Evening on Lake 12,250 one mile south of Forester Pass
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| Valley leading up to Forester Paas |
Here is a link to a topographical map for the section of the JMT from Charlotte Lake to Mt. Whitney.
JMT Trail Map Charlotte Lake to Mt. Whitney
Sunday, July 15
An 2 walked into camp late last
night after hiking in from the Kearsarge Pass.
He was late because he first had to drive all the way from San Francisco
that morning. While driving though
Yosemite he made a wrong turn which cost him an hour, still had to drive
another 150 miles south on Hwy 395, pick up his wilderness permit from the NSF
office in Bishop, CA, meet An 1 at Whitney Portal where An 2 left his car for
us at the end of the hike. An 1 then
drove An 2 to the start of his hike, the Kearsarge Pass about 40 miles north and
just east of Independence, CA. OK, too
many An’s so An 2 will just be An from now on.
It was An’s fisrt time overnight backpacking into the wilderness, but I
helped him get set up quickly last night and he said he slept well. In the morning I showed him a few more ropes
and we were ready to start hiking by 9:30 am.
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| Bull Frog Creek |
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| Bubble Creek |
This campsite by Bullfrog Creek
seemed strangely quiet, almost as if something had happened here recently.
Noticeably absent were the sounds of birds chirping that always started just
before dawn. I couldn’t see any signs of
recent forest fires or anything else that I could put my finger on but the
place seemed like it had somehow just been disrupted – something environmental,
maybe ancient forest spirits, or just my imagination I don’t know.
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| An Hiking above the tree line on Forester Pass |
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| The Kearsarge Pinnacles (background to left of the trail) |
We were only 11 miles from Forester
Pass, 13180 feet the highest pass along the JMT. The first couple of miles would be easy as
it followed Bull Frog Creek downstream. I
was actually glad when the trail made a left turn and started going up the
canyon. There were no fish in that creek
either, so perhaps someone had dumped something into it. We were at 9,515 feet now and the trail would
keep climbing until we made it over the pass.
I decided that we didn’t have to cross the pass the today and could camp
somewhere below it. This would give An’s
body some more time to acclimate to the altitude. An did really well hiking this first day,
never falling too far behind. We made a
campfire and cooked some lunch along Bubble Creek just before it rose above
10,000 feet. I was hoping for some fish
out of that creek, but I didn’t see anything in there so I didn’t try. We had some cous cous with tomato and
chili.
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| Lake 12,250 (Forester Pass is goes between the v in the mountains at 12:00) |
Today we ran into a large scouting troop. There were 12 boys aged from about 13 to 16
and 4 adults all hiking together. They
were from Fresno and they were also headed to Mt. Whiney. This was their second day on the trail
already and for next few days we would pass them, take a break, and then they
would pass us. That first night we all
camped around a glacial lake just below Forester Pass at elevation 12,250. The lake is unnamed on my map so I have been
calling it the 12,250 Lake. The lake is
well above the tree line and is totally surrounded by grey granite rooks;
boulder and slabs piled high helter skelter.
The lake was totaled exposed and it was very windy when we got there at
about 4:00PM. The scout troop had beaten
us there and was just setting up on all the most easily accessible campsites
close to the trail. An and I found a
site about a quarter mile from the trail down on a small sanded slab of granite
just above the lake that was sheltered somewhat from the wind. While fighting the wind, we got An’s tent and
my windbreak tarps set up. To cook we
piled rocks in a semi-circle high enough that it would shelter our little
stove. That evening we witnessed a
spectacular sunset in the valley that we hiked up and I took the opportunity to
take some pictures as the wind started to die down for the evening.
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