Dan's Outside

A Long Pack Trip Coming Up

Later this summer I and a group of friends will do the longest pack trip I’ve done in a number of years – 14 days on the trail between Agnew Meadow and South Lake. I can’t wait!

I did three trips of approximately this duration a number of years ago. The first two were with my wife, who no longer backpacks. On the first we spent 13 days – if memory serves – travelling the route from near Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park, over Kaweah Gap, down to the Kern River, up Wallace Creek, to the top of Mt. Whitney, and then out at Whitney Portal.

Later we did another equally long trip together. This one started at Florence (or is it Edison? ;-) Lake and entered Kings Canyon National Park. We climbed up into Evolution Basin, crossed Muir Pass and dropped into Le Conte Canyon, then climbed the Golden Staircase to Palisade Lake, crossed Mather Pass, dropped down the other side and then climbed again to Pinchot Pass, descended to Woods Creek, and aborted our planned route past Rae Lakes and over Glen Pass, instead descending through Paradise Valley (?) to Kings Canyon. It rained. A lot.

The next long trip was also my first solo. Yes, my first solo trip was two weeks long… ;-) I started out in Sequoia and headed towards Kaweah Gap, but left the main route and climbed up and over Elizabeth Pass before eventually descending to Bubbs Creek. I had been unsure of whether I would continue as I dropped down into the canyon, but when I got there I turned right (left would have taken me to Kings Canyon in a few miles) and headed up over Glen Pass, descended past Rae Lakes, and finally exited (once again) via Paradise Valley.

Since those trips, my longest pack trip has been last year’s 9 day trip from South Lake to Onion Valley. (Lot’s of high passes!) I love the long trips. Even though I adapt to the trail and go into “mountain mode” quite quickly these days (it takes, oh, maybe 32 seconds…) things change after 5 or 6 days on the trail. There is a wonderful point at which you lose track of days and the outside world and you simply live from day to day and moment to moment, taking it all in as it comes.
—–

June 29, 2005 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Trips