Backpacking for Goldens & Rainbows in Sequoia Kings Canyon

The winter of 2022 and 2023 was bananas. The 300% snow pack put a wrench in a lot of summer plans, including mine. I ended up pushing the trip back a couple times before finally settling on an August 6th start date and that I’d be going with one of my best friends, because my dad (ruptured achilles) and brother (work) could not make it this year. The issue was still the snow: a few of the lakes I had my eye on were still frozen as of the August 4th satellite image, so we called an audible and decided on a repeat of my 2017 trip, mostly because all of the lakes and trail were snow and ice free.

It would be my third trip over this east side pass but first time in 5 years. It’s steep and high, but puts you right into the heart of a great area of the Sierra backcountry. We drove up to Mammoth Lakes on Saturday, August 5th and spent the night at my parents condo in hopes of acclimating a little bit.

August 6th, 2023

We slept in a little bit and didn’t start hiking until around 10am. The mosquitos were awful at the trailhead, but that was the only time we needed to spray ourselves with Deet.

If I’m being honest, I don’t think the acclimating helped one bit; this hike kicked our butt. After a particularly steep section with at least 30 switchbacks, we took a break near a spring and drank some water. I noticed the hillside next to us was filled with Sierra Columbine, a common sight on this trip. In over a decade of backpacking the Sierra, I can’t recall a trip with more Columbine. They were stunning.

We made it 5 miles up the trail, gaining 3500 ft crossing a multitude of snow fields still lingering over the trail, before calling it quits right at the bottom of the pass. We set up our tent next to some large boulders that provided some cover and sat in our Helinox chairs recovering the rest of the evening.

I managed to take a few interesting pictures of the stark landscape as the sun was setting.

August 7th, 2023

The night was cold at over 12600 ft, especially when the wind kicked up around 5am. I was actually happy when it was time to get out of the tent because moving would help me warm up. After eating a breakfast of stroop waffles we walked over to the snowfield, put on our microspikes and trudged up to the pass. The snow was firm and a little icy but there were tracks from previous hikers so in about 15 minutes we were at the top. The usual stands of Pacific Hulsea were not even in full bloom on August 7th.

We continued down the other side of the pass and found a beautiful field of shooting stars flourishing in a wet area near some springs. The lakes we were going to fish spread out in a perfect line down below.

After a few athletic class 2 moves and crossing another snow field we finally got to the edge of the first glacial blue lake in the canyon.

The trail through this canyon hugs the lakes and can be tedious no matter the time of year. In early summer, steep lingering snowfields that run out into the lakes can block the trail and in late summer it goes through large boulder fields. I’m not sure which is better: boulder hopping or taking spikes on and off to traverse the snow fields.

There are a few campsites hidden in the krummholz around the lakes and we found one right near the outlet of the lake we wanted to fish just before 10am. The fishing was phenomenal for fairly large goldens just like it had been the prior two times. There were a lot of fish in the outlet area and along the shoreline that were willing to take a variety of wet flies.

After packing a net for the first time on our backpacking trip last year and loving it, I made sure to bring it along again. It was nice to have when landing, unhooking and taking a picture of my best fish on the trip.

My friend got in on the action too.

Overall the fish were a bit smaller than 5 years ago, but they were still quality and healthy.

We took a break to eat the best backpacking lunch there is: PackItGourmet’s All-American Burger Wrap. (the condiments make it seem like real food). After filling up we ventured away from the outlet and still found success but it was a bit slower.

In typical golden trout fashion, we didn’t catch any deep in the lake but got most of our hookups in the rocks along the shoreline. There were a couple of drop offs so steep that we would just let our fly/lure sink straight down and pull them up because the fish were hiding under the boulder we were standing on.

It was breezy in the afternoon, which made it a bit cold, but the feeling I got was that the canyon was just emerging from its long winter slumber. The snowfields going into the lake would creak and calve every once in a while, Sierra Columbine and shrubby Cinquefoil dotted the rocky hillsides, and the golden trout were eager to eat.

The afternoon settled into evening and we stopped fishing to take care of some camp chores. After an awful dinner of Heather’s Choice Salmon Chowder that just refused to rehydrate, I set out to take some pictures in the evening light. My wide angle lens really helped capturing the beauty of this canyon.

August 8th, 2023

On the third day we planned to hike about 4 miles off trail around a ridge and into the next basin to a lake that holds nice rainbow / golden hybrids. One of my favorite areas in the entire Sierra is the bench that sits below the lakes in the canyon. It’s at the perfect elevation to have some vegetation but still high enough to have open sight lines.

In the middle of the bench we came to what I call the “zen garden.” I was stunned by the natural beauty of this little area on the bench. An outlet creek tumbled over a cascade and was flanked by greenery and lupine on both sides.

Not long after the zen garden we came across a coyote and followed its path toward the edge of the bench. After we walked through a narrow valley we came to a more open area with views of the prominent ridgeline across the valley.

The trickiest part of our cross country route was getting around the nose of the ridge. The nose was full of small cliffs and shelves. If you picked the right path the walking was very easy, but choosing wrong would usually result in getting cliffed out or bush whacking. Shortly after exiting the bench we climbed up one of the grassy ramps and got to a nice spot to take a break. The view from this spot is what I was talking about when I said this east side pass dumps you into some of the best parts of the Sierra backcountry.

Once around the nose the last little bit of our hike was crossing the basin to the target lake. I’ve said this countless times, but 40 ft topo map contours don’t do justice to 80 ft hills. The seemingly flat innocuous basin had 5 tedious ridges to climb up and over before we finally got to the lake.

We setup camp and had lunch before setting out to fish the entire afternoon. In typical fashion I decided to head over to the outlet but stopped to fish along the way. I caught a 10″ hybrid in a couple minutes, which is exactly what this lake is known for.

When we arrived at the outlet, we found tons of fish cruising the shallows willing to take our fly or lure. None of them were insanely large but all of them were attractive: greenish with vibrant red stripes on their sides and white tipped fins. These were a far cry from the hatchery rainbow trout you catch at road side lakes.

While fishing around the outlet, I nearly stepped on a massive pile of poop. It was fresh because it still smelled and had some moisture in it. I contemplated for a second, what could have possibly left a pile this big? I doubted any mule or horse could make it to this lake and it definitely wasn’t deer or coyote, so it must be be from a bear. I couldn’t believe that 1) a bear would be up this high 2) it would be this close to the lake and 3) just how big this terd was.

Anyway, back to the fishing. We spent the entire afternoon catching perfect 10-14″ hybrids. Its best to let the pictures do the talking.

After dinner we decided to take an evening walk out to the edge of the basin and see what views we could find. The sun was setting off to our right and cast some beautiful golden light across the valley below and onto the mountains behind it.

The steep Sierra peaks laced with snow and golden rays was a sight to behold.

The other benefit of going for the evening walk was how warm it made us prior to getting in the sleeping bag. That night definitely dipped down around freezing because there was frost all around our tent in the morning but it didn’t feel that cold because I was so toasty in my sleeping bag.

August 9th, 2023

Since all of my backpacking trips have a fishing focus, I plan at least one layover day and Wednesday was that day. The plan was to circle the entire lake and spend the day fishing and basking in the glory of the Sierra summer.

The first couple hours of the morning were calm and cool and the fish were active. We caught the majority of our fish before the wind picked up, especially in the area around the inlet creek.

We got to the far side of the lake around lunch time and sat down to nibble on some snacks and talk about life. There’s something about having earnest, deep conversations with close friends in the backcountry. The lack of distractions, the silence of the mountains, and the leisure of having nothing to do and all day to do it, makes these moments so special.

The fishing after lunch was a little slower, but it was punctuated by the nice sized fish my friend dredged up from the depths with his lure and the 3-4 I caught around the second inlet to this lake.

It was around this time I noticed that the wind had switched directions by about 90 degrees from its usual direction, a tell tale sign of a changing weather pattern. Combine this with the first clouds all week and I immediately sent a message to my wife on my Garmin inReach and asked about the weather forecast. She responded that there was a chance of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, with high likelihood of rain overnight and then even higher chance of rain and snow showers on Friday.

The original plan was to hike back to the lake with the Goldens and stay there on Thursday and hike out Friday, but it seemed like a bad idea trying to get over a 12,800 ft pass on the rainiest day. We debated for a while but ultimately decided to be as flexible as possible the next day and choose how far to hike based on the weather and how our bodies were feeling.

In the mean time, we kept fishing the rest of the afternoon and like I mentioned before, it was a little slower but there were moments of excitement with some of the biggest fish we caught. The variation in color and spots in these four fish show why I think these are hybrids.

We got to the outlet creek again in the late afternoon but instead of harassing the fish in the lake some more, we walked down the creek and picked off a few fish holding in the deeper holes.

At around 5pm we headed back to our camp site and started the usual chores in preparation for dinner. Earlier in the report, I mentioned how I really struggled with the Heather’s Choice Salmon Chowder on night 2. Fortunately for me, that was the only Heather’s Choice meal I struggled with. I had packed 3 other meals: Bison Chili, Chicken Mole and Rice, and Spaghetti with Marinara – and all of them were phenomenal. They weren’t quite as salty as some of the traditional dehydrated meal brands, the portions were smaller but had just the right amount of calories, and most importantly tasted great. I’d recommend paying up for these meals but definitely avoid the Salmon Chowder.

August 10th, 2023

We woke up on Thursday unsure of what the day would hold. We knew we had to start heading back towards the car, which is always a sad feeling, but that was about it. The hike across the basin went better than on the way in, but getting around the nose of the ridge was more difficult. It felt like we were fighting against the grain of the ledges and grassy ramps and ended up doing a lot of bushwhacking and climbing. If I had a piece of advice, it would be to stay lower than you think on this traverse.

Eventually we found our exit off the ramps and onto the bench and even managed to cross the creek at our “zen garden.” This time I snapped a picture with a little wider angle to show just how lush this little area was relative to the surroundings.

Shortly after the crossing we found the use trail and followed it most of the way up into the canyon – a deceptively steep climb. We crossed the first steep snowfield in the canyon without issue and made it back to our campsite from night 2. We dropped packs and started rehydrating our last All-American Burger wrap for lunch. The sun was intense while we were eating and there was just a few clouds in the area, so we opted to fish a little bit before deciding whether to head over the pass today or tomorrow.

While fishing, the clouds grew quickly and there were a few rumbles of thunder in the distance. The decision boiled down to the Friday forecast. The weather at that moment seemed better than anything we could expect tomorrow, so we packed the rods away and headed over the pass.

It was gloomy and sprinkled on and off, but we successfully avoided any lightning and got over the top. We were tired at this point, having hiked 6+ off trail miles through some gnarly terrain but we didn’t want to camp just below the pass as its very exposed, so we kept going and let gravity pull us down the trail.

After another hour of hiking we finally found a place flat enough to camp with a water source nearby. In fact it was probably the coolest spot we camped the entire trip with an incredible view down to the Owens Valley.

That evening we avoided most of the rain, but there were some nasty clouds to our west where it looked to be consistently raining. It was cold, so we opted for an sunset walk along the ridge next to our campsite. We found some incredible view points looking straight down on our hike the next morning and to where the car was parked. We even ran across a trail camera that had been strapped to a rock. I wonder what they were trying to track? Potentially Mule Deer that migrate over the crest?

August 11th, 2023

We got up early the next morning and the mountains were socked in clouds. It looked like it could be snowing on the pass and we were immediately thankful we got over yesterday. We hiked back to the car in a couple hours and were back in Mammoth in time for lunch. A pair of tortas from Salsa’s really hit the spot.

When I think back on the 2023 Sierra backpacking trip, I’ll remember the snow, tough hiking, loads of Goldens and Rainbows, good decisions and deep conversations. Time to start planning for next year!