Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Taboose Pass / Shepherd Pass Comparison

I've read quite a few posts stating that the Taboose Pass Trail is steep and hot (if you don't start early). I'm wondering how it compares with Shepherd Pass. In planning for a trip up, would it be wise to camp somewhere on the hike up, (that's what we did on Shepherd) or is it doable in a day?

Yes, Taboose is hot and steep climbing 6,000 feet up in 7 miles. It makes up for it with the fine trail tread, consisting of sand on the lower half and loose rock on the trail on the upper half. <G>

There's a few campsites. Going from memory, IRRC, from bottom to top, one above the trail in the trees after the major creek crossing above what looks like a waterfall in high water, a couple a bit below the next creek crossing, and then a few in the sparse trees above that south of the trail. None except maybe the lowest is what I'd call attractive.

Hiking with a strong group, I carried my 50 pounds or so all the way to the top of Taboose Pass, and then, in the afternoon, we climbed Cardinal Mountain. Back to camp before 6 p.m., it was a glorious day.

The key to this is to get an early start, say dawn or 6 a.m. max. The trail is good, and allows for a fast ascent.

There are some good spots for camping before the second stream crossing (on the south side); above that it is mostly talus and scree. The Pass area is also a great place to camp.

It can get hot later in the day, so a late start to go only half way or so means risk of even heat stroke. Maybe start in the evening, and camp as soon as there is a spot. It's some two hours to the first tree (you start in sagebrush), and a bit further to water.

I've been up Shepard Pass twice, and it compares as harder than Taboose, by me. You have the 500' drop on Shepard Pass Trail, while Taboose goes up and only up. For scenic beauty, I like Shepard Pass Trail, as Anvil Camp and the Pothole are great spots for camping. And then so many great high peaks are climbed from these spots.

Many worry about doing this much gain, but a fit backpacker should find it easier than one might think. I'd love to climb some more peaks up both passes, so if anyone wants to bag some remote and isolated summits, please let me know.

Thanks for the replies.

I'm taking my nephew up there next week, so if anybody has anything else to add, I'd appreciate reading it.

Bumping this up since there is another person interested.

I've been up Shepherd Pass twice, and Taboose Pass once, each time as a day hike. I recall that after going up Taboose Pass, I decided I'd hike up that trail no more than once a year.

Even though Taboose is considerably shorter (and a bit less gain) than Shepherd, the poorer condition of the trail meant that it took me as long, and that it felt like a harder hike. The trail up to Shepherd Pass is well constructed, and a gentle enough grade that it's possible to keep going at a steady pace. In contrast, the trail up to Taboose Pass is terrible on an ascent--it's a complete sand slog for the first couple of miles. Fortunately, the tread improves higher up. The sandy trail does make it a more pleasant pass to descend than Shepherd Pass.

I have some pictures of the two on my website: http://www.stanford.edu/~holliman/hiking
Look under 2003, 8/10-8/17 (Sierra Challenge). The pics for Cardinal Mtn on 8/15/03 show a bit of the Taboose Pass trail.

Richard,
I haven't been that thrilled with the camping opportunities on the route up to Taboose Pass and have always gone over the top and beyond on my first day. I've gone over to Bench Lake on two occasions and once when the objective was different we camped at the lakes below and to the east of Stripped Mountain. I always start this trip in the dark (4-5 AM) to avoid the heat and because I like the sunrise experience in the lower reaches. It makes that sandy tread more tolerable for me.

Hello Richard

Thank you so much! I did not see your post you did earlier..sorry everyone for posting the same question, I feel like a ding dong...as I did not see it until after I posted mine.
I have tried to get detail info from the forest service and no ranger has been on that trail this year they told me.
I do agree with getting a early start..when I did Shepherds pass we started at 7:00 AM should have started earlier but it worked out okay.
Thanks everyone for all the info on this trail
Anita

Richard and Anita: Check out my <a href=http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1471382>pictures</a> taken last year. In #1, there is nice camping below the waterfall (around 9000'), but you probably want to go higher. Plenty of places from there all the way to the pass - even on the pass itself with lots of small lakes - and the next few pictures show the possibilities. Most are to the left (south) of the trail, and you have to get off the trail to find them.

I remember one time, on a climb of Mt. Pinchot, we wanted to have a campfire our first evening. But there was some fire danger that year, and Inyo had outlawed campfires east of the Sierra crest. And campfires are never permitted above 10,000' in Kings Canyon NP, which is west of the Sierra crest. So we carried some wood from the highest trees, and camped precisely on Taboose Pass. We weren't east of the crest and we weren't west of the crest, so had our campfire.

I've gone up each pass a dozen or more times and think they are about equal in difficulty, both much more so than the Whitney trail. Both are rather dreadful for the first 4 hours or so, then become quite pleasant after you get above the heat and into trees and nice views.

I have used Matthew's comment myself: Once a year is enough, on both!

Pay attention to the map because on both there are long sections of trail without water.

You can also visit my TP website post at http://webs.lanset.com/pyamagata to click Pete's Classic Leads to scroll down to about Sept. 1998, then click on Taboose Pass Peaks Attempt. I have two photos there, which, to me, make me yearn for another visit!

Going up the Taboose Trail, it is some time after the start before you are close to water. Pretty much then, you can go over to the creek or side creeks for water. Shepard Pass Trail is far worse, with no ops for dropping down closely to a creek till almost to Anvil Camp (10,000' elevation with a start at 6,500' elevation). When it's hot, you can drink a lot! I'd carry two liters between water breaks, if you have a filter. I carry everything (don't trust filters), so I would start off with at least 4 liters. I'd have to suck rocks or lemon drops if I ran out (disaster) until I can stop to boil.

Oh, I forgot. You follow a canyon stream, crossing it twice, for the first mile on Shepard Pass Trail, then you leave it to climb right up the hill. No water or side creeks, then, for hours of climbing. You can drop down maybe 500 feet down steep, loose hillside to get to a creek far below, but it's easier and safer to go up the trail further for a water spot.

Hello again everyone

Thanks so very much for all the info on Taboose!

Thank you both 4xsummit & Bobr for the beautiful pictures... so much enjoyed them.

Looks very intriging to me this trail all the way up to the pass, we then want to continue on down and explore the south fork kings river the muro blanco, have any of you been in that area? or know anything about it?
Again thanks so much!
Anita

Now that I've done both Shepherd and Taboose passes, here's my opinion:

When we did Shepherd Pass (camping at Anvil Camp on day one) about a year ago, we also did Rockwell Pass, and a couple of minor peaks, on the day we crossed. On the following day we did Williamson. The day after we did Tyndall and crossed the pass to return home. It was tiring, but not really that bad.

Tuesday evening we headed up Taboose and ended up camping at about 8000 feet. The following morning we finished the ascent. I was so fatigued by the crossing that I didn't notice the faint trail that splits off to the left shortly after the crossing (the most direct trail to Bench Lake). We ended up descending to the JMT and following it back up (south) to the Bench Lake junction (camping along the way). Thursday morning was about two hours to finally get to Bench Lake. Summited Arrow Peak and crossed back over the pass on Friday. This trip beat the heck out of me!

The main reason for the trip was to climb <a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/167642/1">Arrow Peak</a>, but I had been thinking that I would probably get in at least three peaks in the area.

I don't think there is going to be a next time!

Great photos, Richard! Makes me want to be there, like right now!

CaT

Hello Richard
Thank you for posting about the hike. Oh boy..now I don't know if I should go HA!!

I agree the hike up shepherd pass was not bad at all I thought either..I did do it in two days camping at anvil camp.

Your pictures of the hike are beautiful.
What time did you leave in the evening to start the hike up? and the camp you camped at was it near the creek?
I never thought of leaving in the evening hours, but that does not sound like a bad idea.
I hope other than the hike up taboose you had a wonderful adventure.
Thanks again
Anita

Anita,

I'm in the process of uploading the pictures from the pass crossing. What I've posted so far relates only to the climb up Arrow Peak.

We left after 5:00pm, and as the light was starting to fade around 8:00pm, we found a perfect tent site just short of the first stream crossing.

I think that I was psychologically scarred by the stupid mistake that I made in missing the fork to Bench Lake. By the time that I realized that we were heading towards the Kings River, it would have been just as difficult to backtrack. The map made it pretty obvious that we could head south on the JMT to get to the Bench Lake junction. But this "wasted" a day for us, and the extra uphill hiking made thoughts of climbing painful.

On Arrow Peak, it was cool seeing Bob's log entry from '94. I also saw entries by Secor, Richens, Karpel. There was only one page missing from the register, dating back to '91. Not a whole lot of people climb Arrow, which surprised me, considering the aesthetics of the mountain. (Mine was the second entry for 2004.)

At Bench Lake, we found a site that was surrounded on three sides by water (pretty sure I was nearly 100' away). The view of the lake, and Arrow, out the "front door" was awesome.

Over 4 days, we saw 19 people, and 10 of those were on Friday afternoon.

The scenery on the west side is gorgeous and the east side is beautiful in a stark kind of way.