North/NW part of Tablelands; Silliman Lake? Crescent Lake? Box Canyon?

[oleander]

I love Tablelands - been through there 4x, twice through Lake 11,200 twice and twice through Moose Lake. (I've also been up the Twin Lakes Trail over Silliman Pass and on to Lost Lake, etc.)

This summer, I'd like to explore the north/northwest side of Tablelands.

The easy way to get there appears to be taking Table Creek from Pear Lake area up to Azure Lake or thereabouts, then wander up along the crest. Happy to do that, but Lakes Trail permits are still not reservable in advance, and we don't know the walk-in situation. (Even if there will be walk-ins this summer, I don't want to count on a Lakes Trail walk-in...They go really fast.)

What about snagging a Twin Lakes TH permit and going up to Silliman Lake? Anyone have experience going over that pass just east of Silliman Lake and then descending to points E/SE? Or some other route descending E/SE from the Silliman Peak area? Looks fairly steep and rugged.

Also open to exploring Crescent Lake, Box Canyon, etc.

Ideas?

With my full pack, I'm comfortable to easy Class 3.

- Elizabeth

[mort]

I did this with my brother last July. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20858&p=158257&hili ... ke#p158257

Top of Crescent Col.

Based on this trip by TehipiteTom viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9967&p=75283&hilit= ... col#p75236

[oldranger]

TehipiteTom gives a great description of a great trip. One nof my alltime favorite campsites is located at the outlet of Crescent lake. It is a small gravelly ledge on the n side of the outlet with a vertical rock to the n that you can lean back against and look to the s. i was camped there, I believe in 1982 to observe a total solar eclipse. I rember that with all the white granite and full moon that I could litterally read my book by moonlight. Finally I fell asleep before the eclipse. But I awoke totally disoriented because it was really dark. Somehow I woke up at exactly the point of the total eclipse! The next year at the end of June I skied from Pair lake to Crescent Lake. Because of the southern exposure this site was clear of snow. The next day I headed to my ranger station at Rowell. Unfortuanately the terrain and snow conditions were not conducive to skiing so I was forced to posthole with little bare ground all the way to Rowell.

Ok getting back on track I highly reccomend a visit to upper Box Canyon Lakes and the Upper Lake at the head of the West Fork of Ferguson. To get to the upper box Canyon lakesI would follow Tom's day 3 route to "the gentle Crest area above (SW of) Box Canyon." at this point work your way N then follow the path of least resistance down to the lakes. there is a nice flat campsite that should be easy to locate. Both times I have camped there I was surrounded by Clarks Nutcrackers! It was almost a wilderness version of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "the Birds," without actually getting attacked. Getting from these lakes to Upper ferguson is a snap. Just follow the obvious grass covered chute that leads slightly n of east then work your way around to the upper lake. A slight detour to the ne will provide a view of the lower lake. The upper part of the ridge that separates W. fork Ferguson from Box is very spectacular and I'm sure you will recognize the feature i called Bowser Rock that looks like the profile of the neck and head of a sitting dog. From the upper lake you can ascend to the Tablelands by working your way up a series of connected ledges. It looks a little intimidating but really is class 1 or easy 2 to get to the top. Another alternatve is to work your way to the saddle that separates the two forks of Ferguson and explore upper e. fork and Long meadow. Again it is possible to ascend to the Tablelands from here or continue to the east and pass the lake basin to the NE of Big Bird then traverse around to Big Bird before returning to the Tablelands. While my style would be to spend the night in each of the canyons, set up camp and explore a bit. I'm sure you could easily visit 2 canyons per day. Anyhow this trip seems to be off the radar of most folks yet is beautiful and interesting. If you have a good eye there are places where you can find old trails, cowboy or sheepherder campsites, and even a site once used by Native Americans. I tried to do a canyon to canyon route in 2000, after my rangering days, From cloud canyon to Crescent Lake but abandoned the route at W. Fork of ferguson due getting caught in one of those damn mid summer rain cycles. So my son and I followed the old cowboy trail down the West Fork to Ellis Meadow and then to Sugarloaf Meadow and out, much of the hike in the rain.

[creekfeet]

I used to work out of Lodgepole, and would only get two days off at a time, so a lot of my backpacking was limited to the areas described above. Needless to say, I think I've crossed over the Silliman Crest on every route humanly possible.

The route from what I'm assuming is Azure Lake (never heard that name) to Ferguson Lakes is one of the easiest x-country passes out there. As stated by oldranger, coming the other direction from Ferguson looks intimidating from afar, but there's plenty of ramps to follow.

Going up from Silliman Lake the route isn't too bad, but the descent to Crescent Lake is sketchy, as mort's photo shows pretty damn accurately. You can also go over the divide from Little Lakes just north of Silliman, but that route isn't nearly as scenic.

A few other notes:

-If you're into cliff jumping, both Silliman and Crescent Lakes have some 20+ foot cliffs you can safely launch off of.
- There's an absolutely gorgeous, unnamed meadow at the head of Horse Creek that's well worth visiting if you decide to go from Box Canyon to Crescent Lake.
- Basically that whole stretch of the divide that separates the two parks is a granite highway. It's flat, easy to navigate, and has phenomenal views of the Tablelands. I think of it as an upper plateau of the Tablelands.

Regarding the permit issue, I think you should be fine for walk-ins as long as you get there early. But if need be, you can always begin from Sunset/Rowell Meadow. The trail from there to Ranger Lake is uninspiring, but it's efficient and not very steep. From Ranger/Beville to Crescent it's much easier to follow the mini-ridge that splits the two lakes north of Crescent than to follow Crowley Canyon.

Hope your trip goes well! You're bound for what I've always considered the most scenic part of the Sierra!

[TehipiteTom]

Popped in here to give my advice only to find others have already done it for me!

I'm doing a 5-day trip in the same area this August, with a couple of differences: going to stay on trail as far as Beville Lake (not keen to face that chute east of Mt. Silliman again!), and this time I definitely plan to hit Box Canyon (last time I had to cut my trip short by a day). Depending on how much energy I have, I'm really tempted to a) take a detour to West Fork Ferguson Canyon and/or b) the rim west of Big Bird Lake...but we'll see.

Anyway, lots of great stuff in that area. Hope you have a great trip!

[balzaccom]

Old Ranger, I'm guessing that if it was at night and a full moon, that was a lunar eclipse, not a solar one!

[oleander]

This is all great intel.

The chute I'm looking at is SE of Upper Silliman Lake (and due east of the "main" - lower/bigger - Silliman Lake). It does not descend towards Crescent Lake; rather it drops you into a counter of the Horse Creek headwaters.

I'm kind of hoping that the hell crossing people referenced above is a different one that is further north.

[Enigmagic]

What about snagging a Twin Lakes TH permit and going up to Silliman Lake? Anyone have experience going over that pass just east of Silliman Lake and then descending to points E/SE? Or some other route descending E/SE from the Silliman Peak area? Looks fairly steep and rugged.

Check trip reports for the King's Canyon High Basin Route, it goes through there and doesn't look bad. The ones I've seen on HST were in the snow. https://www.walkingwithwired.com/2016/0 ... at-em.html has a couple shots of the west side with no snow.

[oleander]

What about snagging a Twin Lakes TH permit and going up to Silliman Lake? Anyone have experience going over that pass just east of Silliman Lake and then descending to points E/SE? Or some other route descending E/SE from the Silliman Peak area? Looks fairly steep and rugged.

Check trip reports for the King's Canyon High Basin Route, it goes through there and doesn't look bad. The ones I've seen on HST were in the snow. https://www.walkingwithwired.com/2016/0 ... at-em.html has a couple shots of the west side with no snow.

Yes - I did see the KCHBR reports - and noted that the KCHBR'ers did not seem to badmouth the chute on the KCHBR route - the one that is SE of the upper Silliman Lake. That's what made me wonder (hope?) that the nasty one that others have talked about on this thread might be a different, more northerly route/chute. [Or, possibly, same chute, but conditions that vary based on time of year.]

[oldranger]

Old Ranger, I'm guessing that if it was at night and a full moon, that was a lunar eclipse, not a solar one!

Oh **** another senior moment!