The 3 Pass 3 Day Seki Challenge!
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Well it's time for another trip into SEKI for me this year. This time I was joined by Jack Elliot, Justin (a new comer to BPL and a rising star!), Marc Eldridge, Rick Eldridge, Adam Criswell and myself. We all started off on the 4th of July embarking on an 8 hour drive to Onion Valley trailhead. Rick and Marc were gracious enough to drive themselves while Justin and I picked up Adam at the ole In And Out in Manteca. After finally arriving, it was clear, this was going to be a special hike with a fantastic bunch. Campsite secured, we settled down for a good night sleep and the car shuttle move to our destination, Shepherd Pass. A few things struck me on this hike. First, this was the earliest that I have ever been up at this elevation. In years past, the snow would still be melting in the high country, but due to our mild winter, our melt happened much quicker. Secondly, this trip would have the most mildest weather I have ever encountered on a Sierra hike. Highs on Wednesday through Saturday were in the high 70's. Wow! The two things that I personally came away with from this hike was that I could hike effectively with my diabetes. The second thing I came away with is that hiking with my body being much lighter made it much easier…I have lost 35 pounds over the last 8 months. Oh and third….I ate meals 3 times a day plus snacking…I have learned my lesson..eat up!!!!!!!! This trip really pushed my comfort level and I think maybe the others too. The trip was an amazing re-affirmation as to why I love The Sierras so much. Firstly I want to thank Tom Kirchner for his ever so detailed information. The lake that he suggested for us on our last night was fantastic. It had amazing views of The Great Western Divide. Secondly, I want to thank my hiking crew for such great company and memories. THANK YOU!
Tree coming up Kearsarge Pass Trail
clouds over The Crest….A low came in from Mexico and provided much cloud cover over our whole trip
Heart Lake, pretty explanatory. Heading up Kearsarge Pass
JMT Sign
Free Food??? I AM SOOO THERE…Wait! I am not going there…. that is uphill from here….never mind!
Looking At where we are going…Bubbs Crk. Headwaters
The 3 Crew Challenge heading towards the Center Basin Jct. where we will spend the night
Crew at camp talking the finer points of Cuban fiber
looking at our next days destination…..Forester Pass
Flowers on the way to Forester Pass
Looking up at where we are going
Heading up Forester Pass
Junction Peak
Switchbacks
Doing it punk rock style….
Behind the sign. Looking down
The crew hiking down Forester's south side
Stark beauty
Looking back at Forester…the actual notch is the one in the middle with a little snow in it. It is hard to imagine a pass going through this area. My gratitude to the hard working guys back in the 30's that built this. Your Govt. money hard at work!
Heading towards an unmaned lake near Diamond Mesa
Great Western Divide
After finding the lake we needed to find shelter from the wind. We opted to stay at this lake instead of Tyndall Crk. Ranger Station. The wind had me a little apprehensive. But as the evening progressed, it died down and we found a nice spot across the lake. We had a great view of The Great Western Divide and a little bit of the Kern Kaweah Div.
Does anyone know the name of the peak in the middle. It looks like a finger pointing up??
Last days food….I actually packed the correct amount!
Heading east up Shepherd Pass
Me at Shepherd Pass
"Stop sign" or "stock sign"…In a few minutes I would be heading down Shepherd Pass and wonder why anyone would bring a horse or cattle up this pass…insane!
Mt. Tyndall
Adam is the first in our group to head down. Sketchy to say the least. Love it!
Funny how grown men become boys when they are in the mountains. Justin and Jack having some fun going down the trail
looking back at where we had come from
Dirty feet at Carls Jr.
The last day turned into a death march. After coming down Shepherd Pass, we took a break at Anvil Camp and had some lunch and quenched our thirst. The plan was to hike down to Mahogany Flats and get up early Sunday to hike out, beat the heat and get home at at decent hour. Welllll…….. once we got to Mahogany Flats there was only exposed sites with no shade. It was hot as heck so we decided to push on to the next water source which was below the saddle where you start hiking up again. Marc and Rick met up with us and the decision was made to hike out to the trailhead. We started to hike up this saddle and we came to realize that this is the dip where you have to gain 500 feet. Ohhhhh this killed me!!!!!!!!! But soon we gained the saddle and were back to descending. This part would take us all the way back down to the valley floor. After each bend I would start thinking about when will the canyon open up and this hike would end. As we started hiking next to the creek I knew we were close. Then, all of a sudden, I come across the stock/hiker divide trail. As we hike a few minutes I see car rooftops!!!!!!!!!!!! I yelled at huge YEAH!!!!!!!!! Made it!
Post pictures and laughs happend!
Post hike….Since we got out at 5pm the decision I made was to drive home. In turn I would drop off Adam and Justin and be home around 3am…..welllll no.
As we turn onto Highway 395 North, we noticed the heavy traffic heading south. Interesting. Then right before Big Pine the traffic comes to a complete stop. Fire….The highway was closed and they were letting some traffic through escorted. As I look up I see a huge fire in the Taboose Pass region. That is a bummer. We got to Bishop and met Marc and Rick for dinner at Carls Jr. which was my diabetes traeat for 36 miles in 3 days. I did order a much needed salad with my burger just to let you know. The drive was fun and the company was great. I got home at FOUR IN THE MORNING! Wow was I tired!What an awesome trip that was. I have been wanting to get up into the High Sierras since I moved to California and this was the perfect opportunity. Ken summed the trip up well, we had a great group and I look forward to hiking with all of you again.
Here are some pictures:
Columbine and River
Beautiful wildflowers along the trail above Onion Valley trailhead
Marc chillaxin' on top of Kearsarge Pass
Sunset at our fist camp
Flowers and mountain
On the way up Forester Pass
Justin at the party on Forester
Jack in Sequoia and Kings Canyon at the same time
Ken and Justin descending
Marmot portrait
Random Pond
Going Forth
Another Flower
Marc waiting patiently
Consultation
Epic landscapes
Rick and Justin cruising along
Campsite by moonlight
Star trails over lake
Ken hiking the moon
Resting
Enjoying the Silence
Happy end of the Death March!
Great fun guys, can't wait to do it again.
We were up north of Mammoth last week as well. As you mentioned the weather was spectacular. We drove home on Sat, so I guess we missed the excitement around Taboose.
I soloed your exact route the first week of June. I spent the first night below Forester, then headed out day 2 down Shepherd to the TH.
Here's a pic of Forester:
Here's what the SP chute looked like:
That whole region is awesome. I'm planning another weekend semi-fastpack in a few weeks around Whitney.
Went to Kens house early on the 4th and were going to carpool with him but as it turned out we needed to drive because of the shuttle at the end of the trip. Left Scotts Valley about 8am and drove past this building.
Finally got to Onion Valley about 3pm, a long drive. A view east from road into Onion valley.
The clouds cooled things quite nicely.
Jason and Jack
An early start on the 5th.
Gnarly
On the way to Kearsarge Pass.
First view of Kearsarge.
At the top of Kearsarge looking west.
The Kearsarge Pinnacles
Lunch by Frog Lake
Looking up the Bubb Creek Basin
Ken's tarp and Jason's hexamid.
Jack's homemade tarp. Anyone need a tarp? Great workmanship.
Cuben Duomid. A little squishy for two.
Another early start to Forester Pass
Nice rockwork for the stream crossings on the trail to Forester.
View back down Bubb Creek.
Forester Pass. Only a few hundred feet to go.
Nice little garden at the top.
View of lakes through the notch on the south side of Forester.
Very impressive trail work on the south side.
Looking up 3 sets of switchbacks. Adam Ken and Rick.
More of the trail.
The trail switchbacks down this face.
Lunch at the second lake past Forester Pass.
A little pond along the trail.
We were going to stay somewhere near the Shepard Pass trail junction but decided to cut cross country and save ourselves some climbing the next day. Got another early start to Shepard Pass.
Was a little windy so Jack set up the tarp as a wind break. Had a small ice crystal come out of my rum runner flask that morning.
View to the south from the lake we stayed at.
Interesting crack in the rock.
Rick and Marc. Looking south at Shepard Pass.
View of Shepard Pass from the bottom.
Looking toward the valley. We are way up there.
Our last glimpse of Shepard Pass.
With each vista of the valley floor it still looked along way down.
Cacti. Is pretty dry on the east side
Looking back up just before the trailhead.
Jack had eaten a handful of chocolate covered coffee beans so finally caught us a few hundred yards before the trailhead.
Shepard Pass Trailhead. Still a ways up from the valley. We all piled in Ricks truck for the drive back to Onion Valley.
We were following Ken to the burger place in Bishop when we came upon a road closure for a fire near Taboose pass. The highway patrol had the southbound lanes blocked and were leading cars each way
Here goes nothing, hopefully I resized all the photos right.
First, thank you Ken for another great hike. I was amazed how much better we did on this hike compared to last year. You, me, and Marc have all lost a lot of weight and it makes a big difference, everybody looked in great shape. Last year I had a 26# pack with food and water, and I personaly weighed 217#. This year the pack weight with food and water was 23# and I came in at 165#, I even brought more food this year. Last year I planned on only eating twice a day , this year I ate 3 times a day, good meals not just snacks. The 1st day I felt great averaging about 2-2/12 mph going up Kearsage Pass, after Kearsage I hyperextended my knee and it gave me fits all weekend, but with the help of an ace wrap from Adam, and some wrapping experience from Justin, plus some chocolate covered coffe beans, I tuffed it out and made it to the trail head "1ST" NANER NANER. Sorry Marc I couldn't resist.
First day heading up Kearsage
I was amazed at all the wild flowers still blooming.
Adam coming up Kearsage Pass
Here's Adam taking more great pictures, you're getting really good at it Adam. I love all the pictures you've posted so far. I guess it was worth the 6# of extra camera gear, keep it up.
Here comes the newbie, great job Justin. I had a great time hiking with you and the reast of the guys.
This reminded me of the Matterhorn.
Here comes Rick up the pass, our other newbie, fishermen turned UL hiker, great job.
This nice buck let me get within about 20 yards of him, so I could get a nice close up shot. This was while we were taking a lunch break down by Frog Lake, more precisley the inlet.
Marc and Ricks hotel for the night.
My digs for the night. This was my MYOG solo tarp that measured 5 1/2' x 8' and weighs 7 oz without lines. I may start making these to sell, I'll let you know or you can pm me. This night I used it as a wind break/lean to, along with a John West bivy, and a Tim Marshall quilt, my MYOG pillows one for the head and one for my knees.
Kens rest stop for the night.
This was all the Alpineglow I seen for the whole trip, what a shame to because we had some great back drops for it on this trip.
We did have some great sunsets though.
More pics later, I need to go to bed!
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