[pct-l] Hike Forester Pass-Kennedy Meadows

[dude at fastmail.ca (dude)]

> What is the closest departure point after
> Forrester Pass? 
The Onion Valley Trail Head over Kearsarge Pass is 9 miles off the 
PCT and 15 miles west of the town of Independence. 

> How many miles would that be on the trail and than
> access trails? Seems like I remember 50 mi? 
http://www.pctplanner.com indicates that it is 87 miles from Kennedy 
Meadows to the Kearsarge Pass Trail, which is just barely north of 
Forrester Pass.  It is 9 miles from the PCT to the parking lot at the 
Onion Valley Trail Head.  I beleive that Kearsarge Pass is about 
11,700 ft, so its not an "easy" hike.  The trail head itself is 9200 
ft.


> What are the road access points? Are there any people who would 
shuttle a group of 2? 
The only real road access I know of is via Lone Pine over the trail 
that climbs Whitney, or via Independence over Kearsarge pass.  There 
may be other access points further west or further south that I am 
not aware of, I really do not know.


> What NF does one go thru, what permits are needed, how
> difficult are they to obtain? 
Permits for that trail should not be too hard to obtain.  You can 
probably get one from the Inyo National Forest:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/index.html  If they 
can't get you a permit, they will know where you can get one.


> Are there other mt passes to go thru, how many 
> miles per day could one expect to do in the summer,
> probably Aug.  
I do not recall how many passes there are in that section, but don't 
expect it to be a cake walk; there will definitely be some elevation 
changes and altitude.  The number of miles you can expect to hile per 
day depends greatly on a number of factors such as: (a) your physical 
condition, (b) your pack weight, (c) the number of hours actually 
spent hiking, (d) how long or short your rest breaks are, (e) your 
hiking speed, (f) how much you slow down or speed up going uphill or 
downhill, (g) orienteering/route finding skills, (h) trail 
conditions, (i) stream crossings and how you deal with them, (j) 
other factors.  I would say that most people in decent hiking shape 
could probably cover anywhere from 12 to 20 miles per day depending 
on their hiking style and provided that they do not lose the trail 
due to snow or darkness.  If you are in great shape and have lots of 
experience hiking in the mountains and reading maps (and nothing goes 
wrong) then perhaps you will be able to do 20-30 miles per day.  
However, most people cannot cover this amount of ground on that 
section of trail; its very rugged, the whole way is above or near 
10,000 ft, and there is frequently snow.  To be safe, I would plan on 
doing no more than 20 per day.


> Are there permanent snowfields to cross?
There are no really "permanent" snow fields, but there can certainly 
be lots of snow still on the ground and especially on the passes, 
even in August.  This can vary greatly with the amount of snow that 
falls in the Sierra the preceding winter and spring.  In 1998, there 
was snow on just about every pass during the last week of August and 
the first week of september.  Forrester pass still had significant 
snow, and there was even snow protecting the trail up to Whiteny in 
september.  Most years are not like this, but anything is possible.  
If you go in late august, there will have been 100's of hikers that 
have already kicked steps in the snow (if there is any) at the passes 
and you will likely not need an ice axe, but the snow will slow you 
down.


> Were there any bear issues this yr? Anything in > particular I 
should know to do this section? 
Bears have been particularly bad in years past at Onion Valley.  In 
fact, this was at one time arguably the absolute worst "bear problem" 
area on the whole PCT outside of Yosemite (I have even heard people 
say that it was worse than Yosemite).  In 1998 I ran into a Ranger 
who told us of an account of someone being swatted in the gut by a 
bear after he left his food unattended and the came back to find a 
bear chowing down.  Apparently, he tried to take the food from the 
bear, which is a big no-no.  Once the bear has your food, it is no 
longer "yours".  At that point, its the bear's food and he will 
protect it.  Other than that, the only other stories I have heard are 
all just people losing food; and if you use the bear boxes provided 
in that area, you will have no problems.  We camped near the Rea 
Lakes and used a bear box and didnt even see any signs of a bear all 
night.  I think that recently the bear situation over there hs 
improved.  If you hang out on the passes very long, you might want to 
keep an eye on your food, as the marmots in that area are now very 
agressive and will dig through a pack to find food.(especially in 
heavily used places like Keasrage pass)


HTH,
dude
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