High Sierra Trips - The High Sierra Trail

We headed up to the Giant Forest to backpack across Sequoia National Park from west to east via the High Sierra Trail. We planned this as a 10 day backpacking trip. The High Sierra Trail leads from Crescent Meadow in the Giant forest up the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River, crossing the Great Western Divide over the 10,700' Kaweah Gap. It then descends into Big Arroyo canyon and climbs up to the Chagoopa Plateau. Then it drops down again into the Kern River Canyon. It heads north up the bottom of the Kern Canyon, then turns east, climbing parallel to Wallace Creek up to the junction where it joins the John Muir Trail to the summit of Mount Whitney(14,505') the highest summit in the Sierra Nevada. Then it descends the mountain via the Mt. Whiney trail to the end at the Whitney portal.

A doe resting in the Giant Forest

We drove up to Sequoia the day before we planned on starting our trip so we could be sure to get our permit. We got up there pretty early and got a campsite at the Potwisha camp. Then we headed up to Lodgepole and got our permit at the ranger station. We still had lots of time so we checked out some stuff in the Giant forest including the General Sherman tree(the largest Sequoia tree), and we climbed up the huge granite dome called Moro rock. It's the touristy stuff, but it was fun to do before our big journey.

Staring out from the Giant forest

Day 1 -
The next morning we started out from the trailhead at Crescent meadow. There were lots of deer wondering around the Giant Forest and the huge Sequoias were incredible. We got out of the forest and followed along the trail high on the side of the mountain with the Kaweah river thousands of feet below. The huge views of Castle rocks, Moro Rock, Blue dome Sugarbowl dome and the Great Western divide were awesome. We crossed Panther creek and Mehrten creek and eventually got to 9 mile creek where we decided to make camp. There was a great campsite and the creek was flowing good. After making camp I explored upstream a bit and there were some nice pools to get in and cool off after hiking all day. Then I got up to a big smooth granite wall where the water was pouring over and at the bottom there was a dead, and half rotted coyote carcass. I'm guessing he tried to cross above the falls and it didn't work out so well. Needless to say we were concerned about the water quality after that, but nobody ended up with any ill effects that I know of. We made our dinners and as light faded we had more deer encounters. Those things are just to cute.

The High Sierra Trail with Castle rocks in the background

Blue dome, Sugarbowl dome, and the Great Western Divide

Top of the falls at 9 mile aka Dead Coyote creek

Mule deer near our camp

Day 2 -
The next day we hiked down to Buck creek and then up over Bearpaw meadows then back down to Lone Pine creek and then up again to Hamilton lake. Lots of ups and downs, but the trail is very well maintained and the milage for the day was low. Our only major issue was a hornet's nest along the trail that required a quick yet cautious passing. Luckily no one got stung. The views over River valley, up at the Hamilton towers, the Valhalla, and ultimately at Hamilton lake where we made camp, where breathtaking! It is possibly the most impressive area in the High Sierra that I have ever seen in all my travels up there. We got to Hamilton lake and setup our camp with plenty of light to spare so I jumped in the lake to cool off then headed out around the lake to have a little fun trout fishing. I did catch a few small rainbow trout, but nothing super exciting. Then we had our dinner and headed off to the tents for the second night on the trail.

Bearpaw meadow camp

Castle Rocks from Bearpaw meadow

High Sierra Trail

Crossing the bridge at Lone Pine creek

Overlooking River Valley

The Hamilton Towers

Hamilton lake

Cheribum Dome from Hamilton lake

Cotton candy clouds and the silhouette of Valhalla

Day 3 -
The next morning we packed up camp and headed up the switchbacks, climbing up and traversing high above Hamilton lake. The views overlooking the lake, the Valhalla, River valley, and even all the way back out to Moro rock and Castle rocks were awesome! Then we got up to Precipice lake. The most beautiful blue lake with the sheer jagged cliffs of Eagle Scout peak rising vertically behind it make it quite spectacular. I had to jump in to those blue waters no matter how cold it was. (It was cold!) Not far beyond that we got to the top of our climb at the Kaweah Gap(10,700'). From the gap we got killer views of Nine lakes basin, Black Kaweah, and the Big Arroyo of which we were about to descend into. After a break at the gap we dropped into the Big arroyo, a huge wide canyon with the Kaweahs rising up to the east and the Great Western divide to the west. We headed down to the junction with the Little 5 Lakes trail where there are some old cabins and some nice camp spots by the creek. We had met another group of hikers up on the Kaweah gap that were also hiking the HST and they ended up camping near us that night. We hung out and told stories and even played some frisbee with a "light up" frisbee. We all had dinner together and enjoyed each others company.

Valhalla from the switchbacks

A cave on the trail

Overlooking Hamilton lake

Lower Precipice lake

Precipice lake

Big Arroyo

Big Arroyo

Old cabins

Trout fishing in Big Arroyo

Day - 4
From our camp by Big Aroyyo we climbed up pretty gradually onto the Chagoopa Plateau. We had incredible views over the Big Arroyo and out at the Great Western divide. We hiked across the plateau through some beautiful meadows where there were really great views up towards Mt. Kaweah. From there the HST actually splits into 2 different routes. We decided to take the longer route which visited Moraine Lake. We found a great spot to camp by the lake and we still had plenty of time to relax and swim and really enjoy the lake. I tried a little fishing, but no success.

Views from Big Arroyo

Mt. Kaweah

Moraine lake

Campsite at Moraine lake

Panorama shot at Moraine Lake

Day 5 -
We woke up in the morning to a beautiful morning reflection on Moraine lake. We packed up camp and continued across the Chagoopa plateau passing through the beautiful Sky Parlor meadow. We then began our descent down into the Kern canyon. Kern canyon is a massive canyon with huge granite walls. It runs almost perfectly straight from north to south and has a big wide bottom where the Kern river runs. Dropping down we got excellent views over the canyon and even our first sights of Mt. Whitney. Once down in the bottom we headed up river. We crossed Chagoopa creek and got some nice views up at Chagoopa falls cascading over 1,000 feet from the rim down to the canyon bottom. We continued up river, crossed the river at the bridge, and then continued up to the Kern Hot springs. We setup our camp near the springs and did some soaking in the springs before making dinner and wrapping up for the night.

Morning reflection on Moraine lake

The Great Western Divide from Sky Parlor meadow

Dropping into Kern Canyon

Kern canyon

Chagoopa Falls

Kern river

Kern Canyon

Deer grazing near the Kern Hot Springs

Day 6 -
On the sixth day we took a zero day and stayed at Kern Hot springs. I spent the morning exploring up Rock creek canyon. It was super rugged and I couldn't get nearly as far up as I had wanted to, but it was a fun little adventure. Then I spent the afternoon trout fishing and swimming in the river and spent the evening relaxing in the Hot springs again. It is a really nice area and I'm really glad we decided to spend the extra time there.

Rock creek canyon

Kern Canyon

Kern Canyon

Blake with a Rubber Boa

Soaking in the hot springs

Day 7 -
We packed up our camp and headed up the canyon. All day we hiked alongside the Kern river just dwarfed by the huge cliffs on both sides of the canyon. We hiked up through Junction meadow and found a nice spot to camp right near the junction where we would be leaving the river. We setup camp and did a little exploring around and found some cool old cabin ruins. We did some swimming and fishing and enjoyed our last night by the river.

Kern Canyon

Taking a break at a campsite near Junction meadow

Climbing up above Junction meadow

Panorama shot looking down Kern canyon

Cabin ruins

Kern river

Cotton candy clouds

Day 8 -
The next morning we began the big climb up and out of Kern Canyon. As we climbed up the views just got better and better. We met with the John Muir Trail at Wallace creek. We followed the JMT south through Sandy meadow and then east to Crabtree meadow where we began our climb up the backside of Mt. Whitney. We climbed up passed Timberline lake to Guitar lake. The lake is really actually shaped like a guitar! We made our camp just above the lake and just kicked back and got ourselves ready for the big climb to the summit the next day!

Climbing up and out of Kern canyon

Climbing out of Kern canyon

Deer in the meadow by Wallace creek

Looking north to the Bighorn plateau and Tawny point

The Kaweah range from Sandy meadow

Crabtree meadows

Deer grazing at Crabtree meadows

Timberline lake

Overlooking Timberline lake

The west face of Mt. Whitney

Climbing up to Guitar lake

Picking our camp spot

Camping above Guitar lake

Sunset

Day 9 -
This was the big day. We were gonna climb Mt. Whiney the highest peak in the Sierra Nevada at 14,505'! We got started early and made the rocky climb up to Trail Crest junction. We stashed our full packs there and just took what we needed for the last few miles up to the summit. Climbing up it got really windy, but didn't end up being to bad on top. The views from the summit were just incredible! Huge views in every direction. We hung out and enjoyed the summit for awhile and signed in the register. Then we made our way back down and picked up our packs and headed over Trail crest and down all the switchbacks to Trail camp where we setup our final camp just up above Consultation lake. I did some fishing in the lake and found some nice size rainbow trout. Then I headed back up to camp for our last night on the trail.

Guitar lake

Starting the climb up Mt. Whitney

Climbing up higher

On the summit of Mt. Whitney

The Kaweahs and Kern canyon from Mt. Whitney

Looking way down at Guitar lake

Trail Crest

Crossing over Trail Crest

Mt. Muir and Mt. Whitney from the east side

Trail Camp

Consultation lake

Panorama shot of Mt. Whitneys east side

Day 10 -
The final day on the trail. We took our time in the morning. Got packed up and headed down the Whitney portal trail. We hiked passed Mirror lake and Lone Pine lake and on down to the Whitney Portal where we were just in time for lunch and a beer at the Portal store. A great way to wrap up an amazing trip. The pictures do it no justice. These mountains are incredible! If you've been thinking about hiking the High Sierra Trail, do it. You won't regret it, it's a lifetime experience you will never forget.

Morning light on Mt. Whitney and Wotans Throne

Thor peak towering over Mirror lake

Outpost falls

Overlooking the Whitney Portal

Views from the Whiney Portal trail

At the Whitney Portal after an incredible adventure

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