A leisurely start this morning but not so late that the mosquitoes had a chance to warm up and get active.
I made the short climb to Crown Pass and immediately wished I had spent the night there–the views of Ritter and Banner in Yosemite to the north, and of the Kaweah-Kern Divide to the south were breathtaking. And there were many fewer mosquitoes.
I stopped for a few minutes at shallow Halfmoon Lake and fished without result, then followed the switchbacks of the mostly visible trail down to the N Fk of the Kings.
The N Fk carries no more than a few percent of the water of its sibling forks. I crossed its sandy bottom with ease and pulled up on to gravel bank for an extended break. I stripped down, waded into a deep pool, washed up, did the same with my clothes and hung them up in bushes to dry in the strong morning sun. I sweated profusely on the bushwhack from Crown Valley to Crown L yesterday and it felt great to strip away the grime.
The trail- a real trail that could be followed without constant reference to map and GPS- skirted the river for several miles, one of the most scenic stretches of the TST. Although the river grew substantially, it retained its easygoing character, dropping from pool to pool in unhurried runs. I stopped at one of the last of these and caught a few modest-sized brownies.
The trail swung up and away and over to a new drainage, passing through forest and meadow and across the occasional stream before bumping up against Courtright Reservoir.
There is an OHV campground here with picnic tables and a pit toilet so I am glamping it tonight. I thought I had the place to myself but there is a group at the far end that is becoming noisier as the sun goes down. But no generators or loud amplified music so I may be ok.
Your fish is a rainbow…. I doubt there are any browns left in the river.