Mount Gibbs, Parker Peak, Koip Peak and Kuna Peak

Mount Gibbs 12,773′, Parker Peak 12,861′, Koip Peak 12,962′ and Kuna Peak 13,002′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 12:20
Distance: 19.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 6850′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Mono Pass- trash, pit toilets

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It had been almost 2 years since my last adventure in Yosemite, climbing Matthes Crest and Echo Peaks with Carlos while Holly was pregnant. With Tioga Pass finally open and needing to be aggressive about tagging some SPS summits with a slow start to the year, I set my sights on a combo of Mount Gibbs and Koip Peak. Holly and I had actually attempted Gibbs many years ago but were chased down a few hundred feet below the summit by a thunderstorm, one of a handful of “unfinished business” summits I had in the range. On its own it would be a quick hike, so it made sense to add on Koip Peak and Kuna Crest, the latter being one of the few summits over 13,000′ in Yosemite National Park. Koip and Kuna together would make for a moderate outing, so the addition of Gibbs would make for a full value day in the high country. With the longer outing planned, I left home extremely early, getting to the Mono Pass trailhead and starting out by headlamp. It was still dark when I reached the first of several small stream crossings, log hopping over and missing my turn off for the west-northwest ridge of Mount Gibbs. It was easy to course correct and climb back up once I realized my mistake and I was able to shut off my headlamp for the day shortly thereafter.

Once on the ridge it was a straightforward talus slog to the top, solid rock but somewhat slow going having not been over 10,400′ all season. It took me about 2.5 hours to reach the summit, a touch slower than I had been hoping for. Mount Dana dominated the views to the immediate north, with Mount Conness, North Peak and Excelsior Mountain just beyond. Tuolumne Meadows stretched out to the west, with Mount Lyell and Maclure looking absolutely striking, the glacier probably the healthiest it has looked in August in some time. To the south was Mount Lewis and Parker, Koip and Kuna, my next objectives for the day.

I started down the south slope towards Mono Pass, only finding a few patches of sand that I could boot ski and similar to the ascent, taking a touch longer than I had hoped. As I neared Mono Pass, I could see the meadow was quite flooded, and I needed to cut a bit to the west to pick up a use trail across the soupy grass to reach the Parker Pass trail heading south. This was the easiest hiking of the day, with a slow and gentle incline up to Parker Pass, followed by a descent of a few hundred feet through alpine meadow and around small lakes on the far side.

This section was really the only time I encountered snow on the trail all day, and although I lost the trail a few times because of the patchy coverage, in general one just needed to trend southeast without descending too far into the drainage. From below I could spot the switchbacks cutting up the north slopes of Parker Peak, probably the part of the day I had been most dreading. I filtered some water and took a short break at the base before starting up, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the trail and the speed with which I ascended, the switchback grade at just the right incline for me to move expeditiously uphill without getting too tired.

At the final switchback I left the trail and hiked directly up slope to the summit of Parker Peak, finding some easy class 2 on much more solid rock than it had looked from below. The views from the top were fantastic to the south with Mount Ritter, Banner, the Minarets and summits around Mammoth Lakes laid out. Dana and Gibbs were stacked on top of eachother to the north, and Koip Peak lay immediately west.

To the east was Crater Mountain in the valley below (which I had recently climbed with Avery) and nearby Mount Wood, which I had initially planned as an easy add on summit. But looking at my GPS it was just over one mile away with a several hundred feet of elevation loss in the wrong direction. I would need to reverse that to get to Koip Peak and clouds were beginning to build, although they were not calling for rain until the following day. After checking to make sure Mount Wood wasn’t on any important list and seeing it had less than 200′ of prominence (basically a false summit of Parker Peak), I decided to skip it and dropped off towards Koip Peak. It was easy cross country down talus to the connecting saddle before starting the slog up the connecting ridgeline, although I found the rock more solid and less steep than it had looked from afar. Still, I was feeling tired from the day’s effort and it took me about 45 minutes to cover the distance between the two summits.

The innocent looking clouds that had been forming when I was on Parker were starting to look more ominous, so after signing into the register (and SPS Peak #98) I continued along the ridge to the summit of Kuna Peak and my high point of the day. At the saddle I found a large airplane propeller and some debris scattered on the hillside, wreckage from a B24 crash from 1943.

The last push from the saddle to the summit offered a short stretch of class 2-3 scrambling, taking another 30 minutes to cover the distance between the two peaks. As the highest summit of the day, the views were also the best, particularly of Mount Lyell and Maclure to the immediate west, Mount Ritter and Banner Peak to the southwest, and the Conness grouping to the north.

The clouds were turning darker and darker by the minute, and it was genuinely starting to look like it would rain, despite there being no chance in the forecast. So I continued along the ridgeline to the north, looking to drop directly into Helen Lake to avoid needing to go up and over Parker Pass via my ascent route. This was easy enough at first until I hit a steep notch along the Kuna Crest. I had read about this spot in prior trip reports, and knew there was an improbable class 3 gully just to the southwest of the notch proper. I found it easily enough, and scrambled down into the notch, finding cleaner slabs on the opposite side.

The ridgeline broadened considerably past this notch, and I made my way over to the slopes leading directly down to Helen Lake. I was hoping to find loose scree to boot ski down but the slope was mostly solid talus, relatively stable but nothing I could move down quickly.

It started to lightly rain when I reached the Helen Lake, and I continued past down some of the only consistent snow of the day towards the inlet of Spillway Lake. I briefly paused to put on my rain jacket and filter a bottle of water, but with the rain with the increasing, I made the break brief, hoping to get back to the trailhead as quickly as possible still many miles away.

Cutting across a series of swampy meadows, I eventually reached the use trail that followed Parker Pass Creek, ultimately leading me to the main trail for Mono Pass. I was able to pick up the pace on the main trail just in time for the rain to stop and the mosquitos to swarm. They were relentless as I plodded down hill, covering my arms and neck if I even broke stride for a second. I reached the trailhead at 5:40 PM, the outing taking me a little over 12 hours, longer than I had hoped but not horrible considering I bagged 4 new summits over 12k. Hopping in the car I headed straight home, stopping only in Oakhurst for a late dinner.