TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

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Wandering Daisy
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TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Tablelands, Big Bird, Deadman &Cloud, Colby Lake, Sphinx Lakes
8/10-17 2021


After relaxing in SEKI with my husband (who met me with the trailer) in good weather, if a bit too hot and some smoke haze, I started this trip with a forecast of another round of monsoonal storms. Permitted to go in Alta, water sources had dried up so the ranger at Grant Grove revised my entry to a Pear Lake “pass-through”. I did not even know such thing existed. It is amazing that once you get to real people (instead of reserve.gov) lots of things happen easily and at no extra charge either. Although I like point-to-point routes, they are committing and that made me a bit anxious.


8/10 Wolverton to Tablelands Lake 10559
8.9 miles7.2 hours, +3900 elevation


Our last campground was Stony Creek. Between the drive to Giant Forest Museum (where permits are issued this year) and waiting in line, I did not get started until 8AM. There were only a few cars in the huge parking lot. I passed a fellow who asked about which route to take (I recommended Watchtower) and met a few day-hikers on the trail. I debated about dropping to the Ranger Station, bypassing Pear Lake, but was uncertain if there was no way to get water there, so continued to Pear Lake for water. The camping overuse at Pear Lake is significant- a real gross-out. Being only noon there was plenty of time to continue.


3012-13_Pear Lake2.jpg
3016_Tablelands Camp.jpg
3023_Lake 10559.jpg



I dropped down to near the Ranger Station and found a fairly well-worn route up and over the cliffs and traversed into the main Tablelands drainage. The creek was bone dry. Up a ways there were a few inky puddles; then a few trickles of flowing water. At the ponds in lower Tablelands Meadow, the water was stagnant and less than desirable. Since I had not planned on this route, I lacked a map so had to wing it, heading up in hopes that I would get to Lake 10559, with the idea that I could always go back down to the meadow ponds if needed. Thankfully all turned out well and I reached the large Lake 10599 at 3:15. It was a long day but there was pure beautiful clean water and great campsites. And more important, I was back on my maps! The night was actually chilly. Forecast stormy weather was not forecast until the next day.


8/11 Lake 10559 to Big Bird Lake
4.4 miles, 5.3 hours, +820/-1615 elevation


Skies were clear at dawn and I left camp at 7:15 after taking some photos. Travel in Tablelands is not difficult but navigation is tricky. There is little relief and all the gullies and hills look alike. A small error put me at the tarn at the head of Ferguson Creek instead of the tarn above Big Bird Lake. After briefly following footprints towards Ferguson Creek, I realized the error and traversed over to the correct tarn, where I dropped my pack and checked out the descent to the lakes above Big Bird. Once convinced that it would go, I headed down at about 10AM. Clouds were already building. The descent starts on rock slabs then it is a zig-zag down steep little grassy gullies. There are plenty of ways to go that would work, but I was glad that my route was efficient. I stopped to eat a snack and take photos at the beautiful Lake 10435 on the bench above Big Bird Lake.

3024_Tarn above Big Bird.jpg
3025_Lks above Big Bird.jpg
3026-27_Lks above Big Bird.jpg

I had day-hiked here a few years ago and circled Big Bird Lake and vaguely remembered that west shore was a bit cliffy so took the east shore. I had not remembered the brush and ups and downs needed to go along the east shore and cussed the route, reaching the outlet campsties at 1:15. That still left me most of the afternoon to fish, but a gusty wind across the huge Big Bird Lake riled up the waters so much that casting was a challenge and the fish seemed to prefer the deep calmer waters. Soon repeated little rain storms started; in the tent, out to futile fishing, and back in the tent. In spite of these setbacks, I was mighty glad I got on the Deadman Canyon side before the weather pattern became stormy. Having a trail bail-out via Avalanche Pass eliminated a lot of anxiety; now I only had to deal with too many choices and indecision regarding my route. I had Big Bird Lake all to myself; it turned out to be quite nice day.
3034-35_Big Bird Lake.jpg
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by Wandering Daisy »

8/12 Big Bird Lake to Cement Table Meadow
10.7 miles, 5.9 hours +1245/-2480 elevation


I had planned to spend another day at Big Bird but decided to take the layover later in the trip. The lake was calm and fish were rising. Although tempted to fish, I packed up and at 7:15 AM dropped to the trail in Deadman Canyon. Having previously taken less than ideal routes, this time I hit it right on.

At one point in planning I had included two days to go up to Glacier Ridge, camp at the east lakes and day-hike to Josephine Lake. With the weather deteriorating, I nixed that idea. Now it was brainless trail walking. A bit down into Ranger Meadow I ran into a fellow, who was a trail-crew boss. He said they had been working on trails since June. It is a long slog to Roaring Fork trail junction, which I reached at 11:15. The ranger was out; I really wanted to get information on water sources. But both Deadman Creek and the Roaring River had a good amount of water, as did Brewer Creek, Barton Creek and Cunningham Creek so my water source anxiety lessened.

3044_Big Bird sunrise.jpg
3049-50_Deadman Canyon.jpg


I set up camp in Cement Table Meadow at 2PM as the rain started. Again the afternoon was a series of light rain, with a drenching evening storm full of thunder and lightning. I managed to squeeze in a bath, washed some clothes and checked out what was supposed to be a “use-trail” on the north side of Cunningham Creek finding a few cairns but no clear path. Years ago I ascended the south side and it was a nightmare!

The plan was to get up to South Guard Lake and then there would be a choice of exiting Brewer Basin-Sphinx Lakes, or go over Longley Pass, Reflection Lake and Bubbs Creek. Or optimistically add a side trip to do the upper parts of both. Wishful thinking! With the uncertain weather, a route I have not been on, and above timber camps, there were just too many uncertainties. Alternatively, I could also go to Big Brewer Lake up the gnarly ridge northeast of Cement Table Meadow and walk the bench to Brewer Creek. I had done this a few years ago and as I studied the steep brush-choked hillside I was not keen to repeat the experience.

After a supper interrupted by the significant storm with lots of thunder and lightning, my plans seem destined to be crushed. It did not help that I had heard that a backpacker was recently struck by lightning on the JMT. Well, let’s see what morning brings. I had no desire to sit in Cement Table Meadow waiting for good conditions; although somewhat scenic it is an over-used, dusty camping area. Less than a mile upstream is the more desirable Big Wet Meadow.

8/13 Cement Table Meadow to Colby Lake
4.8 miles, 4.1 hours, +2175 elevation


Clouds lingered at dawn and only slightly improved while I ate breakfast. The tent was still wet, as was all the ground and vegetation. Since Colby Lake was so close I would just go up there, fish, and see what happens with the weather. I left at 8AM and when shortly I reached Big Wet Meadow, I was pleased with my decision; I had forgotten the stunning beauty of the walk up to Colby. And the trail was in prime condition after being worked on earlier this summer. The trail on the final ascent to Colby Lake is not as shown on the map; it apparently been slightly re-routed and now includes several very long low angle switch-backs. One switchback has a nice view into the valley on the east side of Whaleback, a lovely valley that I had day-hiked in the past. I was tempted to go up this valley but there was no fishing, so continued to Colby Lake.

3056-58_Big Wet Meadow.jpg
3074-75_backside Whaleback.jpg
3076-77_view from trail to Colby L.jpg
I reached Colby Lake at noon and set up in one of the many nice timbered campsites northeast of the outlet. Observing that the tent was directly under a leaning tree, I moved over about 50 feet to a safer location. Between rainstorms I bathed, washed socks and caught a few nice fish. Later in the evening I heard voices; two people were camped nearby who had evidently come down from Colby Pass. I never talked to them; not sure they even saw me. All in all it was a very lovely day in spite of the weather.
3082_Colby Lake outlet.jpg
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by Wandering Daisy »

8/14 Colby Lake to Roaring Fork trail junction
8.8 miles, 5.3 hours, +120/-3315 elevation



After much mulling over options during the night, I decided I would skip Brewer Basin, walk out on the trail, and if weather improved, reach Sphinx Lakes via Sphinx Creek. I left Colby Lake at 8AM and reached Roaring Fork at 1:30 PM. The ranger was out on patrol and established camp area was empty. I had time to continue, but could not chance having no water at Moraine Creek. After wasting time trying to set up on the north side of the river (never found a site without horse dung), I resigned to camping at the established campsite near the Ranger Station. The clouds threatened, but no rain. Sitting on boulders in the river was pleasant as I bathed and washed clothes. About 5PM a father and daughter, hiking the “Circle of Solitude” came into camp, having come from the Bubbs/Sphinx junction and said there was water in Moraine Creek. Oh well, too late now, nevertheless good to know; I would not have to carry excess water the next day. After so much solo it was actually nice to visit and since I was going where they had been and they were going where I had been, we shared needed information. It worked out great.


3088-89_Colby Lake outlet.jpg
3095-99_Whaleback.jpg
3106-7_Valley below Colby.jpg


8/15 Roaring Fork trail junction to Sphinx Lake 9645
9.3 miles, 7.3 hours, +4120/-1770 elevation


The father and daughter were early and quietly left as I cooked breakfast. I left at 7:15 and quickly made it to Moraine Creek, filled up my water bottle, and continued up. A recent fire has burned timber to the right of the trail, but not the left side. The burn spread out as it neared the upper part of the trail, which got a bit hard to find near Avalanche Pass. The trail was washed out on the descent so had to be careful not to walk down one of the many drainage ditches, which looked much like trails. I reached Sphinx Creek at 12:30 and met another father-daughter team who also were hiking the “Circle of Solitude”. It was looking like they would have less solitude than the route name implies!

I have never found the best route up Sphinx Creek. This time I tried the west side of the creek where there is supposed to be a use-trail. For the most part there is! Above the slabs at 9200 to 9300 I crossed to the east side to walk up through open timber to the unnamed lake at 9640 which supposedly had fish. There was an established campsite, with fire ring and large stainless steel pot as well as several very nice flat campsites. While stirring the waters during my bucket-bath, fish started to swim by. I fished from 4-6PM between light rain storms. There were limited sites along the shore where I could cast; the best results were at the inlet end, balancing on dead logs. I ended up with five fish for dinner. Being next to a wet meadow there were a few mosquitoes that only became pesky when the wind died down.


3119_Lower Sphinx Lake.jpg
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by Wandering Daisy »

8/16 Sphinx Lake at 9645 to Sphinx Lake 10546
1.3 miles, 1.4 hours, +905elevation (plus 2.8 miles, 4.4 hours, 660 elevation fishing upper lakes)




I was up at the main Sphinx Lakes at 9AM and spent half an hour circling Lake 10564 evaluating campsites. When I reached the northeast shore, a yellow-tan “dog” barked incessantly at me; then a coyote howled. I never head a person say anything to the dog, or what I thought was a dog. It did not make a lot of sense; dogs are not allowed here. I walked back to the first campsite near the outlet and set up. It was a perfect site including lots of flat rocks to sit on and some timbered sheltered enclosures for cooking.

3122-23_Sphnix Lake 10514.jpg
3124-25_Camp at Sphinx L 10546.jpg

I headed up rock slabs to the east to fish the upper lakes, first veering over to get a peek at Lake 10827, a v-shaped, unappealing lake about 200 feet below. Then I traversed to upper lake in a string of three lakes east-southeast of Lake 10564. I doubted the higher lake had fish, but it does have a good view of North Guard Peak. My photos are not great with the lighting and haze (two photos from an early season trip in 2011 are added for comparison). This time I was more interested in catching some fish! The middle lake was relatively deep and I caught two fat fish, one about 12-inches. The lower lake, which was quite shallow, had smaller fish and I kept one. Then I dropped back to Lake 10564 and caught two more in the 10-12 inch range along the south and northwest shores. I could easily have caught more but this was all I could eat. Not only was the air warm, the water was very warm. Not sure the fish would keep fresh, I cooked them all for a late lunch. Clouds were again building and I squeezed in a bath and washed clothes before I went in the tent while thunder boomed and storms seemed to surround me, but I did not get a drop of rain. Had I camped at the upper lakes I would have been wet.

3130-31_Uppemost Sphinx Lake.jpg
1119_2011_North Guard.jpg
1143_2011_Lk10546.jpg
3138_fish.jpg
3145-56_Storm.jpg
3147_Storm.jpg


8/17 Sphinx Lake 10564 to Roads End
9 miles, 7 hours, -5710 elevation




After another warm night, I left at 8AM, not in any particular hurry and returned essentially on the same route I ascended, with a few changes that made it a bit easier and reached the trail in two hours. The intent was to drop to the Bubbs/Sphinx junction and camp, then walk out and drive home the next day. I was not sure my old knees would tolerate the nearly 6,000 foot elevation drop. I took it easy going down the amazing Sphinx Creek trail. The rock steps are well designed so even short people like me do not have to take big steps. Sphinx Creek can be heard far below, along the trail, sounding like a mellow fountain.

3159_heading down.jpg
3161-62_first lake below Lk 10514.jpg

All was going perfectly when about 100 feet above Bubbs Creek, rounding the corner to the last switchback, a mother bear and her cub were on the trail munching vegetation. The bears saw me; mama had no intention of leaving. I backed off and waited then said “shoo bear, I need to get by”. Well, that perked up the baby’s ears and he/she started walking towards me in curiosity. Mama then started my way. I went up trail about 30 feet and saw a game trail going directly down the steep hillside and decided the prudent thing to do was to get the hell out of there.

Soon I was bashing through manzanita and aspen brush, down the steep hillside, from one short “game trail” to another. At one point my foot stuck on branches and I was head-downhill on my back like an overturned turtle. After I extracted myself from my pack I more slowly continued down until I came to a grassy flat patch with a bear box in the middle. Over the small rock ridge I broke out, through lush green ferns onto the trail, right at the bridge and smack in front of a fellow who was a bit surprised. We had a nice chat once we crossed the bridge, both of us happy to converse with someone after long solo trips. I went to the creek to survey damage; scratches and a few bruises and a huge rip in the seat of my pants and torn side seam in my shirt. It was hot as hell and I did not want to walk out in my micro-wool long johns. The kind fellow had repair tape and managed to patch my pants making them decent enough to walk out. The rip in my shirt was just more ventilation. Fortunately I chose my old favorites for this trip; the pants and shirt were destined for the waste basket after this trip anyway.

I had no intention of camping where, in addition to my little escapade, there had been bear problems for several weeks, so walked out reaching Roads End at 3:30, filling water containers and driving down the road to bathe in the river. Driving up out of King Canyon 4-5 PM was wonderful with the shadows on the canyon walls. I camped on a FS dispersed site on the road to Big Meadow campground and sent an in-Reach message to my husband. The day ended with two cups of hot chocolate, left over trail food and a mix-and-match dinner. As I started to sleep, car doors slammed and I thought that some partiers were going to park nearby, but thankfully, after the intimal noise, all was quiet.

After a good night’s rest, I was up early and cooked breakfast at the large paved parking area where there is a clean out-house, garbage containers and multiple signs explaining the dispersed camping rules. As other cars stopped by the garbage bins, they informed me that this was one small patch where one could get cell coverage. I had forgotten to put my phone in my car when we left it at Roads End, so this information did me little good. With the drought, the dispersed campsites are worse for the wear and extremely dusty; so having a paved area and a picnic table was a treat. Then I drove home.

Like the previous trip, things did not work out as planned. Perhaps I was a bit too cautious with fears of the weather, resulting in relatively long trail walks between destinations and too much back-tracking. However, given the uncertain weather, brainless trail walking was actually a relief. Instead of the planned 51 miles with only 22 on trails, I ended up with 60 miles and 44 on trails and a paltry 16 off trail, which was a bit of a disappointment. But it still was an enjoyable trip. I did not make it to Moose, South Guard or Big Brewer Lakes, but really enjoyed going up Cloud Canyon to Colby Lake.
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by Wandering Daisy »

A few more photos:
3028_route to Lakes above Big Bird_edited-2.jpg
3066-67_Cloud Canyon_edited-1.jpg
3081_Colby Lake camp_edited-1.jpg
3090_Colby outlet_edited-1.jpg
3154-55_morning.jpg
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by sekihiker »

This sure was a Wandering trip, Daisy. I had to plot it on TOPO to figure out your route. It's possible that I'm getting too old to do this kind of stuff in my head any more. Anyway, it looked like a great trip through some really neat country that that I love and have spent a lot of time in.
I've always preferred the west side of Sphinx Creek. I think the trail used to be pretty good to at least the first lake. I found a horseshoe between the lake and the big bend in the creek.
Thanks for posting.
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by LMBSGV »

What a great trip and creative itinerary covering some of my favorite places. It’s too bad that the Roaring River ranger wasn’t there either time since it’s Laura Pilewski who has been the Tuolumne Meadow winter ranger with her husband Ron for the last ten years. I think you two would really have enjoyed meeting with so many stories to share. It’s too bad about the bear on the Sphinx Trail the last day. I wonder if it was the same bear I saw a couple of years ago at the Sphinx Creek crossing who also didn’t easily scare away even without cubs to protect. Thanks for sharing!
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by Wandering Daisy »

The planned itinerary would have been a better trip. The "creativity" of the change was just an attempt to cut losses.

I do not think the mother bear was a "problem" bear. The cub was just curious. Mother bears can get unpredictable if they perceive their cub is threatened. I did not weigh pros and cons- just reacted quickly to get out of there- more instinct than thought process. I seem to have the ill luck of running into lots of bears (those who like to see bears would call it good luck). I would be perfectly happy to never see another bear.
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by windknot »

Thanks for the report and photos! I enjoyed following along, and also enjoyed your candor: if I had tripped on a branch and fell over onto my back, I think I'd be too ashamed to recount my turtle impression later. But it certainly makes for entertaining reading! Sounds like you did the prudent thing when confronted with the bears -- I'll take note to do something similar if I'm in the same unfortunate boat in the future.
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Re: TR: Wolverton to Roads End 8/10-17,2021

Post by cgundersen »

Daisy,
Once again it seems you managed to squeeze the most out of a trip constrained by weather. I'd like a meteorologist to explain why Cloud canyon is so good at seeding clouds and generating rain; it seems every time I'm anywhere close, clouds crop up there before anywhere else. And, I've gotten hammered pretty well on occasion. But, it does help keep things lush......and the creeks flowing. And, for what it's worth, I'm not convinced that Josephine is worth the effort of getting up there. Maybe Ian or Mav would disagree? Cameron
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