TR: Lollipop Route out of Courtright - Red Mtn Basin, Hutton Col, Gunsight, Goddard Canyon, Valor, Blackcap

[cfbrown27]

8/19/21-8/22/21

Day 1: Maxson Trailhead to Disappointment Lake (100% on trail); 14 miles
Day 2: Disappointment Lake to Martha Lake (95% off trail); 9 miles
Day 3: Martha Lake to Big Maxson Meadow (80% off trail (at least time-wise)); 12 miles
Day 4: Big Maxson Meadow to Maxson Trailhead (100% on trail); 14 miles

General route:

Day 1:
I left the Bay Area around 5:30 am and picked up my permit in Prather by 9:45. The Central Valley looked like something out of a dystopian film--because of smoke from the Dixie (and other) fires, the sun was just a smudgy orange disc. The air got progressively better driving up from Prather through the Creek Fire scar, and, by the time I reached the trailhead, it was just a bit hazy. I started hiking by 11 am. The first part of this route follows the Dusy-Ershim OHV Route but quickly veers off near Maxson Meadows.

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I followed the trail through Long Meadow and Post Corral Meadow until its intersection with Post Corral Creek. This time of year (and a low snow year) the first flowing water was in Post Corral Creek in the meadow. Everything else up to that point was either dry or stagnant.

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At the Post Corral Creek Junction, I started the grind uphill toward Red Mountain Basin and Hell For Sure, eventually passing Fleming Lake and finding the hike between Fleming Lake and Disappointment Lake to be quite beautiful.

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As has been said before, Disappointment was anything but a disappointment! I found a great spot on slabs and decomposing granite 200 feet or so from the lake and set up camp. I got to watch the moon rise over Mt. Hutton.

Day 2:
The second day dawned relatively smoke-free and I set off toward Hell-For-Sure Lake.

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At Hell For Sure I cut off trail and made my way to Arctic Pass/Hutton Pass/Col (pass directly south of Arctic Lake and east of Mount Hutton). This pass was described as class 3/4 with a potential class 2 workaround by accessing the pass by climbing the east side of the Arctic Lake Basin rather than climbing directly south. From the base of the pass, the described workaround looked like getting cliffed out so I stuck with the direct route up the pass.

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It was an interesting mix of scree, talus, and smaller, sliding talus in scree. I stuck to the left (east) side where there were generally good handholds along the solid wall until about 50 feet below the pass where there was a line of large talus blocking the pass. After a single 4th class move to get up and over the blocks in the middle of the pass, I was able to return to the left side of the pass and make my way to the top. If I return, I'll likely look harder for the 2nd class workaround and I definitely would not want to descend this route. The route down into Bench Valley was glorious--slabs, tundra, and generally easy route-finding to Schoolmarm, Six-Shooter, Wahoo, and Holster Lakes.

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I made my way to Bullet Lake and gained the ridge to the northeast. I climbed on slabs up to the two tarns north of Gunsight Pass, made my way over the bump and down to the pass on the SNF/SEKI boundary.

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From there, I dropped off the pass to a grassy ramp cutting north at about 11,300 ft. I followed the ramp north, slowly dropping in elevation until about 11,000 and then chose a line down into Goddard Canyon. Walking through Goddard Canyon was lovely. I made my way back up in elevation to Martha Lake where I camped for the night.

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Day 3:
I had originally planned to drop back down the canyon and check out Evolution Basin for some fun, fast on-trail miles, but Goddard Canyon and points north looked smoke-filled.

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So instead I headed toward Valor Pass. I opted for the shorter route via the southwest shore. Lots of talus, maybe not the best choice. But it was fine. Valor Pass wasn't obvious because it sits on a broad ridge on the shoulder of Mount Reinstein. It was a classic Sierra pass that looked challenging from the base but I was able to link slab ramps together to make my way up generally heading southwest to hit the pass just south of where it's named on topo maps.

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In the theme of this route, the route down from Valor was cruiser on somewhat steep slabs and tundra ramps to Valor and then Ambition Lakes.

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From Ambition, it was a fun wander past the many lakes of the Blackcap Basin until I hit Portal Lake, the trail, and then the trees. The trail was pretty faint but still easy to follow down, down, down until I hit Big Maxson Meadow on the North Fork of the Kings River.

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I camped on the south side of the river in the forest and all was well until just before dark I heard the god-awful scream of a mountain lion really close by. While mountain lion attacks are exceedingly rare (with one confirmed attack on a sleeping human in CA that I could find), try telling that to my racing heart.

Day 4:
I slept terribly and was on the trail by 6am the next morning with my head on a swivel looking for that big cat. Unsurprisingly I saw nothing and was soon several miles away from camp and finally seeing people again (my first since the first day). There were many great looking swimming holes along the Kings River and a lot of beautiful slabs glowing in the morning light. I made good time out and was at the car by noon and made it to the Blue Sky Cafe in Shaver Lake before it closed at 2pm!

Overall, a great trip with what I found to be a good mix of off trail travel and cruiser on trail time. The air quality didn't seem to follow a pattern based on the time of day but was instead generally better the higher I was. There's so much great terrain out there!

[sekihiker]

I enjoyed your report and photos. I love that country. Thanks for posting.

[xcountry rider]

I really enjoyed your pictures and report. I too love that area. It has been some time since I have been in that part of the sierra, used to go there all the time when I lived in Clovis.

[tlsharb]

you covered some great country on that trip. I really like Valor when you get on top. The view is awesome. Thanks.