The Hike

Trip Duration:	7 days and 6 nights, plus at least two nights in hotels
General Description:	An aggressive long-distance, multi-day wilderness backpack
Distance:	~50.0 miles
Difficulty:	Formidable, with more than 14,000 feet of elevation gained and lost overall
Traffic:	Moderate to Silliman Pass, lighter beyond
Elevation Gain:	14,000+ feet overall
Trailhead / Elevation:	Twin Lakes Trailhead / 6,750 feet
Maximum Elevation:	Elizabeth Pass / 11,400 feet
Topo Maps:	Lodgepole, Mount Silliman, Sphinx Lakes, Triple Divide Peak

From the Twin Lakes trailhead at Lodgepole (6,750'), our trail hooks around the campground perimeter and strikes a westbound course ascending the north wall of the Kaweah River's Marble Fork canyon. We can gauge our progress by checking up on Lodgepole through sporadic breaks in the wall of conifers and shrubs.

After a mile of steady climbing, we turn right (N) onto a flat stretch thickly clotted with lodgepole pine and red fir. A mile of easy rambling on forest duff brings us to a ford of Silliman Creek, where a sign admonishes us to stay out of the water, because it is part of the park's water supply. Continuing uphill, we enter the flowery glade of Cahoon Meadow along its eastern edge. We'll stop here for the evening, having put three miles behind us on this easy first day. (3.0/+1150)

Click for a full-size 3500 x 2600 map (2 MB) in a separate window.

In the morning, we'll continue our trek by climbing a ravine to Cahoon Gap, a lovely wooded saddle at 8,650 feet. Our trail now descends about 250 feet of elevation in 0.8 mile to the banks of Clover Creek. We turn right at the junction with the JO Pass Trail, ford the stream, and commence a series of uphill switchbacks about 2 miles to the 9,500-foot shelf where Twin Lakes recline in the woods below Silliman Pass. There are popular campsites at both lakes.

The final climb starts without preamble on the eastern end of the lakes, zigzagging up through thick forest. Trees are even growing on the 10,200-foot brow of the Kings-Kaweah Divide at Silliman Pass, where the trail momentarily fades in gravel. If you walk a short distance up the knoll to the right (S), however, you can enjoy unhampered views east and north over the Kings River drainage. Below us we can pick out the namesake dome of Sugarloaf Valley, backed to the north by Sentinel Ridge, and beyond that a network of tributary canyons, including the great white cliff of Muro Blanco. Most spectacular of all is the Great Western Divide, to the east, surmounted by Mount Brewer (13,570'), named for the leader of the first survey party to map the area. William Brewer climbed it in June 1864 only to discover that the real Sierra Crest lay even further to the east. "Such a landscape!" he wrote. "A hundred peaks in sight over thirteen thousand feet - many very sharp - deep canyons, cliffs in every direction almost rival Yosemite, sharp ridges inaccessible to man, on which human foot has never trod - all combined to produce a view of sublimity of which is rarely equaled, of which few are privileged to behold."

Crossing into Kings Canyon National Park at Silliman Pass, our trail winds down in full view of Mount Silliman (11,188') to the south, as well as some dainty examples of natural flower gardens and miniature waterfalls. Reaching a wooded shelf, we pass the short entry paths to Beville Lake - popular with mosquitos - and then larger Ranger Lake. The latter is the better camping place, with bear boxes and extensive granite terraces to raise your tent above most of the mosquitos. (6.8/+1800)

Leaving the lakes, our trail descends gradually northward, passing under Ball Dome and leveling out at the ford of Beville Lake's outlet stream in Belle Canyon. Turning right (NE) at the junction, we follow the creek down to another junction at Comanche Meadow, where we turn right (E) again. Fording the creek that drains Williams Meadow, we hike down into Sugarloaf Valley. As the forest pulls back from dry meadows, the famous Sugarloaf soon pulls into view, a granite dome rising tusklike 1,000 feet above the valley floor. On the southwest corner of the Sugarloaf, in woods on the edge of Sugarloaf Meadow, a small spur path on the left side of our trail leads to a comfortable packer camp, with creek, fire ring, bear box, and log seats. (8.1/-2250)

The heavily forested 3-mile passage across Sugarloaf Valley would be easy hiking, were it not for the fords of Sugarloaf and Ferguson creeks, which are treacherous in early season. Apart from that, the trail is fairly level and soft on the feet. After Ferguson Creek, we climb out of the valley over a dry moraine pushed up by ice age glaciers moving down Deadman and Cloud canyons, whose combined drainages today form the Roaring River on the eastern side of the moraine. This is a swift, dangerous river at any time of the year, but fortunately we do not have to ford it. Our path traces its rushing waters upstream to Scaffold Meadow, a strategic crossroads of Sierra byways. At this junction stands the Roaring River Ranger Station, staffed from June through September, unless the ranger is on patrol. A fine campsite here offers not only bear boxes, but even the luxury of an outhouse, minus the house, with a toilet carved from an old stump, very sociably situated in a pasture beside the trail. A footbridge across Roaring River carries other trails toward the Kern River via Colby Pass and to Cedar Grove via Avalanche Pass - but our trail does not cross this bridge. Staying on the west bank of the Roaring River, we go upriver into Deadman Canyon.

As we begin the first temperate mile of Deadman Canyon, we begin to see signs that the hitherto prevalent forest cover is beginning to quaver. Independent Jeffrey pines and clumps of sagebrush - the harbingers of drier, rockier terrain - are growing more numerous. The canyon is narrowing, hemmed in on the left (E) by Glacier Ridge and on the right (W) by ridge spurs from the Tablelands.

After fording Deadman Canyon's creek (known as Copper Creek, for the mine at the head of Deadman Canyon), we hike through meadows on the eastern bank before arriving at the canyon's namesake, the grave of an Iberian sheepherder named Alfred Moniere. After taking sick here in 1887, probably of appendicitis, he died alone, while his partner sought help from distant Fresno. His timber monument is surrounded by avalanche-flattened trees. Closer to the creek, you can search the white-barked quaking aspen for old carvings made by bored sheepherders.

After leaving the grave to its lonely vigil, we again cross Copper Creek and pass a drift fence, an indication that this trail is popular among packers. As we climb higher the canyon appears to deepen, especially as we enter Lower Ranger Meadow about a mile above the ford, where the ridges have risen into respectable mountains. Hikers often meet herds of grazing horses. The boulders and woods along the east side of Lower and Middle Ranger Meadows shelter some old packer camps.

Passing through another stock gate, we make another ford of Copper Creek and climb a granite shelf to Upper Ranger Meadow, with an excellent packer camp in the trees overlooking Middle Ranger Meadow. From our final stretch of flat ground before the pass, we eye the canyon's looming headwalls, a glacial cirque that seems to offer no easy escape. It's hard to believe we are looking at Elizabeth Pass, the usually snowy low point on the right (SW) ridge, 2,000 feet higher than where we now stand. We should probably climb as high as possible this day to lessen the climb the following morning. (10.0+/2600+)

Now begins the hardest climb of this trip. To recall the phraseology of a ranger once met at Lodgepole, Elizabeth Pass is "a real grunt"; that is, a climb of heroic proportions. Our trail takes off through fields of talus above the rushing creek, climbing to the top of a granite bluff and crossing the cascades to the opposite bank, a tricky ford when the water is high. The trail from here to the little meadow below the granite cirque is beautifully engineered with rock steps. As we turn uphill onto steep granite slabs above the meadow, however, the trail is sometimes hard to follow. The problem is snow, which sticks in patches to this northeast-facing slope often throughout the year. Keep in mind that you are aiming for the pass on the southwest ridge and climb for that. Chances are good that you will at some point regain the trail, which climbs in broad switchbacks to the 11,400-foot pass, a narrow saddle in the Kings-Kaweah Divide.

There is a register box atop Elizabeth Pass. Behind us (NE), we look down to Ranger Meadow, where Deadman Canyon makes a turn to disappear behind Glacier Ridge. Ahead (W), the rocky slopes of the Kaweah River drainage slip steeply away. It's a fine view, but the proximity of so many high ridges and peaks blocks our view of the Great Western Divide.

The 3,350-foot descent from Elizabeth Pass to Lone Pine Creek is tough on knees. We start down through the talus on a set of tight, ambitiously engineered switchbacks, feeding thence into long, sloping granite slabs interspersed with meadow and boulders. Cairns mark our route, which is not always easy to follow, but even when we lose it we can often pick it up in the wide-open country by searching down the slope. Our trail descends to a lateral valley, crossing the outlet creek from Lonely Lake, whereupon we begin a series of merciless switchbacks through dry scrub down to the rocky floor of Lone Pine Creek's canyon, at about 8,050 feet. There we meet the trail to Tamarack Lake, which leads to some close campsites sheltered in the trees.

Just ahead on our trail lies another junction, with the Over-the-Hill Trail to Bearpaw Meadow. We start by climbing through a subalpine world scoured by avalanches. Enjoy the fantastic views eastward to the Angel Wings and other polished granite domes and spires, because once we hit the crest the forest closes in, and we make a steep descent, blinkered in forests of red fir. Arriving at Bearpaw High Sierra Camp, we find a ranger station and a canvas tent lodge that provides beds, showers and meals to paying guests (who reserve the privilege months in advance). The Bearpaw Meadow Campground for backpackers has piped water, an outhouse, and bear boxes. (8.7±/1800±)

At Bearpaw Meadow, we pick up the famous High Sierra Trail back toward Giant Forest, a stretch of trail that is engineered to keep the rise and fall to a minimum, while enjoying scenic views of Sugarbowl Dome, Little Blue Dome, Castle Rocks, and the Kaweah River gorge. There are campsites with bear boxes at Buck Creek, Nine Mile Creek, and Mehrten Creek. (5.4/500)

Three-and-a-half miles west of our Mehrten Creek campsite, the trail makes a large sweeping turn to the southwest. As it does, the Wolverton Cutoff Trail branches off to the right (W) and steeply climbs about 350' up the ridge in front of us before running off to the south again, still climbing, to sweep around the end of the ridge. The trail remains fairly level, following the 7400' contour line, as we hike back into a valley to the north then out and around another broad ridge, on the western side of which stands the Congress Group of big trees. These enormous trees - some of the largest living things on the planet - can grow more than 250 feet tall and have an average diameter of more than 20 feet! It is worth our time to drop our packs at this point for some photos and communal time with these giants. After hiking more than 45 miles, these trees - these beings - are here to greet us as we near the end point of our fabulous trek.

Do behold the King Sequoia! Behold! Behold! seems all I can say. Some time ago I left all for Sequoia and have been and am at his feet, fasting and praying for light, for is he not the greatest light in the woods, in the world? Where are such columns of sunshine, tangible, accessible, terrestrialized?                   John Muir

After an appropriate time during which we pay homage to the trees that guard this forest, continue north on the Wolverton Cutoff Trail. The trail winds its way past the Wolverton Corrals, crosses a gravel road and turns east as it drops down toward Lodgepole Campground and Visitor Center, the end of our adventure. (7.9/-850)