Sphinx Lakes in Kings Canyon
Notes by piero scaruffi | Other California destinations | California hikesPictures of this hike
This is one of the most massive of my day hikes. It involves a significant
elevation gain (1600m at the trailhead, 3600m at the last lake), a
steep approach via the Sphinx Creek trail, and several hours of cross-country
hiking ("the trail you make is the trail you take"). One has to deal with
pretty much all different kinds of terrain: sandy trail, rocky trail, foresty
trail, bushwhacking, granite slab and finally tallus rock.
The total distance from the trailhead to the last Sphinx Lake (which I call
Sphinx 7) is about 42 kms, the distance of the marathon.
Needless to say, it is worth it because the Sphinx lakes basin is one of
the most spectacular sights in all of California.
Trail descriptionIf you parked at Roads End, at the first parking lot, marked by the sign "Information", the trailhead is right in front of the tiny ranger station (at an altitude of about 1600m). There is a water fountain right at the trailhead.Follow signs for Bubbs Creek, Sphinx Creek Junction and then for Avalanche Pass. After 3kms (about 20 minutes) of very nice trail, you reach the first fork (Paradise Valley). Bear right and walk over a series of five bridges. You are on the Bubbs Creek trail going east. Steep switchbacks take you in 3 kms (1 hour 10') to another fork. Turn right into the Sphinx trail (the "sphinx" is right on top of you, on the other side of the creek), walk over the bridge and ascend the extremely steep trail to the top of the mountain in front of you. The whole way, you are flanked by rapids and waterfalls. At the top (about 1.5 hours, so about 3 hours from the start), the trail turns right and crosses a very small creek. Then it bends left and goes up steep but straight roughly south. At some point it flattens out and even starts descending a bit. You want to get off the trail about 15' after the switchback ended (the small creek crossing) before it crosses the Sphinx creek (ideally, about 200m before the crossing, altitude of 2600m, about 3h 15' into the hike). It is sort of obvious where it would be a good place to leave the trail, because on your left you start seeing more forest and less steep hill. Head up and south, coasting the Sphinx creek that you cannot see but you can hear to your right. Keep higher than the creek to avoid the shrub. Walking into the trees is the best way to walk on soft soil and avoid both shrub/swamp (further down below) and boulders (further up the ridge). After about 5 minutes, you cross an eastern creek (almost dry in the summer). From this point you want to head southeast, basically facing the sun if you are hiking in the morning. After 200m, you should enter a river of boulders (no water, just lots of boulders, like the remnants of an avalanche) heading east. Climb them to the top. From there head into the forest to your right, still trying to keep the general southeast direction. If you are walking too high, you are doing too much boulder hopping, which can be time consuming and dangerous. If you are walking too low, you are bushwhacking into thick vegetation. You want to stay halfway between the two ends of the spectrum. After about 1 hour (4 hours from the start), you should reach a meadow. There is no need to cross the creek unless you want to. On the other (south) side, there is a wall of granite. Scramble up the rocks and slabs (about 100m vertical) to Lower Sphinx Lake (4.5 hours, altitude of about 3000m). If you are lucky, you will find a semi-trail that makes it easier to scramble up the talus rock (if you climb too much to the right of the trail, you'll hit granite slabs and further to the right vegetation). The Lower Sphinx lake is marshy on the right/western side (the eastern side looks a lot less friendly). If you coast the marshy side (this may require crossing the creek west to east, which in early summer is not trivial), you may find the vestige of a trail and get to another wall of tallus, to the right of the creek. There is again a vestige of a trail that appears, steep switchbacks leading to a foresty area which hides the second lake, Upper Sphinx Lake (5 hours, 3186 meters). You now have a choice. You can move to the left of this second lake and start ascending the granite. If you do so, the twin lakes (third and fourth lake) are right above your head. You can also stay to the right (west) of the lake and cross the creek west to east further up where it's easier. Then avoid climbing the wall in front of you (that would take you too high) and start walking sideways west to east while you climb. Ideally you want to reach the twin lakes right where they touch (there is another vestige of use trail). The tallus boulders and granite slabs are friendlier on the eastern side. These lakes are "twin lakes" (about 3200m): they are one next to the other, separated by a thin strip of rocks and vegetation. If you followed the eastern route, you will first get to Lake 3. You should find a trail on its northern shore that heads west to Lake 4. The two lakes communicate. A series of logs should help you cross to the southern side of the lakes. If you look up/south, you should see two canyons in front of you. The one on the left/southeast side ends in a brutal semicircle of peaks (Mt Brewer is above this amphitheater). There are actually two lakes up here (which i call Sphinx 8 and Sphinx 9) and the higher one seems to have ducks every summer (the map also shows a tiny one further up into the canyon but i didn't see it). The canyon on the right/southwest side offers an affordable grade over a green patch along the creek. This is the side that you want to take if you want to see Sphinx 5,6,7 and Sphinx Pass. You can walk up that green patch (actually, a lot of tallus and vegetation), basically following the creek, or (better in my opinion) you can walk straight up the promontory that separates the two canyons, bearing right. This way you are walking above the canyons. The first advantage is that you get to see the two lakes on the left canyon (which most people miss). The second advantage is that this route is less uneven than the valley below. The third advantage is that you walk above the lakes. As you keep moving southwest, entering the southwest canyon on its left/east side, you should see to your right two tiny ponds, then Sphinx 5, then Sphinx 6 and finally the last pond (usually icy and surmounted by snow), which I call Sphinx 7 (about 3500m, 7.5 hours). On the other hand, if you walk too high, you may be hitting talus rock all the way up, which is not good. Now there is virtually nowhere to go, because in front of you (southeast) there is a wall of boulders and a series of vertical peaks (southwest): that is Sphinx Pass. It takes about one hour to climb Sphinx Pass (just boulder hopping to the top). At the top, you get a wonderful view of Mt Brewer on the southeast and the South Guard to the south, a valley right below you, and so on. Coming back down it is going to be faster (about one hour to the twin lakes, one hour to the first lake, one hour to the trail) but not much faster (once on the trail, it takes about the same 3 hours to get to the Roads End parking lot). In 2006 it took 4 hours to get from the top of Sphinx Pass to the trail. So in july 2004 we did the whole hike in 13 hours. There is, needless to say, plenty of water along the way, so you don't need to carry much. There are frequent bear lockers along the various trails. There is potable water at the trailhead (right by the little ranger station). |
Pictures of this hike: click on Sphinx Lakes and check both the 2004 hike AND the 2005 hike (which has more details for the last lakes).
(click to enlarge) 
(click to enlarge) Driving directions to Roads End from the Bay Area.Take 101 south, 152 east lo Los Banos (about 1 hr 30') to 99 (about 2hr), 99 south to Fresno (about 300 kms, 2h 30'). In Fresno, take 180 east and follow it (the freeway is not completed yet, it will go through town and then turn left into Kings Canyon Ave) to the Big Stump park entrance (85 kms, 1h 15') to the fork with Sequoia Park (5') to Grant Grove village (3kms, visitor center, restaurant, water, restrooms, market) to Cedar Grove (50 winding kms, 50', via Kings Canyon Lodge 20', Boyden Cavern 30', Kings Canyon border 40') and then (10 kms) Roads End. Park at Roads End, at the first parking lot, marked by the sign "Information".Cheap gas in Fresno: Arco on Kings Canyon Ave, or the gas stations on Clinton Ave & Weber. Cheap lodging: Belmont Ave exit of 99.
InformationKings Canyon's visitor information: 559-565-3341Cedar Grove ranger station closes at 4pm and it's open only in summer. Grant Grove visitor center (180 entrance): open 8am-6pm in summer, 5km east on 180 from the Big Stump Entrance Station. Summary of the hike
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