Backpacking in the Southern Sierras: Golden Bear Lake to the meadow above the Pothole

We get up at 6:00 and are underway by 7:45. Down to the lake to pump a bit of water and then onwards along the lake under scattered clouds. The plan is to follow the line/remains/traces of the old, abandoned JMT over Junction Pass until it meets Shepherd Pass Trail. Starting on a nice trail that kind of vanishes; luckily Andrea notices the arrow of rocks pointing across the stream. Onward, following cairns and traces of trail, climbing gently along the side of the valley. Eventually the trail becomes more clear and is an absolute joy to follow up, up, up. Past a couple of lakes with nice tent spots, up a really nice line that carries us with a minimum of switchbacks to the broad ridge.

Food break here to appreciate the fantastic views. Also some fun looking at the JMT/PCT across the way snaking its way up to Forester Pass (the highest point on the PCT). We don't want to tarry too long because there are some dark clouds over Forester Pass and we don't want to push our luck too much with the weather. Still, the views *are* spectacular.

Onward and upward, along a path that continues to climb steadily without many switchbacks across the broad face until we hit Junction pass at 4'000m. More nice views and then we start the gradual descent, following clear tracks, down, down to the lip of the canyon we need to descend into.

There's a clear-ish trail here and the descent requires concentration, but it's not particularly hard. At some point greg moves off the trail and we make our own way down in order to make things more challenging (at least that's what he says at the time).

At the canyon bottom we quickly encounter snow fields which we use to make the descent through the canyon much quicker than talus hopping.

At the end of the snow we take another break and then continue down through the loose talus. At this point the end of the canyon is in view and we see what we think is the trail. So we traverse through the loose talus to that. The trail takes us down, past a lovely small meadow, and then down, down to a broad flat plain from which we can see Shepherd Pass, Mt Tyndall, and some threatening clouds.

We adopt Plan B and find a good campsite on the plain, pitch the tent, finishing just as a few drops of rain start. That, fortunately, only lasts about a minute. Still, it sprinkles on and off for a bit before clearing up.

We wash and pump water in the sun and then have a relaxed afternoon of reading, snacking, wandering around, and taking pictures. At around 17:00 it rains for a bit, but that stops after about half an hour. Onto making dinner, post-dinner stroll, blog-post writing, and sleep.

Nice day of walking with a fair amount of vertical (at altitude), though pretty short. The threatened mess in the afternoon didn't happen, but we still have a nice spot to camp and had a lovely afternoon.

Dinner: Himalayan rice and lentil curry. Good!

Aside: while making dinner we empty the 100g gas cylinder we started with. This lasted through 3 dinners, 2 breakfasts, and 4 coffee/tea breaks.

Track:

Stats: 8.7km, ~650m up and down