Bushwalking Treasure Box

South West US (Bus tour)

2017-07-25T23:52:00.005+10:00

Breaking the rules here.
We had just finished an absolutely stunning and most memorable 31 day trip through the Eastern Sierra Nevada of California (in their -then- hottest summer on record). I started this blog with a view to only post bushwalking/hiking/tramping/trekking trips, but this one so rated a mention (and it did have the odd little bit of walking in it) that I had to post about it. Bindlestiff Tours (there are plenty of companies out there, but we think we struck lucky with these guys) do a great 3-day minibus tour out of Las Vegas (and after visiting Vegas, there's nowhere else you want to be but out of it!) of Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon (right), Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley (including the most amazing sunrise you may ever see!) and the Grand Canyon. My most accurate description of the trip is jaw-dropping. They are all great places to visit (and spend much more time than we did on our whirlwind tour - so if you have your own wheels, just give yourself at least a whole day at each place).

Relief filled us as we left Las Vegas (we're not bling people) and we headed from Nevada through the top-left corner of Arizona to Utah and the Zion National Park. Carved out of sand deposits that had turned to stone, Zion canyon was stunning to behold. Would have loved to hiked through more of this, though it was spanking hot when we visited.

On the same day, we had a bit more time at Bryce Canyon (also in Utah), less a canyon and more a hillside that is decorated with the most amazing formations (called hoodoos).

The following day we hit Hoover Dam (a little boring from a bus, would be more fun in a boat) and then Antelope Canyon (now in Navajo Nation, surrounded by Arizona) - a real highlight. Being on the tour allowed us to skip some of the queues, but it is definitely worth queuing for! The Navajo guides are hilarious in their tour-group leadership, based largely on one-upmanship with other group leaders. If you allow yourself to be distracted from the stunning beauty of the the canyon, it would be easy to feel like you're being pushed through a sausage machine, but we were completely captivated by the colour and shapes, not to mention entertained by the guides.

Next major stop was Monument Valley (still in Arizona) for an overnight camp. The tour in the afternoon was truly very nice , eventually getting out and away from the crowds and then with some lovely musical moments from the two Navajo guides, but the definite gob-smacking, jaw-dropping, heart-stopping highlight was what greeted us in the morning as we climbed out of our tents at six in the morning... (here are the West and East Mittens).
Having harvested several dropped jawbones from the surrounding landscape, day three led us on to for me the most moving geological formation of the whole trip, the Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon is one of the earth's monumental reminders (Uluru is another) of our fleeting existence in this universe. On our most bored (or depressed) days we might think that our lifetime is overly long, but if you get to glimpse the depth of time shown in the rocks of the Grand Canyon (and there are other places in the world that do this too) you can feel truly insignificant! Hopefully that is liberating in it's own way...

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Disclaimer: The information given is of a general nature only and whilst all care has been taken, no responsibility can be assumed by the author.Conditions change, regulations change. Any reader doing these hikes after reading these notes must show due diligence and be experienced enough to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions.

Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney - Days 23-31

2017-01-18T23:20:00.000+11:00

Day 23, hiked down to the valley and back up to Taboose Pass to pick up our final food drop. Jeff was again early, even though the climb up to Taboose Pass from the road end is 1820m/5970ft, and this time accompanied by his dogs (which are allowed right up to Taboose Pass)! Most of the rest of the journey was very straightforward, following the JMT/PCT towards Mt Whitney, crossing a series of passes.
This day we crossed Pinchot Pass
(pictured above, and from where we are looking north) (3693m/12120ft), and then commenced a very long descent, which didn't stop til the next day. Whilst we were tempted to drop down to the Twin Lakes below Mt Cedric Wright, we found a spot next to a pretty lake close to the trail (pictured left, looking south towards Mt Clarence King - which we'd get pretty close to, around its back, by the end of the next day). But the water was starting to dry off such that there was very little running water to speak of.

Day 24 was to a long stretch as we spent 11 hours from campsite to campsite, travelling nearly 19km/12mi (and dropping and climbing over 1200m/3940ft each direction) from above Twin Lakes to Sixty Lake Basin, east of Rae Lakes. The (700m/2300ft) descent down Woods Creek continued until late morning, followed by the inevitable ascent having crossed the creek to follow a different watercourse back up to maintain our southward trajectory. This took us past Dollar Lake, yet another Arrowhead Lake and the spectacular Rae Lakes, dominated as they were by Fin Dome. These four lakes all had a slight green tinge, quite possibly due to higher nutrient content from humans. The Rae Lake campsites looked a little love-worn, so we continued west to Sixty Lake Basin, which meant climbing another small (200m/650ft) pass late in the day.

The Basin (above at dawn the following day) was well worth the effort though, with a much more unsullied feel to it, as we camped right around on the opposite side of Fin Dome (on the right of the picture).

Day 25 we crossed back into the Rae Lakes basin and then continued up to Glen Pass for an early lunch before dropping yet again, this time towards Vidette Meadow, ultimately 700m/2300ft below. The southern passes however were all much easier to negotiate than the Sierra High Route passes, on account of the switchbacks engineered in all the tracks. We traversed high above Charlotte Lake (left) before dropping to traverse the crossroads going east to Kearsage Pass, north from whence we came, west to Charlotte Lake, and south to Bubbs Creek and Vidette Meadow. This patch was as hot, dry and desolate as any we had come across so far. Waiting for a food drop there must feel like waiting for Lucifer himself. Vidette Meadow was spacious and treed, but the amount of windfall logs made one a little nervous, especially when a brief thunderstorm blew through.

Day 26 started with an 1100m/3609ft 1:10 gradient climb (right) to Forester Pass (4006m/13143ft). As we ascended, we could hear more ominous rumbles from over the pass, and by the time we crested it at noon, it had started to lightly snow. Quickly donning warm and waterproof clothing (as best as our ultra-light preparations had allowed) we marched/hared down one of the more precarious switchbacks on the JMT/PCT, to get into the shelter of the forest. Not stopping for lunch for fear of getting too cold, we made camp by mid-afternoon, set up our tent, cooked up a hot soupy lunch and enjoyed being in our tent for most of the rest of the day. The cold blast had blown over, and we had reached warmer climes.

Chatting with a friendly neighbour - Michael - back at Barrett Lakes, we were inspired to visit the lakes on the Upper Kern Loop Trail, which loops west off the JMT north of Tyndall Creek campsite. So with a day up our sleeves, we took the time to head to the Upper Kern river, and then take the circuit clockwise to Lake South America, and come back to camp over the little pass (from which we could see Mt Whitney). It took us about 7 hours over 13km/8mi, and involved over 900m/2950ft climbing and the same descending back to camp. But it was sure pretty!

Day 28 we pushed on over the sparse and pretty Bighorn Plateau and increasingly sparser and sandier terrain to Crabtree and up to Guitar Lake, nestled below Mt Whitney. We got to Crabtree by lunch time and had hoped to get the scoop from the local ranger on whether we could camp up at Guitar Lake or not, but they were not to be found. Accepted wisdom is that if you're on the PCT, then you're allowed. There were "poop bags" for folks heading out over Whitney Portal, to try and reduce the amount of human waste on Mt Whitney. They're not really intended for hikers going in other directions, but we figured it had the same positive impact, so grabbed some and headed up. Guitar Lake is a very pretty place to stay, though pretty busy due to the whole Mt Whitney thing going on...

Day 29 was a doozy of a day. We got up about 4:45am to be on our way by 5:30am, heading up up up 960m/3150ft to the summit of Mt Whitney (4423m/14505ft, left, look for the shelter on the flat spot), the highest peak of the contiguous United States. Whilst we were getting ready, we could see scores of head-torches bobbing their way up the trail, which gave us a good idea of the route, it being illegible from below the afternoon before.
It was a long, slow climb (3¼ hours) over yet another engineering feat as the route picked its way through a whole mountainside of talus (right). I'm not sure why there aren't more reports of altitude sickness for all the folks who climb up straight from Whitney Portal without any acclimatisation. We were certainly puffed! Below is the view south east from the summit, those lakes are about 900m/2950ft below, and Whitney Portal another 1100m/3600ft further down.

It took 2½ hours to descend back to Guitar Lake, where we had lunch, packed the tent and our now hot bear canisters, and continued down to Crabtree, and lower Crabtree Meadow, where in hindsight we should have stayed. However we pressed on, hoping to find a site by a stream, but there was no water for three hours, so we crossed Guyot Pass and continued to the oasis of Rock Creek. By the end of that day, we had hiked 21½km/13mi, climbed 1697m/5567ft, descended 2299m/7542ft, and been up and active for 13 hours! Phew! But what a magnificent day!

The huge effort of that day paid off the following day (30), as we had a shorter time of it hiking via the pretty Soldier Lakes to Army Pass and New Army Pass. We remember walking out of Rock Creek and thinking to ourselves "bacon!". Ten minutes later we passed the Ranger's Hut...

Our final pass, New Army Pass was - like many passes before - over 800m/2630ft above our breakfast spot. It revealed the Cottonwood Lakes spread below us, but 360m/1120ft below! Thankfully the switchbacks. so characteristic of this southern part of the Sierras, made the descent easy though a little tiresome.

And so our final day of our Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney hike, Day 31, dawned with the sun peeking over Long Lake. And like every other day, it got hot. By the end of the day, we had spent 31 days hiking up 27,796m/91,194ft (over three Mt Everests, from sea level) and down 27,665m/90,764ft. We spent 18 of those days attaining an elevation above 3,500m/11,482ft, and hiked 373km/232mi.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney - Days 16-23

2017-01-15T21:29:00.000+11:00

Day 16 was one of our hardest days. By late morning, we had bumped into two coyotes (right), picked up our food drop from Jeff at Piute Pass (who had very conveniently arrived over an hour earlier), and headed past Muriel Lake and Goethe Lake towards Alpine Col. There are three high crossings over the Glacier Divide: Snowtongue Pass (as suggested by Roper, followed by Andrew Skurka and avoided by many!), Alpine Col and The Keyhole. We opted for Alpine Col (at 3768m/12362ft a little higher than Feather Pass and a little lower than Snowtongue Pass), though we had met folks describing it as traversing rocks the size of Volkswagen Beetles! Turns out they were right.

Even getting to the base of the ascent is hard work, as Goethe Lake is lined on the eastern side with rocky Beetles. Having clambered over those, we still had climb 240m/790ft of boulders, talus and scree to pass through Alpine Col (pictured left). Yet more talus and picking our way over boulders, and we found our way to Darwin Bench, a real oasis after all the earlier rock. Even though we spent nearly 11 hours "on the track" (including picking up and packing our food), we barely travelled 12km/7.5mi. We climbed 832m/2730ft and descended 263m/2500ft. But the terrain was some of the toughest of the whole hike, and of course with freshly laden packs!

Next day we made a quick visit to Darwin Canyon before dropping down to the JMT on an at times indistinct trail that then improved so much we thought we were already on the JMT! We proceeded to Evolution Lake (right), one of the prettiest lakes on the whole hike.

Beyond it was another pretty lake, Sapphire Lake, and the gorgeous Wanda Lake (left), named after one of John Muir's daughters. We had wanted to camp there, but couldn't see anywhere (there's one spot on the opposite side, apparently, but no trees), so we pressed on up to Muir Pass (3644m/11955ft), which crosses yet another divide, the Goddard Divide. The "Muir Hut" is a shelter built at the pass, which would be a good port in a storm.

From Muir Hut, it was less than an hour down to Lake Helen (another of Muir's daughters), where we found a pretty (though bare, as is usual above the timberline) campsite. At 3561m/11683ft, this was to be the highest campsite of the whole hike, higher even than Guitar Lake below Mt Whitney.

Day 18 commenced with a descent effectively following the Middle Fork of Kings River from the headwaters at Helen Lake down Le Conte Canyon. A beautiful (and tall) descent it is, too, dropping 1049m from Helen Lake to Little Pete's Meadow, where we gave ourselves the afternoon off. This was our first half day of walking (ignoring ending the northbound leg, and starting the southbound leg) and we welcomed the rest. We also welcomed all the interruptions as several grouse (or ptarmigan), a mule deer and her faun wandered through the campsite. Little Pete's was a good place to stop, as we enjoyed a mid-afternoon sunset due to the proximity of Langille Peak, which towered 970m/3180ft above us, casting a welcome shadow.

The start to day 19 was really well engineered, as we had a steep 600m/1968ft climb up to Dusy Basin. With an early enough start, we accomplished all but the last ten minutes in the shade of the valley wall.

Dusy Basin was pretty enough, though starting to feel the mid-summer heat. However as we were climbing up to Knapsack Pass (the gap about dead centre above, just right of the largest peak - Columbine Peak), we were visited ad hoc by an iridescent hummingbird, which flew up to us, inspected us, said "what are you doing here?" and then flew off. A magical moment.

Knapsack Pass was one of the easier passes (we made it a bit harder by diverting from the straight-up-the-middle route to go a nearby tarn for lunch), and we made camp at one of the Barrett Lakes, having just put back on all the elevation we had lost the previous day. We watched the light change on North Palisade (left) as the sun set. Not long after, the moon rose. And then much later, the sun (right) rose...

Day 20 crossed two passes, Potluck Pass and Cirque Pass - both interesting in their own ways. Potluck Pass (left) had a very steep southern side, starting off with a ramp which basically devolved into a scree-ride. Cirque had a choose-your-own-adventure route which was largely easily navigated, descending to our campsite, a white knoll above the JMT and west of Palisade Lakes.

Now at the two thirds way mark, we dropped quickly down to Palisade Lakes, only to immediately commence the 450m/1475ft climb to Mather Pass (pictured right - with the Palisades and Palisade Lakes in the background). At the bottom of Mather Pass, we were to part ways with the Sierra High Route (which was to head south-west to Kings Canyon) and follow the JMT/PCT (roughly southwards, with some side diversions) towards Mt Whitney.

Having turned from the Sierra High Route and toddled over to Split Mountain tarn, we contoured along a variety of benches to Cardinal Lake (pictured left), where we were treated to some interesting light as the sun later set, and the moon (much later) rose. Cardinal Mountain is the right of the two white "blond tips". Our little tent is tucked in on the bottom right.

Next morning (Day 22) we dropped back down to the JMT before climbing back up to Bench Lake where we had lunch. This was one of the longer days - mostly because of the side trip to Bench Lake, which added 5km/3mi, and a visit to the upper lake at Striped Mountain, which added 2km/1.5mi.

Again, we perched ourselves up in a high lake for camping, this time near Striped Mountain. We hadn't made much distance south, but really just picked our way around the Cardinal Mountain spur. We were now looking at Cardinal Mountain (left) from the south rather than the west. Taboose Pass, our next (and final) food drop, is visible to the right of Cardinal Mountain.
In this section, we travelled 72km/45mi, climbing 5050m/16570ft and descending 4980m/16340ft.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney - Days 10-16

2017-01-06T23:47:00.000+11:00

Having gone north along the Sierra High Route from Mammoth to Mono Village (the SHR's northern terminus), largely following the spine of the Sierras, we now changed direction and headed south from Mammoth to follow the SHR as far as Mather Pass. Our plans then took us directly south to Mt Whitney and slightly beyond, rather than to Kings Canyon, which is the SHR's southern terminus.
This much longer section required two food drops so that we could stay up high and save two days each time, not to mention big climbs back up with big packs. This came with the cost of having to be at the drops at particular times, but we made good use of our time when we got ahead of schedule.

Our first section was from Mammoth Ridge and heading south, rejoining the SHR at the top of the Crystal Lake Trail, about 5km south along the route from the Devil's Postpile. Our campsites were Deer Lakes (on Mammoth Ridge), Cotton Lake, Second Recess, Brown Bear Lake, Merriam Lake (well, just south of it), and Humphreys Basin, near the Piute Pass Trail. The weather had at last cooled a little, though climbing up 550m/1800ft in the afternoon was still warming, but at least we climbed in some shade (mainly our hats').

The sun set rather beautifully on our Deer Lakes campsite (we think that's Iron Mountain next to the sun, there). That night we had our first cool night, a relief! This first day was short, only taking 4 hours from Crystal Lake Trailhead to Deer Lakes.

The next day (Day 11), we descended onto Duck Pass, joined the Duck Lake Trail and then the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail passing Purple Lake and Virginia Lake before taking a left turn at Fish Creek and heading up to Izaak Walton Lake (left), one of the prettiest places we had seen so far. We then temporarily geographically embarrassed ourselves as the route went from one map edge to another. However we soon found ourselves back on route to make Cotton Lake. Whilst we were feeling tired by the end of the day, we were surprised to have climbed (and descended) 1235m/4050ft in the day. It was a big-down/big-up day.

The following morning (Day 12), we passed Tully Lake (pictured right) before again heading off in a slightly different direction, exploring some beautiful meadows before correcting and heading over "Shout of Relief" Pass and Bighorn Pass and dropping down to Laurel Lake for lunch. This was to be our campsite for the day, but we decided to push on and see what we could find on Mono Creek or beyond, finding a small patch of level ground in the lower parts of Second Recess. This extra time we saved helped even out the next few days.

We started early the following morning (Day 13) to get up and over Gabbott Pass (3728m/12230ft, our highest point so far) before it got too hot, as it's over a 1000m/3300ft ascent. There were the odd patches of nearly impenetrable willow, which were good exercise, otherwise it was a beautiful morning walk. Lower Mills Creek Lake is so beautiful, it would have made a stunning camp site, though it might be a choice between rock and wet feet! Gabbott Pass is through the obvious gap, still 400m/1300ft climbing to go. We stopped there for lunch. Fortunately, the afternoon was pretty well downhill to Lake Italy, then on to Teddy Bear Lake and Brown Bear Lake.
Day 14 dawned to yet another morning climb, as we scrambled up to White Bear Pass and then over the other side to Black Bear Lake. It was then a climb down to Ursa Lake before heading up over Feather Pass. We wandered over towards Vee Lake, at the foot of Seven Gables, and thought we'd try traversing to Feather Pass, a bit of a mistake, as the climbing became too athletic for people carrying packs. So we dropped back down to the valley floor and crossed Feather Pass (3769m/12365ft, a new high point) in a more conventional manner. We camped at the tarn just below Merriam Lake, at an obvious empty pack mule camp.

Day 15 took us 280m/900ft downhill to French Canyon, past Royce Falls and then up over Puppet Pass and past the appropriately named Desolation Lake. We camped north of the Piute Pass Trail (pictured right with Mt Humphreys, the highest peak in the Bishop area), about an hour from where we were to meet our food drop at 10am the following day.

This section saw us climb 5626m/18460ft, descend 4909m/16100ft, and cover 71km/44miles. Whilst it had started a little cooler, it was warming up substantially by the time we got to Humphrey Basin, and every lunch time was largely dictated by where we could find a scrap of shade.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney - Days 6-9

2017-01-05T23:09:00.000+11:00

Having picked up our (somewhat small) package of food for the last three days of the northern leg, we headed east paralleling the Tioga Pass Road and climbed another 650m/1200ft over 12km/7mi in heat to get to the first legal campsite on the Sierra High Route north of Tuolumne Meadows. There are rules as to how close to Tuolumne you can wilderness camp, and then further restrictions about camping near particular water catchments, leaving a small rocky patch just above the Great Sierra Mine. Whilst an austere campsite, there was a lofty silence about it which was quite calming after the hustle and bustle of Tuolumne.

It was quite an interesting day, traversing the eastern flanks of White Mountain, Mt Conness and North Peak (pictured left, from the south, looking like a reclining Mt Rushmore bust, and right from the north), crossing snowy bits, meadows, streams, rocky bits, climbing up and down (only 800m/2600ft this day).

The following day (Day 8) was even more interesting, and the most demanding in this section. We climbed up 200m/650ft of pure scree and talus to Sky Pilot Col. This was then followed by a further 1.6km/1mile of jagged scree as we descended 400m/1300ft to Shepherd Lake (below). It was then an easier descent to Virginia Creek (despite the unavoidable choking willow), and then back up the other side.

The climb from Virginia Creek to Stanton Pass is 610m/2000ft, up more loose rock. We found a tiny patch of shade for our lunch at Soldier Lake, before ducking behind Grey Butte and crossing a delightfully refreshing snow-fed stream, climbing up shelves of rock to the Pass. It was an interesting steep descent on the other side to Spiller Creek, aided by some easy juggy handholds.

Left, Spiller Creek looking towards Horse Creek Pass, with Matterhorn Peak (a "miserable pile of talus") to the left.
Spiller Creek was a very welcome meadow-filled valley, with easy relatively flat walking for the first time in two days. It was also lined with ridges that looked like teeth out of some horrible beast in Lord of the Rings.

The final day (Day 9) began with crossing Horse Creek Pass, and then following Horse Creek as it descended 1227m/4000ft over several waterfalls and through a few beaver dams (introduced to the area, but not that successful) to the holiday park of Mono Village at the Twin Lakes.

This stretch of two and two half days covered 40km/25mi, climbed 3489m/11400ft and descended 3312m/10870ft. Our highest point was Sky Pilot Col at 3502m/11500m, about the same elevation as Namche Bazaar in Nepal.
When we got back to Mammoth Lakes, rather than treating ourselves to a shower, good meal and relax, we went into Bluesapalooza where the big-hearted Michael Franti (the only hip-hop artist we like) was performing.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney - Days 1-6

2017-01-04T23:45:00.003+11:00

One must always be careful when starting a hike/bushwalk/tramp/trek. In our experience it takes up to three days to become "pack-fit", even when training beforehand. In this instance, Andrew landed in Mammoth Lakes with a head cold and jet lag which had him sleep through half of our preparation days. However on the planned day we hopped on the Red's Meadow shuttle (having been convinced by an unscrupulous driver that it didn't leave from Mammoth Lakes town) at Mammoth Mountain and found ourselves at Devil's Postpile to begin phase one of our 31 day Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney Hike.

The Devil's Postpile (think of a log pile) National Monument is a very interesting* stack of distorted basalt columns, which made a nice diversion before heading out towards our ultimate goal for the day, Minaret Lake. There are two ways to get there. Either directly along trails (the John Muir Trail - henceforth called the JMT - and the side trail to Minaret Lake) or over the Sierra High Route (henceforth called the SHR) which involves climbing a scree (henceforth called by its US name - talus) slope to Nancy Pass, and then spending at least a couple of hours traversing a sea of talus to get towards Minaret Lake.

The Minarets are a stunning (very interesting is too dull a description for the Minarets) collection of rhino horns, left behind after a major glacial event which is responsible for a lot of the Sierra Nevada landscape, which dot this part of the Sierras. We had looked on the map and said to ourselves "that's a nice name". We weren't disappointed.
Despite the hard work (we felt) involved getting there via Nancy Pass, Minaret Lake is a truly stunning place to spend your first night...

The next day saw us head off to the right of the sharp spire above, past Lake Cecile (left) and Iceberg Lake, towards Whitebark Pass and 1000 Islands Lake. It's a cute climb out the back of Minaret Lake to Cecile Lake but a pretty trashy descent over talus followed by a traverse of more talus along Iceberg Lake.

At Whitebark Pass, despite some intimate experience of talus in the previous 24 hours, Andrew still managed to execute a double forward roll with a twist. Only scored a 2.5 for the poor landing. Fortunately the only injury sustained was a very surprised pinky and a bruised ego.
After the climb to Whitebark Pass, it was another descent, followed by another more chunky climb to Lake Catherine, which lies west of Banner Peak.

Traversing further around, and dropping a little over the west side, we were obliged to camp near the top of a substantial waterfall (left), which became our route the next day. It was great following this route down and then back up from the North Ford of the San Joaquin River to Twin Island Lakes (visible "above" the top of the falls). We then proceeded around the ridge and up Bench Canyon (slightly to the right) to Blue Lake. Blue Lake Pass is between the horizontal patch of snow and small patches to its right below Mt Foerster.

After a pretty hot day, we cooled our heels in Blue Lake (right). Also in this pic is Mt Ritter on the left (though our waterfall is out of shot), and some of the Minarets in about the middle of the shot. Possibly Mammoth Crest in the background to the right, and probably Iron Mountain the final peak on the right in shadow. Whilst these first three days were pretty hard work as we honed our pack fitness, threw off jetlag and colds, each evening we had landed in the most stunning of campsites.
Day 4 saw us cross Blue Lake Pass to enter the Yosemite Wilderness in a beautiful broad meadow with clear sparkling brooks, heading towards the Merced Valley. We crossed the Lyell Fork of the Merced, with beautiful white granite redolent of the famous Yosemite valley 23km/15miles away. The Isberg trail follows the Merced on a shelf way up on the eastern side of the valley.

The next day we dropped down to Lewis Creek and followed it up to Vogelsang Pass. By now we had perfected the thermo-regulatory strategy of taking our shirts off, dunking them in the streams and then putting them back on soaking wet before resuming hiking. Startling when first put on, but blissfully cooling as we continued our hike in the middle of a heatwave in California's hottest summer on record.

Left: Vogelsang Lake from Vogelsang Pass. We lunched in a tiny patch of shade near the far end. Over the lip of the lake, we dropped down past the Vogelsang Sierra High Camp (a "chalet" with tent "rooms" and cooked meals, even showers!) to Boothe Lake. A half day's walk further on is Tuolumne Meadows.

The next day (day 6) we started off early as it was a long way to the Great Sierra Mine above Tioga Pass (20km/12mi, 1300m/4265ft climb and 1020m/3346ft descent), and we had to stop by Tuolumne Meadows Post Office to pick up our food. Having picked up our package by 11am, we enjoyed some pretty good burgers at the adjacent fast food joint before heading on for yet another hot afternoon's hiking.
In the first five and a half days (from Devil's Postpile to Tuolumne Meadows) we covered 64km/40mi, climbed up 4700m/15400ft, and down 5012m/16400ft. The second half of this northward section is only three nights long.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Sierra High Route/Mt Whitney - Preparation

2017-01-04T23:45:00.002+11:00

In July-August 2016, we did a thirty-one day hiking trip through eastern Sierra Nevada (California) more or less along the navigable parts of the highest spine of the Sierras. It was split into two sections:
One travelled north for nine days from Mammoth Lakes (Devil's Postpile) to Mono Village/Twin Lakes (near Bridgeport) on the Sierra High Route.

The second travelled south for 21 days from Mammoth Lakes (George Lake) to Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead (south of Mt Whitney and near Lone Pine).

The hike was based on the Sierra High Route as far south as Mather Pass and then a JMT/PCT Mt Whitney finish (plus lots of side trips). We travelled roughly 370km/230miles, crossed 29 passes, climbed (and then descended) 27,800m/91,200ft (that's up and down three Mt Everests from sea-level!). Sticking more to the eastern spine of the Sierras meant that logistics - drop-offs, pick-ups, food drops - were more easily realised.

It was split up into five smaller segments based on where we could restock our food. We used a hiker twice to save us hiking down a long way and back up with full packs, which saved us a stack of time, but was expensive.

Days 1-6 (5 nights). Devil's Postpile Trailhead to Tuolumne Meadows. Picked up a food package that we mailed to the Post Office there.
Days 6-9 (3 nights). Tuolumne Meadows to Mono Village/Twin Lakes. Caught a lift back to Mammoth Lakes and restocked from our stowed stuff. Had an extra night back in Mammoth to shed unnecessary gear (and caught a gig by Michael Franti at Bluespalooza!)
Days 10-16 (6 nights). Lake George Trackhead (Mammoth Lakes) to Piute Pass. Rendezvoused with a hiker at the pass for the food drop.
Days 16-23 (7 nights). Piute Pass to Taboose Pass. Another hiker rendezvous.
Days 23-31 (8 nights). Taboose Pass to Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead. Another organised pick up to take us to Lone Pine.

Transport
During summer, Mammoth Mountain Resort has frequent shuttles to Reds Meadow that stop at Devil's Postpile Parking. We organised private lifts to pick up from Mono Village, drop off at Lake George (though there is a free trolley bus from Mammoth that would have got us near there), and pick up from Cottonwood Lakes. The shuttle we used also organised the food hiker and stored/transported our stuff from Mammoth to Lone Pine. There are a couple of shuttle services operating on the eastern Sierras.

Showers/Toilets
Aside from one US Parks-run campsite at Vogelsang, the commercial campground at Tuoloumne Meadows (both on day 6) and one open-air long-drop at Crabtree (day 29), we passed no showers or toilets for the whole 31 days. So be prepared for dunking yourself in cold lakes (without soap!) and burying your toilet-waste. In most areas you also need to carry out your toilet paper (otherwise little critters come and dig it up 'cos they like the paper!). We found this request a little strange at first, but got used to it.

Bear Canisters
It is a requirement in nearly all the areas we were in to either carry a bear canister or store all your food in a bear-box. When doing the Sierra High Route, bear boxes are rare or non-existent, so we used bear canisters. Ours stored about a week's food for one person per canister, so we took one each. Ours weighed 1.2kg/Your mileage may vary. There are other precautions, too, like cooking and cleaning eating utensils some distance from your tent to avoid curious bears trundling through your campsite in the middle of the night. We took all those precautions, and were still keen to see a black bear at a distance, but never saw one at all, even though their numbers are apparently increasing. I guess the strategy is really working!

Food/Water

Well, when wanting to reduce the weight of up to eight days food, we fell to our usual staples of dehydes. Our main policy was energy dense foods that were devoid of water, 'cos we could always add that. Breakfasts were mainly toasted muesli (we made a big mistake in getting some "super-food" ones for days 10-31, which we regretted. Plain and sweet is a good plan). Lunches were (Australian bought) VitaWeats with "relatively long life" cheese and various spreads inc peanut butter, pesto, jam, and choc-macadamia spread. For dinners, we sourced from PackLite Foods for main meals and Harmony House for additives (both US businesses), as well as Back Country Cuisine (NZ) and good old Continental (Unilever) and San Remo (Aus) for more cheesy pasta dishes. Must say that when we trialled the PackLites at home, we didn't think much of several of them, but when we were on the trail, they all tasted delicious! There's a Safeway in Mammoth Lakes, that we made good use of for hot choc sachets, chocolate etc, though Liptons' Chai Latte sachets were sadly missing.

Water is plentiful in most parts of the Sierra Nevada, though we found that the PCT between Crabtree and Rock Creek was probably our driest time (and perhaps from Tioga Pass Road to Gaylor Lakes) with three hours of no access to water and a "westerly aspect" with little shade. Because we don't trust that everyone buries their toilet waste according to the Park's principles, we ran all our water through a Platypus GravityWorks water filter and then either "pilled" or boiled it. No sense in spoiling your trip with gastroenteritis! We saw a few other people drinking untreated water straight out of streams.

Permits

A must. You'll get bounced out of the park if you're caught without one. We were checked once. The US Parks wilderness/back-country permit system is a little complicated, but in the end we obtained a permit each for northbound and southbound trips. Both were picked up in Mammoth Lakes Welcome Centre the day before each section. You can book six months out, which I'd suggest as the place is popular, esp. around Mt Whitney. So with the two pickups, and the two food rendezvous, and nominated campsites, we had to stick to a bit of a schedule, but still found lots of flexibility in timing within that.

Maps and References

Like most Sierra High Route hikers, we had a copy of Steve Roper's Sierra High Route : Traversing Timberline Country. It proved a good read on track with the history etc, but was maddeningly light on details like roughly/relatively how long it takes to get somewhere, which made route planning full of guess work. We had a couple of friends whom we could ask, who gave good ideas and encouragement with our preparations.

We also made good use of Andrew Skurka's excellent map resources, as well as Tom Harrison's (esp. for the hike south of Mather Pass).

Military jet fly-overs

Unfortunately, the US Navy at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station like to fly their jets over the wilderness parts of the Sierra Nevada, exactly where we wanted some peace and quiet. This activity was very annoying at the time, and took a bit of getting used to, and seems extraordinarily inconsiderate of the them. The heat we could stand. The talus we could stand. The jets whooshing about...? It wasn't all the time, but occasionally up to ten flights a day, some lasting 5-10 minutes or so. Seemed to be really noticeable around Virginia Peak in the north, and Rae Lakes in the south, but they were noticeable everywhere.

If you're prepared to deal with all of the above, and be fit enough to hike over at times a lot of scree/talus carrying seven days of food, and deal with a lot of sun and possibly black bears, then you're in for a treat!

Next (Days 1-6)

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Disclaimer: The information given is of a general nature only and whilst all care has been taken, no responsibility can be assumed by the author.Conditions change, regulations change. Any reader doing these hikes after reading these notes must show due diligence and be experienced enough to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions. Many people would call this a tough hike.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - The Five Passes Days 5 & 6

2013-04-28T23:32:00.000+10:00

The Five Passes. Days 5 & 6 - North Col, Route Burn North Branch, Routeburn Shelter and home
Though we didn't leave 'til after 11am (resting and waiting for the fog to lift), day 5 became a bit of a biggy. It's a fairly simple (in good weather) alpine traverse to North Col (top of Route Burn North Branch) 1100m above the Hidden Valley Ck, and then following the North Branch down towards Routeburn Flat (camping before getting that far). Peaks 1796 is 200m up and back down from North Col, otherwise most of the elevation (800m) was dropping into the North Branch, which went for about 8km (in rain) before we camped.
Below: North Col, as seen from the traverse. Peak 1796, which we climbed for lunch, is on the right.

Below: "Just a Few Feet Below". From Peak 1796, looking down Hidden Falls Ck and onto the Hollyford River with Lake Alabaster in the distance. The drop's a little shear, about 1300m!

Time to move on. Looking down to the valley of Route Burn North Branch. A very long valley (about 11km) it took about 5 hours to get from here to our campsite. Yes. That's about 2km/hour! This photo shows part of the reason. To get down from the North Col, we had to traverse over the steep scree slope that you see before you. Better that than hard icy snow without crampons!
The North Branch was getting bigger by now, as it was starting to rain. Crossing back and forth became more difficult, as we tried to keep to the cairns. Around here I fell in whilst trying to skip over some rocks whilst crossing. Further downstream, there were places where the pad - what there was of it - would simply disappear, and you'd be left throwing yourself against vegetation to get through to the vague clearing that you thought might be a track. I think next time it would help to keep a sharp eye out on the true right for the true track...
Below: I know I was getting pretty tired by now. We had been walking or climbing for nearly 10 hours. Whilst the traverse had been fun, the peak exhilarating, and the river descent interesting, I was really ready for rest by now. Still, it really was a beautiful setting.

Below: Even though it was a relatively "benched and boring" final morning's 8km walk out, the Routeburn Track still turns up some pretty spots.
Prev (Day 4)
Back to New Zealand index

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - The Five Passes Day 4

2013-04-28T22:42:00.000+10:00

The Five Passes. Day 4 - Parks Pass, Parks Pass Glacier, Lake Nerine
Day 4. Simple. Go down the creek a bit, turn left, go up a bit, go up a bit more, come back down a bit, go up a bit more. Climbing 1250m, dropping 600m and covering 13 km. A big day.
After following Hidden Falls Ck downhill for a couple of kms, we had to find the "left turn up the hill". T'was somewhere near this little stream, but alas we didn't find the track until the top, some 550m climb and 70 minutes later. We followed what was probably a hunter's pad up a handy ridge, which was in a way fine because you could put your hand out, and if it didn't crumble away, it was a good hand hold for dragging yourself up, and then a good foot hold four feet later... also, walking under the tree cover helped us not overcook ourselves.

So 70 minutes grunt later, we emerged out of the rotting forest to the alpine meadows. And this is the sort of thing you're likely to run into on NZ's South Island. So common this one's named Peak 1920!
Below: Having made Park's Pass, we continued up to Park's Pass Glacier, a mere 400m further up. Pretty easy going up in good weather. Wouldn't try it in bad! Amazing the loss of permanent snow here. The glacier has retreated a long way from what was marked on the LINZ map of the time... Those opposed to the idea of global warming must at least acknowledge local warming! (And this is happening all around the globe, btw...)

So rather than exit via Sugarloaf, we were told of a very pretty spot called Lake Nerine which involves a fair bit of alpine traversal, and headed for that. These two pics were taken on the way. Below: Parks Pass with Peak 1920 in cloud and Parks Pass Glacier above it. The exit stream of the glacier (and the source of the Rock Burn) is the cleft on the right.
Below: Upper Rock Burn, taken from 800m above. We didn't go back that way, though most Five Passers would travel through it. Theatre Flat, with Mt Nox to the left, and probably Peak 1863 on the right, with Sugarloaf Pass (usually one of the Five Passes as described) somewhere behind it.

The alpine traverse up to Lake Nerine is only 4km, but climbs 400m across snow grass and scree, and at the end of a day with so much climbing already, felt quite treacherous. We were pretty tired, and I think it took us over 2 hours! Lake Nerine looked so welcoming by the time we arrived.

Prev (Day 3) Next (Days 5-6)

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - The Five Passes Day 3

2013-04-27T22:28:00.001+10:00

The Five Passes. Day 3 - Olivine Ledge, Firey Col, Hidden Falls Creek
Day 3 was only about 10km, but involved about 1000m in descent plus another 400m climbing, as we dropped down to and traversed the Olivine Ledge, climbed up over Firey Col, dropped down to Cow Saddle and then further down into Hidden Falls Creek.

Left photo is looking downstream from near the top. Right photo is looking upstream at the crossing. The gully that drains Fohn Lakes is the route that you take to drop down to the Olivine Ledge, though you actually maintain course above it on the true right. There's a crossing where it suddenly turns left.

The Olivine Ledge can be boggy, but we didn't have too much trouble.

The Plunge Pool on Firey Creek marks where you need to start going up to Firey Col (400m ascent)...
Below: Knee crunching 500m descent from Firey Col (where we had lunch) to Cow Saddle (the broad green saddle between the black valley wall and the red one). Needed to be done patiently.

Below: Our day finished with the tent pitched above flood level on Hidden Falls Creek (and out of reach of all but the biggest rockfalls), several km down from Cow Saddle. Rather picturesque spot.

Prev days 1 & 2. Next Day 4

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - The Five Passes Days 1 & 2

2013-04-27T22:28:00.000+10:00

The Five Passes. Days 1 & 2 - Beans Burn and Fohn Lakes
In the southern end of Mt Aspiring National Park, a near loop done anti-clockwise by us, incorporating Fohn Saddle, Fiery Col, Cow Saddle, Parks Pass and North Col. Our plan was thus.
Day 1: Jet boat from Glenorchy up the Dart River, and then climb 450m up Beans Burn to the Rock Biv (11km)
Day 2: Climb 660m to Fohn Saddle, then up and down another 300m for Sunset peak (6km)
Day 3: Drop 370m to the Olivine Ledge. Climb 400m up Fiery Creek to Fiery Col.
Drop 500m to Cow Saddle and a further 200m down Hiddle Falls Ck (10km)
Day 4: Drop a further 200m before climbing steeply 550m to Park Pass.
Up and then down 400m to Park Pass Glacier, before climbing a further 300m to Lake Nerine (13km)
Day 5: Climb 100m whilst traversing to the North Col, up and then down 200m to Peak 1796, then descending 800m to camp way down on Route Burn North Branch (12km)
Day 6: A doddle walk out, dropping 240m to the Routeburn Shelter to catch a bus back to Queenstown (8km)
All in all, climbed and descended about 3100m over about 60km. We chose to go anticlockwise to speed up the walk by using a jet boat to get to Beans Burn. Many people tramp the segment between Route Burn and Beans Burn, but it adds a fair part of a whole day.
Beans Burn is a typical NZ glacial-fed stream. Azure blue, freezing, quite capable of drowning you if you cross in the wrong spot. Luckily, it has a bridge to cross to the true right. Rain was predicted, and we thought it best to negotiate bad weather down low than up on the exposed tops.
Sort of worked. We were pretty wet and cold by the time we made the Rock Biv. Eight hours walking for 11km and 450m ascent, some of it in bog and some of it in the water.
Left: Beans Burn getting bigger.
We decided not to camp in the cave of the biv, as it was easier to clear the tent of sandflies, and there was sufficient break in the rain to pitch the tent.
Next day, the rain had cleared, leaving a gorgeous mist in the valley. The light was sublime. And then the climb up to Fohn Pass. You basically turn to face the valley wall, and start walking (well, you have to pick the right spot to negotiate the pass, as there are rock walls above). Keep going up 600m - some of it on scree - and you've got there. About 6km.
Below: Beans Burn from Fohn Saddle. The valley view extends all the way to Lake Wakatipu, visible about 35km away. Beans Burn was an awesome little valley.

And then of course there's the view from the other side of the saddle... The Bryneira Range is over the Olivine Valley. Sunset Peak - with its head in the clouds - is directly behind Fohn Lakes, which are just hidden above the gully.

Below: Fohn Panorama. Left to right: The foot of Brenda Peak, Fohn (nearly 300m above the lake) and its reflection, Niobe Peak being pointed to by the strata, the smaller Fohn Lake with Fiery Peak ridge behind it, and the Bryneira Range behind that, with Alabaster Pass rightmost. A five image panorama, this is one of my favourite view from the trip.

After climbing Sunset Peak, a further 300m, we came back down for dinner and shut eye. Fohn Lakes continued to drift in and out of cloud, as it had been doing all day.
Next, day 3.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Days 6-8 - Loch Maree Hut and out

2013-03-12T00:14:00.000+11:00

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Days 6-8 - Loch Maree Hut to Kintail Hut to Upper Spey Hut and out. It was a pretty wet and misty day all day, making our way up 10km and 200m, clambering through so many muddy bogs and over slippery tree roots. Doesn't sound like far or high, but it was pretty hard work!

Gair Loch is in yet another really spectacular part of the Dusky Track, but we were so clouded in we couldn't see much!

Next day... The weather cleared more or less and, after climbing 800m (in only 3km!), we were able to look back and down upon Tripod Hill (centre) and Gair Loch (at its feet).

Having climbed 800m to Centre Pass, the opportunity then presented itself to climb a further 250m to the top of Mt Memphis, which afforded beautiful views north over the Spey River to Wilmot Pass Rd (that faint scar traversing down the spur near the centre of the picture, about another 8km away). Whilst only 1200m distance away from the top of Mt Memphis, tucked in below what we can see here, Upper Spey Hut takes most of the afternoon to get to, as you first have to return to Centre Pass before continuing your descent. Over all, 6km and 950m descent including a rapid drop next to what sounds like a 150m waterfall, only you never quite see it. Total day was 800m up and 600m down, plus another 250m up and down for Mt Memphis. Distance was 7km, plus another 4km round trip for Mt Memphis.

Looking back in the opposite direction. Mt Memphis is the obvious one in the middle. Click on the pic for more details. The duckboards are really important here, as the whole of the Upper Spey Valley is completely sodden. 500m back up the track, segments of the tramp are through thigh deep water. I think the Dept of Conservation are leaving it as a deterrent to day trippers!

The final day still had one or two boggy spots, but was the best day for track conditions. 8km to Wilmot Pass Rd, and another 5km or so before you can put your pack down. Was nice to have a final dip in the Upper Spey before "hitting town" (ie the passenger terminal for the boat that takes you back to Manapouri).

Back to Day 5.
More photos at Andrew's flickr pages.
As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Day 5 - Day Trip to Supper Cove

2013-03-11T23:27:00.000+11:00

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Day 5 - Day Trip to Supper Cove

The track from Loch Maree Hut to Supper Cove Hut is about 12km one way. Sometimes it is on "paved" paths, cut and laid by miners in the early 1900s, but some of it is just as boggy as most of the rest of the Dusky Track! Keep that in mind when considering a 24km round trip! That's a half of the total distance of walking straight through from Lake Hauroko to Wilmot Pass Road.

So whilst it became quite a long day, it was still achieved by walking through some glorious bush!

Supper Cove, Dusky Sound.
Supper Cove really felt like a milestone for us, a landmark of why we came on this trek.

Back to Day 4. On to Days 6-8.
More photos at Andrew's flickr pages.
As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Day 4 - Tamatea Peak and Pleasant Range

2013-03-11T16:43:00.000+11:00

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Day 4 - Tamatea Peak and Lake Roe Hut to Loch Maree Hut The day started with little to encourage us. The whole tops were wrapped in fog. Disenchanted, all of the other trampers finally headed off by about 9am or so. We hummed and haaed for a while and just as we were lacing our boots to head off to Loch Maree Hut, we saw a faint pale disk through the fog. Hoping that the sun might appear, we decided to head up Tamatea Peak. It was still so foggy, we needed to use a compass bearing to make sure we hit the right part of the flank of the peak!

As we climbed higher and higher, the fog started to thin, and we finally burst through it about five hundred metres above Lake Roe Hut. The views were spectacular!

Looking back towards Tamatea Peak (to the left) and Lake Roe Hut (above my hat) from the ascent onto the Pleasant Range. Lake Roe is but a sliver above the hut. The Merrie Range is in the background. Tamatea Peak was a 700m climb up and down that we did that morning. We are probably a kilometre from the hut and about 150 metres higher, with another six or seven km to go, and a huge 840m drop at the end. Time to move on.

Lake Horizon is nestled at about 1000m high, amongst the Pleasant Range. Our route is between the two lakes, skirting around the far lip of Lake Horizon, and then traversing on the right hand side of that spine. It was a stunning place to be, and one of the most beautiful parts of the Dusky Track.

At the top of the insane 840m drop from the end of the Pleasant Range down to Loch Maree (visible behind my pack). Mt Solitary and Dusky Sound are in the background.

Back to Days 1-3. On to Day 5 and Supper Cove.
More photos at Andrew's flickr pages.
As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track Days 1, 2 & 3

2013-03-11T16:04:00.000+11:00

New Zealand Feb 2012 - Dusky Track - Days 1, 2 & 3 Lake Hauroko to Lake Roe Hut

Dusky Track is an six to nine day 50km walk in one of the most beautiful and remote parts of New Zealand. Tough walking, at times very tough, and very prone to flooding - expect a week of wet boots - but well rewarded.
Below is the profile elevation of the Dusky Track tramp, excluding the following side trips that we did, which were:

Tamatea Peak (well, the adjacent Peak 1595), 720m above Lake Roe Hut
Supper Cove (22km round trip) day trip from Loch Maree hut. A mixture of the best and the worst terrain on the whole trip
Mt Memphis, 400m climb from Centre Pass. A glorious 2 hr ('cos of the bathing in the tarn) side trip.

The day stayover at Lake Roe Hut (due to inclement weather, and a desire to see the alpine tops in some sunshine), and the day trip to Supper Cove from Loch Maree Hut, meant that we had two extra nights to the five (we didn't overnight at either end) made for a seven night/eight day tramp.
I would recommend that you budget yourself eight days, and great weather might grant you an early mark. Many trampers do do the track in six days.

Day 1

Following the standard route (Lake Hauroko to Lake Manapouri, with a side trip to Supper Cove at the top of Dusky Sound) we were dropped by charter boat at Lake Hauroko Hut. The first day is quite a comfortable tramp through undulating beech forest, climbing only about 160m. About 3-4 hours takes you to Halfway Hut.

Day 2
The second day, from Halfway Hut to Lake Roe Hut, climbs 550m over 6.5km. The track gets wetter and muddier in spots, as it continues to climb up adjacent to Hauroko Burn. By the time we reached the saddle at the top of the burn, a cold front had blown in, and - even though we were only at 820m elevation - conditions got very cold very quickly.

Day 3
The weather clapped out on day 3, so we stayed put in the hope that we'd get better weather for seeing the tops the following day. Lots of card playing occurred as all eight trampers who had started at Hauroko Hut two days ago squeezed in with a group of six doing some field work with Rock Robins

On to Day 4 and Tamatea Peak.
More photos at Andrew's flickr pages.
As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2008 - The Three Passes. Part 2

2010-07-09T00:36:00.001+10:00

...Wilberforce R, Browning Pass, Arahura R, Styx Saddle, Styx R

Day 3, we headed up the Wilberforce River. Here you can see Hamer Falls again, below the rightmost of the Twin Peaks, and the grassy climb up Browning Pass (Noti Raureka). The 400m climb zig-zags at the bottom, but seemed to be ascended very quickly.

We're only about half-way up, but already the view down the Wilberforce is breathtaking.

Mt Harman/Kaniere, and Lake Browning/Whakatewa.
If you do this trip as a three-dayer, camping up high, this would be one of your spots. Gorgeous in the sun, but the water was very chilly.
From the Wilberforce up to Browning Pass, and over into the upper Arahura, we were following an old stock route for sheep being taken west. Apparently they had to be winched up the last part of Browning Pass.

The Arahura River initially drops 500m from Lake Browning /Whakatewa in less than 3km. Making it extremely active.

Continuing down the stock route, we were all a bit flummoxed at how they would have crossed the Harman River, as they wouldn't have had the high suspension bridge that we had (pictured left with Mt Browning behind).

We continued down the Arahura along the eastern flank of My Browning for a little longer and then climbed west into the Styx Saddle. This remarkable place is a suspended swamp, where the tramper must take care or they might end up slipping into a thigh deep muddy pond!

We were really getting into Westland territory, characterised by the lush green, and wetness underfoot. This was one of many sidestreams of the Styx River, as we commenced our final descent.

Oh, and did I mention the moss? This is a whole wall of moss, all of it drinkable. With only overnighting at Grassy Flat Hut to break up the walk alongside the river, we were treated to about 10km of this sort of vegetation, a sumptuous finish to our four days, 52kms travel, 2700m ascent and 3270 descent. A grand walk!

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2008 - The Three Passes. Part 1.

2010-07-07T00:24:00.002+10:00

Waimakariri R, Taipoiti R, Harman Pass, Whitehorn Pass, ...

Inspired by some tantalising descriptions of this walk, we thought we'd try the slightly wilder Three Passes Walk. We took it east to west, starting at the Waimak and finishing on the Styx, but you can also do it the other way.

We took two and two-half days, staying at Carrington Hut, camping at Park Morpeth hut (it was full), and Grassy Flat Hut (13km, 12km climbing 900 and descending 900 metres, 16km climbing 500 and descending 850 metres and 12 km out). It can be done in three longer days (17km climbing 700m, 12km climbing 250m, dropping 850m, climbing 500m, and 23km, dropping 1200m), camping at Harman Pass and Browning Pass, which would be beautiful in good weather, and insane in bad.

It was a toss up as to whether or how we'd do this walk, as a front was predicted to cross on the day we were to start. However, after much humming and haing, we changed into our "tramping uniform" (polypro under gortex, shorts and gaiters - goretex not used in fine weather) and got dropped at the Waimakariri. Our object was to get to Carrington Hut 13km away in the afternoon, before the rain came and the river flooded. All the predictions worked out pretty well, and we avoided any flooding, however, by the time we arrived at the hut, we were soaked to the skin, and the rain battered at the hut most of the night, making the Waimak impassable the following day.

This was actually not a problem, as the following day we left the Waimakariri, crossed a rather active White River, and headed up the Taipoiti River. Amazingly, we woke to a a beautiful sunny day. Normally, we are not fans of huts, but when the bad weather comes through, they serve a vital purpose. So, we donned our apparel and headed off through some forest towards our route up to Harman Pass.

And so we came to a rather windy Harman Pass. We found a sheltered spot to stop for lunch and then headed further on towards Whitehorn Pass (somewhere beyond Glen's elbow). Even though this pass is continuous with the valley that leads to Whitehorn, it is a picky 2 km of climbing over rocks and debris to get to the snow.

The snow was actually quite soft, and we were at some risk of falling through to the river if we took the wrong route. We puffed our way up the 400m in the sun to Whitehorn Pass, which offered a stunning view of Cronin Glacier falling into the Cronin Stream valley, which was our next stage...

An earthquake several years earlier had rendered the descent down Cronin Stream valley rather treacherous, as the boulders were all unstable and large enough to break your ankle. It was an exhausting stage that took 2 and a half hours in western sun to descend the 800m in 5km. We were very pleased to find our campsite with some light still left. That's the 90m Hamer Falls nestled about 500m below Twin Peaks. We head that way tomorrow.

To be continued...

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2006 - Wilkin River

2010-06-28T23:20:00.003+10:00

Wilkin River revisited

A walk that had tantalised Helen and me for a while, was to walk up the Wilkin valley, over Rabbit Pass and down the East Matukituki. We dragged to boys back to New Zealand in January 2006 for a one-off whirlwind trip which proved to be A Ford Too Far...

We took the jetboat up the Wilkin to Kerin Forks (where Siberia Stream, mentioned in a previous walk joins the Wilkin) and commenced our tramp. We actually got off the boat well after midday, due to timing of public transport, but it was still enough time to get to Top Forks Hut, as the NZ summer days are light til after 9pm.
Walking alongside the river, it was fairly flat except for the up-and-down bits... There is a prominent hill directly adjacent to the river, a route which must be taken in high water, but we were able to clamber/wade around the side of it on this trip.

Next day, we planned a day-trip up the Wilkin's North Branch to Lakes Diana, Lucidus and hopefully Castalia. Here we see Mt Pollux and Mt Castor in the background as we head off. Helen took this one.

We spent several days at Upper Wilkin Hut, waiting for weather, and hoping Joseph's back would improve sufficiently for us to continue our walk. Our walk to the lakes was thwarted by some typical NZ mountain weather, which is capable of making it both stunningly beautiful and miserable at the same time...

By this time (day 4), it had been decided that we would not continue with the whole party over Rabbit Pass as planned, and that we would simply walk back out the way we came. However, Helen and I wanted to see what Rabbit Pass was like, so we got up early enough to see the sun rising on Pollux (or Castor) before taking off up the South Branch.

Waterfall Face from Waterfall Flat, Upper Wilkin, South Branch. The Wilkin River falls on the left are 50m, but the Mt Taurus Falls on the right are 400m!!! The 150m climb of the tricky (some would say treacherous - depending on the weather) Waterfall Face is right in front of us.

However, climb it we did, in fact we climbed up it, and back down (since this was a there-and-back-again day trip to Rabbit Pass). Tricky even in good weather, the Waterfall Face becomes virtually impassable for trampers in the wet or under snow. Here, Helen is descending on our return trip, which we found much more difficult than climbing up.

That day, we saw only two other parties. The one who took this picture, (behind us is the top of the 400m Mt Taurus falls), and a party much later on, as we were descending back to the hut. They had flown into Jumboland early in the day, and were walking from there up to Waterfall Flat in the one day. Several of them were in their fifties or sixties, and they were as tough as nails! Even though we walked only 13km that day, we ascended 800m, and descended the same.

All that was left was to walk out from Top Forks hut the next day. We had to ford the Wilkin at Kerin Forks to continue on the true left bank, but were eventually able to flag a jet boat to come back to pick us up (much to the jet boat driver's annoyance and our expense). Even though we had many great memories of the beautiful area that we got into, we couldn't help feeling that we had missed the target here, and this is a walk that may see a repeat performance some time in the future.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Tongariro Crossing

2010-06-21T23:41:00.004+10:00

Day walk to Mt Ngauruhoe, Red Crater, Blue Lake. Tongariro Nat Park

With only four weeks in New Zealand, there is much that you have to simply decide you won't get to see. For us, that was most of the North Island. However, Helen and I couldn't resist the temptation to slip in just one more walk, much to the boys' consternation. In the end, we agreed to leave them watching videos whilst we headed off to walk across the Tongariro.
Our late start was a blessing, as we didn't find any crowds until the South Crater, shown on the left here, below Mt Ngauruhoe. We were unaware that folks were able to climb Mt Ngarauhoe, which was squirting some steam out at the time. Then again, it had its head in the clouds only half an hour earlier.
The Tongariro Crossing is like walking across Mars. Bare, rocky, dry, windy, cold and not enough oxygen. The colours in some of the rocks are pretty amazing, though, as you can see from the two shots of Red Crater below. Emerald Lakes, whilst smelly, aren't even warm.

Below, left to right, Mt Ngarauhoe, Red Crater in front of it, Central Crater, Mt Tongariro above it, Helen, Blue Lake and Mt Rotopaunga above it.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Abel Tasman National Park

2010-06-20T21:45:00.007+10:00

We sped north through dull Greymouth, skirted Punakaiki's pancake rocks for a later visit, and made straight for Motueka on the west side of Tasman Bay.
Joseph was too young for us to hire any sea-kayaks, so we walked along the Abel Tasman National Park's paths. This proved to be quite a good choice, as there were only dozens of walkers on the tracks, but there were hundreds of kayakers on the water.
This was a real change of scene, and the only part of the South Island that makes you think of warm climate and palm trees.
Here I met the weta (pronounced witta, which the local person told me only comes out when it's wit).
[Actually, it turns out to be a huhu beetle - and no I didn't make that name up]

It must still rain a lot here, though, as there were lots of tree ferns. There were also lots of sand-flies. Around the campsites, there are feral possums, too, one bailing up Joseph in the dunny at Te Pukatea. The cove of Te Pukatea is simply gorgeous (see photo below). This part of the coast has very large tidal variation (over two metres), making for lots of variety in the bays, and making some estuary crossings impossibly impassable at high tide, so you need to time your walk carefully.

Glen had decided that the sandy paths made for walking in bare feet, leaving him so sore the following day that he and Joseph were dispatched by boat to a spot further north, whilst Helen and I enjoyed a day of unfettered tramping, and sprinted up the track to meet up with them that afternoon.
The last day was a quick walk to Totaranui Beach followed by a boat ride back to Marahau and a drive to Picton to cross over Cook Strait the next day.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Young Valley, Gillespie Pass, Siberia Valley

2010-06-17T23:48:00.010+10:00

Young Valley, Gillespie Pass, Crucible Lake and Siberia Valley

We thought we had seen bad sandflies in the Rees/Dart walk. At Milford Sound, we had seen seals sunning themselves in a breeze to keep sandflies off them. Nothing had prepared us for the onslaught of sandflies at Young Forks. Created as a lunching spot on the way to Young Hut, the rangers failed to mention whom it was lunch for. As it turned out, you'd have to say we had fast food for lunch that day.

With two walks under our belts, Helen and I were hoping that the boys would have "hardened up" to walking a bit by now, but Joseph proceeded to fall to bits as the Young valley continued to go up and up and up. It is really gorgeous, with lots of trees, the odd dangerous landslip to cross, and constant riverside stimulation, but not much mitigated it for a ten year old who had had enough. However, there was little else to do but trudge on and whinge, so that's what we did. (Before you report us for child abuse, please consider that only the other day Joseph was remarking how lucky he was to have seen such beautiful mountain areas. I guess time heals all wounds).

We finally reached Young Hut late in the day. To say the setting is worth it is an absolute understatement. Nestled at the lip of a glacial valley, above a waterfall which topples into a densely treed forest valley (the one we struggled up), and backed by a punchbowl of snowcapped cliffs, complete with slow combustion stove, Young Hut seemed like we'd all died and gone to heaven.

The next day (day two), we had to climb over Gillespie Pass. Only about 800 metres, but very steep for a long time. Again, the weather was very kind, and we didn't have to battle the blizzards experienced by folks several days earlier. We met a falcon at the very top, which circled us inquisitively before landing and showing us how much it could ignore us.

That night we camped near Gillespie Stream, in Siberia Valley. Stupidly, we camped under the trees, and again became dinner for the sandflies. Our own dinner was very quick, and a card game in the tent was quickly arranged as our evening's entertainment.

The climb up to Crucible Lake started and ended quite vertically, and in the middle there was a gentle rise, punctuated with a leap across the creek.
So whilst it looks like Joseph is walking on an invisible tightrope, he was actually trying hard to stay airborne enough to clear the creek, in which he succeeded.

Day three saw us visit Crucible Lake. Yet another fairly vertical climb up the other side of Siberia Valley into the feeder valley of Crucible Stream, itself fed by ice falls from the cliffs that surround it. It is well named, being a lake formed by a terminal moraine and backed by rock walls.

By the time we got to Siberia Hut, we were all feeling pretty tired, especially Joseph. Greeting us when we arrived were folks from Israel, Germany, France, Canada and New Zealand, and Glen and Joseph very quickly joined in an internationally uniting card game of Ricketty Kate.
The next day, we had to decide on whether we were going to get dropped by plane up at Jumboland, to walk on to Kerin Forks and Lake Lucidus etc or just catch the plane out. Torpor decided for us, and we were granted a lovely view of the upper Wilkin River valleys, including bird's eye views of the upper lakes. The pilot was very nice to Glen, explaining how to fly the plane, whilst we approached a cliff face at 200 kilometres per hour. He was very good at showing us how to turn tight corners.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Mt Cook area

2010-06-14T21:37:00.011+10:00

Mueller Hut

As if to make up for the bad weather of the coast, Aoraki (Mt Cook) allowed itself to be in full view for us for over two days. It is another stunning place to visit, with several glaciers quite accessible. It does rather startlingly underline the fact that NZ is full of falling down mountains. Much of the Hooker Valley is below scree slopes, leaving it looking more like a quarry than a national park. However, as one gets higher (and further away from the "mess"), one can take a more sanctified view of the whole area (probably caused by altitude sickness).
We had chosen to overnight in Mueller Hut, being the lowest hut (a mere 1000 metres above the car park) as well as the most accessible.

It took several hours to climb up the side of Mt Olivier to get to Mueller Hut. To make the feat achievable by the boys, Helen and I took all their gear (we didn't need tents) so that they could go up without packs. This made the feat much more of a challenge for us parents, as we struggled yak-like up the steep slopes.

We celebrated our arrival at Mueller Hut with some snow cones. God, snow is gritty...
Aoraki is doing Phantom Mountain imitations.

Click on the pic for a larger view, or click here for an enormous view!

270° Panorama stitched from 11 portrait prints(!).

L ro R: Lake Pukaki (in distance), Helen, Mt Ollivier (sic) and Sealy Range, Mt Burns at the top of the Mueller Glacier, Main Range's Mt Isabel and Mt Thomson, highest point Mt Sefton (3162m) dropping down to the Footstool and finally to the Hooker Glacier, over 2000m below Sefton.
Aoraki/Mt Cook is the white blob 2800m above Hooker Gl.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Milford Sound

2010-06-12T08:23:00.007+10:00

Not a walk, but part of my original diary, so here it is.

I'd originally intended to have only walks in this blog, but I'll toss this little day trip in, as it was a feature of our first NZ visit. Oh, and we did do a little kayaking and walking...

A great part about Milford is driving there. The road tunnel which takes you through to Milford is a really spooky place, being only just wide enough for two directions, and full of fog. It is like driving into a dragon's mouth. On the return journey, just after the tunnel, we met some keas (NZ parrots) who were very interested in our hire car. With their highly inquisitive nature and strong beak, they have made car demolition an art form, and have been known to pull all the rubber from around a windscreen, causing it to fall in! Car aerials are often chiropractically adjusted and windscreen wipers used for jousting.

Known as "the drain of NZ", Milford Sound boasts over 7 metres of rain a year. So all those photos you see of Milford Sound shining in the sun, sparkling waterfalls cascading straight into the sea? Well, your chances are better in summer, but overall, it'll more likely rain. As it turned out, the sun shone for us for about ten minutes as we got on the tour boat.
Either way, Milford Sound is quite stunning, and boatload after boatload after boatload of tourists are taken up past Mitre Peak, the Lion, the Elephant, waterfalls etc out to the heads and back.

Wanting to experience Milford a little more intimately, we enlisted for a kayaking/walking trip. Unfortunately, this was not on the main bay, so we missed the seals and dolphins shown on the brochure. However, we backtracked the Milford track a bit, under the guidance of "Wicked Dave", who made a pretty mean scroggin, and had a speech defect whereby all advectival utterances (eg "Fantastic!" "That's funny" "Great") were replaced with the word "Wicked".

As promised by statistical probability, we got some weather. That's Mitre Peak in the middle.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Rees & Dart Valleys

2010-06-10T22:46:00.007+10:00

Rees & Dart Valleys, Dart Glacier & Cascade Saddle
Our first walking trip was the Rees-Dart Valleys. You can tell this was taken in the first hour, 'cos we're all still smiling. Reading the trip notes for this walk... er... tramp (more of a slosh, actually), there is one small line about boggy areas... Please, note how clean the gaiters are. They failed at keeping the mud out of our socks, as they weren't designed for full scale long-term immersion. Thank goodness it hadn't rained heavily in the last 24 hours, 'cos we hadn't tested our packs as canoes...

That's probably Mt Earnslaw in the background. One problem we encountered photographing in NZ is that there is a lot of white about, making for too much contrast. One solution would be to take photos in another country, but I think I'll simply bring a filter with me next time.All through the months of preparation for our trip, Helen had forgotten to tell the rest of us (silly her!) about sandflies. Imagine!? The one critter in New Zealand that is more annoying and badgering than a four year old asking you where they came from. One thing I learnt very early on day two, after I'd got up first to cook brekky, is "don't get up first to cook brekky". Otherwise the sandflies have you all to themselves...

L to R: Mt Edward above the Dart Glacier, Plunkett Dome, the West Matukituki above which is Rob Roy, and rightmost Cascade Falls. If the sky had been clearer, you would also have seen Mt Aspiring.
210 degree view, stitched from 9 photos

Helen and the boys at the foot of Dart Glacier. The black stuff in the background is actually ice. I used to think ice was white, but as you can see from the above pic, a lot of rubble falls onto the glacier. In fact, all of New Zealand's peaks seem to be falling down.The next day we commenced our walk out. It rained. Not heavily, but constantly. All day. In those circumstances, there is not much to do but keep walking, which we did, the boys being propelled foward by an unending retelling of Monty Python sketches, dredged up from my youth.
Actually, the really groovy thing was going out on the jet boat. We had the maniac driver (fortunately our packs were in a boat driven by someone more sedate) who would spin the boat into reverse, and you would liken the experience to having a bucket of ice-cold water tipped over your head, and then sitting in front of a strong fan. It was fun, though.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand - Jan 2001, 2006, 2008 & 2012

2010-06-07T09:17:00.033+10:00

"We do sell food over here you know". The customs officer glared at us.
"Well, we weren't sure what was going to be available to us, what the serving sizes would be and so on, and we didn't want to spend the first day of our holiday in a supermarket" we explained nervously as the New Zealander waved us through, "… not in such a beautiful country", I added hopefully.

As if you need to add that. New Zealand oozes pulchritude in every corner (apart from Auckland, but we'll get there much much later, and even Auckland has its own appeal).
Permanently capped with white, like soft-serve ice-creams towering over their surrounds, NZ mountains lead one to scoff at Australia's piddling Great Dividing Range. As we flew from Sydney to Christchurch, seemingly under the nose of Mount Cook - or one of its lesser molehills - you could not help but be stunned by the country's sheer vertical scale. The South Island may be skinny, but she's tall - dunno why they lose at netball. And speaking of losing, you have to be careful being an Ozzie in NZ. They can get a bit touchy about cricket and stuff, tho' I could normally disarm them with a comment about keeping the America's Cup, or the Super 7s. Personally, I don't see much difference between Oz and NZ. One letter and a bit of capitalising.
Due to one of those something-for-nothing flukes that never occur in the real world, we were able to fly from Christchurch to Queenstown for no extra cost. Queenstown has a delightful mountain airport where they let the planes down by rope. Despite being surrounded by snowcapped mountains - which think nothing of towering up to 1000m above the town - Queenstown is of lower elevation than Canberra. In fact it is alleged that the bottom of the adjacent lake is below sea level. One of those quirks which - because of the coldness of the water - no one is ever going to challenge.
This is it. The land of the jet boat, the home of the bungy jump, cradle of white-water rafting and nursery of the goal of our visit - tramping! (as the kiwis quaintly describe it).
The Oxford Concise Dictionary defines the verb tramp thus:

a walk heavily and firmly b go on foot, esp. a distance
a cross on foot, esp wearily or reluctantly b cover (a distance) in this way

The kiwis obviously knew more than we did, as we were to find out...

January 2001

January 2006

Wilkin River

January 2008

Karamea River whitewater rafting
Three Passes, Part 1 and Part 2
Nelson Lakes

February 2012

Dusky Track, Days 1-3, Day 4 (Tamatea Peak), Day 5 (Supper Cove), and Days 6-8 (Centre Pass, Mt Memphis and out)
Five Passes, Days 1 & 2 (Beans Burn, Fohn Lakes), Day 3 (Fiery Col), Day 4 (Parks Pass Glacier and Lake Nerine), Days 5 & 6 (Route Burn North Branch, and out)

October/November 2012

Milford Track
North West Circuit (Stewart Island)

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.