Day 7 took me over Forrester Pass then followed Bubbs Creek down to Vidette Meadow before climbing toward Glenn Pass and finally stopping at Charlotte Lake. By the end of the day I walked 12 miles and climbed 2300 ft.
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.
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| Day 7 elevation profile in yellow. |
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| Day 7 route in blue. |
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| Forrester Pass from the start of the switchbacks. |
Looking up toward Forrester Pass from the start of the switchbacks is daunting. In the image above there are three people crossing the patch of snow on the left side of the picture. I lost the trail at one of the switchbacks when it disappeared into snow. I walked straight up the boulder field until I intercepted the next switchback.
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| An enlarged view of the three people crossing the snow. |
Much of the trail was carved out of granite. There are many places where you can still see the holes drilled to place dynamite in. This is dangerous work and Donald Downs payed the ultimate price.
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| The Donald Downs memorial. |
There were quite a few people on Forrester Pass when I got there. The lady in the white hat and green jacket is Jamie. The lady in the teal jacket is Linda. Jamie and Linda were hiking together northbound and I would see them periodically. The last time I saw them was at Reds Meadow, 135 miles down the trail.
Forrester Pass had a lot of snow on the north side. Sometimes the trail would be worn across the snow, other times people would turn when then got to the snow and make a new trail down the side of the mountain. These trails were hard to follow sometimes and I would just find my own way down. Getting down to that frozen lake on the right took me through some seriously steep sections.
Forrester Pass marked several boundaries. It is the border between Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. It separates the Kern River watershed to the south from the Kings River watershed to the north. The lakes down below are the headwaters of Bubbs creek, which is a tributary to the South Fork of the Kings River. From here I will spend the next 5 days tracing the the upper end of the various creeks and forks of the Kings River until I cross Muir Pass on day 12 into the San Joaquin River Watershed.
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| Looking north from Forrester Pass. The lake is the start of Bubbs Creek. |
The trek down Bubbs Creek was a pleasant walk. Once I got off of the steep slopes of Forrester the trail was relatively flat and the walking was easy. I crossed Bubbs Creek up high before it had gathered a lot of water. This was the big crossing off the day, the tributary creek from Center Basin.
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| Crossing the creek coming out of Center Basin. This is a tributary to Bubbs Creek. |
Bubbs Creek changed from cascading rapids to meandering river as the terrain went down. I took a break here and enjoyed the idyllic scene.
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| Bubbs Creek |
Once below Center Basin, East Vidette peak dominates the skyline. This mountain marks the corner I would go around to get to Vidette Meadow and the trail up to Charlotte Lake.
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| East Vidette peak. |
Like much of the trail this year, the trees in this area showed signed of avalanches. The Kearsarge Pinnacles rise to the right.
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| Avalanche damage below Kearsarge Pinnacles. |
Vidette Meadow is a popular place to stop, but the lower part of the meadow was abandoned due to mosquitoes. Most people I saw were camped further back on the trail, where it was drier and less buggy. It was still early so I kept going.
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| Vidette Meadow |
From Vidette Meadow the trail rises sharply to the trail to Kearsarge Pass. This is a popular are for people to resupply. You have two options, you can hire a mule to meet you near this sign on a particular day or you can hike out over Kearsarge Pass, find your way to the town of Independence on highway 395 and get food there. I didn't like the mule train idea because of the constraint it put on my schedule (I did not get here on the day I expected to) and leaving the trail was not appealing either so I figured out how to reduce the volume and weight of my food so I could get enough in my bear vault for the first half of my trip. It added about 10 lbs of food to my pack but it was well worth it in the end.
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| Trail Junction to Kearsarge Pass, an exit point to Independence. |
Looking back from the Kearsarge Pass trail junction you can see where I came from. The Kearsarge Pinnacles on the left and East Vidette on the right frame Center Peak, bathed in sunlight. I came down the valley to the right of Center Peak. To the left of Center Peak is Center Basin and another exit out to the very remote Shepard Creek trailhead.
After climbing 1200 ft out of Vidette Meadow I made the questionable decision to give up 300 of it going down to Charlotte Lake. I knew I would have to retrace my steps in the morning to get back on the JMT, but I wanted to see Charlotte Lake.
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| Charlotte Lake |
Charlotte Lake ended up being a very popular place to camp. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, which traps the cold damp air that settles over the water. Despite being at relatively low elevation, 10,400 ft, it was a cold night.
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| Camp 7. Charlotte Lake |
All pictures of
Forrester Pass
All pictures of
Bubbs Creek
All pictures of
Glenn Pass
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