The Kings Canyon drains to the west and the valley has about 3000-4000ft of elevation change. The native americans used to winter at the bottom due to the warmer temperatures and good fishing.
From camp we had to hike to the wall and this is just a piece of the 1300ft top half of the wall. As far as I know, no one has climbed the dihedral in this photo.
Mike and Ari setting up our line to hang the food. We had two haul bags of food for our ten days of camping. One was filled with meals and the other with breakfast and snacks. We saw bear tracks and scat while on the trip but no bears and pretty much nothing but birds. The area was burned by fire two years ago and there is very little food for anything to eat. Plus the fire must have killed many of the animals. At the beginning of the trip it took all three of us to hang the food (because it was so heavy) and by the last day or two it could be done by just one.
Our first recon on the first day to get to the wall. You can see the upper part of the dome (Tehipite Dome) that is over 1000ft of rock you are looking at. Plus notice the burn damage and the grasses coming back into the environment very slowly. We needed to use surveying tape (bright orange) to mark our path from camp to the wall because it took over an hour to get there hiking in the mornings and at night. It was too easy to get lost (as we did once) with out marking the trail. In the end, we removed all the tape and found the path of least resistance. The hike wasn't too bad, it was the mosquitoes that were no fun and the 1000ft gulley that we had to descend and hike out everyday.
Me at the last major river crossing. I chose to wear that long sleeved hoody on the horse because the bugs were so bad on the ride in and out of the base camp. Have a great day!
piz : )
