Pyramid Peak 12781′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 14:40
Distance: 30.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 8,750′
Crux: Class 2
Trailhead: Roads End, full services
I was fresh off my week in the Pacific Northwest and wanted to take advantage of being in peak hiking shape with a longer day in the Sierra. I had plenty of unfinished business out of Roads End, but early-season hikes in Kings Canyon had kicked my ass time and time again. Most recently, the spring before, I had an absolute epic on Mount Cotter, with a brutal cross-country descent of Gardiner Creek and a ford of the South Fork of the Kings River that had me finishing at 5 AM. But the best mountaineers have the worst memories, and I was mentally ready for another outing. Hopefully, this time that optimized fitness would prevent another Epic. I settled on Pyramid Peak, a remote Sierra Peak Section summit northeast of Roads End not far from Arrow Peak. I had climbed Arrow in 2020, my first 30-plus-mile dayhike in the Sierra and at 30.5 miles, it was a personal distance record at the time. I left home a little before 2 AM, and after a stop for gas, it was a bit before 5 AM when I started down the trail by headlamp.
I hiked the familiar, nearly flat initial two miles in darkness, turning north onto the Woods Creek Trail by headlamp. It was almost light by the time I reached Mist Falls an hour in, and I was able to spot where I had forded the river in darkness the year before. Compared to the spring torrent I had fought across, the South Fork of the Kings River was now at its late-summer flow, an easy boulder hop across.
I continued climbing into Paradise Valley, startling a juvenile bear just off the trail, tearing into a piece of wood in search of ants and grubs for breakfast. I watched him briefly before pressing on, reaching the established backcountry camping area at the junction of the South Fork of the Kings River and Woods Creek about 2.5 hours in. The impressive Murro Blanco stretched to the north.
The bridge across the Kings River at this junction was long gone, but it was an easy log crossing to pick up the trail on the other side. When climbing Arrow Peak in 2020, I had left the trail here for a cross-country ascent of Arrow Creek. Although that route would take me near Pyramid, I opted to approach via Window Creek, which was reportedly class 3 slabs with less brush. I continued along the Woods Creek Trail until the Window Creek drainage was directly above. I was surprised to find it completely dry, so I dropped back to Woods Creek to filter a liter of water, unsure whether I would be able to find any higher up. This turned out to be unnecessary, as I soon found flowing water about 100 yards above the trail, the creek likely diving underground just before reaching the Woods Creek Trail.
There were clean granite slabs along the initial ascent on the east side of the creek, brush-free and mostly class 2, with a few class 3 ramps to keep things interesting. After several hundred feet of ascent, I picked up an excellent game trail, presumably from a herd of bighorn sheep known to live in the area. The route became less steep as I neared 10,000 feet, and I angled east, finding easy cross-country terrain near Point 10,433′. Pyramid Peak finally came into view for the first time, more than five hours into the day.
It looked surprisingly close.
I dropped into a high alpine meadow, where I found some running water to filter for the rest of the ascent. There were several options for the final climb, but the west ridge looked like the fastest and most straightforward. It was easy boulder hopping on solid talus to gain the shallow saddle between the summit and Point 11,690′.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the rock on the west ridgeline very solid, allowing me to make steady progress as I climbed the final 1,000-plus feet in under an hour. A series of nice cracks guarded the summit blocks, although these could be easily avoided by ramps to the south.
I tagged the highest rock and found a seat for lunch, pleased that what had started as a potentially long and complicated Kings Canyon outing had gone remarkably smoothly. The view was better than I expected. Most of the Sierra 14ers were in view, with the Palisades to the northeast and Mount Williamson, Tyndall, and Whitney to the south. The summit was far enough east to see both the Great Western Divide and the Sierra Crest, and I could trace a large section of the JMT over several passes to the east. The summit register was tricky to find, tucked out of sight near the second-highest rock and placed by R.J. Secor himself. I had summited about an hour faster than expected, so I took a solid 20-minute break before beginning my descent.
I stuck to the west ridge initially, then tried my best to find a sandier descent to the south. I was never able to find a long enough section for consistent boot skiing, but still made decent time back to the meadow below. I followed the streambed a bit more consistently on the descent, but eventually left it to find the excellent game trail, hoping to follow it all the way back to Woods Creek.
I followed it down to 8,600′, where it suddenly dead-ended at a small spring. It finally made sense why the trail was so well traveled: the animals were using it to reach this reliable water source. I pushed through a bit of brush to find the slabs I had followed on my ascent, more or less retracing the same line all the way back to the trail below.
I was now 19 miles into my day with 11.5 to go, and I hoped to knock them out in about 3.5 hours. I picked up the pace, quickly getting back to the crossing of the South Fork of the Kings River. This time, I took off my shoes and soaked my sore feet in the cold water before continuing.
The bear was gone as I passed through Paradise Valley, and I continued on, planning to take a final break at Mist Falls.
But as I neared the falls, I was swarmed by a cloud of small black flies, up to 100 at any given time. They didn’t bite, but they were incredibly annoying, flying into my mouth with every big breath and proving impossible to shake.
I tried running. I tried soaking my hat and face in river water. I tried swatting them away. Nothing worked.
At that point, I was overdue for a break, but the flies had become the final and most annoying obstacle of the day, so I pressed on simply to escape the onslaught. Thankfully, they seemed to improve as I started the final two miles back to the car, a bit farther from the river and out of the forest.
It was about 7:30 PM when I made it back to the car, the first big outing out of Roads End I could remember where I didn’t finish with a headlamp. I realized the grill was still open in Cedar Grove, so I hopped in the car to grab a burger and beer, delighted that I didn’t need to wait until Sanger for dinner. I finished my burger on the drive out, getting home at the very reasonable time of 10:30 for work the next day.
For once, Kings Canyon had let me off easy.