stared at me cold. The fawn stayed collapsed in the grass shaking both from fear and the freezing water it had spent the last 10 minutes in. I stood and waited as the mother made no move towards her baby and only stared at me like I had killed it. Finally after about a minute the fawn slowly got to it's feet and the mother immediately was excited to see that her baby was ok. They went to each other and she began cleaning her baby up. The mother and I exchanged one last glance and I got my pack back on and resumed the trail. I was so moved by the experience I could hardly express myself. It became one of the best experiences I have ever had hiking the Sierra.
As I neared the junction that goes to The Watch Tower I was confused to find a rough trail leading off into the forest. I thought it was the junction I wanted although it was not marked. The trail did how ever have cut logs on it. I followed it for about a hundred yards and lost it completely. Maybe this was a reroute or some trail used by trail crews I thought so I back tracked and found the proper way. As I reached the
Watch Tower I climbed the steeper sides of it from the trail and got some views from the top. From here it was all down hill to Lodgepole. Before I got there however I ran into a mother, her daughter and niece. They chatted me up a bit and were amazed with my hike. They offered to feed me dinner and gave me their camp site number.
Reaching Lodgepole I again considered the idea of how long I would stay. And for what ever reason I decided to do two layover days. That night I joined the 3 girls at camp for a nice dinner and exchanged stories.
The following day I kept running into them again everywhere I went like we were stalking each other. They fed me dinner again and we did a hike to Tokopah Falls which was one of the only hikes I had not done in this area.
When all was said and done it was time to get moving again. I took the trail towards Silliman Pass and ran into a couple that where headed the same way but were much slower than me. As I had learned in 2010 this trail was uneventful as I went past Twin Lakes and
over Silliman Pass. When I reached Ranger Lake I began looking for a site with a Bear Box since I had heard there was one here. I couldn't find it though and settled with an ok camp on the Northern side of the Lake. I had long taken a dip in the lake, ate my dinner by the fire and retreated to my tent to escape the mosquitoes as the last light of the day was coming to an end when the couple I had run into earlier came stumbling into camp. I offered them my camp which they accepted. By about 1am we finally went to bed.
