From PCT mile 752.0 to 762.9 Total: 11.0 miles 7/3
I hiked NOBO (NOrthBOund) on the PCT from Chicken Spring Lake into Sequoia National Park, stopped to catch a Golden Trout in Rock Creek, and eventually camped up the hill near Guyot Creek. It was a fairly easy day of hiking, but it also set me up to arrive the next day below Mount Whitney. Hiking more miles to save a day would have meant less time for my body to acclimate to higher elevation. Plus, I would get in some extra fishing time!
And that’s why I slept in that morning, waiting in my sleeping bag until I could just see the first light of dawn. OK, it was late for me. But I only had eleven miles to hike, so I wasn’t worried. I got dressed, stuffed the bag in its sack, then cooked breakfast in the vestibule of my tent while sitting on my air mattress with my down pants and down booties on. No need to get exposed to cold air until I had some hot oatmeal in my belly! Once I put away the down layer, it was time to hustle, to pack up everything efficiently, then get hiking to stay warm.
On my way out to the main trail, I stopped to say hi to Felipe, who I met while filtering water last night. He was hiking the John Muir Trail after finishing Grad School with a Doctoral Degree. I told him that we’d probably see each other again later on, as I was a relatively slow hiker compared to the other young speed demons bound for Canada on the PCT. I only wanted to hike another 400 miles, and I had all Summer to do it.
When I reached the PCT, I turned north and headed up the steep grade above the lake. My son and I hiked this section back in 2015 on our way to Mount Langley, and I knew what to expect, at least for the next few miles.
Once I made it to 11,500 feet elevation, the trail traversed along below Cirque Peak, and the views to the south and west were excellent. Big Whitney Meadow, the headwaters of Golden Trout Creek, was spread out below me. It was originally called Volcano Creek and was the site of origin of California’s State Fish, the Golden Trout. They have since been planted all over the world, but they evolved here from primordial Rainbow Trout, due to geographic isolation (i.e. a big waterfall). I crossed the meadow back in 2019 with my son and his buddy when exploring the trout’s namesake wilderness area. The meadow looked fine from way up here, but I haven’t forgotten all the soggy shoe-drenching sections out in the middle of it.
The trail began to descend gently, and within a mile or two I arrived at the boundary of Sequoia National Park. Goodbye Inyo National Forest! Goodbye Golden Trout Wilderness! I was in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Wilderness now. Sierra hikers shorten it to SEKI on occasion (SEquoia / KIngs Canyon NP). This was also a line denoting a change of watershed. We were now in the Middle Fork Kern River drainage.
But the best name change was that this ridge was called Siberian Pass. And out there to the northwest was a huge meadow known as the Siberian Outpost. I expected to see some grizzled fur trappers in a trading shack out there somewhere, with a big wood stove capable of taming a Siberian Winter.
After that, the PCT stayed high on a long ridge between Siberian Creek and Rock Creek. There were good views of nearby mountains, including a few up into Miter Basin, which is one of the prettiest spots in the High Sierra. I hiked there, largely off-trail, back in 2021, and it was quite the challenging adventure. As I continued, Mount Anna Mills appeared to the west. Joe Devel Peak was to the northeast. Joe Devel was annoying in that it blocked my view of Mount Whitney.
At the northerrn end of the ridge, the trail descended into the Rock Creek Valley. All told, it dropped almost 2000 feet from the high point above Chicken Spring Lake. There was a backcountry Ranger Cabin just off trail near here, but I didn’t visit it this time. Instead, I took a picture of the handwritten sign warning PCT hikers about the missing bridge many miles ahead. It got damaged in the huge Winter of 2023, and they took down the rest of the bent remains that Summer. Brave hikers held on and crossed it anyway, but now there was nothing but a dangerous river crossing. I was hoping that the river level would drop as I got closer. We’ll see.
The Rock Creek Valley was quite lovely. This creek drained the lakes of Miter Basin, and it was flowing quite well, but not dangerously now that most of the snow was melted. There were wide grassy meadows down in the valley, and it was quite idyllic. Soon, I made it to the campsite where Vicki and I stayed back in 2020 when we were hiking the High Sierra Trail. We really liked this spot.
I put down my backpack in the shade and got out my Tenkara Fly Rod. It was made of carbon fiber, and only weighed about 4 ounces! Totally worth bringing, if only for the fun of it. During my snowmelt-waiting interval the past few weeks, I compiled a list of fishing opportunities (from websites on the internet) all along the PCT in the 500 mile Sierra Section. I had it on my phone, so I could see what types of trout were in which lakes and streams, and which ones had none. It was cross-referenced with the PCT Mile numbering on the Far Out app, which every PCT hiker uses. Very useful. In fact, I have since created a page here on hikingtales about it. For example, I already knew that there were supposed to be small Golden Trout in Rock Creek, but it seemed like a good idea to test this information firsthand. For Science!
After lunch, as I was packing up my gear, I met up with Felipe. Or, Doctor Felipe, as is proper. I mentioned that there was supposed to be a good log for crossing the creek between here and the official PCT Crossing. There was also a large campsite at the crossing, that usually got quite crowded with hikers. He was thinking about camping there, whereas I wanted to get some extra climbing in that day. I also figured that there would be a lot of tent condensation down in this valley, and I’m not fond of that. So we hiked on. Eventually, I found some other log than the one I saw on YouTube from a few weeks ago, but I used it anyway. Felipe put on water shoes and crossed at the main crossing. He said his feet liked it. Mine stayed perfectly dry.
The two of us hung out and yakked for a while near the creek. Eventually, I hefted my backpack and hiked on. I only had two miles to hike, but it was about a thousand foot climb. In the hot afternoon sun, of course. It wasn’t optimal, but it was my own foolish plan, so I did it anyway. I probably should have hung out with the crowd instead. And carried a soggy heavy tent up the hill tomorrow morning.
There weren’t a whole lot of flat spots for a tent near Guyot Creek, so I wandered around until I found a decent one. I like a bit of uphill slope for my head, but less side-to-side slope so I don’t end up rolling downhill off my air mattress while sleeping. I found one below a tall pine and set up camp. I collected two liters of water out of the creek and hung it up to filter via gravity. This new system was working great! I hate squeezing water through a filter. My hands get wet and frozen and it takes a long time. Ignoring it while it hung on a branch, silently doing my work for me, was far superior, and the new quickdraw filter was very fast. So glad I bought it two weeks ago!
After that, I hung out in camp as the temperature dropped. I put on my night clothing and down layers, then sat in the tent and boiled some water just outside it. I added it to a packet of crushed ramen noodles and read my Kindle while the noodles softened. I could hear the sound of running water a short distance away, and I knew that it would help me sleep later on. Then I ate dinner, drank down some Gatorade (from powder), ate some salty chips, and finished it off with a handful of Candy Corn. Not exactly a dinner to be proud of, and it certainly wasn’t nutritionally balanced, but it tasted good to me. Then it was off to sleep, after yet another excellent day in the High Sierra.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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