Sawtooth Pass & Sawtooth Peak 07/28/03 For additional info: http://www.summitpost.com/mountains/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/1080 http://sports.yahoo.com/parks/acts/3/ca/canpskc/5004-2.html http://sports.yahoo.com/parks/acts/3/ca/canpskc/5004-2.html Report: Over the summer I had wanted to do a hike that was a bit more aggressive and one that reached some altitude. Sawtooth peak in the Sequoia National Park seemed to fit my requirements. It has close road access and it's rocky geology closely resembles that of higher peaks such as Whitney. Before setting out I checked the weather report and was a bit worried that it might be rather hot. As I had hoped however, the elevation and a few small clouds kept the temperate down. Even though it was the middle of summer (July) it was actually quite pleasant (though a bit warm in the mid-afternoon). This attempt at reaching Sawtooth Peak was to that time probably my most ambitious hike thus far. I was looking for a bit of a challenge and Sawtooth definitely did not disappoint. Sawtooth is located just above the Mineral King valley which resides in the southern end of the Sequoia National Park. To get there you go up just past Three Rivers and then turn right onto the Mineral King road. The one thing you won't soon forget is the winding road. It's only about 25 miles but takes about an hour and half to get to the end (with an average speed of 20-25 mph). There are several spots of the road that aren't paved. Many places in the road are only wide enough for a single vehicle which is another reason you have to drive so slow. Not quite to the end of the road (past Atwell Mill and Silver City) is the parking lot for the Sawtooth trail. I ate a sack lunch and set off from the trailhead just after 12:00pm. The Sawtooth trail is generally a pleasant trail all the way up to the Monarch Lakes. The grade is not too steep, though it is quite rocky in many places. Because of the rocks you'll want to be sure to wear shoes with some fairly thick soles. Going up the trail I saw several Marmots, a deer, and many squirrels and small birds. There is a fair (although not a lot) amount of shade around the half-way point of the trail. About a mile before Monarch Lake, the terrain becomes completely desolate as you follow the trail over a section of loose shale. Care should be taken along this stretch as it would be very easy to twist an ankle. The trail eventually passes right next to the lower Monarch Lake. I reached the lake at about 3pm. This lake has a fair amount of greenery around it and has a series of small cascading waterfalls that feed into it from the oposite side. It is quite a refreshing stop along the trail. I suspect that this may be the end of the trail for many day trippers because beyond this point the trail begins to disappear and becomes much more difficult. The lake is also full of small trout up to about 6 inches in length. They seem to be very active where the water exits the lake and drops down into the valley. Of course with standing water comes the mosquitos that seem to have a relentless craving for human blood. Beyond Monarch Lakes, the trail changes completely. Gone is the gentle trail that brought you to the lake. Beyond this point the trail is fragmented and an extremely difficult climb. It took every bit of strength I had (and a little more) to reach the ridge. The route up the side of Sawtooth is steep and sandy. It's all course granite sand and gravel mixed with larger bits of crumbly granite. With every step forward you slide back half a step. There is no more gentle trail at this point. In fact there really is no prominant trail, just many separate trails that lead to the ridge. I knew about the sand beforehand, but I definitely underestimated how difficult it would be to climb. It took an hour and a half for me to get from the lake to the ridge. The view from the ridge makes it all worth the trouble. From the ridge you can see Colombine Lake which sits below Sawtooth in a kind of crater. Looking South above the lake is the Sawtooth Peak. It's quite an impressive site from this position. The sides of the ridge drop nearly vertically for some distance Unfortunately due to the extra time it took to get past the sand and up to the ridge (and to my late start), I could tell I was running out of time. It guessed it would probably take another hour to reach the peak and unfortunately that was time I didn't have. As a result, to get back off the mountain before dark, I had no choice but stop at the ridge and return back down. Had I proceeded to the summit I would probably have had nearly two hours of hiking to do in the dark. It was also clear that attempting to reach the summit would require climbing over quite a few large boulders. Thus, relunctantly I had to turn back shortly after reaching the pass. Fortunately, the sand that was such a killer on the way up made things easy going on the way down. As a result, it only took 2 and a half hours to get back down from the ridge to the parking lot. My decision to stop short of reaching the summit turned out to be well founded. It was just starting to get dark by the time I reached my car. Fifteen minutes on the road and it was pitch black. 8:45? left home 11:50 reached Sawtooth trail parking lot 12:13 started off from tailhead 12:50 reached sign by stream 2:15 reached Monarch Lake / Crystal Lake sign 2:57 reached lower Monarch Lake 3:09 departed lower Monarch Lake 3:20 started up side of Sawtooth 4:44 reached Sawtooth ridge 5:30 started back down 6:08 reached Monarch Lake 7:46 took last photo 8:00 reached car 11:15 arrive back home Time from Bakersfield to Trailhead: 3 hrs Time from trailhead to lower Monarch Lake: 2 hrs 44 mins Time from lower Monarch Lake to ridge: 1 hr 35 mins Time from trailhead to ridge: 4 hrs 31 mins Time from ridge to back to trailhead: 2.5 hrs In the future: 7 leave 10 arrive 3 reach ridge 4 reach summit 5:30 return to ridge 8 reach trailhead