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Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP > Black Kaweah > Additions and Corrections
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| mpbro | Hands-and-Knees Pass | |
Voted 10/10 | I have to say that Secor has the approaches screwed up here. He really didn't like Hands-and-Knees (Cyclamen Lake) Pass, but the Little Five Lakes ranger uses this exclusively...hmmm... The problem is that Secor recommends going over Sawtooth Pass, then contouring around Cyclamen Lake and over HAN. What he should have done is go over Glacier Pass, down to Spring Lake, and directly over HAN. It's steep, but really not that bad. Very direct, and 1000 feet less elevation gain than Black Rock. The route from HAN Pass to Little Five Lakes is easy cross-country. Even after a late start and one of our team getting AMS, we were easily able to get from Mineral King to the Big Arroyo Patrol Cabin in a day. Hands down, I feel that Glacier Pass-HAN Pass-Little Five Lakes is the easiest approach to BK. | |
| Posted Aug 23, 2006 3:13 pm | ||
| Bob Burd | More info, please | |
Hasn't voted | Morgan, The difference between Black Rock (11,700ft) and HAN (11,145ft) is less than 600ft, not 1,000ft. Once at 11,145ft, you are looking down on Big Five Lakes, not Little Five Lakes. Did you go down and take the trail around to LFL, or traverse the SE side of the divide between the two? I've always dismissed HAN pass, but maybe it deserves more consideration. I'm particularly interested because Matthew and I are heading there next month. | |
| Posted Aug 23, 2006 10:27 pm | ||
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| mpbro | Re: More info, please | |
Voted 10/10 | Bob, 1000, 600, what's the difference. ;-) Seriously, though, when I did Black Rock 5 years ago, I ended up dropping probably 100-200 feet. It was too hard to contour. We "traverse[d] the SE side of the divide between the two" and went into LFL basin. It was fast, fairly un-irritating, and has use trails here and there. I posted a map to the BK page which should explain what I mean. Distance-wise, I measure something like 3.1 mi over BRP, versus 2.1 mi over HAN. However, I suspect BRP is longer, since the USGS maps seem to miss switchbacks. Hope this helps, Morgan | |
| Posted Aug 24, 2006 12:43 am | ||
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