Category: USA

August 7-12

Hiking in the second half of the 10-day section got more intense – we crossed four high passes in five days, and stayed quite a bit above 3000 m. It was also becoming easier with half of the food already gone and Piotr taking some weight from Joanna. As we were getting closer to next resupply we started supplementing daily rations from reserves. Getting up before 7 am and waiting with most morning activities until Sun comes-up from behind mountains to keep us warm worked best. We were moving one full day ahead of our plan and we decided to use it for extra rest day in Independence, our next resupply stop – in retrospect, it was a very good idea !

Upper Palisade Lake is at 3320 m, so crossing 3688 m Mather Pass on 8.2-mile day looked easy, 400 m up and 600 m down. But somehow we both felt it was the most difficult pass on our route. Perhaps some fatigue was setting in.

We were gaining altitude hiking through rocky landscape above Palisade Lakes and tree-line, then on quite steep switchbacks before Mather Pass. Downhill switchbacks on the other side were also steep and landscape looked barren, even with some tarns in Upper Basin at the base of the pass where we stopped for longer break. South Fork Kings River flows from the lakes/tarns in this area and we continued down along its valley until it was time to stop for the night (without going up).

Next day we crossed Pinchot Pass, two-step 600 m ascent with relaxing flat middle part along Lake Marjorie. On descent along Woods Creek to Twin Lakes we talked to park ranger about possible campsites on the lower of the lakes, but in the end we parked at small tarn above them – to save time as we wanted to spend the rest of the sunny day relaxing. Water in the tarn was drinkable, but also warm to rinse ourselves and for minimalistic laundry (all no-soap). In the morning we continued hiking down Woods Creek, dropping 700 m, only to regain 500 m in the afternoon. We stayed at Dollar Lake, nice but with part of camping area closed for restoration and remaining options not too good. In retrospect, we should had continued to Arrowhead Lake, even if it stretched the day’s distance well above 9 miles. We now entered JMT section very popular with short-distance backpackers (coming via side trails).

We passed Arrowhead Lake next morning and walked rather slowly along beautiful Rae Lakes (definitely more hikers in this area), before hiking up to Glen Pass – Joanna’s favorite pass, with great views all along the way. The original plan was to leave JMT and push on to Kearsarge Lakes to make the following day shorter – we wanted to have all afternoon and evening in motel in Independence to eat, shower and pack resupplies. Now with extra rest day in Independence we were not in big hurry. Coming down from Glen Pass we saw lake/tarn with water, but when we later started looking for campsite, there was no water available anywhere. We had no choice, but to walk pass Kearsarge trail junction to Bullfrog Lake trail junction and small stream. It was getting late, so we stayed there. Kearsarge (upper) trail was our original direction, but we knew there was no water there until Kearsarge Lakes (too far that day).

We arrived one day earlier and there were no rooms available at Independence Inn where we had reservation and where we sent resupply – package was waiting. We stayed one night at Courthouse Motel and second night at Independence Inn, both very good small local businesses (recommended). We “raided” both (gas station) stores and were able to gather some food, ate very good tacos from food truck and 12-in subs (enough for two meals each). Both motels are backpacker friendly, have laundry service and offer shuttle back to the trailhead. It was very hot down in the valley (35°C vs comfortable twenty in the mountains the day before) and the sky was hazy because of smoke from wild fires somewhere else. Next day we were hiking back up the mountains via Kersarge Pass (next post).

August 2-6

Our next section was 10 days and 80 miles to next resupply and extra rest day in Independence.

We spent quite a bit of time preparing resupply for this section, to carry enough calories at minimum weight. And we were quite happy to carry it all in our backpacks – our resupply bucket mailed in advance disappeared for several days, we worried it was lost and even started preparing replacement, in a hurry, as we had only two days left before leaving for California. It turned out, it was moving along fine, just much slower, and was never scanned anywhere until it happily appeared at the destination post office. Nobody knew where it was while in transit. We received notification just as we were heading to the post office to mail the replacement. It made its way to Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) Resupply Center several days later.

Joanna was “trading” on backpackers supply exchanges at all resupply stops, always found something interesting to add to our limited diet. Made some adjustments because we were hiking faster saving some food, but we sticked to the plan developed at home most of the time. Our rations were sufficient, barely. We always had some food reserve we could dig-in, if needed. Piotr experienced obvious calorie deficiency twice when we started hiking before full breakfast.

Now we just had to lift the weight up 1000 m over the following two days to pull ourselves out of the valley. It (carrying the weight) was actually not as bad as we feared, two weeks of backpacking started to make a difference. This post covers the first half of the section.

First day was easy without big altitude drops/gains, simply walking upstream South Fork San Joaquin River to Evolution Creek. We found good campsite at their confluence, some 100 m from large well established site, just below first switchbacks which we decided to leave for next day. Our bear canister was filled to capacity. We ate dinner and were left with some non-food items we decided to hang on tree – Piotr found a decent tree with long branches, but doing it right is not as easy as it sounds. Nothing got stolen. We were now at lower elevation on trails with more hikers where bear encounters happen more frequently. Not as frequent as in, for example, Smoky Mountains NP, and are rare at higher elevation this time of year at least. We talked to other hikers and rangers, and heard only one report of bear sighting on JMT – the bear was following us on trail, but we did not see it (just photo taken by another hiker).

Hiking upstream of Evolution Creek was broken into two steep sections with easier terrain in the middle. Relaxing sight of water rolling slowly through green meadows – pleasant distraction from by now familiar scenery of high rocky mountains and lakes. Water level in the creek was low (~2 feet) – the only wet crossing on our route was not big deal. We arrived at Evolution Lake relatively early. Looking down on the lake from the trail we saw attractive sites near the lake. We settled on flat peninsula, decent distance from trail and prescribed distance from water – the best camp of entire hike. Evolution Basin was our favorite part of the trail. We were now back above 3000 m, yes more blue mountain lakes and austere white and grey rocky mountains around us, heading to Muir Pass. Pleasant hike on the way up, quite tiring on the way down. We rested at Muir Hut and started descending down Middle Fork Kings River. Geology suddenly changed – from mostly granite to more colorful volcanic rocks and rusted mountains, pleasant surprise. That day was the only time we had problem finding campsite at selected location (too many backpackers), we walked further and found good spot on the river.

Another day of walking down (Kings) river valley with short ascent up Palisade Creek to end the day. Followed by another day of hiking up the creek, this time gaining more altitude (750 m). We passed Lower Palisade Lake. It was still early and we wanted to be closer to Mather Pass. At this point, we already knew how to look for campsites. There were some nice spots near the trail above Upper Palisade Lake, nice views, but the best one on rock outcrop was too small for our tent. We walked up further above the trail along Palisade Creek which flows down from lakes higher up towards the lake below – we had private waterfall shower in our backyard.

Selecting campsite can be really hard, when two people try to decide between two spots. We like camping – finding good spots is important. Joanna’s priority was protection from wind and noise, Piotr wanted the flattest spot safe from potential rain water flow. We were learning how to pitch tent between rocks and trees, using stones, wood and hiking poles as alternative to stakes (this new experience came handy later on). We often cooked dinner after dark and never took off in the morning without coffee. Most JMT hikers start at dawn and snore at dusk – some spatial separation was needed. We searched for nice views, and waited for sun in the morning to warm-up and dry out (condensation).