Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - June 10th
Day 55: Monday 10th June Mt. Wynne – Upper Palisade Lake
The water in my water bottles froze overnight, even under the flysheet. A hoar frost
covered the tent and all the vegetation and rocks. At these temperatures I try and stay
in my tent until I am ready to pack up and go. Packing up an ice-covered tent is not a
particularly pleasant task and the tent would need drying later in the day. The 1000ft
climb up snow slopes to Pinchot Pass was frozen solid and ice axe and crampons would
have been necessary if there weren’t tracks in the snow. Fortunately “Sailor” had gone
over the previous evening, when the snow was soft, and his footsteps gave me a nice
staircase.
On the descent I almost stumbled over a Ptarmigan, a type of grouse that lives
among the rocks and snowfields of the high mountains. Its winter plumage is all white to
provide camouflage in the snow, changing to a mottled pattern in the summer. I got
within about 10ft before seeing it and it wandered slowly away, seemingly totally
unconcerned. The descent was much easier than from Forester or Glen Passes because it
was less steep and being earlier in the day the snow was still frozen.
There were a number of wet-foot creek crossings on the descent to the Marjorie
Lake, with the streams high from rapidly melting snow, as it quickly warmed up during
the morning. Fortunately, the main branches of the King’s River were crossable on
fallen trees as they would have been difficult to ford. The climb into Upper Basin of the
King’s River was a delightful walk through a lightly wooded canyon and then into open
meadowland, sprinkled with little tarns. There were large snow patches higher up, but I
was able to avoid most of them and made quick progress. Rather than camp early I
decided to climb Mather Pass and hope I could find a camping spot near to the summit.
The ascent of Mather Pass was more like mountaineering than trail hiking. The
steep final slope was completely banked up with snow and there was no sign of other
hikers having gone up or down. I decided to go straight up the snow slope rather than
attempt to follow the trail, which was mainly snowed over. The snow was soft enough to
kick steps and I used my two walking poles for balance. In this soft snow the walking
poles were more use than the ice axe. If I had waited until the morning I would probably
have had to cut steps all the way up the slope, a very tiring process. When the snow
slope became too steep I had to clamber up a mixture of scree and small crags until the
trail reappeared at the very top of the Pass. I imagine thru-hikers without walking poles
or ice axe would find Mather Pass very difficult.
At the Pass I was greeted by a fly-past of a pair of Golden Eagles, birds that are
fairly common in these mountains. There were magnificent views from the Pass, but I
could not linger because it was already 5.45pm and the descent looked tricky and it didn’
t look as if I was likely to find a camping site for several hours. There was no sign of the
trail and the descent was down snows slopes and awkward crag and scree. I managed to
find a camping site in another 90 minutes. Surprisingly I didn’t feel too bad despite
having crossed two high passes in the day and been walking for 9 hours. It was my
longest day so far, but I had covered less than 14 miles.
Day 55:13.7 miles 9.00 hours Camp: above Upper Palisade Lake
The water in my water bottles froze overnight, even under the flysheet. A hoar frost
covered the tent and all the vegetation and rocks. At these temperatures I try and stay
in my tent until I am ready to pack up and go. Packing up an ice-covered tent is not a
particularly pleasant task and the tent would need drying later in the day. The 1000ft
climb up snow slopes to Pinchot Pass was frozen solid and ice axe and crampons would
have been necessary if there weren’t tracks in the snow. Fortunately “Sailor” had gone
over the previous evening, when the snow was soft, and his footsteps gave me a nice
staircase.
On the descent I almost stumbled over a Ptarmigan, a type of grouse that lives
among the rocks and snowfields of the high mountains. Its winter plumage is all white to
provide camouflage in the snow, changing to a mottled pattern in the summer. I got
within about 10ft before seeing it and it wandered slowly away, seemingly totally
unconcerned. The descent was much easier than from Forester or Glen Passes because it
was less steep and being earlier in the day the snow was still frozen.
There were a number of wet-foot creek crossings on the descent to the Marjorie
Lake, with the streams high from rapidly melting snow, as it quickly warmed up during
the morning. Fortunately, the main branches of the King’s River were crossable on
fallen trees as they would have been difficult to ford. The climb into Upper Basin of the
King’s River was a delightful walk through a lightly wooded canyon and then into open
meadowland, sprinkled with little tarns. There were large snow patches higher up, but I
was able to avoid most of them and made quick progress. Rather than camp early I
decided to climb Mather Pass and hope I could find a camping spot near to the summit.
The ascent of Mather Pass was more like mountaineering than trail hiking. The
steep final slope was completely banked up with snow and there was no sign of other
hikers having gone up or down. I decided to go straight up the snow slope rather than
attempt to follow the trail, which was mainly snowed over. The snow was soft enough to
kick steps and I used my two walking poles for balance. In this soft snow the walking
poles were more use than the ice axe. If I had waited until the morning I would probably
have had to cut steps all the way up the slope, a very tiring process. When the snow
slope became too steep I had to clamber up a mixture of scree and small crags until the
trail reappeared at the very top of the Pass. I imagine thru-hikers without walking poles
or ice axe would find Mather Pass very difficult.
At the Pass I was greeted by a fly-past of a pair of Golden Eagles, birds that are
fairly common in these mountains. There were magnificent views from the Pass, but I
could not linger because it was already 5.45pm and the descent looked tricky and it didn’
t look as if I was likely to find a camping site for several hours. There was no sign of the
trail and the descent was down snows slopes and awkward crag and scree. I managed to
find a camping site in another 90 minutes. Surprisingly I didn’t feel too bad despite
having crossed two high passes in the day and been walking for 9 hours. It was my
longest day so far, but I had covered less than 14 miles.
Day 55:13.7 miles 9.00 hours Camp: above Upper Palisade Lake
Crater Mountain
Upper Marjorie Lake
South Fork Kings River
Cardinal Mountain
across Upper Basin
across Upper Basin
Mather Pass
Palisade Crest from
Mather Pass
Mather Pass
 |  |
| |