5 of us did a 9 day / 8 night hike starting at Crescent Meadow, the official starting point of the High Sierra Trail (HST), and exiting over Shepherd Pass. The official eastern terminus is Mt. Whitney, and most people exit through Whitney Portal. We wanted to avoid the busy/overrun Whitney Zone.
Since this was a one-way hike crossing the Sierra from east to west, the logistics were more involved than usual. We needed a shuttle to get from the east side to the starting point. Fortunately, a friend and a family member offered to help with that.
Day 0:
4 of us met at the Shepherd Pass trailhead in the Symmes Creek drainage. We also met another friend there who would take us over to Crescent Meadow the next day.
From the trailhead, we moved to Lone Pine campground for the night.
Day 1:
The first rays of the sun hit Mt. Whitney and Mt. Williamson, the 2 highest peaks in California. A good omen.
After a great breakfast in the Alabama Hills Cafe, we started our 6+h drive to Sequoia National Park, where we picked up our permit and met the 5th member of our hiking group. Next, we were dropped off at the HST trailhead.
We started hiking just before 3 pm. Our destination for the day was Mehrten Creek Camp, about 6 miles away. The route led through forest, starting with the big Sequoias, along shelf/cliffside trail sections, and provided sweeping canyon views. The camp itself only had about a handful of decent spots to put down a sleeping bag or set up a tent. With 8 other people there, it was a tight fit.
Hiking stats: 6 miles, 1,500 ft ele. gain.
Day 2:
After breakfast and packing up, we headed out towards Hamilton Lake, our next camp. This segment and the next took us over the most impressive cliffside shelf-trail sections of the trip. An enormous amount of planning, engineering (primarily by John Diehl), and construction work has gone into the section between Bear Paw Meadow and Kaweah Gap (named by J. Diehl). Superintendent John R. White had the final word at the time and he insisted on fitting the trail into the landscape without disturbing it too much. He succeeded. In places we were sitting there, looking up a canyon or slope, wondering how the trail would get us over it. Even though we knew the trail would go there, we could not always make it out ahead of time. (see below for some construction info)
Hamilton Lake is a very popular destination on the HST. It appears that a lot of people hike in and out to it from Crescent Meadow. There were several dozen campers, and it had a crowded feel to it. We did, however, find a site where we all fit and that was a little away from it all.
Hiking stats: 9.8 miles, 2,240 ft ele. gain.
Day 3:
Hamilton Lake to Nine Lake Basin. The trail starts climbing right up from the lake, but due to the gentle grade it was surprisingly “easy” to gain 2,100 ft over the 3.22 miles to reach Precipice Lake. Here we filled our water bottles/bladders and had snack break. Next followed a very gentle climb to the top of the Pass, Kaweah Gap. From the pass we had a great view of Nine Lake Basin. We reconfirmed our commitment to the original plan to spend the next day taking it easy hanging out and exploring in that basin.
We found a great spot away from the trail with good access to a creek and settled in for a couple of nights. It was my favorite campsite of this trip.
Hiking stats: 5.3 miles, 3,000 ft ele. gain.
Day 4:
Dave and I decided to scramble/hike up to the “Long Lake”, in part to get a look of the west side of the cross-country Pyra-Queen Col that provides a class 3 route over the Great Western Divide into the Kaweah Basin. The others stayed around camp or did their own exploring.
Hiking stats: 3.5 miles, 1,500 ft ele. gain.
Day 5:
I left a little before the others since I wanted to take a detour up Mount Kaweah on the way to today’s destination, Moraine Lake. The trail took me down towards Big Arroyo Camp and then back up to about 10,600 ft. After that point the trail drops again. I stashed my pack among some granite boulders, of course I placed the bear canister with the food a distance away from the pack. After making sure I had water, first aid kit, snacks, inReach, jacket, etc. in my small peak pack, I marked the stash’s position and set out for the peak.
I first had to cross a large talus field with big talus. It was time-consuming and in hindsight I did not pick the best approach. It would have been better to start where I ended up coming down. After the talus it was a slow slog up a sandy/rocky slope. At around 13,000 ft I got into more mid-size talus and made sluggish progress. When I finally reached what looked like the top, I had to discover that I was still about 400 ft off horizontally. Doesn’t sound too bad? Well, it was all talus I had to scramble through and over. If I hadn’t seen a fast route down, I would have turned around because I had reached the halfway time point I had set. I wanted to be back on the trail by sunset.
In the end I decided I had time on top to enjoy the amazing 360 views. There was barely a breeze up there and I had a 45 min break enjoying a sardine and cracker lunch while admiring all the peaks to the east from which I had seen this peak so often.
As expected I was back at my stash quite quickly. Now I had to hike about 4.5 miles to get to camp. Fortunately, it was all level or downhill. The last hour I hiked in the dark with my headlamp on. When I got close to the lake and was mentally about done with that hike, I saw a red light through the trees. They’d left a light on for me, that put a smile on my tired face. As I approached the light it started moving and I saw a person moving away from the trail. I aimed for the light. It turned out that Ernie had seen my light and now was guiding me directly to a spot to put my tent. It was around 9 pm by this time.
An awesome day with a cool ending.
Hiking stats: 15.25 miles, 4,350 ft ele. gain.
Day 6:
From Moraine Lake we went down about 2,600 ft to the Kern River and then north to the Kern Hot Springs. Just when we reached the valley bottom a mule train passed us. They were supporting a group of 7 hikers.
In 1934 a cement tub was built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at the hot springs. It is big enough for just one person. Originally it was covered by a wooden shack. There was a shack at the spring since at least 1932 already.
Some of us did a little hot/cold therapy here. It was hot down in the Kern Valley and so I stayed in the river for about 8 min after my hot soak to get my core temperature down. It worked. I was a little cold, even shivering, during lunch in the shade. However, less than 30 min into the hike I was as hot as everyone else again.
With plenty of time left in the day, we decided to continue hiking and walked about 4 more miles until we found a great campsite.
Hiking stats: 11.4 miles, 880 ft ele. gain
Day 7:
Today was the day we had to climb back out of the Kern River valley. First, we continued along the river to Junction Meadow. Here we had another encounter with the packers who were packing up to move along. We had a nice chat with them. Talking to them, seeing their gear, animals, and mode of travel kind of took us back to the days 95 years ago when the HST was constructed.
Right after the meadow the trail climbs 800 ft up some steep switchbacks without any shade. Where the HST turns right into the Wallace Creek canyon we left it and continued up the Kern River. At the spot where Malte and I camped last year we had our lunch.
Next we had to find the John Dean Cutoff trail. The NPS says about it: “Unmaintained trail from Tyndall Creek Ranger Station to Kern Canyon open to stock use.” At the intersection with the trail we were on, it indeed was not maintained. There was no indication of a trail or sign. Working up the switchbacks we encountered a trail crew working on the trail. So much for “unmaintained”. It turns out the cutoff is used for stock use by the Park Service for trail crews and to support backcountry ranger stations. We also met the Tyndall Creek Ranger. He has a nice stone cabin about half a mile away from the JMT. We found a campsite that barely accommodated our group close by.
Hiking stats: 9.9 miles, 3,400 ft ele. gain
Day 8:
Time to get up and over Shepherd Pass. Compared to the previous day it was a very gentle walk ;). While admiring the panoramas, we noticed dark clouds moving in from the southwest. We quickly took our group pictures and headed down on the east side. Just after making it down the loose, slippery top 700 ft of the pass we felt the first raindrops. Fortunately, it did not start raining in earnest.
At Anvil Camp we had our choice of campsites. We picked the one where Malte and I camped last year. After lunch a light rain started and continued into the night. We did slip out for a quick dinner when the rain was especially light but otherwise spent the afternoon in our tents.
Hiking stats: 6.25 miles, 1,400 ft ele. gain
Day 9:
No more rain, but some threatening clouds. The clouds made the hike rather pleasant by keeping the temperatures down. Below Symmes Saddle we met all the hikers coming in that day. Every single group was there to climb Mt. Williamson. That peak is busy these days.
At the bottom we cleaned up a bit in Symmes Creek and had our celebratory beer and chips. We all agreed that this was another unforgettable outing in the Sierra and we started talking about next time already.
Hiking stats: 8.55 miles, 650 ft ele. gain
Hike Summary
76 miles, 19, 280 ft elevation gain.
(Profile generated in Caltopo.)
Historic Background on the Trail Construction
Hiking along the cliffs on this very well-designed and built trail, we were wondering: How did they do this almost 100 years ago? With some research on the internet, I found some pictures and tidbits. The main sources are:
* The excellent book: “Granite Pathways” (ISBN-13: 978-1878441225)
* The YouTube Video “High Sierra Trail, Gentle Ribbon of Rocks“
* NPGallery website for public domain photos.
The trail was supposed to be suitable for stock travel and therefore 4 ft wide with a grade not exceeding 8%.
The single biggest obstacle was the Hamilton Gorge. A suspension bridge with a span of 140 ft was designed:
* 41,000 lb of construction material was brought in on over 200 mule loads
* Max. length of construction material was 6 ft
* The cables could not be transported by mule. They were unrolled and carried in by people, a person every few feet
* The bridge was finished in the fall of 1932 and lasted just 5 years before it was taken out by an avalanche in the winter of 1937/1938.
* Instead of building a new bridge today’s trail was build, including a short tunnel and half-tunnel.
