Brain and I spent the morning taking photos since there was no hurry to get started over Cartridge Pass.  I was somewhat concerned about my right boot as I had discovered the night before that the sole was completely spit in half.  It seemed OK but if the sole were to actually come off, the trip out would be difficult as we were just about as far from the nearest trailhead as our trip would take us.

On our way to Cartridge Pass, we passed a couple of high lakes with very little vegetation.  The fishing in these seldom visited lakes was exceptional.  The old John Muir Trail was easy to follow in this section up and over the pass.

There was a very pretty lake over the pass which we took a long break fishing and eating.  After leaving this lake we had to descend steeply over 1000 feet and cross the South Fork of the Kings River.  Our plan was to then ascend the steep ridge to Bench Lake.

The view of the ridge up to Bench Lake looked very steep from across the valley at the small lake we were taking a break at.  I took a GPS reading when we reached the far side of the SF Kings River.  It showed that Bench Lake was only .25 miles away but we had to gain 1100 feet in this short distance.  It was getting late in the day and we talked about camping along the river and tackling the climb in the morning.  But both of us really wanted to reach the lake since we had planned a layover day at the lake.   SO........we decided to try it as we felt we could always turn around if we ran into a cliff or some other obstacle.

We set off climbing steeply in an area where there were some trees.  If we had not been using our trekking poles, the climbing would have been more difficult.  This is the steepest that I had ever climbed with a full pack on.  After we had ascended about 200 feet we looked back and commented that going back down was not an option.   It was just too steep and going down would have been more dangerous than going up.   Luckily for us, Brian picked a good spot to try to climb the ridge and we were able to go around the cliffs that we encountered.  It took us 65 minuets to climb the 1100 feet to the lake which I thought was pretty good.

When we reached the lake we decided to go to the other side to camp so that the lake would be between us and Arrow Peak for the best views and photos.

Upper Lakes Basin

Upper Lakes Basin

Upper Lakes Basin

Cartridge Pass

Upper Lakes Basin

Cartridge Pass

Cartridge Pass Top

Small Lakes

Small Lake

Small Lake

Cartridge Pass

Bench Lake Ridge

Broken Boot

DAY 6