Discussion Topic |
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 21, 2018 - 11:50am PT
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Looking to plan a three day mission to go get lost with some buddies and do some fishing and scrambling and adventurin'.
Anybody here ever walked up into the North Fork of the Kings/Helms Creek drainage from the back side of Wishon headed North? Or from Courtright down past Power Dome all the way to the fork or to Wishon itself? Looks pretty rad down in there but I don't want this thing to turn into a cliff out death march.
Got beta? Bring it on! All I have right now is a clear schedule and Google Earth. Trip is planned for the third week of October.
Looks wild down in there....
Here's the fork of Helms and the North Fork. Cool lookin' terrain...
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Sep 21, 2018 - 12:11pm PT
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I've been up there like infinity of times.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2018 - 12:18pm PT
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Batrock that actually made me laugh out loud.
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ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
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Sep 21, 2018 - 12:49pm PT
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Gonna be tough deciding between fishing and climbing. Looks awesome !
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 12:50pm PT
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Fishing gear is a lot lighter.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Sep 21, 2018 - 01:17pm PT
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Herb Laeger's been up there, at least up the N Fork. He and Jan McCollum did a death march up there once chasing fish. I'm not sure exactly where they went. I'm not sure they are either.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 01:27pm PT
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Tim Schiller and I hiked in that area around 1980 or '81, scouting for projects. There were plenty of climbing possibilities, but I was still living in Pasadena then, and when I came back to Fresno, I had too much else on my mind (you know her name, Scott). You'll enjoy it once you're there, but it does have a certain death march quality in the approach. Perhaps fishing may take a lot of the sting out of the walk. Tim and I aren't fishermen, so I can't comment further.
John
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doughnutnational
Gym climber
its nice here in the spring
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Sep 21, 2018 - 01:36pm PT
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Death march, fishing is mediocre, climbing might be ok.
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doughnutnational
Gym climber
its nice here in the spring
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Sep 21, 2018 - 01:51pm PT
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$30 gets 600lbs of people/gear a round trip to the back of wishon. Have "fun"!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 02:35pm PT
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I guarantee you the fishing does knott suck. 🐋
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 03:37pm PT
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Death march, fishing mediocre, hahaha you don't know Herb & Jan.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 03:39pm PT
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Wanna bet? I also know that area intimately. Good buzzworm populace in those canyons too!
Lotsa nice big puddy cats too.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 03:54pm PT
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Wanna Bet about what? I'm fairly familiar with the area.
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Radish
Trad climber
SeKi, California
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Sep 21, 2018 - 04:20pm PT
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Pretty sure Dwight and Bruce hiked way in there about a month ago. I think they know something....
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 04:23pm PT
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Frumster, mebbe you jess dunno how to fish? It’s all relative... 😈
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doughnutnational
Gym climber
its nice here in the spring
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Sep 21, 2018 - 04:52pm PT
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Well I know I don't know how to fish (spin fisherman who even uses bait) and I want to see a picture of a decent sized fish caught on the north fork of the Kings between the gorge section and post corral creek. Not even micronut will can make those fish look big. Above there it's better.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Sep 21, 2018 - 06:30pm PT
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We need Jan to chime in on this thread. Calling G-Gnome...
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Sep 21, 2018 - 08:11pm PT
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I don't want this thing to turn into a cliff out death march
You're not much fun then are you.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 21, 2018 - 09:23pm PT
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Ok, here is the scoop, Reilly is sort of right. Herb and I went in out of Courtright past Dome with a View and down into the North Fork. We went up until we got domed on both sides of the river then soloed a 3 pitch 5.7 or so to get past there. We continued for another few hours. The fishing is mediocre at best. Lots of fish but all with big heads and no bodies. There aren't any nutrients up there so there aren't any bugs and the fish are stunted. I did have my best puddy tat view ever staring across the river at a large male mountain lion for about a minute before he decided it wasn't worth trying to cross the river to eat me.
The slog out was a serious mistake. We didn't want to deal with the dome we soloed so we stayed north of it. Instead we did up and down and up and down for ever finally topping out on Penstemon Dome. I did see the largest rattler I've ever seen. I would be he was at least 7 feet long and bigger around than my arm. He was very dark green and thankfully he rattled just before I got to him. I was walking up the back of a dome next to a tiny creek and he was in the way. Finally he worked his way back toward a tree away from the water and I ran past. There was no other way around because of the thick as sh#t manzanita.
There are lots of rivers that I would suggest before I would ever tell someone to go up there.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 21, 2018 - 10:23pm PT
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^^^^ Go for it. It is beautiful and pristine back there.
But if you want to catch lots of large, feisty trout, go here.
But you might not get out alive.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 21, 2018 - 10:36pm PT
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The fishing is exceptional here too. But again, the going is not for the faint of heart.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 22, 2018 - 08:08am PT
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G_Gnome thats rad intel. Sounds like pure adventure but I was only interested in making the grinder back in there and if somebody was saying there are legendary size trout up there. Looks like cool terrain but I might do a day trip or something another time rather than waste our nice three day window thrashing into no man's land for medium sized fish.
Thanks for sharing!
Scott
P.S. headed down into the drainage below Wishon but above black rock reservoir this upcoming tuesday. I hear it's wild down in there and that big trout abound. Stay tuned.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Sep 22, 2018 - 11:32am PT
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Jan, Is that first one Roaring River?
Here's the bottom of it...
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 22, 2018 - 11:47am PT
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Nut, that sounds like a better plan if you want to catch large fish. The fish above Wishon are not even medium sized. Helms Creek is fun to fish but takes some climbing skills (and maybe bring some shoes for a couple spots) to get very far down from Power Dome.
I always wanted to fish above Courtright but haven't got there yet. And then there are so many nice rivers WAY back in the Sierra but they are generally so hard to get to that it takes a lot of desire to explore the unexplored to really fish them.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Sep 22, 2018 - 01:56pm PT
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Helms Creek above Courtright winds lazily down the valley, with overhanging grassy banks. It varies from two to six feet across, and is mostly about two feet deep plus some pools. I've seen some big fish in there. Once I was watching a 6-8 incher hanging out against the current when all of a sudden a big (did I say big?) fish shot out from under the bank and gobbled it.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 24, 2018 - 09:35pm PT
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So Keesee and I are heading in to the Kings Canyon back country on October 6th for a week. We sure as heck hope to catch lots of nice fish. Maybe Guy will even take some photos. And I hope it doesn't snow or rain on us! We'll try to keep count but that might be hard if the fishing is as good as last time I was there.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Sep 24, 2018 - 09:45pm PT
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Loose fish lips sync pack rafts! ;)
Not having humped much in any direction other than toward Hoffman from Wishon, I'll shut up and listen quietly by the campfire. :)
Anyone tried a burn on Vulgar Display of Power in campsite 15? Thing looks so good!
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mooch
Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Riverkern Annex)
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Sep 25, 2018 - 01:34pm PT
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I heard the Boogey Man lives back there. He eats up adventure seeking climbers for breakfast. There have been rumors that lone howls can be heard at night bellowing....."GO HOOOOOME!!, IT'S CHOSS CIIIIITTTTTTY!" Pretty sure I saw this posted some time ago by limpingcrab (unconfirmed).....
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 25, 2018 - 02:28pm PT
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Way too many trees so that isn't where we are going.
Besides, that spectre looks a little too much like me for my liking!
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| Messages 1 - 29 of total 29 in this topic |
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