Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports HST: High Sierra Trail and Pants Pass

My wife and I spent the night at the Stony Creek motel along the General's Highway, and we ate breakfast at the swanky Wuksachi Lodge. I loaded up on bagels and bread there, as I realized I'd forgotten to grab the bread from home for the trip. We finally got to the trail head about 8:30, took several pictures, and I was off.

The pack is an 8-ounce cuben fiber pack from Zpacks.com. A bit fragile, but sure worth any extra trouble due to its light weight.

More pictures...

Piece of a hornet's nest.

Nice view across the Kaweah River gorge, looking at Castle Rocks.

That first day, upon reaching Bearpaw High Sierra Camp, it wasn't quite 4 PM. I felt pretty strong, and looking at the map, Hamilton Lakes was just 4 miles ahead, only 600' higher. I didn't realize there was some significant loss and gain in elevation: -600, +1200. I made it -- it just took a while.

Check out Bearpaw on the satellite view "map".

The main cabin at Bearpaw. These hikers had come from Mineral King, and were spending two nights before heading out. Pretty relaxing!

Bearpaw is nice, with a fantastic view. But no stream or lake nearby. The people told me all summer reservations are gone in several hours the first day they become available.

This was the only deer I saw on the trip. She was right by the trail, using her hoof to dig for something good to eat.

I'm not sure what these berries are. Blueberries? Huckleberries? They tasted ok, but had lots of seeds.

Answer (Thanks to RogueP!): They are Sierra Currants (Ribes Nevadense) -- A gooseberry is in the currant family, I think. (See Google's images).

The Footbridge over Lone Pine Creek. It's a deep chasm, no way to get water here. There's even a remnant of an old bridge below that broke and fell.

Day 2 started with a long climb from Hamilton Lake. The trail starts at 8200', and climbs steadily to Kaweah Gap at 10,700'.  The remarkable thing about the High Sierra Trail is that in most places, it was built with an amazingly even ascent rate. So the climb was steady, and not steep -- rather enjoyable, in fact, as I could watch Hamilton lake below, turning ever darker blue as I ascended.

This is a giant Juniper tree growing right by the trail.  The cliffs of Valhalla can be seen behind the tree. (album view)

Clicking on most of the pictures will link to a larger view.

This short tunnel is the most remarkable engineering feature of the entire High Sierra Trail.  About 1 1/2 mile and 1000 feet above Hamilton Lake, there is a massive narrow chute that cuts the granite. Builders originally erected concrete anchors and built a suspension bridge, but it apparently broke, probably under heavy snow. The anchors and concrete are still there, and so are several coils of monster cable -- with frayed ends.

This trail and tunnel extends horizontally back into the chute and out again along the opposite wall. I understand that in heavy snow years, this may be the last spot to open for hikers to pass, due to a steep icy snow bank blocking the trail.

Looking back at the tunnel.  Hamilton Lake is far below.

Pretty flowers along the trail.

While I was busy taking closeups of pretty flowers and getting water from a stream, I cannot believe I completely missed this view! (This is not my picture. source) Before ascending to Precipice Lake, the trail overlooks Hamilton Lake, with a grand view of Valhalla.

Valhalla is the name of a Great Hall, in Norse or Germanic mythology, where heroes slain in battle lived eternally.

Precipice Lake -- Jewel of the High Sierra Trail.

Truly a special place. Elevation is about 10,300', the lake is deep and blue, with one side bordered by 300' high cliffs. I took a good break here, climbing around to get pictures from various angles. It is difficult to choose the best ones from all the pictures.

This link is a view of Ansel Adams' "Frozen Lake and Cliffs" taken at Precipice Lake.

As I climbed around Precipice Lake, I happened upon this -- a big spider having a bee for lunch.  Fortunately I spotted it before breaking the huge web. I am amazed that such a creature could survive the winters here.
Click on the picture to see it even larger.

While I explored the lake, about a dozen hikers came along -- a number I had camped with at Hamilton Lake, and others who had just come over the Great Western Divide at Kaweah Gap. It started raining at the lake, but lasted only long enough for me to put on my rain parka.

Hiking up to the gap was easy and gentle. There, I rested and talked with Emily and Stephanie from the SF Bay Area -- Emily returns to Hamilton Lake nearly every year. This trip she was introducing her friend to the beauty. They had day hiked to the gap, and would return to their camp at Hamilton Lake.

Another group of six men from Texas, who had also spent the night at Hamilton Lake, had been planning on doing the same as me -- leaving the HST, and heading over Pants Pass. The pass could be seen from Kaweah Gap, and it took them about ten minutes to decide to change course and head down the Big Arroyo, following the trail. Unfortunately, the next morning, when I talked to them, one of their group was having intestinal and headache problems, and decided to head back to the trail head, while the rest would move on.