June 26th 2009 Rae Lakes to South Fork of Kings River

Amazingly we woke up after a good nights sleep feeling refreshed. The morning was spent continuing downhill but of course the afternoon brought an endless climb - mostly up large rock steps which became the bane of my existence. To make matters worse, there seemed to be constant creek crossings resulting in soaking wet feet.

Eventually the climb lessened and we began the approach to our next pass. Pinchot Pass. Once again, there was a mix of snow patches - making route finding tricky and requiring some rock scrambling. Overall not to bad of exposure or incline compared to the previous 2 passes. Met several thru hikers up top - Ladybug & Grasshopper as well as Rachel. Although snow was limited on the north side, there was more rock/scree scrambling to be done. Tom did an excellent job leading the way.

Ran into one of the backcountry rangers while we were eating dinner. Once again, had a very plesant interaction - discussing trail conditions and our trip thus far. We overall have been quite impressed with all of the Kings Canyon Park rangers. All have been helpful and informative of on trail conditions, but none gave us trouble for not carrying a bear canister.

We met up with Rachel just before a ford of the South Fork of the Kings River, which surprisingly had quite strong current and was thigh deep in the evening. The 3 of us teamed up to make it safely across. Rachel camped nearby and we continued on another mile or so to set up camp in a nice meadow.