Kings-Kern High Route: An 80 Mile Off-Trail Exploration over Twelve Passes and Up Six 13,000+ ft Peaks

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The alpine of the Eastern Sierra might be the most special place in the world to me. It is my most reliable place where “the magic happens” for true mountain adventures. As with any real adventure, it requires some amount of uncertainty and typically struggle. So its with this in mind and inspired by The Sierra High Route, I played around with the idea, “what would it look like if I created my own off-trail route through the Sierra via obscure, untraveled terrain with the goal of staying in wild alpine for as long as possible?”. I thought creating my own route and not taking someone else’s would provided the best test-piece for my own mountain skills and physical ability.

I definitely got an adventure. I planned for seven days, but completed this 80 mile, 23,770 ft elevation gain route over twelve 11,000+ ft passes, up six 13,000+ ft peaks over five physically brutal days which often left me in an under-fueled, exhausted state of delirium. Doing it solo meant I was responsible for judgment calls and also meant I really pushed it physically, often in a Type 2-2.5 “fun” state of mind to prove to myself what I could do. It was so challenging enough mentally that I thought about naming this The Sierra High Pout. You spend enough time in complex terrain and unsettled, long boulder fields and you also can get a lot of close calls. It will mark one of the my most ambitious adventures in the Sierra in the last decade and probably the next.

Note: Click on the photos for the higher resolution galleries and helpful captions

Day 1: Kearsarge to Vidette Creek (14mi, +4,772’ / -2,468’)

Fueled by too much caffeine, on too little sleep I rocketed up Kearsarge Pass on trail and into the Lower Vidette Meadow before quickly hopping off-trail in the valley towards the upper Vidette Lake Basin. Passing by an amazing waterfall into a little swimming pool and then navigating a light footpath / game trails into a sparse forest. Eventually taking slabs and rock fields to a high camp at the last Vidette Lake (11,500’). I was worked, but in good spirits starting out the trip. Even without my ibuprofen, I had enough mental capacity for reading and some light poetry writing. 

Day 2: An Exciting Ridge Traverse and Brutal Passes to Reflection Lake (11mi, +4,391’ / -5,715’)

I woke up realizing I forgot caffeine for my trip. Still, I ascended steadily up my first off-trail pass (Deerhorn Saddle 12,630’) through a rock / scree field which went better than it looked with some third class scrambling avoiding the worst of the sand near the top. Here I made an overconfident mistake trying to avoid the heinous looking steep, loose ascent up Harrison Pass. Instead I decided to haul my 40+ lbs 65L pack up the near 14,000 ft Mt. Stanford ridge to avoid it.

I ended up on some serious Class 3 scrambling which often lead to very exposed 4th Class ridgeline, ending in low-5th. I thankfully convinced myself to reroute around this 5th Class, backtracking at times to avoid pulling moves with the big pack. It was very challenging terrain with a large backpack and I had to keep my cool trying to navigate so I could avoid a multi-hour backtrack. Eventually, I bagged Mt. Stanford (13,977’) and Gegory’s Monument (13,958’) before getting back on easier terrain on top of Harrison’s Pass. Down to the Kern Headwaters I ascended Milly’s Foot Pass (12,282’) and forced myself up the Class 3 ridge to Mount Genevra (13,050’).

Milly’s Foot Pass was pretty loose going down, but I managed before shooting down canyon and across large, unending boulder fields. Exhausted mentally and physically, I then was cliffed out trying to go around the South side of Reflection Lake. I had to go back up 400’ to do a “not great” slab traverse and then bushwhack my way down to camp (10,219’). This was my most difficult day, mentally and physically.

Day 3: Longey Pass Peaks and Thunder Ridge to Colby Lake (15mi, +5,344’ / -4,917’)

Dirt and slab out of the Reflection Lake basin was a really nice change of pace from boulder fields and I made good time towards Longely Pass (12,457’). Sky Pilot Peak (13,013’) was a fun ascent up Class 3 requiring a gulley bypass to avoid a 5th Class down climb from first false summit between high points. South Guard Peak (13,192’) was more of an uninspiring Class 2 slog and I was surprised how much adding these peaks took it out of me.

Descending to the basin and traversing around on good terrain, I then went back up a decent ascent to Thunder Ridge Pass (12,022’) past some incredible lakes. I took a large talus field towards an incredible crack headwall and traversed onward to Talus Pass (11,420’). I was amazed by how many very large high elevation lakes I had seen at this point. 

After Talus Pass, I started singing / rhyming about how much I loved talus in an exhausted delirium that raised my spirits before a pretty difficult vegetated traverse around towards Colby Pass Trail and collapsed into my tent with some light rain (10,640’).

Day 4: Colby Pass to Milestone Mesa and South America Lake (16mi, 5,402’ / – 4,331’)

For the first time in 2.5 days I hit trail and it kinda felt like cheating as I ascended easily up towards Colby Pass (11,991’).

Shortly after I traversed through Milestone Bowl and up Milestone Pass (12,591’). I ascended a Class 2 slog up Milestone Mesa Peak (13,538’) which was so flat at the top I had to climb three rock piles to find the summit register (which wasn’t where USGS said the peak was).

Going down Milestone Pass required descending some snow fields which gave me another couple close calls. First, the very steep but not very deep scree with boulders caused a microwave sized rock to loose above me when a large area of scree started moving requiring me to hop out of the way. Then I had to descend a steep snow field with some sun-cups and only a couple inches of warmed snow on top of hard glacial ice, even though it was past noon. Here I tried to glissade using my feet and poles to slow / steer with intermediate stops in sun-cups to shed momentum. I slipped at one point and started the only out of control glissade of my life where I nearly missed steering my way out of a large boulder. It probably would have been fine if I hit the boulder given my legs were ready for a soft-catch to stop me but I might have also botched it or bounced off more out of control down the rest of the snow field which was hard to slow down on.

I got down the rest of the snow field fine as it eased its angle and then traversed a very loose boulder field towards a basin. Here I weaved through a very cool, wide notch, transferred valleys and picked up a faint (off-map) old trail down Milestone Creek to the Kern River. Back on trail (mostly) I pushed up Lake South America Trail to Lake South America (11,856’) setting up camp at the start of an hour long, heavy rain storm. 

Day 5: Hitting the trail back to Onion Valley (22.4mi, 4,253’ / -6,865;)

I had planned on up to seven days for this trip, but realized I only really had food for six. Regardless, after making much slower mileage than expected off-trail I wanted to see what I could do on this mostly on-trail day. Coming down Lake South America Pass (12,176’) I cut the trail to avoid extra descent towards the PCT. This wide-open valley reminded me of the Andes a lot and I reflected how I travel the world to experience the type of scenery I had been experiencing in the Eastern Sierra. 

Looking down Lake South America Pass

I pushed hard up Forester Pass (13,153’) and nearly jogged down into the river valley on creaky knees, joining the JMT. A sweaty ascend up towards Bullfrog Lake and then back over Kearsarge Pass. I was very impressed at my speed on trail and it validated that I did make decent time the last several days off-trail on complex terrain. It took me nine hours to hump the 22 miles (+4,253’ / -6,865’) back to the trailhead ending in consistent light rain.

Closing Reflection

This was an incredibly difficult trip that used every mountain skill I had: scrambling / climbing on rock and ridges, descending steep snow, quickly traversing large boulder fields, topographic and in-the-field terrain navigation, rock quality and risk assessment, basic first aid taping injured / sore joints. Since I was by myself, I was mostly in Zone 3+ for 10 hrs a day pushing hard, gritting my teeth in a typically Type 2-2.5 fun experience with small moments of awe at the landscape. Spending at least 25 hours in unsettled boulder fields, there were probably a dozen close-calls of turning rocks that could have seriously injured my foot / ankle while I was far off-trail and dozens of miles from trailheads.

This was kinda a test-piece for my ability in mountainous terrain and my confidence for handling situations in the moment with no beta. I have traveled a lot to experience mountains and consider the Eastern Sierra one of the best ranges in the world. Still, I was awed by how beautiful the Sierra was and how many amazing landscapes existed that no more than a few people (judging by trail-sign) had accessed this whole summer. I was grateful for all my experience navigating off-trail, complex terrain in a self-reliant fashion from alpine climbing that really was the most definitive preparation for this exploration.

People travel all over the world for adventure. This was a reminder there is very real adventure and wilderness right in our backyard if you look at a map creatively.

Boring Details, Pack List, Stats

Water and Food Debrief

There is so much water in the Sierra, my plan of max 1 liter water bladder carry in reserve + chugging water intensionally at lakes between dry sections using my 0.5 L BeFree worked amazingly. I didn’t however, estimate my “during the day” food consumption well and wonder if I’d have been less delirious if I wasn’t rationing my day-time food. I think I could have used at least two more bars a day.

Pack List

Starting Weight was ~42 lbs with these items, food, water.

  • Osprey 65L Bag
  • Trekking Poles
  • 2 Person XL Big Agnes Copper Spur Tent
  • Inflatable pad and pillow
  • 20 degree sleeping bag
  • Daily Wear: Sunhoody, leggings, billed hat, sunglasses
  • Extra pair of socks
  • Fleece and extra long sleeve
  • Beanie and gloves (only needed for 12k camp mornings)
  • 0.5 BeFree filter
  • 3L gravity feed BeFree filter (maybe wouldn’t bring again)
  • 2 fuel canisters
  • MSR Stove System, small lighter
  • Spork, Bowl, Cup
  • Headlamp
  • Power brick (2 recharges) + chord
  • Bug spray
  • Headnet (didn’t use but would bring again)
  • Chapstick and Sunscreen
  • Bathroom kit (pack out that TP!)
  • Toothpaste + toothbrush
  • Small book, small writing pad, pen
  • First Aid Kit aka athletic tape and Leukotape (essential)
  • Ibuprofen (wish I brought)

Food List

  • Quick cook oatmeal (x6 )
  • Hot Chocolate (x3)
  • Instant coffee latte (x6 which I forgot!)
  • Trail bars (2x day, should have been 4+)
  • Pop Tart Lunch (2x)
  • Indian dehydrated samosa (1x for two lunches)
  • Gummy Candy (x2)
  • Electrolyte powder (x2)
  • Bags of tea (x4)
  • Dehydrated Peak Refuel Dinner (x6)

Trip Stats

  • 80 miles: The Gaia route using under-estimating straight lines says 62.6 miles, but my phone said 81.2 miles (which was very accurate on last trail day). This is why I stated 80 miles for the trip and rounded down milage for each day above.
  • 23,770 ft elevation gain
  • (12) 11,000+ passes
  • (6) 12,000+ passes
  • (6) 13,000+ peaks
  • 44.5% off-trail by distance
  • 60%+ off-trail by time (likely more, hard to estimate)
  • 95% of route above 10,000 ft