Kern-Kaweah and Kaweah Basins

On the far right is my "perch" and the wooded slope the trail is on. Looking up canyon, one can only wish they had a month to explore the area. If I am lucky I will return to this area someday.

The Kern-Kaweah Basin

Kern-Kaweah and Kaweah Basins via Colby Pass, September, 2000.

In no time we reached a small level meadow area that let us know we had reached the canyon bottom. We stopped for a few minutes to look at the map before jumping back on the trail to follow it through the now park-like surroundings. The descent was not over however as we began losing more altitude going down a giant step so typical of these glacier formed canyons. To our right at one point we admired a long fall of water dancing its way down the step following our trail. Eventually we reached a large level sparsely forested area where we saw some obvious campsites. We strolled over and dropped our packs near one of the so we could explore the area. We found one fair site and a few other possibilities before deciding to head down canyon to see what was up.

As we threaded our way through the open level forest we made a discovery. Beneath a medium sized tree we saw a long rectangular box formed of small white granite stones about six feet long and two feet wide . This was obviously a grave, and all of our inquiries turned up nothing as to who this soul might be. Perhaps a solitary deceased sheepherder, who lived and died in the last century, was found and buried here in this remote Xanadu. One can envy this lost souls grand mausoleum, if not his or her condition.

Coming on the first large meadow presented a fine view down canyon.

We continued on and after crossing a low ridge, we broke out into an open lush grassy meadow. The meadow was dry enough to allow walking without damage, so we fanned out and headed down canyon. The views surrounding us were extremely pleasant and I took every opportunity to shoot a picture or two. High peaks, grass covered meadow, sparkling river: all became a symphony for our senses.