Spanish Mountain / Tehipite Dome / Three Sisters
Ascents of Spanish Mountain (Northwest Slope, class 1), Tehipite Dome (North Ridge, class 3) and Three Sisters (Northeast Slope, class 2), with Claire Wacziarg, August 18-22, 2024.
Timeline:
August 18, 2024: We left LA around 11:00 but the drive took longer than anticipated. We stopped in Prather to pick up our permit at 16:00, and then drove on to Wishon Reservoir. We had a bit of trouble finding the correct trailhead. We found the Rancheria trailhead easily enough, but then I realized I had mapped an approach from the Crown Valley trailhead. It wasn't until 18:54 that we were able to set out from the car. We stopped after a short while at a nice campsite near Rancheria Creek. (36 minutes elapsed, 36 minutes moving, 1.27 miles, 401 feet of elevation gain)
August 19, 2024: We hadn't gotten much of a head start the previous day, but there were only 7.5 miles to cover to the summit of Spanish Mountain, our objective for that day. We set out from camp at 8:37 and made our way along the trail through Stratham Meadow and Spanish Meadow to the top of a saddle just north of Spanish Mountain. Just beyond the saddle we stopped for lunch and dropped our packs in the shade of some trees. After lunch we headed up a faint use trail that led us almost to the summit of Spanish Mountain (14:27). There was a bit of smoke from a fire in Kings Canyon, which made Claire anxious. We took in the great views of the Obelisk, Lower Geraldine Lake, and the High Sierra. We then returned to our packs and made our way down a short distance to Lower Geraldine Lake. There we found a very comfortable camp on the southern shore, complete with a fire ring and cut logs to sit on. We settled down to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, went for a bath in the lake, made a fire, and had dinner. It was a comfortable night. (7:32 hours elapsed, 6:16 hours moving, 9.51 miles, 3,329 feet of elevation gain)
August 20, 2024: We left camp at 8:07. I planned to climb Tehipite Dome that afternoon, which could make for a longish day. Our progress was not aided by the difficult cross-country terrain down Rodgers Creek, between Geraldine Lake and Crown Valley. The USGS map shows a trail here, but there really is no trail left at all except at the very end, near the junction with the Crown Valley trail. Claire was unhappy with the lack of a trail, as well as with the ambient smoke from the forest fire south of us. We were at the trail junction at 10:28 and turned right toward Kettle Dome. It was only 3 miles from that junction to where we stopped for our third night, but the area had burned in the Tehipite Fire of 2008, and downed trees and brush made following the trail a challenge. This trail needs a good dose of maintenance. We stopped just before the Crown Creek crossing, near one of its small tributaries, set up camp, and had lunch. At 13:40 I set out toward Tehipite Dome, at first following the Blue Canyon Trail and then heading southeast across forested buttes and tedious slopes toward the North Ridge of Tehipite Dome. Just before the summit area I came across a climbers' camp with three bivy bags and some gear strewn about - but nobody around. I made my way to the base of the class 3 portion of the climb, which featured a long piece of 7mm rope hanging down the steeper bit. This I did not use on the way up, but came in handy on the way down. I was on the summit of Tehipite Dome at 16:10 and enjoyed the outstanding view of Tehipite Valley (the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Kings River), including the Gorge of Despair and the Silver Spur. The smoke from the forest fire had abated and I was able to enjoy fairly clear views. I stayed on the summit for a while, and then retraced my steps back to camp (18:51). (10:44 hours elapsed, 9:08 hours moving, 14.20 miles, 2,762 feet of elevation gain)
August 21, 2024: Our initial plan called for carrying on toward Blue Canyon (so I could climb Tunemah Peak), hopping over Mantle Pass and returning via the North Fork of the Kings River and over Crown Pass. But Claire was unhappy about the smoky conditions and poor trail, so we decided to go back to the trailhead. Back we went toward Crown Valley. We stopped for a bit at Johnson's Cow Camp, where there was some human activity - workers were fixing some of the log cabins. The trail was good past this point, and we made quicker work of the next few miles. We stopped for lunch in a grassy meadow near a brook. At one point we took a wrong turn toward Rancheria Creek, a mistake easily reversed (trail signage can be confusing in this area). We made our way down a poorly maintained trail past Three Springs, and back to the Crown Valley Trailhead (16:51). We still had two days, so I proposed a trip to the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness, where I could climb Three Sisters as a consolation prize for having foregone Tunemah Peak. Before that, we went for a nice dinner at the Hungry Hut in Shaver Lake, where I could download some information for the next day's hike to my phone. We then drove back to Courtright Reservoir and found a nice campsite at the PG&E campground near the Cliff Lake trailhead. Some neighbors were a bit noisy but we managed. (7:58 hours elapsed, 6:42 hours moving, 12.41 miles, 2,333 feet of elevation gain)
August 22, 2024: The plan was to hike to Cliff Lake where Claire would settle down to read a book while I climbed the Three Sisters. I had never been to the Dinkey Lakes area and it proved very worthwhile. We left our campsite at 8:00, walked to the trailhead and from there through forest to Cliff Lake (10:09). Claire settled down and I headed up a broad ridge south of the lake, toward the eastern aspect of the East Sister. This went well, with some class 2 steps just below the summit area. I was on top at 11:23. Looking west, the other two sisters beckoned, so I decided to traverse the mountain. The ridge was easy and enjoyable, with the highlight being a short class 3 climb to the summit of the West Sister. There, I found a small register placed by Bob Burd in 2018. I descended steep terrain northeast of the West Sister in a pretty straight line to Island Lake. I lacked a good map of the area so I had to make some guesses as to where to go. I hiked along the west shore of Island Lake, then around Second Dinkey Lake, on to scenic Rock Lake, and was finally back to Cliff Lake at about 13:50. We enjoyed the area for awhile, had lunch, and started on the return, reaching our campsite at 17:00. We drove to Courtright Reservoir to enjoy the evening light there, and then went back to camp. That evening we made a fire and had a nice dinner, enjoying all the comforts of car camping. (9:00 hours elapsed, 7:24 hours moving, 16.39 miles, 3,507 feet of elevation gain)
August 23, 2025: We woke up early and stopped at the McKinley Grove of Giant Sequoias on the way home. We again stopped at the Hungry Hut in Shaver Lake, this time for breakfast (pancakes and eggs), and then drove back home to LA.
Trip totals: 35:50 hours elapsed, 30:06 hours moving, 53.78 miles, 12,332 feet of elevation gain.