Charlotte Lake and Mt. Rixford

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Kearsarge P ass Trail

Keenan and I spent Memorial Day weekend camping at Charlotte Lake. We hiked in on Saturday over Kearsarge Pass on trail that was covered in snow above above ~10,500'. It was warm and the snow was soft, so we never had to use the crampons or ice axes that we carried. Though the route didn't exactly follow the summer trail, we never got off track because so many folks had travelled it before us. None of the snow on the trail was particularly fresh. On the other side of the pass, the snowline dipped a bit lower. A good deal of snow was still around at Charlotte Lake, but we found some dirt where we could pitch tents. I had considered trying to head up Bago from camp in the afternoon (it was only around 3:00 when we got there), but a storm rolled in that lasted a couple of hours, so I skipped it. 

Charlotte Lake

The next morning I was up around 6:00 and heading back up the trail toward Mt. Rixford. Keenan opted to take the day off and rest his injured leg. On the hike in the day before I made a mental note of where I should leave the trail to start slogging up the class 1/2 south slope of Rixford. The slope was snow free until the very top, which was nice. I didn't pack my crampons but did bring my axe just in case. About 1,000' I noticed that my handheld GPS unit had fallen off of my pack. I spent about 20 minutes searching for it in the talus field but eventually gave up and disappointedly moved on. I made a mental note of where I had been searching so that I could give it another shot on the way down if I felt like it. Eventually, the steep snow-free talus field gave way to a ridgeline with a more gradual grade. I ascended the last 0.25 miles and couple hundred feet on this terrain. I had to take a few steps on snow, but never needed to take out my ice axe. I ended up needing to make a couple of class 3 moves just below the summit possibly because snow was covering the easy route or because I just didn't look hard enough for it. In any case, the class 3 was no big deal. 

Near the summit of Rixford

I summitted 2:15 from Charlotte lake and 1:30 from when I had left the trail. The views of the snow-covered High Sierra were striking: the Forrester Pass area to the south, North Guard and Brewer to the southwest,University Peak to the southeast, Rae Lakes to the north, the King Spur to the northwest. It was cold at the top, so I only stayed for about 15 minutes. I never found the register. I figure it was under a few inches of snow somewhere. 

Rixford summit

Looking south

Looking southeast

Looking east

Looking northeast

Looking north toward Rae Lakes

Looking northwest toward the King Spur

Looking southwest toward Brewer, North Guard, Farquhar

Storm over Charlotte Lake back at camp

On the way down I gave the GPS search another shot and found it (!!!) after about 3 minutes of looking. It felt like I had just found $200 on the ground, which is kind of what happened. I enjoyed the downhill stroll through the trees back to camp. The fact that much of the trail was covered in snow and that not many people were out and about made the area feel much more remote than it does during peak summer season. Back at camp, I again had thoughts of trying to bag Bago but was once again thwarted by weather. 

Charlotte Lake inlet

The following morning I finally did give Bago a shot. I got within a few hundred feet of the north summit before I turned back when I wasn't feeling brave enough to tackle a somewhat exposed snow slope alone. It was still a great way to start the day; views were great. My brief outing only took about 1:45 minutes. When I got back we packed up camp and hiked out over slushy snow.