I woke up on the 9th day even earlier than normal, to try to see and photograph the sunrise light just as it was first touching the jagged toothy ridge of the Kaweah Peaks. Here is an image of the central Kaweah Peaks... I really like the way the morning light enhanced the already-reddish color of the rock:
Alacia and I were planning to hike no more than 3 miles or so because we knew the cross-country venture would take a long time and involve some punishing ascending and descending over endless scree slopes. There are a few cols in and out of Kaweah Basin and none of them are easy. We decided to try for Pyra-Queen Col, a very narrow slot between Kaweah Queen and Black Kaweah that would drop us down to the Nine Lakes Basin.
This was the other part of the trip I was a bit anxious about, getting out of the Kaweah Basin... I had read a few online reports about the route online but didn't know how demanding it would really be in practice. As the sun continued to rise, I photographed some more mountain ridge reflections. Here are a couple images looking back towards our camp (notice my red sleeping bag in the mid-ground of the second image, just below the long shadow), and towards Pyra-Queen Col beyond. The col is located left (or south) upslope of Kaweah Queen, the peak to the right... In the second image the col is just left up ridge from the central, reddish rock outcrop in the middle of the ridge line:
After a quick breakfast, Alacia and I packed up and began the slow ascent. Granite scree changed to a looser jumble of metamorphic shingles as we proceeded up towards the col, just shy of 13,000 feet. The vegetation mostly disappeared, with infrequent flowers and bunch grass popping up irregularly. Here is a photo of Alacia during the slow ascent over scree and boulders:
Another photo of Alacia resting as we near the col, with jagged outcrops between Red Kaweah and Black Kaweah in the background:
Very close to the col, the sharp spire of Kaweah Queen (in the background) rose to prominence:
And finally by late morning, we reached Pyra-Queen Col itself. There are actually a couple of narrow slots forming the col, one about 15 feet wide and the other about 8 feet wide. Here are views from the col, first looking at Black Kaweah, then at Kaweah Queen, then down to the highest and longest lake of the Nine Lakes Basin, a half mile long from end to end:
Looking down at the upper Nine Lakes Basin, we decided to try for a camp site on the north (or right side of the next lake down from the highest lake, the smaller one above and just right of the high lake in the photo above. The small tarn (just visible above and left of the high lake) looked interesting too, perched right on the cliff edge overlooking Big Arroyo, the massive river cut leading southeast down from the Nine Lakes Basin.
First we needed to get down, though. The passage from the col was 4th class for about 20 feet, then eased off to 45-degree scree slopes after that. It was definitely slow going, though... neither of us wanted to bust an ankle out here! Here is Alacia on the cautious descent:
After more hours of unending scree, we finally dropped our packs for a rest, halfway around the highest lake of the basin. In hindsight we were definitely glad to have hiked down from the col to the Nine Lakes Basin... Hiking the route in reverse would have been brutal. It was bad enough on our knees hiking the way we did! Here is Alacia dozing in the sun, with Pyra-Queen Col at the low point of the ridge, just above the tiny twin snow spots.
Here is a view of the high lake looking in the other direction (west):
After a late lunch, we strapped the packs back on and found a nice camping site near the outlet of the eighth lake of the Nine Lakes Basin. Vegetation was still limited mostly to grasses and high-altitude ferns. Nevertheless, there were signs of life, with American dippers bobbing along the lake shore, and groups of American pipits flying among the rocks in loose territorial groups.
After setting up camp and scarfing down a well-earned dinner, I eyed the evening color and saw some good possibilities for evening photos. Now that we were back on the west side of the Kaweah Peaks, I looked forward to making use of the sunset color upon the rock faces. Fortunately, the color deepened from gold to orange to a deep red as dusk descended... Here are a couple of reflection photos I quite liked, with Lawson Peak in the first (the smaller peak second from the right), and Kaweah Queen in the second (on the left, with Pyra-Queen Col again in the middle):
Night descended and we burrowed into our sleeping bags, with brilliant starry skies overhead... Another good day!
More to come!
