Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Blackcap Basin Info

I am heading for the Blackcap Basin via the Woodchuck trailhead Aug 15-22. I plan on setting up a base camp at Portal Lake or possibly Midway or Cathedral Lake. I have never been to this area of the Sierra so anyone with info on the Blackcap Basin or Crown Basin that they would like to share with me would be appreciated.
I plan on exploring from my base camp with some cross country day trips for fishing and peak bagging if you have a favorite route or lake please let me know.
Is there a good route that would allow for a day hike from say Midway Lake to Mt. Goddard?

Bumping this back up in case some missed it this weekend. Would love to hear from anyone that has been to this area. Thanks!

I've never been there, but maybe I should try it some day - especially since I live on the west side. The best I can do is this short trip report:

http://sekihiker.home.comcast.net/~sekihiker/BlackcapBasin/index.html

Was at Portal Lake 20+ years ago. A lovely place to set up base camp, might be a little crowded. Midway and Cathedral seemed barren and uninviting, depends on your taste. Easy access into Goddard Creek Canyon, or Blue Canyon, or both (been there). Goddard seem like it would be a long haul, and the south face is pretty uninteresting, long slog on scree/talus. North face, out of Davis Lakes is a lot more fun. Finger Peak also has some easy or hard routes, again depending on your tastes. An excellent plan, with a caveat regarding how much company you'll have at Portal.

Lambertiana & Bagdonas,

Thanks for the info. I am kinda bummed about the possability of crowds at Portal Lake. I guess I will have to just see who is there and I can always move out to other lakes if we have company. Would Pear Lake be an option?
Finger Peak sound interesting and I am always looking for a good class 3/4 route. I will check with Secor and see what looks fun for this one. I also may try for Mt. Reinstein & or Scylla ( any comments on these)
Other than that I just plan to hit as many lakes as I can and see what fish I can pull from them and scout for future trip deeper into this area.

Wait a minute! You are talking about Pearl Lake and the area in the triangle of Blackcap Mountain, Mt. Reinstein and Finger Peak, right? And how far in is that on the trail from Wishon Reservoir?

I'll bet you hardly see a soul once you get more than a day in. Mike, how many people makes it "crowded"?

Maybe you could give the Sierra National Forest people a phone call and ask how many people head into that area.

And Goddard is a great peak to climb. I did it once from the Florence Lake / Muir Trail Ranch trail. It was a good climb, and it is a major landmark that you can see from here. The map looks like it would be a good route if you hiked north to Bighorn, Ambition, Valor Lakes, over the Le Conte Divide just north of Mt. Reinstein, dropping into Martha Lake; then up to the southeast to east side of Goddard and up to the summit.

If you do this trip, be sure and post some pictures and a report!

I was last in Blackcap Basin in the summer of 2007. I believe the best base camp would be a lake such as Pearl or one of those to the north along similar west-facing benches (Division, then Bighorn, heading north). Most folks funneling into the basin will choose to camp near the end of the official trail (say Portal and vicinity) whereas some very easy off trail hiking will get you more solitude. Further, it is better to be as far north as possible for a dayhike shot at Goddard, for Goddard is a long way off. If you wish to position yourself for that I recommend the base be Bighorn: from there you ascend to Ambition, then Valor lake, thence over Valor Pass, then down to Martha, then up to Goddard. This is still a very long day hike that will require: (1) being in very good condition, (2) well above-average route finding skills, and (3) being able to deal with some annoyingly loose low class 3 stuff (on Goddard). A dayhike to Reinstein's summit from Blackcap is easy (class 2). To get to Finger requires a bit more serious class 3 with some route finding intricacy (but a much shorter hike than doing Goddard--best to be at Portal etc. for Finger). Fishing in Blackcap is quite good in terms of quantity, but the fish size is not impressive in the majority of the lakes. This is true in spite of the west-facing nature of many of the lakes that seems to promise fertile lakes with well fed fish. The problem is the spawning is too good and there are just too many fish to grow them very large.

Giantbrookie is absolutely correct. If Goddard is your primary target, and Portal is crowded, It's relatively easy to head north to Pearl, Division, Ambition and lose crowds. Ambition has nary a tree, so again, depends on your tastes in basecanps. It is approximately 24 miles from either Courtright ot Wishon to Portal. Easier routes up Finger can be had by going through pass above Cathedral. pass between Finger and Blue Canyon, approach from south, then exit over Kettle Ridge at easy pass above lake SW of Finger Peak. Essentially, a circumambulation, pick your route, easy or hard.

Steve C & Giantbrookie,

Thanks for the additional info. I picked this area because my thinking was similar to Steve C's that once I gat that far back I would not see many people. I think I will plan on heading right to Pearl when I get to the area and I can adjust from there. Goddard sound like a good challenge and I have done many cross country routes and my resume includes the scree hill from Crabtree lake to Discovery Pinnacle with a full pack so I have that love hate relationship with scree.
glad to also get the fishing report. Nothing better to pass the time than catch & releasing trout from a high mountain lake. Last year I went to the Silver Divide area out of Devils Post Pile and at one lake I caught 13 trout in 14 casts from the same rock!

Mike B,
Thanks for added options info for Finger Peak. It sounds like I can make a nice loop going up one direction and decend another which is always a nice way to mix it up a bit.

I will post a trip report when I get back. Thanks again to this board for the tips and info. The depth of knowledge on this board never ceases to amaze me.