July 16, 2013 - Guitar Lake

Title: July 16, 2013 - Guitar Lake

Hike Info:

Trail:  John Muir Trail

Starting location:  Tyndale Frog Ponds

Destination:  Guitar Lake

Distance:   10.8 miles ¹

Start Time:   7:40

End Time:   4:45

Travel Time: 9:05 (1.19 mph)

Moving Time: 5:09 (2.10 mph)

Elevation Rise:   1,575' ¹

Maximum Elevation:  11,559'

Description:

Usual morning routine. Got on the trail around 7:40. But we have re-arranged our packs a bit. I am carrying  the bear canister Sherri was carrying with the idea that it might make going up to Whitney a bit faster and easier. With us down to less than a week's food, this should not be too bad. I can feel the weight, but not as bad as I expected.

Bighorn Plateau

We start our first climb of the day, up to 11,400'. This is the pond we debated about going to last night on Bighorn Plateau. The pond itself is almost perfectly circular, and there looks like the water would be easy to filter. The view is fabulous from there. The place gives a clear view of the upper Kern drainage. And there in lies the problem. The campsite would have been very exposed, to wind, sun or any kind of weather. While it was a beautiful morning, we are still glad we stayed close to the frog ponds.

Whitney with Hut

Towards the Wallace Drainage

Once over the plateau, we start to descend into Wright and Wallace Creeks, where there are good campsites. We even get a good view Whitney, with the hut on top. We take a break at the three mile mark, at Wright's Creek. Nice place to stop and camp. The hiking group from Orange County catches up to us here and passes us. 

After crossing Wallace, we start a major climb up to the ridge which will bring us down into Crabtree Meadows. This is navigated pretty well, with some rests along the way. Chris and Steve catch up to us, and pass us in this section. We go into Sandy Meadow, where the map shows a creek. But every ravine is dried up. So we stop for lunch and just enjoy a view of the meadow.

Timberline Lake

Then it is on to Crabtree. By now the sun is high overhead, without the benefit of a filtering cloud. We are a bit hot when we pull into Crabtree. The trail does not run next to the creek, so we need to be content with looking down at it. We eventually have a second lunch beside the trail. Then go on for a half of a mile, when the trail pulls beside Crabtree Creek.  There is a nice little spot where we drop our packs, filter water and take a short nap. There is a "No Camping" sign, but nothing about "No Stopping". George catches up to us here.

Guitar Lake

At Timberline Lake, we take a few pictures, and meet the Crabtree Ranger, Greg P. friendly fellow. Then it is off to Guitar Lake. This will be our launch point for Whitney tomorrow. In the meantime, it is a thousand foot climb from Crabtree to Guitar and we are feeling it. With the sun beating down on us, it is even penetrating our clothes. But we make it there. Not as many people as Sherri expected, still we search a bit for a site, finally finding one on the east side of the lake. (36.57165, -118.3125)

We ordered a room with a view

Sherri is pretty tired. I think the altitude is getting to her. We are at 11,500'. She does fix dinner and we eat well, with the thought of possibly going out tomorrow. It is early to bed, watching a Dr. Who episode.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Peanut Butter and Nutella on crackers	Beef and Cabbage Wrap	Clif Bar, Jelly Bellies, CytoMax, Propel, GORP, Bank Balls

 ¹The supplied figures above come from either the book John Muir Trail: The essential guide to hiking America's most famous trail by Elizabeth Wenk or from topo maps. My GPS did record the full track on this day, but it is substantially different than the books. I am inclined to believe the books on the mileage. But I think that I am under counting the elevation rise because the book does not have the top of the ridges.

Distance:  9.48 miles

Elevation Rise:  2,221'

Maximum Elevation: 11,558'

Range to the south

Gary and Whitney

Mountains to the west

July 15, 2013 - Tyndall Frogs Ponds

Title: July 15, 2013 - Tyndall Frogs Ponds

Hike Info:

Trail:  John Muir Trail

Starting location: About 10,600' on Bubb's Creek

Destination:  Tyndall Creek

Actual Destination:  Tyndall Frog Ponds

Distance:   9.8  ¹

Start Time:  7:00

End Time:  4:30

Travel Time:  9:30 (1.03 mph)

Moving Time: 5:39 (1.73 mph)

Elevation Rise:   2,706' ¹

Maximum Elevation: 13,100

Description:

Slept somewhat restless. I think Sherri did also. Got up around our normal time. But the sky seems darker, but the only clouds are far off. Probably means more clouds this afternoon. It will do us well to get over Forester Pass earlier than later.

Wall below Forester

The trail does climb, but we are in the woods. Glad we have climbed a few passes before this one. We know it is a long haul, but you can never be too prepared for something like this one. We even pass by where we stayed 40 years ago, even though, it takes a it of remembering to see the spot.

Bubbs Creek Drainage

Still, it is up, up, and more up. But along the way, there are jaw dropping views. So we keep going. Doing a whole lot better than Glen yesterday. While we travel about 4 miles and climb 2,500'. But given that, we really did not start to breath hard until about 12,000' elevation. Even then, we were able to go pretty well. The grading of the trail is probably one of the best we have seen.

Another thing is the vistas keep on showing new views of the slopes we have been looking at. The clouds which have been forming constantly give us a new backdrop to the mountains. Not only that, but when we lower our eyes, our gaze is met by delicate flowers growing on whatever soil they can find.

 After hours of hiking, we finally have made it to the top of Forester Pass. Out of all the people who have passed us, only two remain-Chris and Steve from Minneapolis. They are waiting for Chris's father. We have been around them for the past couple of days. The views are fabulous in both direction.  We are at the boundary of Sequoia and Kings Canyon. You can even see over into the eastern side of the Sierras.  We stay up there for about an hour.

Up to Forester

South from Forester

Looking back at Forester

Down Forester

Then we start down. This is a trail cut from the side of a cliff. Just phenomenal! You are looking straight down some thousand feet. Yet the trail is wide enough for a horse. But, you do not want to go too far away from the side of the cliff wall. Hope the pictures come out. We did find some trail art-was this for us? Or am I being narcissistic?

When we reach the first creek from a tarn, we stop for lunch. Chris, Steven and George all have stopped here as well. Relaxing, and enjoyable, but we are baking a bit in the high altitude sun. So we start down towards Tyndall Creek. It is a long trek down. The sun does wear on us. But even more so, is the pounding and skipping around of going downhill. Unless you do some of these long Sierra downhills, you may think that downhill must be easier than the climb. But going uphill, you get into a rhythm of step, breath, step, breath. Downhill, most of the time, there is not such a nice spacing as that.

We do stop for a break along the way. There are some big marmots scampering around. We are asked if one of them is a wolverine-nope. We finally make it to the woods, which provides some protection from the sun. Then in a little ways, we see Tyndall Creek itself. George and group have already found themselves a place. But we think we have a little bit more energy, so we go on. 

Towards Tyndall Creek

We debate whether to stop at the frog ponds or up on Bighorn Plateau. So we climb the 400' up to the frog ponds. Once we get there, we rest for a bit, then decide to stay. Found a nice site by the trail (36.63479, -118.38577). A hiking group from Orange has already pitched their tents the sites close to the pond. The other sites are nice, but if others come, people will be tent to tent to tent. 

Today's JMT Lesson:  You have only reached the top when you have arrived.  (From a fellow hiker)

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Peanut Butter and Nutella on crackers Humus	Unstuffed Potatoes Milano Mint chocolate cookies	Clif Bar, Jelly Bellies, CytoMax, Propel, GORP, Bank Balls

 ¹The supplied figures above come from either the book John Muir Trail: The essential guide to hiking America's most famous trail by Elizabeth Wenk or from topo maps. There was only partial tracks for today in my GPS. Below is the readings from today's status on the GPS. I view it as only somewhat accurate.

Distance:  10.0 miles

Elevation Rise:  1,708'

Maximum Elevation: 13,100'

Bubbs Creek Valley

Last Camp before Forester

Higher view of Bubbs Creek Drainage

Sherri Climbing

Flowers of Forester

Place: CA-Bighorn Plateau

Bighorn Plateau (quad)
(Long, Lat)

Description:


Trips:

• July 15, 2013-JMT: Sherri and Gary
• July 2007-JMT: Sherri and Andrea

Pictures:

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References:

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