TR: Palisades circumnavigation - Red Lake TH to NF Big Pine - July 11-17

[redbear]

Our original plan was to start from Red Lake TH, climb Split Mountain, descend to Upper Basin, go over Amphitheater Pass (also called Upper Basin Crossing) to Amphitheater Lake, descend Cataract Creek to Palisade Creek's Deer Meadow, go up the creek draining Barret Lakes to Palisades Basin, climb North Palisade, then go over Thunderbolt Pass and Agassiz Col to Sam Mack Lake and exit via N Fork of Big Pine Creek. We had 7 days to complete the task.

Day 1 - July 11 - Red Lake TH to Red Lake

My friend (Dubik99) and I left our motel in Big Pine around 5:30 am and were at the red Lake TH around 6:45, the road was mostly okay but I managed to get stuck on a big flat boulder in my Golf Alltrack (overestimated it's clearance), so my friend had to get out of the car and push it. We were surprised to see half a dozen cars (all high clearance trucks) at the trailhead. We started on the trail at 7 and made it to the Red Lake by noon. It was hot (forecast called for 106F down in Big Pine area). Red Lake was pretty busy as we took the last decent campsite big enough for a small two person tent. As soon as we pitched our tent, thunderstorm rolled in and we took shelter and rested for about an hour. When the rain stopped we took a swim in the lake (it was surprisingly warm), checked our next day's route, ate dinner, did some chores and went to bed with sunset. We were also surprised to see no mosquitos.

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Day 2 - July 12 - Split Mountain climb and descent into the Upper Basin

We woke up at 5 and were hiking by 6 am. Split Mountain climb was pretty straight forward, except lack of snow made the chute leading to the Split shoulder a bit unpleasant - steep, very loose scree, so we bypassed it by climbing the solid rock on the side. We stashed our bear cans and some other heavy items on the shoulder and continued to the summit with lighter packs. We made it to the top just before noon, took some photos, signed register and started our descent shortly after. It took us about 2 hours to make it down to the big unnamed lake in the Upper Basin. We debated whether to continue towards Amphitheater Pass and possibly camp at the lake right before the pass but decided against it as thunderstorm began to roll in and we were tired after climbing the 14er with heavy packs on day 2 of the trip.

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To be continued...

[cgundersen]

OK, Redbear I get it: hike to Red Lake and climb that dubious talus field that looks like a real bear. Nice work! Can't wait for more! And, I'm betting not too many of the other folk at Red Lake followed you?
Cameron

[redbear]

Day 3 - July 13 - Upper Basin to Palisade Creek Deer Meadow via Amphitheater Lake Basin and Cataract Creek

We started hiking by 7:30 and were at the top of Amphitheater Pass at 9:30. Amphitheater pass was easy on the east side but descending the west side was tricky while carrying full packs - Secor rates it class 2 and suggests zig-zagging down ledges diagonally towards the north, but some ledges we ended up downclimbing required making class 4 and low grade 5 moves, although the exposure wasn't significant. There was also a fair amount of tedious talus hopping after the ledges ended. We arrived to Amphitheater lake around noon, pretty tired and low energy (after skipping breakfast), hoping to spend the remainder of the day resting, but it was hot and exposed, we couldn't find any campsites with shade, so we decided to continue down Cataract creek to Deer Meadow to shorten our next day's distance. Going down Cataract creek was mostly pleasant but required occasional boulder hopping, downclimbing and bushwhacking (especially towards the end when we got close to Palisade creek). The trail shown on the TOPO map only appeared for a short while, about half way down and disappeared again towards the end. We were able to cross Palisade creek on a downed log and made it to Deer meadow around 5 pm. Because it took us significantly longer than expected to descend Cataract creek, we were pretty fatigued, we also didn't exactly know what kind of terrain to expect tomorrow going up the creek draining the Palisade Basin - we began questioning our plan to climb the North Palisade the day after. We felt like the trip would be more enjoyable if we had a layover day and decided to leave the N Palisade climb for another trip and go over Knapsack Pass into Dusy Basin and take a day off. We also figured we would climb Mt Agassiz from the Agassiz Col on our way across the Palisade Crest towards our planned NF Big Pine creek exit. Inspired by the new plan we enjoyed our Russian style happy hour (few shots of vodka chased by pieces of cured bacon and Sierra wild onions), ate dinner right after and were in bed early right around sunset. Also, Deer meadow was the only place during our entire trip where mosquitoes were quite annoying.

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To be continued...

[redbear]

OK, Redbear I get it: hike to Red Lake and climb that dubious talus field that looks like a real bear. Nice work! Can't wait for more! And, I'm betting not too many of the other folk at Red Lake followed you?
Cameron

Your are right! We've only met one other person climbing the Split Mtn from Red Lake, who left at 4 am and who we caught up with at the top of the chute leading to Split shoulder. I forgot the man's name but he mentioned he came with his two nephews (in their twenties) who decided to forgo the climb and relax at the lake after hiking in 105F heat the day before.

[cgundersen]

Frankly, you guys have given me renewed hope for a "quick" (all qualifiers apply) way to reach Amphitheater basin. For my money, it's one of the exceptionally spectacular basins in the Sierra (particularly with the Palisades backdrop), and a few years back a buddy and I had tried to get there via Birch Lake only to be rebuked a couple times by very inclement weather. Your photos of the ascent from Red Lake look pretty taxing, but the fact that you survived that plus Upper Basin Crossing (Amphitheater Pass) gives me encouragement. Anyway, if you ever get back to the upper reaches of Amph basin, aim to spend a day hacking around (or go climb Observation peak, which has an amazing 360 degree panorama.....). Anyway, great story!
Cameron

[giantbrookie]

Wow, those are two off trail passes not often done, one because its physical difficulty and the other because few folks think of it. Together they make for a truly unique and adventurous route. This is far more creative and interesting than I expected from the "Palisades Loop" title. Really alluring for off trail backpacking enthuasiasts!

[redbear]

Day 4 - July 14 - Deer meadow to Dusy Basin over the Knapsack Pass

We woke up around 6 and started moving by 7:30. Based on limited info we were able to find online about going up Palisade basin drainage we started on the east side of the creek and moved to the west side right after the first fork. For about 1,000' of initial ascent it was intermittently heavy/medium bushwhacking and talus hopping.

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After that terrain eased up considerably. We came across a nice swimming hole in the creek and took a dip, it was nice and refreshing. When the canyon opened up we were greeted by a nice view of the Palisades.

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We were able to stay on the west side of the creek the whole time after we crossed it and continued towards the pass without loosing elevation using the ramps and ledges on the side of the canyon that almost always seemed to interconnect. Only once we had to take our packs off to downclimb a cliff and only because we were lazy to backtrack.

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We reached the top of Knapsack Pass around 2 pm.

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Both sides of the pass were pretty easy and by 3:30 we were able to find a great campsite at one of the more remote lakes in the Dusy Basin with a nice view of Mt Agassiz.

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We were really looking forward to a well deserved layover day in the Dusy Basin!

To be continued...

[giantbrookie]

And Barrett Creek, too! Holy smokes what a combination of crazy off trail routes! My wife and I descended and ascended it back in 1993 along with Cataract on a trip in and out of the Dumbbell Lakes from South Lake. This sure looks harsher than it played in 1993 (although the 1993 route was still hard because of super heavy runoff). The big difference I see is in brush, and I can't tell the extent to which this was in fact made way worse by a post-1993 fire as has been alleged or whether the brushy reports point to a different route choice than the 1993. One way or another, though Cataract-Barrett is a quite an off trail route!

[papercup]

This looks like an excellent and interesting trip. Thanks for posting it.

[cgundersen]

redbear,
OK, I forgot to ask: does the brand of vodka matter? Stoli? Ketel One? And, I agree with gb, adding the uphill schlep to Barrett Lakes from Deer Meadow is close to certifiable. Or, the definition of fun for some folk? Looking forward to the finale! Cameron