In 2019, following a heavy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, a 67-year-old man hiking alone died near Mather Pass after he slipped on ice and his head struck a rock. It was the final segment of the trail to be built. Forest Service during the summer of 1937, using three trail camps to construct 11.25 miles of the trail at the cost of roughly $1,400 per mile in 1937 USD. The segment of the John Muir Trail which traverses Mather Pass was completed by the U.S. ĭuring construction of the John Muir Trail, 'serious consideration' was given to the idea of abandoning the proposed route over Mather Pass in favor of the gentler Cartridge Pass to the southwest, indeed, the Cartridge Pass routing was listed as the official one (as well as the main one in Walter Starr’s first edition of the Guide to the John Muir Trail) in 1934, until the construction of the Golden Staircase portion of the trail north of Mather Pass. Thew led the third-ever pack train over the pass and became the first woman to cross the pass during a photography expedition through the Sierra. The party was the first to make the trip north on what became the John Muir Trail from Mount Whitney, and Hamlin advocated for state funds to be used to complete the route. Hamlin's was the first known party to cross Mather Pass by pack train in August 1921, taking 3 days to do so, as it was necessary for them to construct a rough trail. The pass was named for Stephen Mather, who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior and head of the National Park Service (NPS) from 1917 until 1929, by Chauncey J. History Early usage and trail construction Split Mountain, one of California's fourteeners, lies immediately southeast of Mather Pass the Palisades group of peaks contains another three to the north of the pass.

It is one of the six high mountain passes above 11,000 feet on the John Muir Trail, along with Donohue Pass, Muir Pass, Pinchot Pass, Glen Pass, and Forester Pass it lies south of Muir Pass and north of Pinchot Pass. The pass is traversed by the John Muir Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, which are coincident (sharing the same route) between Crabtree Meadows and Tuolumne Meadows.

The pass lies at an elevation of 12,068 feet (3,678 m), separating Palisade Basin (containing the Palisade Lakes and Palisade Creek) to the north and Upper Basin (containing the headwaters of the South Fork Kings River) to the south. It lies within far eastern Fresno County, inside Kings Canyon National Park and the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness. state of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Mather Pass is a high mountain pass in the U.S.

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