[Trip Report] - Kings Canyon National Park via Kearsarge Pass

[DirkHammergate]

I rarely ever post trip reports but I thought I'd post my backpacking trip with my older brothers in Kings Canyon last week. Just a little back story, I'm the youngest of 5 siblings with my oldest brother being almost 15 years older than me. My middle brother was in college when I was 7 so by the time I started backpacking as a teenager they were married and starting their families. We are all backpackers, my oldest brother lives outside Santa Cruz and goes every year with his friends. Well, we decided it was time to finally all backpack together for the first time. My brother picked Kings Canyon National Park via Kearsarge Pass. We started at the Onion Valley trailhead at 9200 and would hike into the Kearsarge lake's area via the Pass at 11,706 feet. We drove to Wendover, dropped to Ely, through Tonapah to Bishop on Wednesday and were on the trailhead around 430 pacific. We thought there would be a ton of smoke from the fires but ended up being pretty decent. You'll see some smoke in the pictures but overall wasn't too bad. On the first night we were lucky to see the ISS fly over our site around 9 pm, the sun was lighting it up against the dark sky. Two days later it flew over again around the same time. Pretty cool.

One cool thing about Kearsarge Pass is that its a restocking pass for the Muir and Pacific Crest Trails. We met a ton of hikers that had been up and down the trail over the last few months, heading into Bishop for supplies and then back to the trail via the pass. So many of them just bounding over the 11,700 foot pass like it was a run at sea level. Pretty impressive. Here are a few pictures.

Final accent, Kearsarge Pass is the saddle on the left.


Cool shot at the pass


Catching our wind before we head down to the lakes


Shot of the lakes, stayed at the middle of the 3 on the left




Shot of me and my brothers on the way out (which one do you think is me?)


My one luxury backpacking item is always duct tape, it came in very handy on the 5 1/2 mile hike out


More shots, last one is a smokey sunset outside Ely Nevada.

[Iceaxe]

Duct tape is awesome. It works better then a bandaid in the backcountry and can also be used in place of stitches and making splints. One of my canyonering partners was an orthopedic surgeon, he always said duct tape was the must useful item the average person can carry in a first aid kit.

[DirkHammergate]

Duct tape is awesome. It works better then a bandaid in the backcountry and can also be used in place of stitches and making splints. One of my canyonering partners was an orthopedic surgeon, he always said duct tape was the must useful item the average person can carry in a first aid kit.

That's really why I bring it, if I get a really bad gash, cut or turn an ankle. I've always worried what would happen if I couldn't mitigate bleeding or a cut way back in the back country. Duct tape will usually give you a chance to get out.

[twotimer]

Very nice! I reckon you're the skinny dude with the ball cap.

[DirkHammergate]

Very nice! I reckon you're the skinny dude with the ball cap.

I'm the one making American Grateful Again

[kiwi_outdoors]

FYI - if you can arrange a pickup at the far end - this is a nice one way hike via the two passes, starting at a high trailhead, and finishing lower at Cedar Grove (which is what wife and I and her brother did years ago - nice hike, mosquitoes were annoying on night #3.

[DirkHammergate]

FYI - if you can arrange a pickup at the far end - this is a nice one way hike via the two passes, starting at a high trailhead, and finishing lower at Cedar Grove (which is what wife and I and her brother did years ago - nice hike, mosquitoes were annoying on night #3.

My brother told us that, we're probably going to do that either next year or the following. They did Whitney from this approach so that's on the table as well.