Shepherd Pass to Wright, Wales, Tulainyo, Milestone 2020

Description: An 8 day trip over Shepherd Pass to Upper Wright, Wales, and Tulainyo Lakes and Milestone Basin

Day 1:

The weather forecast was perfect – not a chance of rain which meant long days for exploring. It also projected trailhead temperature lows at 70 degrees, rising to near-100 by early afternoon. I drove in just before dawn and noted a Subaru Outback parked at the Stock trailhead instead of further down at the Hiker trailhead. If the Subaru was not able to handle the rough road to the Hiker trailhead, then I had no chance. I decided to park and hike the additional 1.25 miles, 600’ elevation. A large section of this supplemental trail was deep sand so in combination with a heavy start-of-trip backpack and as-yet-unconditioned body, my energy was being depleted with each step. Fortunately, joining the main hiker trail provided some rejuvenation.

The hike up to Anvil Camp was not overly challenging and I reached it a little past noon. I decided to stick with the plan to acclimate here at 10K’, rather than push on to 12K’ at the pass. Anvil Camp has the basic amenities: water, plenty of camping space, and shade. There is a small attractive meadow with scattered columbine, cluster lilies, and ranger’s buttons which bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain virus.

Day 2:

From Anvil Camp, I quickly reached the Pothole and noted this would have been a nicer place to camp since I prefer open spaces over forests. Continuing up, the trail became much rockier. The snow patch that is often a hazard early in the year, had already receded completely from the trail.

Once over the pass, I had a view of the Kaweah ridge on the left, Kern ridge front center to Milestone Mountain to the right.

After refilling water at the lake, I continued down the trail before veering off towards Rockwell Pass, crossing over just left of the peak in the middle.

Walking over the uneven meadow towards Wright Lakes, I heard a pop as I rolled my ankle and fell onto the soft grass. Checking myself, I was surprised that my ankle felt fine. It was a little stiff but not too painful and with good range of motion. So I got up and continued on, stepping with a little more care and feeling better the more I walked. Traveling alongside Wright Creek, I reached vacant upper Wright Lake, which had turquoise water and tall vertical crags on its western shore. I noticed the prominent rock outcrop on the left ridge resembled a large bird overlooking the lake. My ankle remained painless although it was noticeably swollen.

Day 3:

I was awakened early by a loud echoing rock avalanche from the direction of Mt Versteeg but was too lazy to get up. From my shelter, I watched the morning rays light up the Kaweahs while the full moon hung overhead.

I finally got up to start my travel to Wales Lake. Heading south down the meadow towards Wallace Creek, I started a small ascent up the hill to stay above Wallace Creek. I came across an area with about half dozen piles of bear scat so I quickened my pace, turning east and descending a bit while attempting to minimize elevation loss. At the location where most maps show a trail ending, I crossed the marshy meadow and walked up granite slabs on the left side of cascading Wallace Creek. On my return, I followed a use trail that went around this slope instead, but I enjoyed the scenery of my route more. I eventually passed Wallace Lake and set up camp at Wales Lake. No one else was at either lake. The precipitous crag that flanks Wales abruptly ends at the lake’s outlet to views of the Wallace Creek basin and Kern mountain range.

Day 4:

I scrambled up the notch just to the east of my campsite for a dayhike to Tulainyo Lake, 12,828’, one of the highest lakes in N. America. It is an impressive lake, about a mile from Mt Whitney and fringed by the same range.

After returning to Wales, I took advantage of a swimming area that was blocked from the wind by perfectly located boulders.

Just before sunset, I walked around enjoying the wildflowers. Most were already past their prime but I found a decent bunch of shooting stars.

Day 5:

Today was a long day, without much of a payout. My destination was Milestone basin but I did not expect to get there in one day. I headed down Wallace Creek to join the JMT, seeing others for the first time in a few days. Taking a break to review my maps at a lookout point, I was startled to see a golden eagle gliding in the air. I quickly dropped everything to grab my camera but realized my maps might blow away. After some delay from securing my maps and fumbling around for my camera, I managed to take a few poor photos of the bird.

There are multiple options for getting to Milestone from Wallace basin. One is to descend directly towards the Kern River. Incidentally, the Wallace Creek trail section between the Kern and JMT is the only section of the entire HST that I haven’t completed, but completing established routes is not a motivation for me. Instead, the Bighorn Plateau has been among my favorite places since I first visited 7 years ago. I love how perspectives are so out of whack there. Mountains are molehills and trees tower over 13K peaks.

I ended the day about a quarter mile above the Kern River along the trail that passes the South America Lake junction. While nodding off for the night, I awoke to a loud bear snort, too close to my shelter for comfort. I rustled awake and listened for more noises but it was quiet. I suspect he either saw my bear canister or more likely, didn’t like my scent and walked off. I didn’t blame him.

Day 6:

There were so many more animal noises here compared to my previous days’ camping locations. Snorts, chirps, squeals... I got up early for the short hike to a lake I had picked out in Milestone Basin. Crossing the Kern just below the lake at the trail intersection, I started uphill towards a steep grassy ramp I observed during my research using Google Earth. At the top of this ramp, travel across granite was easy. I passed a lake at 11,289’ and then scrambled up to my destination, an un-named lake at 11,470’. I’m going to call this Manta Lake, even though it doesn’t have much of a Manta tail. In any case, I set up camp where the tail would have been.

Day 7:

I rolled the same ankle again while descending from Manta Lake. It felt a little worse than the last sprain, but still wasn’t too painful and started feeling more normal the more I hiked. I discovered a trail and decided to follow it. It descended towards the creek and was a much less interesting route than the higher path I took the day before. Backtracking up towards the JMT, a large shadow swiftly and silently passed me. As I looked up, a bald eagle flew directly overhead. Again, after fumbling for my camera, I managed to take a photo after it had already flown a distance away.

My previous backpacking camera setup was a small DLSR which could be quickly deployed from a Peak Design Capture Clip on my shoulder strap. On this trip, I switched to a new point-and-shoot camera, stored in a small zippered pouch on my shoulder strap, for the sake of weight reduction. I need to re-evaluate this new setup.

Continuing on, I left the trail before the JMT intersection, bearing east, towards the Shepherd Pass trail, saving in my estimation about 320’ of descent/ascent. It was very gusty on the way up to the pass but the wind surprisingly subsided when I reached the pass. There were many tents at the pass but as the afternoon progressed and climbers returned from their adventures, they packed up and left. Thunderstorms boomed in the distance but eventually dissipated. The clouds were crazy red that evening.

Day 8:

I started the 6K’ descent to my car and realized how sketchy the upper portion of this trail was, which I hadn’t noticed a week ago. Each step created a small rockslide off the edge that narrowed the trail further. At Anvil Camp, I topped off my water and had a snack while 2 juvenile squirrels playfully chased each other around me, within a foot a few times as if I wasn’t there. When I continued my descent, I rolled my ankle a third time, creating a bit more pain this time. I continued carefully down the next 4K’, focused on not spraining it a fourth time. The switchbacks near the bottom felt like an endless loop and when finally completed, I had the additional 1.25 mile to my car at the stock trailhead in the desert heat, 96 degrees per my car’s thermometer.

Selfie at Shepherd Pass