32 Lakes- Blackcap, Bench, Red Mountain Basins
August 3-9, 2023; 74 miles, 11,330 ft, 6 days.
Good weather and a favorable job situation allow me to take off for a 6-day hike to explore the lakes of Blackcap Basin, Bench Valley, and Red Mountain Basin, all lined up along the west side of Le Conte and White Divides. I originally wanted to have this loop include a circle-back through Goddard Canyon, but that would take two more days that I do not have. Everybody has been holding off going into the high country this year because of the tremendous snowpack and melt-off. I carry spikes and an ice-axe, so my main concern is not icy passes but potentially dangerous creek crossings. I set out with my usual lightweight summer kit of 11 lbs, along with an Ursack bag of food weighing 10 pounds, for a total start load of 21 lbs, which is very liberating! My planned trip is ambitious but scaled to be realistic with my increasingly slower pace. I did virtually no research beforehand; I was busy and trusted my contour-map study and am confident that I can always switch up if a particular pass or river is impassable. The photos are taken with an iPhone 14 Pro.
I normally hike on the east side of the Sierra, so I am noting the differences here in the west. The trail along Corral Creek and the North fork Kings river is very “trail-y” with features like this walkway, numerous signs, and a few cabins.
The trail is a hot mess of downed trees and overgrown vegetation; very few people have ventured out this season so far. I find navigation to be confusing several times and am glad for GPS so I do not waste time looking for trails.
The approach trail runs along the shore of strong rivers and creeks.
Downed trees are available to assist at every major water crossing.
The meadows are beautiful but I pass through quickly because of major mosquito pressure.
Whenever I venture out just after the snow melts I often see these wierd mud constructions, and on this trip I saw so many that I decided to pay more attention and document my observations. At the end of this trip report I will show more images and discuss what I saw and learned about these strange items.
I spend a night alongside the trail, and these undisturbed ant hills right on the path of the trail are a clear indication that few if any people have passed this way so far this season.
I have been enjoying my new iphone 14 pro this year and look forward to seeing how well it performs on the trail. It is remarkable that I can produce a night shot like this with a hand-held cell-phone camera.
The fake bokeh effect (background blur) works pretty well.
The slabs with water streaming over them offer opportunities to get wet and dry off in the sun.
The logs in the marsh offer more evidence of past human activity.
On the second day I finally go off-trail and enter the Blackcap Basin. The frontal climb up to Midway lake is an easy class-3 climb.
I love walking across slabs of rock. My La Sportiva TX-3 approach shoes are very “sticky” on granite and I can walk down very inclined rock with little concern about slipping.
This might be Cathedral Lake. I visited so many lakes so it is hard to keep track.
Pearl Lake.
I reach Division Lake and see an opportunity to bathe and to spend the night under the stars.
The exposed spot I pick has a constant breeze and is mosquito-free.
I love spending time watching the stars, and usually see a few shooting stars and many satellites. At one point I see 7 satellites simultaneously.
Bubbles of water that travel slowly downhill under ice.
I become interested in this water feature and follow it up to its conclusion at the base of Rainbow Lake.
I approach Blackcap Pass already at 11,000 ft so it is an easy walk to the top, but the way down on the north side is steep and the first 50 feet down involves several zig-zags and class-3 climb-downs. The few cairns are super helpful for finding the best path.
View looking south of Blackcap Pass.
Guest lake.
The next morning I continue north, passing Twin Buck Lake. I love how at certain hours lakes become colored mirrors embedded into the land.
As I come upon Schoolmarm Lake I have a sense that I am in for something special. The landscape suggests something interesting just beyond, and the spill is enchanting.
The next lake, Six-Shooter Lake, is the source of the spill, and it is beautiful. Although my path will not lead me there, I am intrigued by the path just above and wish I had time to explore it.
However I do have time to explore the rest of the lakes and drop my pack to climb around some more.
The spill from the adjacent Wah Hoo Lake is equally enchanting.
Next up the hill: Holster Lake.
I continue up to Bullet Lake; this is the view looking back at the tiers of lakes. This series of lakes and the setting is my favorite of the trip.
Perfect split rock.
I sit and eat a snack while contemplating Lucifer’s Saddle. It has some clear paths up but looks like it will involve some hand-work and a lot of bending down and micro-decision making, and I feel a bit too tired for that kind of effort.
I elect to go over the adjacent pass that looks to be a continuous walking slog, but not mentally taxing and I can use my poles to drag my sorry tired carcass to the top. This path features a very large white quartz bed.
At the top of the pass I spot in the distant ridge these strange rock formations that look like abandoned forts.
I reach the Devils Punchbowl lake and spend the night on the rock hills on the west side. This lake is slightly warmer than most and there is a lack of mosquitos so I enjoy my first decent swim. I also meet a crew of four park rangers and learn that they go out on 8-day patrols to clear trees, spend one day on admin, and then get 5 days off. They seem quite invested and proprietary about their land and make their own rules separate from Yosemite and Inyo.
Lake + flat green area = mosquito trouble.
Moving on to explore the Hell For Sure area of the Red Mountain Basin I admire the fragmented rocks. I often think: Do these rocks have a consciousness? When the pieces fragment, do they gain their own individual consciousness and note how much they move apart each year? How many years did it take to reach this level of fragmentation? Would they care if someone kicked one of them off to the side?
In other cases I marvel at the different levels of order and disorder. The rocks seem randomly placed until I discern patterns.
I just cannot imagine what scenario led to the rock having a horizontal split like this.
This one boulder is so distinctive, it speaks to me. I think rocks with a presence like this deserve names.
Horseshoe Lake.
Blackrock lake.
Davis Lake, at the far north end of the Red Mountain Basin and the last of my LeConte Divide Lakes. After a few days of off-trailI I move over to the trail at Lower Indian Lake and camp at Fleming Lake, preparing for my hike-out the next day.
The next day on the trail out I pass my Ranger friends completing their 8-day tour using their fifty-year-old two man saw.
Just below, I see what is the most ugly and terrifying defilement of the landscape I have ever seen in the Sierra Nevada. I am used to seeing the crude dynamited stock trails, but this is on another level of destruction.
OK, time for POCKET GOPHERS
There is very little easily-found information online to help one figure it if the odd mud trails are created by moles, voles or gophers. An inquiry to the Sequoia Ranger office informs that they are in fact created by Pocket Gophers.
I am very hesitant to destroy any natural feature in the name of curiosity, but some tunnels are so eroded that I feel justified to inspect one mud trail to discover that it is solid mud. I always assumed that these are tubes are tunnels. I cannot find a good online explanation but my guess is that the pocket gophers create tunnels in the snow and these tunnels become the perfect forms to create tubes of excavated dirt for the tunnels below. This under-snow work may also serve to hide their activity from predators.
The tubes can extend over a large area but apparently are created by only one or two gophers in each area.
I notice the the tubes frequently go to / coalesce under rocks.
In this case the tube travels over a rock.
I am positive that the occasional furry ball is the remnant of a warm nest.
Some of the patterns seem like caligraphic notations from aliens.
This gopher had some difficult work to do pushing around those stones.
TRIP REPORT POSTSCRIPT
This Trip Report just keeps on going…
My drives from Los Angeles to the different hikes take as many as seven hours. I am all business when starting a hike; I leave home very early and get to the trailhead later in the day to hike a few hours, of if I leave later, I camp close to the trailhead so as to get an early start the next day. The return journey is a different matter. When I finish the hike I am tired and also in a headspace that will take some re-adjustment to be fit for city and home life, so I often take many more hours to return home and oftentimes I check out obscure sights. Because most of my hiking is in the eastern Sierra, I know all of the Mojave Desert quite well. The 32 Lake Hike is on the westside and the drive takes me through the central valley which has all sorts of strange, mostly agricultural sites to visit. I have passed and noted Mefford Field in Tulare many times, and today I stop there.
There are two airplanes on display that one can actually glimpse from the highway. The first is a Phantom F-4 from the Vietnam era. It is in good shape but many still exist in different airfield collections.
The other plane is a beautifully restored B-17 Flying Fortress, and it is a rare and difficult to see airplane, and although over 12,000 were made, only 40 still exist. It is also infamous as being the first American bomber to carry out the punishing daylight bombing raids into Germany, unaccompanied by escort fighter planes, as the P-47 planes did not have the range to stick with them all the way from Britain and back. Consequently, flying a B-17 in a daylight raid was arguably the most dangerous mission of the war, concluding with the horrific “Black Thursday” Schweinfurt Raid. Despite carrying 10 machine guns, they were no match for the swarms of BF-109 and JU-88 in the air and the punishing flak guns below. On Black Thursday, 60 planes were lost, another 17 were no longer airworthy, and an additional 121 received damage. 600 men were killed, wounded or MIA- 20 percent of the mission.
The tail gunner position was the most dangerous, but the turret below carried a trapped man. If the landing gear failed and the plane had to make a skid landing, the man in the turret was trapped and would most certainly die.
There is a good Youtube video covering this subject which can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAbV5xhieAU
Thank you for looking at my overly-long Trip Report.
A note about safety: Events can turn seriously bad in the off-trail wilderness very fast. The majority of people die because of uninformed decisions. The many hazards include river crossings, bad falls and hypothermia. At a minimum, you should carry printed maps and know how to use them; have extensive knowledge of backcountry safety, first aid and best practices; and leave a trip plan with others in case you go missing. I also think that a personal locator beacon is important. Read, take classes, gain experience with small practice trips first. Plan for the worst case and BE SAFE !!!