Fri, Aug 10, 2001
|
With: | David Wright |
There was no way we were going to climb North Palisade. Mt. Darwin had beaten me pretty good the day before, and I was worried that I might be too beat trying to attempt North Pal, that I'd fail to climb both it and Split Mtn the next day. What I really needed was a rest day, but that wasn't really allowed by my own hazy conception of what the rules were. It was supposed to be 10 Peaks in 10 Days, not 9 Peaks Plus a Rest Day. So the trick was to find something new and tough, but just not too tough. David and I settled on Middle Palisade. Neither of us had climbed the peak or anywhere in the drainage of the South Fork of Big Pine Creek, and as a fourteener, it was a pretty impressive peak, too.
We left our motel in Bishop around 5:30a and drove down US395. The sun was already rising on the
Sierra Crest,
Mt. Humphreys
just visible as we drove past the golf course south of town. Once we
reached Big Pine, we found our turnoff near the center of town and turned right up Glacier Lodge
Rd. On the way up I spotted the small "V" between the twin summits of
Split Mountain, and
marvelled at the smooth slope of its North Face that could be seen in profile. At the end of the
road we found convenient day use parking right at the trailhead. There
were no cars or people around this early in the morning, and the only sound was the din of the
creek cascading forcefully though its streambed a short distance from the parking lot. We packed
up our stuff, locked our cars, and headed out. The South Fork trailhead heads past a few cabins
that appear to be used by the rangers that manage this area. I don't know whether to be envious
of their prime real estate or not, given the traffic that must go by their backdoor on a regular
basis. I opt to be envious. The trail crosses the North Fork Big Pine Creek on a very deluxe
steel and
wood bridge, a nice 20-foot cascade just upstream. The sun is already shining on us
and it appears it may be a rather warm day.
We followed the trail upstream as if follows the west side of the South Fork, at first easy
and flat. It is very dry in
this lower canyon, and
all the trees are bunched along the banks of
the creek. There is just the hardy scrub along the trail. A mile or so up we came to the
crossing where the trail goes to the east side of the creek, this time without the benefit of
a nice bridge. Or any bridge, for that matter. The easy thing would have been to just take our
shoes off and wade across, as the water would barely go past the knees. But the water is
moving swift and cold, and we do not relish an accidental swim. So we spent a good five minutes
scouting the banks for a way to cross on a downed tree or over some boulders. We didn't find
any trees (the aspens don't do as well in this category as the larger pines and cedars). But
we did find some large rocks that constricted the creek enough to allow us to jump from one
rock onto another with a questionable landing. After crossing I pause to see if David will make
it as well or take that drink we were worried about - he does fine, and we continue on.
Kid Mountain, nearly 12,000ft high, looms high to our left forming the east side of the canyon,
and the trail now moves into shade behind this wall. That is fine with us, for we have no
problem keeping warm as the trail starts to gain more serious elevation. At the end of the
canyon there is a headwall to be climbed, and the trail begins to switchback as it climbs the
steep slope here. I went ahead of David as the switchbacks grew more tedious, so that I could
take a longer rest up higher where I hoped to find better views.
The trail levels out after the headwall where it offers some fine views of not only the lower
canyon, but ahead to the
Sierra Crest and the impressive
peaks of
Middle Palisade
and Norman Clyde Peak. David caught up shortly, and after a break for a snack, we continued
on. The trail
heads downhill slightly, and while making life easier for us momentarily, I never relish losing
altitude to be gained a few minutes later. The flora has changed remarkably, and it is very
lush here in this upper canyon, almost swampy in places. The aspens give way to the evergreens,
and the scene takes on a much more inviting appearance. We took the trail that forks left
towards Brainerd Lake and resumed our
upward climb. The trail pretends
to follow the creek that
cascades down from the Palisade Basin above, but it never gets close enough to take in the
views of the falls, instead just providing the sound track of what one imagines to be an
impressive watercourse. Eventually the trail turns east, flattens, and begins a downward
direction towards the lake. We paused at the highpoint in the trail here to consult our maps,
and decided it was time to strike off cross-country.
In other areas this is much more obvious than today. We have no clear view of our goal, as there
is a very steep slope ahead of us blocking the view to the upper basin, and there is still
many trees similarly hindering the view. We start out with a short section of bush-whack,
followed by a boulder field, which leads us to a
steep granite slope that we
choose to climb
instead of more boulders. Most of this is straightforward class 2, but there are a few places
where the granite slope get steep and we used our hands to pull ourselves up to the next ledge.
I looked for cairns or other signs of previous travel through this section, but could find none,
and there is a small nagging doubt that we are heading toward a bad place. We might get
cliffed out, find ourselves on local highspot (with much downclimbing to get off), or be heading
in the wrong direction. The last seemed unlikely, but since we had little visibility as to
where we were heading, the first two seemed very real possibilities. David complained very little
about my route-finding, in fact not at all that I can remember. Knowing I've made some pretty
ugly errors in the past, I now and then asked David for his opinion to see if he felt we should
be doing something differently. For the most part he seemed perfectly content to let me take us
where I will. I suppose he'll have to be along for one of those ugly-mistake hikes before he
learns to trust me less whole-heartedly.
We top out on the granite slope, and to our relief we are not met with cliffs or downclimbing. In
fact, we had a great view again of both Middle Pal and Norman Clyde Peak. There is a rounded ridge
that we can follow further up, the creek cascading a ways down on the right side. As we hiked
along, we came across evidence of previous visitors. There were some rocks lining what we thought
might be a use trail, but aside from the 15 yards of trail here, there was no evidence on either
side of it going anywhere. We found that we were on a knoll above the outlet to
Finger Lake,
and impressive lake nestled between the canyon walls here. There were fine campsites in half a
dozen locations up here, and I imagined that this was a long abandoned group campsite used by
the Palisades Climbing School before it closed many years ago. I have no further evidence as to
whether it is true or not, but it seems a fairly ideal campsite location - flat sites, great
views, and water only 30 yards away. David and I hung out here for 30 minutes or so, mostly to
give
David a chance to
filter some water at the
lake's outlet. On the west side, I looked around
for evidence of a trail leading higher, but found none. It is mostly boulder fields going up a
in the general direction towards Middle Pal, and I was hoping to find a "preferred" path up the
slopes, but was unable to make out anything definitive. It looked like something might go
off in this direction, another one off in that direction, but hiking up a short distance I lost
whatever it was I thought I was following.
When David was done we headed up, staying close to the west back of the lake where there were
some trees. I hoped these might afford less rocky terrain, but that did not turn out to be the
case. It was more of a bushwhack until we gave up that path altogether and began heading more
southwest directly up the boulder fields. These were large and bountiful. Rarely have I seen so
many acres of boulders upon boulders. We must have been climbing an ancient moraine, the debris
carried down by the glaciers when they were a more powerful force in this region. I left David
behind again as I climbed steadily up without taking breaks. But I was definitely getting tired,
and was using this tact only so I could take a longer break further up. Cresting the slope I
was finally greeted by a
full view of the two main peaks
from their base to their summit, and
they were still a good deal away, much to my disappointment. It looked to be a couple hundred
yards to the base of the Palisade Glacier, then a quarter mile or so traversing left to the
base of Middle Pal. And of course, then a few thousand feet of climbing to the summit. I was
beginning to grow ambivalent about reaching the summit. On the one hand, I was concerned that
our progress was slower than it should be, and of course I was willing to blame that on David.
On the other hand, I had to admit that the previous day had been pretty tough on me and I wasn't
really minding the slower pace all that much. I was additionally concerned that I might not be
up for the tough hike the following day to Split Mtn, which I wanted to climb a good deal more
than Middle Pal. When David came up to join me, we discussed the
situation. It seemed David wasn't all that keen on the long class 3 climb up ahead, and was
similarly ambivalent, though he was willing to keep going if I wanted to push for the summit.
I had to admit that David was showing more drive than myself at the moment and I couldn't fairly
use him as an excuse to back down. So I declared that I really wouldn't be unhappy if we turned
around at this point, and left it to David to decide whether to continue. I think he enjoyed
my moment of weakness after watching me push relentlessly the past days, and with a slight smile
agreed to turn around.
It was around noon, which meant that we'd probably get back fairly early. To add some interest
on the return we took a different direction, heading east, where we planned to hike down to the
inlet side of Finger Lake. There is a great view of
The Thumb, and after looking at it
from a number of angles I added it to my mental list of peaks
to climb in the future. On a bench high above the lake's southern end, we found a tent and
other gear in a small campsite that was currently abandoned, most likely while the occupants
were off climbing. Climbing down to the lake involved more giant boulder fields, and it seemed
they couldn't end soon enough. At the lake shore we found a small
green belt that hugged the
edges of the lake, and provided the easier hiking we'd been seeking. Unfortunately, it's simply
not possible to hike either the east or west shore of Finger Lake from one end to the other due
to high cliffs that force one to either take a swim (not a popular option in the freezing waters)
or climb up the cliffs. We tried to follow the west bank as far as we could, eventually stopped
by the massive walls. Darn. We didn't really want to climb up the several hundred feet to
get over and around the cliffs,
but we had little choice. It turned out to be fairly fun
class 3
climbing in places, and I found I was enjoying this little stretch a good deal. David followed
up in fine style, though his level of enjoyment was a bit lower than mine. With some bushwhacking
(the same bushwhack we'd avoided on the way up) through thick alder that grew along the banks,
we finally managed to get back to the lake's outlet where'd we'd started several hours earlier.
We hiked back up the knoll, then started down the other side, again taking a slightly different
route than we'd taken on way up. We were further east, descending easier sand and scree slopes,
with a fine view of
Brainerd Lake below us to
northeast. Above the lake to the east rises another impressive peak,
Birch Mtn. We found more evidence
of use trail
here, and followed the short sections where we could, but soon lost them again. Down and down
we went, losing altitude at a steady clip, and with a little more bushwhacking found ourselves
back on the trail, almost at the point we'd left it earlier. Pretty good homing instincts, we
thought! We passed two groups of two backpackers who were on
their way up to Brainerd Lake, with heavy loads that included climbing rope and gear. Watching
them sweat and struggle with their loads, I was feeling both wimpy (that I was feeling tired
going downhill with no more than four pounds of gear) and thankful (that I was going downhill
with no more
than four pounds of gear and was heading for a hot shower) as we exchanged greetings.
I took more time going back to enjoy the
views of this area,
and to photograph some of the
flowers and
trees found here. When it came time
to cross the creek again, this time I simply removed my shoes and walked across the
streambed. I then dried my feet off, put my boots back on, and was on my way in only a few
minutes. It was pretty obvious that the morning's delay in trying to get across was a
wasted exercise.
It only took a few hours to return to the trailhead, and it was just past 3p. Gee, what would I do with so much extra time? Rest, of course. Back in Big Pine, we found a decent enough motel about as cheap as they come. In fact, the quote he gave us for a room was so low (little more than $30) that we each got our own room. Seems the further south one travels on US395, the cheaper the rooms get. There seems to be a direct correlation with the elevation of the town you're staying in. After we'd had a chance to clean up, we went out to dinner. David's co-worker Toby was going to join us for Split Mountain the following day, and we'd managed to contact him on David's cell phone, but he'd just left the Bay Area. He was going to be arriving late in the night, and I expected his lack of acclimatization would get the best of him. But Toby was key for our adventure tomorrow since neither David nor I had a 4WD. Fortunately Toby did, and it was going to come in mighty handy the next day...
Continued...
For more information see these SummitPost pages: Middle Palisade
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