John Muir Trail: Day 11

Day 11 took me down the Golden Staircase, along Palisade Creek to the South Fork of the Kings River and up Le Conte Canyon to the start of Muir Pass.  It was a relatively easy 13 miles and 1800 ft of climbing.

My daily progress and major trail milestones can be seen at https://caltopo.com/m/DKGD, or on Google Earth using https://www.dropbox.com/s/9cy12lzxnuvatsa/2017.07.30_JMT_Actuals.kml?dl=0. The caltopo website is the best place to look to find the place name I use.

Day 11 elevation profile in yellow

Day 11 route in blue

I don't care what I might have said before, the past six days had been tough.  I crashed hard and slept well.  I woke up late with the sun beating on my tent.  I made breakfast in camp and did some laundry.  It was after 9:00 before I started walking.

While I was in camp last night a deer walked through my camp.  She stopped, looked at me, then turned and kept going.

After crossing Mather Pass and descending to Palisade Lakes, the trail takes a dramatic drop into a glacial valley.  Palisade creek flows thought this valley to the Middle Fork of the Kings River.

Looking west along Palisade Creek

The terrain from Lower Palisade Lake to the valley floor is essentially a cliff and would not be easily passable if not for the stone steps and switchbacks cut into the cliff.  This section of trail was finished in 1938 and is called the Golden Staircase.

The Golden Staircase

The Golden Staircase descends 1200 ft in just over one mile.  I am glad I was going down it.

Switchbacks of the Golden Staircase

At about 9400 ft, the trail puts you right next to Palisade Creek as it comes crashing down the mountain.  Be sure to watch the video.

Palisade Creek cascading down from Lower Palisade Lake.  Click the image for the video.

I visited Dusy Basin in 2011 and crossed over Knapsack Pass into Palisade Basin. From Palisade Basin you can see the drop into Palisade Creek. I had always wondered what it was like below the drop. Now I know. This is the creek crossing for the unnamed creek that flows out of Palisade Basin and drains the three Barrett Lakes.  Some pictures from that trip are here.

Crossing the creek from Barrett Lakes.

The Jeffrey Pine is a wonderful tree. It has thick reddish bark with deep furrows. The bark is made up of layers that flake of in small bits that look like jigsaw puzzle pieces. The pine cones of a Jeffrey pine are about 6 inches long and oval shaped. The best part of a Jeffrey Pine is the smell. Put your nose right up to the trunk and take a deep breath. You will get the wonderful smell of butterscotch. If you are in a grove of them on a warm day, the air smells like candy.

These were the first Jeffrey Pines I had seen.  Most of the pine trees had been the ugly, pine cone littering Lodgepole Pines.

A Jeffrey Pine.

Jeffrey Pine bark

Jeffrey Pine bark pieces on the ground

Fifteen years ago in 2002, a lightning strike started the Palisade Fire.  It burned 1500 acres before it was done.  The trees are are just dead, charred trunks, but the ground vegetation has come back in the intervening years.

Palisade Creek and trees burned in the 2002 Palisade Fire

The route for day 11 in blue and the area burned by the Palisade Fire in yellow

Aside from the creek running through it, the Palisade Creek valley is hot and dry. I saw more lizards and fewer chipmunks.

Blue Bellied Lizard

Where Palisade Creek flows into the Middle Fork of the Kings River, Le Conte Canyon begins.  I stopped here for lunch and did some more laundry.  Laundry consists of a 1 gallon ziplock bag and some biodegradable soap.  You have to fetch water from the stream and then empty the dirty soapy water well away from the stream.  It is always best to when the sun is out and warm so that your things dry.  Otherwise you may have to stick your wet socks in your sleeping bag in the morning so they are warm enough to put on.  I'm just saying...

The confluence of Palisade Creek and the Middle Fork of the Kings River

The South Fork of the Kings river was the biggest river I had seen yet in terms of water flowing. When you could get near it it made a terrific crashing sound.  The trail did not stay next to the river and the dense forest made the separation complete.

Looking north at the Middle Fork of the Kings River

At Grouse Meadow the river runs serenely through the meadow.  The noise of the cascades above and below the meadow cannot be heard, only the wind makes noise.  It is a beautiful place and I stayed for a short while.

Grouse Meadow

As I was leaving Grouse Meadow there was a fawn and its mother on the trail.  I stopped and stood still.  The fawn was staring at me but the doe paid no attention to me.  I was able to take out my camera and take a picture and some video.  Usually the deer would stand looking at me until I reached for my camera, then they would bolt, but not this time.  The fawn kept shaking its head and staring at me.  After a bit, the doe trotted up the trail and the fawn followed.  See the video here.

A fawn and its mother

Dusy Basin is a large lake basin to the east of Le Conte Canyon.  I had been there on my first high sierra hike as an adult in 2011.  My only trip prior to that had been with the Boy Scouts when I was 17.  The creek out of Dusy Basin flows under this bridge.  The creek appears to have carried something heavy to collide with the bridge railing, perhaps a tree trunk.

The bridge across Dusy Creek.

At the upper end of of Le Conte Canyon is Big Pete Meadow.  Normally a nice place to camp, the whole area is littered with debris from an avalanche.  If there were any campsites, I didn't see them. Above Big Pete Meadow the trail turns westward, Le Conte Canyon ends and you start the ascent to Muir Pass.

A lot of avalanche damage at Big Pete Meadow

There are so many lakes and creeks in the Sierra that many don't have names.  This particular creek flows down from some lakes that lie below Mount Powell, Mount Thompson and Mount Gilbert.  I dub thee "Powell Thompson Gilbert Creek"

Crossing the Powell Thompson Gilbert Creek

The main branch is coming down from Mount Gilbert.  The rear waterfall is not on the map.  The middle waterfall is coming down from Mount Thompson and the closest waterfall is coming down from Mount Powell.

The Powell Thompson Gilbert Creek

Usually I would not stay is established campsites that were right next to the trail.  I tried to get further away to ensure solitude.  But this far up into the canyon it was narrow and the walls were steep so you couldn't venture far from the trail at all.  I found a nice spot in an established campsite and slept well.

Camp 11.  At 9700 ft elevation on the way up to Muir Pass.

Food storage is a big deal in the Sierras because of black bears.  These bears are smart and can often figure out how to get your food even if you hang it from a tree.  The most reliable way to protect your food is one of these bear canisters.  These have to be tested and are certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee and the Sierra Interagency Black Bear Group.  The testing involves bears in zoos who have a reputation for breaking into things that are hard to break into.

Forty years ago there was a big problem in the back country with bears getting at backpackers food.  It is difficult to find a tree that meets the recommended criteria for height, branch configuration, etc. The result was that bears would learn that where there are backpackers, there is food to be had.  Along came the bear canister and that changed.  Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks require bear canisters for backcountry travel. Since 2011 I have spent about 60 nights in the Sierra backcountry and have yet to see a bear or have a bear mess with my bear canister.  I keep hoping.

To use the bear canister you simply put all your food and scented items (toothpaste, chapstick, sunblock, etc) it the canister, close it up properly and set it 100 ft from your tent.  Don't put it near a lake or creek or cliff or at the top of a steep hill. If you do it may get rolled down the hill or into the water when the bear tries to open it.

Bear canisters also make a good seat when you are in camp.

My bear vault, ready for the bears.

All photos of Palisade Creek
All photos of Le Conte Canyon