I drove up to Independence and found nice spot around 5000 ft along Independence Creek. It was just a short distance on a dirt road from Onion Valley Road and the $40 for a campsite in Onion Valley felt too steep. The temperature was nice and I decided to treat myself to a burrito. So I went back down to Independence to the Taco truck.
Day 1
I hiked up to Kearsarge Pass and down on the other side. I felt good and decided to go all the way to East Lake along East Creek. On the way up the canyon, I met a young guy and learned that the typical route up Mt Brewer was obstructed by a lot of fallen trees. He had given up his Mt Brewer attempt since progress was too slow.
At East Lake I camped in one of the campsites close to the outlet of the lake.
Day 2
With the previous day’s information, I skipped a further Mt Brewer attempt and went up to Lake Reflection. The trail up to East Lake was maintained. For the remainder, one had to rely on cairns and guessing.
I set up camp in one of the camp sites on the west side of the creek exiting the main lake. Then I went on the cliffs along the lake towards the canyon leading up to Longley Pass. It was very rough terrain. After a while I turned around and returned to camp.
Day 3
There is supposed to be a class 2 route (Little Joe’s Pass) up the Kings-Kern divide. I had descriptions and one GPS track, but looking at the imposing, steep divide I rated my chances at crossing very low. However, I would only know for certain if I tried. I made it to about 11,400 ft, 1200 ft below the top. I took my big pack off and climbed ahead a little, but I did not see the route getting easier. I took inventory: I was through most of my water, progress was slow, and Brian’s reminder that I was solo in this trip came to mind. There was only one decision, turn around.
I went down to Junction Meadow at Bubbs Creek and found a nice camp site south of the river, it even had a bear box.
During my time in the canyon I only met 4 people
Day 4
In the morning I climbed the trail along Bubbs Creek to Lower Vidette Meadow. The sun was just coming out, so it was not too hot yet. Then I walked the JMT south for a little over 3 miles to the unmarked turnoff to Center Basin. Boy, was the JMT busy! I was glad to get off it.
I arrived in Center Basin at Golden Bear Lake around 13:00. It was warm and I felt the effort. So I rested, drank some Gatorade, ate crackers with cheese and finally set up camp. After some more rest, I walked south past the lake a little. Scoping out the routes up the surrounding mountains. The class 2.2 route up Bradley looks ridiculous, a loose sand/rock suffer feast. The 2.2 up Center Peak also looks sandy and steep, and it’s not clear what kind of climbing is necessary to get to the bottom of the class 4 summit rock. Mt. Keith looks interesting via the northeast ridge. Time-consuming, but it feels like there should be a route through there. I had a track, but that guy included Bradley with it in one hike. So I was not sure what class the Keith route he took might be.
Golden Bear Lake is one of the few lakes in the Sierra where the National Park Service is trying to restore a lake to it’s original fauna. They are removing the stocked fish to re-establish the original frog population.
Back at camp I got the inReach weather forecast. The next day was supposed to have a 30% chance for t-storms after 10 am. Not really the weather to climb peaks.
Day 5
The weather forecast had worsend for the next few days (rain/t-stroms/snow/hail). I decided to hike out 2 days early.
I paced myself knowing I had some uphill sections coming. Before each of the longer climbs (Vidette Meadow to just below Bull Frog Lake, Kearsarge Lakes to the pass), I took good refueling breaks. With that and the overcast sky I felt great all the way up the pass. Looking back from the pass I could see lots of dark clouds come my way. I even heard distant thunder.
I reached the truck just before 15:00. It started to rain a few minutes before I got there. Then thunder started for good and driving down from Onion Valley I got some downpour. Over the course of the day the clouds had increased and I met a number of people on the pass and then later in the parking lot who had decided to get out early and even abandon their JMT through hikes just 3-4 days before the finish on Whitney. After changing at the parking lot I drove home where I arrived at 21:20.
It was a shortened outing, but a great time in the mountains.