This was a ten day backpack trip to Amphitheater Lake in Kings Canyon National Park. We started at South Lake and went over Bishop Pass, through Dusy Basin and down to LeConte Canyon. Now on the John Muir Trail, we followed the Middle Fork of the Kings River to its confluence with Palisades Creek. Ascending Palisades Creek, we left the trail at Cataract Creek and climbed cross a country route to Amphitheater Lake. After lingering in the Amphitheater Lake Basin we crossed a high cross country pass to Upper Basin, where we intersected the Muir Trail again. Heading north over Mather Pass from Upper Basin, we came again into the Palisades Creek drainage and after dropping  to Palisades Lakes, descended the "Golden Staircase" to join up with our original route back to South Lake.