Trip report: Sierra Trip – Shepherd Pass and Piute Pass
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Tom Kirchner kindly agreed to take me into the Kern Basin and show me around – my first trip in the Sierras! Tom's a delightful hiking partner – great sense of humor and an intelligent conversationalist. Couldn't ask for more in a hiking partner.
We both flew into Reno Sunday, Aug. 5, and met at the airport. I figured the old, bald galoot with the wide grin was probably Tom, so I walked up and said hello. I grabbed my bags (Tom had arrived before me) and we got the rental car and drove down to Independence, staying at a local motel that night. Monday morning we were at the trailhead around 7 and headed up the trail.
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Getting ready to hit the trail!
We were in shade most of the morning, and the temp was cool, which made for a delightful start to our adventure. We moved along at a good pace and still felt strong when we turned to the sunny side of the climb.
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Getting ready to hit the sunny side of the trail
We hit Anvil Camp around noon and stopped for half an hour – had a bite to eat and refilled our water bottles, before pushing on. It was warm and sunny and our pace slowed accordingly. That last bit of the pass is a bear! Oof! But we crested and stopped for a few pics.
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The obligatory top o' the pass shots!
We headed down the trail, then went off trail to the right to a nice lake, where we camped for the evening. We hit camp around 4 p.m., pleased with how much ground we had covered.
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The trail ahead after cresting the pass
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Our campsite view
After a leisurely morning (really, all of our mornings were leisurely, we were never in much of a hurry!) we headed uphill and picked up the trail to Lake South America. After passing a small group of mule deer we climbed the pass and looked down on the lake. Gawd I loved the views I kept getting everywhere we went!
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Looking back before cresting the pass to Lake South America
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Lake South America
We skirted the lake to the far side and walked some ridges and took a right and walked some more. Heck, I don't know exactly where we were, Tom was leading! I was just enjoying the scenery and the walk and the company.
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It began raining as we reached the first lake. We walked around it to the left, then around the second to the right, and around a third not in the picture, where we camped
It began raining in the afternoon – fairly light rain, but steady, as we hiked around a couple of lakes. We arrived at our campsite – at the end of the third lake – as the rain tapered off. It had stopped by the time we set up camp. No rain throughout the night.
We hiked on a bit further in the morning – another beautiful, cool, sunny morning (as they all were), then retraced our steps and took the Kern Connector trail to the JMT.
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Mucking about in the morning
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The trail to the Kern Connector Trail
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Tom enjoying a bit of Perpetuem at the top of the first climb on the Kern Connector Trail
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Since they're not hunted, the wildlife isn't all that fearful of humans
We hiked down the JMT a bit…
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On the JMT. Storm approaching!
…then as we were coming up out of the woods began bearing slightly left off trail and hiked down some talus to a bit of a valley, up over another rise and then down to Wright Lakes Basin (I believe) where we camped our third night. Once again it rained in the afternoon, complete with thunder and lightning, but stopped just as we set up camp and stayed away overnight. Our plan for the fourth day of hiking was to make our way back to the lake at which we camped the first night, camp there again, and then make our way down Shepherd Pass to finish this portion of the hike.
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Heading toward the pass that will bring us back to the trail to Shepherd Pass
But Tom developed a sharp pain in his stomach – possible bacterial infection – and the weather really started to turn sour, so we ended up just going down the pass that day, about 19 miles total Tom figures. On the way down the Shepherd Pass trail we could see the effects of the rain and hail we had experienced over the last two days, and on much of the first part of our descent on this day: rock slides had 'washed out' 3-5 foot sections of the trail. We kept a watchful eye on the rocks above us until we got out of that section!
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Mr. Marmot hanging out, watching us pass
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Past the danger of rock falls, heading to the final descent of Shepherd Pass
We got to the car around 8 p.m. and headed to Bishop, where we spent two days before heading over Piute Pass. Our plan was simple, go over the pass, make it to Lower Honeymoon Lake and camp there, and then retrace our footsteps the next day, ending our journey. It rained/hailed for much of the hike after we crested the pass on the way down, but not even that could dampen my spirits!
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Lower Honeymoon Lake. I told Tom not to get any ideas…..
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My Hexamid Solo performed wonderfully on this trip, even during a pretty hard, enduring rain at Honeymoon Lake
It was not only a fitting end to the journey, but a fitting way to turn 54! Tom bought me a birthday dinner at Mahogany Meats (my choice of restaurant!) – their hot pastrami sandwich is truly outstanding! A truly wonderful trip – I'll be returning to the Sierras, no doubt about that!
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