[pct-l] Scary Stuff ahead

[Ned Tibbits]

Just a little injection, here, from a '74 vet:

The route over Bond and Brown Bear into Kennedy North was the route of
choice in May of 74 and the road walk to Sonora wasn't too bad. Besides, the
appeal of a trail-side general store was enough to draw me that way. There
wasn't an "official" route, anyway--not that I could have found it as
everything was still under snow.

Mtnned


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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion Davison" <mardav at charter.net>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Scary Stuff ahead


> As a section hiker I have hiked all the trails mentioned in the Emigrant
> Pass Wilderness.  The alternate route through Northern Yosemite, up
> Matterhorn Canyon, over Burro Pass and Mule Pass, past Crown Point,
> Crown Lake, Peeler Lake, over Buckeye Pass and down Kirkwood Creek  to
> Piute Meadows is stunning, although I found the trail to be a little
> sketchy and hard to follow here and there.  Hardly anyone travels up
> here.  To avoid Sonora Pass, one would continue on trail beside the West
> Walker River, ending at the highway 108 at Leavitt Meadows, where there
> is trailhead parking, a campground, and probably easy hitching to
> Bridgeport, or west to the Sonora Pass trailhead.  Heading north from
> the highway at Sonora Pass, the PCT is easy.
>  I agree with everything Donna said about the descent to the highway
> from Sonora Pass.  Once you leave Kennedy Canyon, you climb steadily to
> a long exposed ridge.  We parked at Sonora Pass and hiked south on a
> cold, cloudy day with occasional showers.  Going south it was not really
> scary.  I did not get the sensation that I was going to fall when
> traveling uphill.  On our return trip two weeks later, the weather was
> clear but extremely windy.  It was therefore very unpleasant on that
> exposed ridge.  As we did the descent to the highway (It's August, no
> snow) I slipped on the little lava ball bearings on the slanted trail
> eight times.  I was quite terrified and swore I'd never hike this piece
> of trail again.  When I got home I threw away my shoes and got new ones,
> since I no longer trusted the tread on those shoes.
> There is a clear, obvious, signed trail to Leavitt Lake, leaving the PCT
> from the ridge.  At this point you have already ascended from 8580 feet
> in Walker Meadow to 10, 600 feet at the trail junction.  If you take
> this route to Leavitt Lake you drop 1000 feet in 1 1/2 miles, then walk
> a jeep road a couple of miles to the highway.  To me it seems like a big
> pointless up and down, and I don't like walking jeep roads.
> Were I doing it again, and wanting to dodge Sonora Pass, I would leave
> the PCT just past Cascade Creek, take the trail down to lower Piute
> Meadows and West Walker River, and out to Leavitt Meadow.  Or go a
> little farther on the PCT to the Long Lakes Junction and hike out to
> Leavitt Meadow past Chain of Lakes. These routes are foot trail all the
> way to the highway.
> Another route is to leave the PCT at the top of Jack Main Canyon, go
> west over Bond Pass, and take trail through Emigrant Wilderness, thru
> Summit Meadow, Grizzly Meadow, past Emigrant Meadow Lake, over Brown
> Bear Pass, past Lunch Meadow, Sheep camp, and down to Relief Reservoir
> and northern Kennedy Meadows where there is a campground, resort and
> store and you should be able to hitch back to Sonora Pass trailhead.
> I've hiked all these trails over the past many years.  The most striking
> thing about them is the amazing lack of people, compared to Yosemite and
> Sequoia.  It's all spectacular country.
> If you are thinking about doing these routes get the Tom Harrison map of
> Emigrant Wilderness or the Tom Harrison Yosemite National Park
> Recreation Map (if you are considering the Burro/Mule Pass route)
> Marion
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