Yeah that whole section we only saw people on our first day out and then a party we kept seeing all the way to 9 Lakes Basin but once we left them we didn't see anyone again for 11 days. Since the government shut down was in effect we didn't even see anyone until we hung around the Museum for awhile.

Red Kaweah was an example of I should have done more research. All I had ever read was Secor's note about the class 3 West face and finding a prominent chute. Well there is indeed a prominent chute on Red Kaweah's West face. And it is anything but class 3! Here is a bit of what I posted on HST when I got back:
We entered what I thought was the right chute but were blocked by massive chock stones. We both tried climbing the walls on the side in many places on completely horrible rock when I finally decided to retreat. Derek tried one more way and got much higher up while I waited below. He decided there was nothing better up above and began to retreat when a large rock came loose. He shouted ROCK ROCK ROCK!!! as the boulder fell and impacted and broke into many pieces. I looked up just in time to see a large piece not coming for me at all when out of no where with me not even seeing it WHACK!!! I got hit hard in the side of the head or more accurately in the left ear. I threw my hands over my head as the rest of the rock smashed around me but I did not get hit more. Blood began pouring down my face since I got a good one inch or more gash in my ear. Although it could have been worse. If it had hit my head I might have been killed. We retreated to camp where I tried to fix it the best I could. After lunch Derek decided to try another way but I was in no shape to join in and he made it to the top. That just made him feel worse as he said "I kicked a rock on your head and then went to the top without you".
After that whole mess and being in bad shape I decided to skip my attempt at Black Kaweah. Derek also was fine with skipping over it so we went out a day early.
After what I did to my finger on Kaweah Pass which was almost 3 months ago now it still is not 100%. I think I did far more damage than I thought I did.
The ear now has a nice scar but looks just fine. To the touch however I can tell that the bone or cartilage has been rearranged like a quarter inch piece of bone as been added into the ear. Oh well!
