Sequoia & Kings Canyon Hike

Now that my full Sequoia & Kings Canyon 2024 Video Series has been published, I wanted to follow up with a written overview of the hike, an Interactive Map, and a Gallery.

The trip took 17 days where I hiked some 150+ miles. That’s a pretty slow rate for me, but if you watched the video series you know I covered some tough terrain while hampered by a bad knee and from being out of shape again after a long “off season” (even longer than normal because of the knee!) I was actually content to take it slow and really was just happy to be back out in nature for a while to enjoy the scenery and play with a new camera and other gear. So in that sense the trip was a big success — especially considering that the knee held up and didn’t really hold me back.

The general plan for the trip was to take two weeks on a route starting/ending at Horseshoe Meadow with a mid-point re-supply at Onion Valley (which I left myself before setting out.) I padded my permit with a few days just in case I needed/wanted more time (and I’m glad that I did!) I like beginning hikes at Horseshoe for several reasons:

• it’s nice to start at a higher elevation
• I enjoy having a day or two before getting to the challenging/good stuff
• the permits are easier to obtain without too much advanced planning

The planned route was a mix of popular trails, off-the-beaten-path trails, and some off-trail routes. As is often the case I planned more than I actually did — but I like to have options when out on a long hike. One can read about some of the other routes I considered below. Unlike I frequently do in Utah, I wasn’t “exploring” for new routes on this trek. It seems as if at least this part of the Sierra is fully explored and documented — so with some persistence one can find beta online for almost any route (though details might be scant and conditions can change.)

Some of the highlights of the trip for me were:

Forester Pass  — the scenery here is just amazing and it was fun to do this pass again. Adding to the fun was that I did it in Crocs! I started the day in my camp shoes due to a toe that was bothering me and they did so well that I never ended up changing out of them (despite some curious glances from other hikers on the trail!)

Señor Muir Taco Hut — this group of trail angels was an amazing surprise as I made my way up to Glen Pass. They provided mucho joy via tacos and beer for a bunch of hikers that day and I was lucky to time it just right. The amount of work it requires to pull this off is commendable.

Glen Pass — it was my first time over this high pass and it was really fun and the views were amazing. Since I skipped the possible alternate off-trail route to Onion Valley I got to do the pass twice and had no complaints about doing it in both directions.

Rae Lakes — I skipped this area on my 2011 John Muir Trail hike. It’s frequently raved about by hikers and I somewhat expected the hype to be overblown — but it is fairly justified. It’s definitely a busy area, but the crowd is fairly dispersed around the lakes so it really didn’t seem that bad.

Kearsarge Lakes — here the crowd WAS a turnoff, but the sundown views were just so incredibly gorgeous that it still easily made my list of highlights from the trip.

Little Joe’s Pass — this was a pretty miserable route, but actually ended up being a highlight just because it was such a unique experience camping on the side of the mountain and it felt great to overcome the challenge. Watch episode 4 of the series reveals that I didn’t have good beta on this off-trail route and tried to just figure it out. This ended up being MUCH more work that inolved several scrambles as I traversed the chutes on the side of the mountain.

Upper Kern — I enjoyed this area on my 2020 hike and it was nice to be back again. It’s a fairly wide open upper basin with so many little lakes circled by high peaks. It really is nice and for the second time I didn’t see one other hiker in the area.

Night Skies — since my Utah hikes are usually earlier in the season the Milky Way isn’t as prominent. it was awesome to see it in full glory over the Sierra.

No Bugs — unlike my previous trips in the Sierra, the bugs were NOT an issue this time out. I saw only a few mosquitoes over the entire trip and they were quite passive. The flies which seemed ever-present in 2020, were also pretty much non-existent on this hike. If this is a product of hiking later in the season — that might be my plan from now on as it was great.

It wasn’t all great on this hike though. Here are some of the less-than-ideal aspects to the trip:

Weather — it’s hard to believe, but it was actually a little TOO warm on this trip. The sun was pretty relentless at times especially above treeline where there was little to no shade to be found. I hate to be too critical of this as I would much rather it be too warm that too cold, but about 10-15 degrees cooler would have been more pleasant. There also wasn’t much snow left for mid-August. Though I was glad that I didn’t have to do any crossings, having a bit more snow filling the couloirs and upper slopes would have made the scenery even more spectacular.

Whitney Creek/Crabtree Shortcut — on the map this appears to be an ideal off-trail shortcut from the Kern River up to Crabtree Meadows. However, it’s not one that I’ll recommend to many. First there’s a short class 3 scramble required about half way up the route. It’s not terrible, but it’s still a bit unnerving when solo with a big pack. The main reason I won’t recommended the route is that it’s just so incredibly steep while having to deal with brush and loose footing most of the way. The route climbs over 2000′ in just over a mile and much of the footing is sandy, scree or talus. It’s just not fun and really the long way around (Wallace Creek) might be less exhausting overall and not take that much longer.

Crowds — I said in the video that I found plenty of opportunities for solitude on this trip and that even the John Muir Trail didn’t seem overly crowded. Though that was true, I did encounter some very crowded camping locations and several big groups hiking together. Chicken Spring Lake, Crabtree Meadows, Kearsarge Lakes, and Cottonwood Lakes were all overflowing with tents/people. I also ran into more big groups hiking together than ever before in the Sierra. I saw several groups of 10-12 hikers — some hooping and hollering as they hiked or taking over entire camp areas with a dozen or so solo tents. Boo.

Those seem fairly minor in hindsight, so it really was a pretty great trip overall. And… since I didn’t get to do all the alternate routes that I wanted to attempt, there’s plenty more reason to return in the future. Here’s a rundown on the alternates that I considered:

Junction Pass Route (Old JMT) — though the old John Muir Trail still exists in places, the portion below Junction Pass on the south side is completely gone and now requires a very steep ascent/descent on scree/talus. I’ve read that this is pretty miserable and that’s why it wasn’t appealing to attempt early into my hike. However, I guess the views on top are incredible and Center Basin is delightful — so I really hope to try this someday.

University Pass Route — Very steep and rugged route over the notch east of University Peak. The route on the south side looks daunting from the JMT and the other side is said to be worse. Be sure to have good beta as the route is approximated on my map.

Gould Pass Route — Very steep and rugged route over the notch NE of Mount Gould. Again the route on my map is approximated so make sure to have appropriate beta. One may also consider Dragon Pass — it is lower in elevation, but requires a short class 3 section near the top. Know that both of these routes are tough and look intimidating from the bottom.

Midway Mountain and Colby Pass — a route that would have required a few more days. I’ve wanted to go over Midway Mountain for a while as the route looks amazing for not having any technical scrambling (though still not easy). I’ve never visited Colby Pass or the Kern-Kaweah drainage so that would have been nice to see.

Miter Basin & Crabtree Pass — Probably my only regret of the trip is forgoing this planned route. I probably would have had time to make it happen, but I was feeling drained after the Crabtree Shortcut and just wanted some relatively easy walking for a while. This will definitely be on my list to re-visit. Again the route on my map is approximate. The descent on NW side of pass is said to be steep/tricky, but again the lakes/views are said to be worth it. Evidently there is a shortcut to above Soldier Lake, though a more common route follows Rock Creek.

So that’s the recap of the hike. Definitely watch the videos for more details/stories. As I alluded in the video — I still love hiking in Utah more than anywhere else so this isn’t a real substitute, but… it’s a truly amazing area and I really enjoyed the hike (and it was awesome to have so such easy access to so much clean water!)

And finally… a bunch of pictures:

GALLERY: