Taboose Pass, , also known as Wide Gap, is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on the border of the

Inyo National Forest Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest p ...

(

John Muir Wilderness The John Muir Wilderness is a wilderness area that extends along the crest of the Sierra Nevada of California for , in the Inyo National Forest, Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist ...

) to the east and

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is a national park of the United States in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and ren ...

to the west. The pass is reachable from the east via a long, strenuous hike from the desert floor of the

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...

. On the west, it connects to the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

John Muir Trail The John Muir Trail (JMT) is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, Kings Canyon National Park, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park, Se ...

in the National Park. Taboose Pass is one of the more difficult

Eastern Sierra The Eastern Sierra is a region in California comprising the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, which includes all of Mono and Inyo Counties and portions of other adjoining counties. The main thoroughfare is U.S. Route 395, which passes throug ...

passes in the Sierra Nevada range, partly due to the low starting elevation of the Owens Valley Trailhead in a desert floor, at 5,500 feet. From the trailhead it is an 8-mile hike, gaining 6,000 feet over that distance to reach the pass at 11,400 feet. Some notable peaks near Taboose Pass include: Split Mountain (the southernmost

fourteener In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener (also spelled 14er) is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado Co ...

in the Palisades group), Cardinal Mountain, Crater Mountain, Goodale Mountain,

Mount Ickes Mount Ickes is a mountain summit located west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Fresno County of northern California, United States. It is situated in eastern Kings Canyon National Park, northwest of the community of Indepen ...

, Marion Peak, Mount Pinchot, Mount Ruskin, Striped Mountain, Striped South, Vennacher Needle, White Mountain (at 12,828', not to be confused with the California fourteener with the same name), and Mount Wynne.

References

External links

*{{commons-inline Mountain passes of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Kings Canyon National Park