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There is maybe a 50 yard wide “doable” corridor most of the way down from Josephine to the floor of Cloud Canyon on the south side of Josephine’s outlet creek. Outside this corridor is a lot of cliff action.
Okay, so here above are the better directions from the wild gunderson himself; but note my italics in his script: "most of the way down." What exactly happens to us as we descend this other "less doable" bit? Might we just perish? (Thank you very much!)
In my path, which was full of the "less doable bits," and the "cliff action," I became so exasperated with tenuous downclimbing- endlessly lowering myself by swinging down on branches like the simian creature I suppose I am... that for the first time in memory, I chose to just let the pack go off on its own!
Desperate measures indeed. I think its high time for cgunderson to defend his crazy route!
p.s. And John, do you really think you can upstage my Robert Plant/Jimmy Page duo with your "Wagner" fellow? I don't even know what band he was with.
Just have to hit it right! Leaving Josephine you need to leave the outlet stream drainage at the tiny lakelet just below Josephine and go over the low ridge to the s. Then there is a user trail that goes e. just s. of the ridge then goes n over the ridge and thru trees gradually turning e. again. If you get too close to the creek you will get cliffed out. If you do this right the trail will disappear and you will need to head se across a narrow grassy crack that crosses a slab. This leads to a short chimney that leads to talus then turn left at the base of the chimney and go a short distance before descending the talus and some aspen before crossing the river at Cement Table meadow. I guess I got lucky the first time I did this route (in reverse) and hit it just right. Once going down I got stuck by getting too close to the outlet stream and had to backtrack to the correct route. The chimney part is easy and really doesn't require down climbing, it is more like a steep chute. Anyhow if you do it right it is a piece of cake. Do it wrong and it is b!tch!
Also that user trail from Glacier Lake to Lion Lake Pass did not exist the first time I took that route in the early 80's but heavy use by Outward bound groups created that trail and it became very distinct by about 86.
Mike
Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!
Interesting about the use trail from Lion Lake Pass to Glacier Lake. I was glad to see it after coming over Lion Lake Pass because it crosses that very steep slope (a friend who was with was bothered by the exposure on the trail when we stopped for a few moments), which would otherwise be I would think pretty dicey to cross. I was also surprised that it was so distinct, though narrow. How was crossing that long slope without the trail?
Thanks Mike, for the very detailed trail advice on the Jo. Lake to Cloud descent- what a memory for detail!
You and SweetSierra have also clarified the existence of the path on the slope below Glacier Lake and the base of Lion Lake Pass. I wondered if it was in fact a trail, and if so, if it related to the later Old Miner's Trail. That didn't make sense, as the slope seemed too steep to be efficient for loaded burros. I wonder that the heavy OB use 25 years ago would still be evident on such a loose slope- perhaps more people use this route than I thought.
Below are 2 photos showing that helpful bit of trail below Glacier Lake:
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The western branch of upper Cloud Canyon seen at the left.
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View east from the slope east of Coppermine Pass, with the trail at the lower right.
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Last edited by Harlen on Tue Oct 30, 2018 6:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
I think Sekihiker has a trip report on his website about a harrowing descent from Josephine Lake into Cloud Canyon. I won't be attempting it anytime soon!
Harlen, very nice pictures. My favorite one: Camp 4 above Glacier Lake. It looks like what you used to see in the REI catalogs back in the old days. There would be the pages with winter gear and then a picture like this one. Nice!
oldranger wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:54 am
Just have to hit it right! Leaving Josephine you need to leave the outlet stream drainage at the tiny lakelet just below Josephine and go over the low ridge to the s.
Interesting. In '02 I descended the major drainage south of the outlet to give me a more direct route upstream (S). This was a dicey because I did not know anything in advance about the route, and I had the worst blisters of my life and I still had the cold that had forced the short day from W flank Glacier Ridge to Josephine (to recuperate at Josephine for a day). I was aware that if I got badly cliffed on descent out I might have to backtrack and ascend, but I tried it anyway. I recall that drainage went beautifully, steep class 1-2, until the inevitable vanishing point at the bottom where I managed to find a way through the cliff band, with one one class 3 move where we threw our packs over the step. As for the use trail from Glacier Lake to Lion Lake Pass I figured that out too late as I was on my final approach to Lion Lake pass when I saw the little path. The descent and reascent from Glacier Lake was a bit tedious and would have been avoided by the 'direct' route.
I finally searched out the description of the "Circle of Solitude," and was somewhat baffled to find that, according to copeg, it includes some very populated trails:
Greg wrote:
For those that are unfamiliar with the route: It starts and ends at Road's end. The route goes over Avalanche Pass->Cloud Canyon->Colby Pass->Upper Kern Basin->Over Forester->down Bubbs Creek.
I am sure this is correct, so the next question is- when did this route conform to its name? The "over Forester and down Bubbs Creek" section contains a lot of combined JMT/PCT, along with part of the very popular Rae Lakes Loop. After crossing Colby Pass some quiet options do exist in and around the Upper Kern.
Oldranger Mike, you would likely know the history of this named route; was it named in a period of less use? I reckon the days of Solitude on half of this route are over, and solitude seeking travelers will head over one of the many other options along the K-K Divide to complete the eastern half of this Circle by coming down East Creek. Greg advises as much, noting that a variation of the Circle heading over Harrison Pass, and down East Creek would be beautiful, and much less traveled. This will surely be fleshed out as next summer's Meet-up is planned in this very area.
An internet search came up with this information. It is the same route that had previously been known as "Basins Divide Loop". Mike White put out a guidebook and renamed it "Circle of Solitude", and also put it up on his web site. It now is on lots of web sites, CalTrails, etc. and has become one of those "big name" popular trails. Thus, no more solitude. SO SAD. OMG, that sounds like a Trump tweet.
Take any route, tweak it into a compact 7-8 day loop that can be done with one week plus weekends vacation, food fits in a bear can, give it a catchy name, put the GPS track out on the internet, and after a few You Tube videos it goes viral. Thank goodness for our permit system, or it would be even more overrun. Don't people see that ANYONE can figure out their own great private loop with a bit of map work. The route may be a bust, or may be the best on earth, but that is what exploration is all about.
wildhiker wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 11:57 pm
"Circle of Solitude" obviously means that the route travels in a circle around all the solitude in the middle!
