This was the last of the Southern Sierra trips for the season as it gets pretty hot and dry down there after about mid June.  We had just enough time to sneak in one more Sierra Club "I" provisional which this area works well for thanks to faint or missing trails, ample opportunities for cross country travel, and the lack of useful landmarks in the distance.

It's also an area I hadn't been back to since I did these peaks originally in 2010 and I had really fond memories of hiking through the meadows and the views from the peaks.  When Lubna mentioned in when looking at provisional options I jumped at the chance to go back.

Hockett Peak is a named peak on the USGS topo that is located in the Southern Sierra along the Kern to the west of Jordan Hot Springs.  After passing by it a number of times over the years Kristen Lindberg and I led a WTC trip to climb it in 2017 to great success.

Hockett towers above Trout Meadows which is one of those incredibly green and scenic meadows you find all over in the Southern Sierra.  It's full of nice camp spots with legal fire pits, ample wood, and multiples options for access to water.  The best trailhead is Jerky Meadows, aka the same trail we used for this years Massacre trip and one that opens reliably early every year.

This was also another Sierra Club provisional this time an "I" rating for Victor Gomez.  The I rating is for cross country travel so we had to do something that had a decent amount of it and where the navigation wasn't obvious.


Hence why our summit day for Hockett would be a little more circuitous than the route we took last year.  Instead of climbing the western flank we'd come around from the south and hit a few points along the way.  This would make for a fairly long day considering we had to return to camp, pack up, then hike out which involves an uphill climb to the cars.

Victor also had us camping at the Trout Meadows FS Station after verifying with the Kernville rangers that it was ok.  This gave us a reliable water source, a nice fire pit, logs for sitting, and even two rather nice outhouses.  It was almost too comfy...

June 9th & 10th, 2018

Hockett Peak (8,552')

Day 1: 8.7 miles, 1,800'

Day 2: 16.8 miles, 4,300'

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

I came out of last weekend's three day Memorial Day Massacre trip sore but feeling surprisingly strong compared to previous years.  That left me ready for another significant trip and as it turned out this weekend was one of those rare ones that I didn't have a solid commitment for.

After debating options I decided to do a solo backpack out in the Golden Trout Wilderness.  It's rare for me to do trips solo as I'm fortunate to know a ton of people who are always up for adventures of various sorts and I think this was probably my first full solo since my JMT fastpack back in 2013.

I'm a huge fan of the Golden Trout Wilderness since it's relatively lightly traveled, it's low enough to allow campfires, and there are some really spectacular camping options along the various streams and rivers.  And the meadows out there are just spectacular!  After looking at different options I eventually settled on going out of Cottonwood Pass and aiming for some remote named peaks called Overlook and Tower that I'd had my eyes on for quite some time.

June 2nd to 4th, 2018

Overlook Mountain (10,220')

Tower Rock (8,520')

Day 1: 13.8 miles, 1,000'

Day 2: 14.9 miles, 3,200'

Day 3: 18.4 miles, 3,700'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

After what has felt like a painfully slow last couple of months where I've barely been able to get out in the mountains I've finally wrapped up the classroom portion of Wilderness Travel Course, the Spring Advanced Mountaineering Program, my Wilderness First Aid recertification, and the Sierra Club LTC Rock Checkoff which means that at long last it's Sierra trip season again!  And this year that means I've got 19 -ish weekends of adventures planned!

The first of those weekends is the annual Memorial Day Massacre trip where Jen Blackie and I (and occasionally others) head out to do some big both to take advantage of the holiday and to help get us into proper backpacking shape.

In the past these trips have been 4 or 5 day monsters (for write ups on many of these trips you can browse the tag Memorial Day Massacre) but the last few years we've had to hold them to 3 days thanks to Jen's sadly draconian teacher employment contract.  So with only three days to work with we decided we'd redo last years aborted plan this time without the flooded trail conditions and  (hopefully) the major boot issues that derailed us after a mere 32 miles.

May 26th to 28th, 2018

Coyote Peaks (10,892')

Angora Mountain (10,198')

Day 1: 17.75 miles, 3,000' gain

Day 2: 10.3 miles, 4,800' gain

Day 3: 19.4 miles, 3,400' gain

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

This trip was originally a two day to Kern Peak led by Garry McCoppin and Ross Doering.  That changed to Deer and Crag after the trailhead for Kern still wasn't opened a week before the trip.  And then when Garry needed a last minute replacement leader I jumped at the chance to get out from under the aftermath of moving the previous weekend.

I'd already been out this same trail just one month earlier scouting route options on Crag which was a bit of a bummer but on the other hand I already knew a really nice campsite and a pile of firewood that hasn't been used.  And as this trip was primarily intending as a Sierra Club Wilderness Travel Course experience trip we had a nice diverse group.

Friday night 13 of us drove for Kennedy Meadows and spent the night at the campground.

What:
   Brown Mountain (9,958')
   Kern Peak (11,480')
   Templeton Mtn (9,960')
   Monache Mtn (9,400')
   Deer Island (8,270')
   Anderson Point (8,510')
When: June 21st to 23rd, 2013
Where: Golden Trout Wilderness, Sierra Nevada
Who: Matthew Hengst, Amin Faraday, Jen Blackie
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

The 4th Annual Memorial Day Massacre was a beast of a trip.  5 days, almost 100 miles and 20k of gain, lots of bushwhacking, and a final day involving 26 miles and more blister milking than I ever hope to do again.

While it could be called a very successful trip a few minor factors kept us from getting all the inconsequential yet still named peaks we'd planned.  So, as I said in the trip announcement email...

"Don't you hate it when you have a massacre and leave orphans behind?  Join us for the 2013 Golden Trout Orphan Bag..."