Last winter I decided to take some vacation time in the summer and spend some serious time in the Sierra backcountry.  Unlike the mountains of home back in NH, there were some peaks and places you just couldn’t get to without staying a night . . . Bob Burd and Matthew Holliman excepting of course. My office neighbor, Jan, provided the plan and two hiking partners, Derik and Herb.  Our goal was Goddard Canyon and ultimately Scylla.  Overall we would spend 9 days in the backcountry and I would summit 6 peaks: Henry, Emerald, Scylla, Reinstein, and Senger. Jan and Herb had previously summitted Goddard, but left plans open if Derik and I wanted a go.

I met Derik at my place in Oakland, and we started the drive toward Lake Florence. We navigated the twisty, one-lane road back to the camp that’s there, making it not long before dusk. That worked out because we decided to sleep on a sandy bench just above the parking lot.  Early the next morning we met up with Herb and Jan and took the ferry across the lake.  The first day was a little on the long side with a 10 day pack on you, perhaps 13 miles. At least the elevation gain was gentle, about 1,100 ft to get us to 8,500 ft.  The going was relatively unremarkable until crossing Piute Canyon and entering the Sequoia Kings National Park. At the bridge, one trail continues up the canyon to Piute Pass at the Sierra Crest. We crossed where the Piute joined the San Joaquin River, a tower of rock guarding the junction. Three miles further up the canyon we reached Evolution Junction.  Continuing on the John Muir Trail would have taken back to the west side of the San Joaquin up a tributary into the Evolution Valley. Our plan was to continue following the San Joaquin to the south into Goddard Canyon, but we had reached our camping spot for the night.  Already the steep rock walls were narrowing, rising steeply from our camp at Evolution Junction.  The steep drainage on the west side of the valley would be our ascent trail tomorrow morning when we attempted Mt. Henry (12,196).

It didn’t look any less steep the next morning.  We navigated some tall grass at the base, some rocks and small trees. It wasn’t as bad as it had appeared from below, and at 9,600 feet the grade eased.  We went through a series of wide streams and waterfalls, eventually pausing just below Lake 10,200. We filled our water bottles here and contemplated the route up the face of Henry. It looked like the best route would be a direct ascent to the ridge, tending left where we could.  It was mostly a talus hike, and we thought we’d hit the ridge to see if was easier on the other side.  Decidedly not: I reached the ridge and looked . . . down. A ways.  We kept to the ridge and were surprised by the summit. I had mentally figured on at least one false summit, but there was no more up left! We lunched, taking in the view, particularly across the valley to tomorrow’s objective, Emerald Peak. Further up the valley Goddard dominated the view.  Beyond it was the Sierra Crest, peak after rugged, beautiful peak. Darwin with it’s flat, sloping top is distinct, but Jan could identify dozens of others that I had never seen from this side.  Peaks from Ritter and Banner to Hilgard, Gabb, 7 Gables, Bear Creek Spire to Scylla and Charybdis, down to the Kaweahs in the south.  Finally it was time to descend to Lake 10,200 for a short nap in the grass, then back to camp at Evolution Junction.

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