Day 19. Aug 17: Climbing Forester Pass. 14 Miles

Today was a day I have been looking forward to for a long time.  Forester Pass has always been an undiscovered mystery to me.  It is the highest pass.  It is the final pass.  Crossing it commits you to an entirely different region from which you came.  The southern face is a legendary sheer face.  The northern face was..., well I don't know what to expect.  As it turns out the northern face is a wonderfully sweeping expanse of granite and blue sky.  I left Center Basin Creek junction at 6am and passed the last cluster of camps at 7am in the low lying juniper trees before the trail takes a 90 degree turn to the east.  From there you are on the climb to Forester and it took me 3 hours.

Great view north

Wonderful. Epic. Grand

Forester Pass finally in sight

The Pass had a great view of Bubbs Creek valley to the north and a true OMG view to the south.  There was a big group atop Forester as we all began to converge on Whitney.  The trail down was incredible.  To think of the PCT class of 2011 and how they climbed the snow chute to scale the pass from the south: amazing!

Happy Hiker

Literally, unbelievable

Great view but where are the Sequoias?

After the long trek across the open basin I came to Tyndall creek and had some lunch and took a break.  I pressed on to Wallace Creek, 4 miles past my intended camp at the Tyndall Frog ponds.  Tyndall ponds were unimpressive and I would recommend Tyndall Creek over the Ponds.  Big Horn Plateau looked vast and lonely.  Mt Whitney was in view before descending to Wright creek and then on to my camp at Wallace Creek.  Today was an epic day.  The highest Pass so far and one of my longest mileage days.  Today was a great day!

Tyndall Frog Ponds

Mt Whitney from Big Horn Plateau

Approaching Wright Creek

SPOT MESSAGES

LEAVING CAMP
Dave's right here"
Latitude:36.73044
Longitude:-118.37346
GPS location Date/Time:08/17/2013 06:33:34 PDT

Message:Climb to ForesterPass. No rain:) DW&JP thanks

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FORESTER PASS
Dave's right here"
Latitude:36.69460
Longitude:-118.37357
GPS location Date/Time:08/17/2013 09:58:32 PDT

Message:Atop Forester Pass! Epic indeed.Thank you all

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TYNDALL CREEK
Dave's right here"
Latitude:36.63992
Longitude:-118.38844
GPS location Date/Time:08/17/2013 13:11:05 PDT

Message:Moving to Wallace Creek. Clear sky. 3 hrs.

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WALLACE CREEK
Dave's right here"
Latitude:36.59397
Longitude:-118.37045
GPS location Date/Time:08/17/2013 15:57:31 PDT

Message:Camped at Wallace Creek. Great day w/o rain.

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