This trip started in Onion Valley in Inyo NF and went up and over Kearsarge Pass (hitting Kings Canyon NP at that point), and going to Charlotte Lake. It was an out and back hike with a tiny bit of internal loop, for 16 mi and ~2600′ of gain to the pass (and some miscellaneous climbing after). Originally this was going to be two nights and four people, but it ended up being me and Jeff and just the one night, but it was still pretty awesome all around. We went up to the trailhead the night before , to acclimatize (and stopping for pizza near the road junction in Mojave, which was pretty tasty), and set out in the morning.
shall we begin?
Onion valley trailhead is pretty ok looking, pretty standard eastern sierra exposed slope, but since the trailhead is around 9200′ or so, there are at least some trees. We headed on up and out, and almost instantly were passed by a passel of teen/twenty-somethings up from Orange County who were out for a day hike and maybe a spot of fishing. Since we were in full packs and just setting out, they passed up then, but I guess they really weren’t used to walking and elevation (and a lot more of the guys were entirely shirtless than is really a great idea up there), and we managed to pass them in turn a bit later, and didn’t see them after that point.
Day hiking group on the trail behind us
Since on this part of the trail you are just going , in essence, heading up the valley, we kept getting better and better views of the owens valley, the road we drove up, and the trail behind us. It wasn’t too variable, but being able to see farther out every few minutes was pretty awesome. There are a lot of little lakes on the way up, beautiful scenery with lots of gorgeous rocks pushing through a thin green skin of foliage. We weren’t very far below the treeline for most of this. We passed Gilbert Lake, which had some people fishing at it, and took a quick break.
A fisherman at Gilbert Lake
Continuing on, we got to the aptly named Heart Lake, and stopped for lunch. Mmm, lunch. Shortly after that point we broke out above tree line and were picking our way through an enormous rock field. It was actually pretty awesome looking, but I always find myself worrying about turning an ankle. However, no problems presented themselves and I escaped from the rock field totally fine! After that we cut up and over a giant scree slope (well, a trail across the slope) with Big Pothole Lake glimmering underneath, and looking at the trail ahead, almost to Kearsarge Pass. Then I discovered that the obvious low point in the rock wall in front of us is actually several feet over from where the trail actually goes over the pass, so, heh.
You can see they are very imaginative with the lake naming
Almost…there. You can see someone on the trail to the right, and the specks on the horizon are at the pass, which is *not* the clear low point, but just to the right of it.
We took a bit of a break at the pass, which is actually where you enter Kings Canyon. The view from there is nothing short of spectacular. I just stopped, amazed, when I reached that point. I stared the whole time I was up there, it was just so great. Then we cut down the switchbacked slope of granite, to take a quick drop down to almost kearsarge lakes. The trail diverges there (and we saw a ranger sitting and waiting, who checked most of the hikers coming in, and who had had to turn away people that day with a dog!).
View from Kearsarge Pass, looking west. Shiny. (Kearsarge Lakes are on the left)
There was a lower trail that went along the lakes, and a higher one, and since we were going out and back, we chose to take the higher trail. This trail cut pleasantly through some exceedingly gorgeous landscape, as we went more or less due west. There was big openey dirt area, that was pretty clearly marshy in the wetter season. That’s where our trail hit the JMT. It’s about 4 miles to Rae Lakes from there, which would have been nice to go visit had I know there were two day camping limits instead of one-day. Oh well! Anyway, we crossed the JMT and took the trail down to Charlotte Lake, and let me tell you, I was pretty tired by that time. So it was nice that the lake was really super pretty, and was definitely a sight for sore eyes.
Charlotte Lake. Some kind of float device would have been just about perfect.
Jeff wanted to camp a bit further along the lake, while I was ready to collapse at the first site, but since it turned out there were people further along and not really anyone at the earlier place, we ended up pitching our tent there. After crashing for a bit with a bit of a headache, I took a short walk along while Jeff went for a swim in the lake. That evening, while cooking, a guy from the next site came over and asked to borrow our water pump, which we happily lent him.
Jeff pumping water in the golden evening light
Day 2: Hanging out in the morning for a bit, I took a bit of a walk along the lake about to where it ended and took some photos. So beautiful. Sublime – I would go back. Packing up and starting to head out, all of a sudden Gretchen comes over from the next campsite! She was with the people who’d borrowed the water pump the night before, but we hadn’t seen her. How’s that for completely and utterly random? We headed back out the way we came, and turned left along the JMT for a small piece in order to take the lower bit of trail through the Kearsarge Lakes basin.
Charlotte Lake in the morning
We passed several JMT through hikers, who all looked pretty darn scruffy, if I do say so myself. We’d originally been thinking of spending a 2nd night out, at Kearsarge Lakes (since I had mistakenly thought we couldn’t stay two nights at Charlotte Lake). However, it really wasn’t all that far to there, and Jeff kind of wanted to get home to see Abby. So we took a lunch break just above Kearsarge Lakes, and Jeff walked down to collect more water while I basically collapsed for a bit. We then got up, hauled out asses all the way back up the pretty steep bit up to the Pass, then all the long way down.
Picking our way back. Mt Bago is in the background, in the middle – Charlotte Lake was at the foot of that.
It was fairly uneventful, and other than the little bit in the basin, it was all a retread of what we’d done on the first day. As usual, I didn’t take that many photos on the way out – not any once we’d hit the Pass. Anyway, we made it out safe and sound, and made it home that night. We stopped at the burger place next to the pizza place in Mojave, and much to my chagrin, it really wasn’t all that good. Oh well.
Kearsarge Pass coming up from the east.
Kearsarge Pass coming up from the west.
