Matrimony Tree and Summit Lake

 Maureen wrote that the 9 o'clock group had 4 people and enjoyed Summit Lake.  The pictures are from her.

 

 

 

Fisher Lake Cross Country (per John)

 

Jumbled Granite

The 8:00 group decided to put off our second attempt at climbing Tinker’s Knob and go for a mostly off trail, car shuttle hike to Fisher Lake, then on to High Loch Leven and the lesser Levens.  Five of us took two cars to the Loch Leven trailhead, where we left one car and all went to the beginning of the hike further up old Hwy 40 at Troy Road.  This is a favorite jumping off point for cross country skiers in the winter, but we saw no summer hikers until we hit the trail system at Loch Leven.  We were following a GPS trace that Frank had made a couple of years ago when he took this hike with the Land Trust.  It proved very helpful, as there was fairly soon no road, trail or ducked route to follow.  The route took us steadily uphill, but not too steeply.  Soon the country opened up into lovely high granite country with scattered trees and views everywhere.  Our first goal was the Matrimony Tree, an old Jeffrey Pine on top of a granite rise which offered views in all directions, including a dramatic look at Devils Peak, only about a mile and a half away, as the proverbial crow flies.  This spot was the site of a wedding back in the late 80’s with bride, groom and the entire wedding party on skis.  Great place to get hitched.  We then continued towards Fisher Lake, passing quite a few small lakes on the way.  The jumbled nature of the terrain made for slow, and somewhat arduous going, with much up and down scrambling and constant checking of GPS to be sure we were heading in the right direction.  We finally caught a glimpse of the lake, but we weren’t able to set foot on the shore until we had threaded our way down the very steep, cliffy rim of the bowl Fisher Lake sits in.  We all made it with no mishaps, and enjoyed lunch with a beautiful view of the lake.  I would guess that relatively few people visit this area, at least in the summer.  After lunch, it was on to another mile or so of cross country, trying to make a bee line to High Loch Leven.  Quite a few twists and turns later, we made it and rested a bit before hitting the trail (novel concept) and hoofed it back to the car.  We hiked about 9 miles, 1800 feet total gain.



Matrimony Tree
 

 

Fisher Lake
 

Next week, those wanting to hike at 8:00 can join us for a trip to Blue Lake as the starting point, then hiking out to Beyers Lakes.  We will pass the petroglyphs and continue to the lakes, which are about 6 miles out from the trailhead, for a total of 12 miles roundtrip.  There won’t be a tremendous amount of climbing, and it will all be on trail, so shouldn’t be too tough, just long.  Beyers Lakes are right under the Black Buttes, on the other side of the ridge from Glacier Lake.  We looked down on them when we climbed up to the ridge from Glacier Lake a month or so ago.     

High Loch Leven
 

Devil's Peak

2 hikes: Granite Chief/Squaw and Bear Valley

Note from the top:  Last week, one of our hikers did not get some important information and therefore missed the carpools.  She met us at Squaw.  Be sure to read all the way to the bottom of the blog as this software rearranges everything when I post. 

from Maureen:

today 5 of us went to bear valley--- we walked some of the pioneer trail and after lunch the discovery trail.
the weather was very pleasant overall.
right before we sat down for lunch i couldn't believe it when jim opened the cabinet door near the picnic table along the bear river (our hiking group has had lunch here a number of times).
---- when to our amazement was this rat giving birth.
as you can see in the one pic the little bitty baby is emerging.note the tiny ears.
anyway the mother would jump out of her nest when ever one opened the
door. it wasn't too easy to get these pics in the dark cabinet---thank goodness for the flash.and i was not tall enough to see into her nest which i really would have liked to have seen.
but all and all i sure enjoyed taking these pics and of course the others i have enclosed.
i only hope mama rat forgave me for disturbing her in this wonderful time of her life.
i hope you had a great hike today also.

(ed. note:  not sure mama was giving birth as rodent babies are pink and hairless - Pictures by Maureen)

From Clarence:

Hi Hikers~

Last Wednesday the Nine-o-Clockers headed up Hwy 20 for a hike (along with all the huge gravel trucks) . There was 5 of us, so Jim volunteered to drive us all.

Just before Bear Valley the temperature gauge “pegged”. A red light came on the dash and a warning beeper came on to say we were OVER HEATED! Jim pulled off and we decided this was a place to hike as anywhere! Especially because we couldn’t go anywhere.

We went on an “expository” trip around Bear Valley. We saw some nice new views, a few lingering wild flowers, but also some good tasting early BlackBerrys. The hike was short, but sweet.

When we got back to the car, it had cooled down and was drivable. We made a direct drive to the water supply at the PG&E Discovery trail where we filled the radiator with water. Jim’s car drives a lot better with a coolant for the engine!

We had wonderful relief from the heat and smoke, but then we got a reality check when we returned to Glenbrook. No fires in our area, but LOTS of smoke.

The hike for next week is open for suggestions. Weather forecast looks promising. C M(who also took 4 photos)



 

 

EIGHT O'CLOCK HIKE:  (we had similar experience with convoys of double dump trucks and smoke heavy on Hwy 20 all the way back...)

Seven of us wore ourselves out with a difficult, steep climb up the Granite Chief Trail from Squaw Valley.  We were repeatedly told that the PCT was only a mile away but it was a lie.  Well, maybe as the crow flies.  Once on the PCT we decided the Tinker's Knob hike was out of the question and decided instead to hike a ways down to a lake.  Then we changed our minds again and opted for the incredible mountain view of Tinker's Knob, Anderson Peak (where we had been at Benson Hut a couple of weeks ago), and the headwaters of the American River. 

As you can see from the trace, the hike was up, up, up.  Our joints ached and we questioned our sanity.  But the microclimates and views were so incredible.  The High Sierra can be worth the misery.  But the coup de grace came towards the end.  We had decided to go over the shoulder of Granite Chief and then head on the trail to Squaw and (yes - save our knees?) take the tram down.  We took the advertised trail towards Squaw but it being a ski resort; trails and paths became blurred and we had no idea of the route.  We did see a trail leading UP but, being exhausted, we headed DOWN on what was a trail but it petered out on a steep talus slope in viewing distance of the goal.  Oh joy, so close and yet so far.  Not being disuaded, we "hiked" diagonalled down hoping to pick up a distant looking trail at some point.  But it was not to be...we moutaingoated down, down, down to a dirt road - sometimes on our seats, sometimes backwards, sometimes upright.  Luckily nobody got hurt and we made it to a dirt road which we had to climb UP to the tram. 

Next week, the 8 o'clock group is going to attempt Tinker's Knob from Horseshoe Bend up Cold Canyon.  With any luck, we will go across the PCT to Anderson Peak and head down the escape route.  Here's hoping we make it this time.



reticulated
 

 

 

Sand Ridge Lake



Akiko deadheads very old pine growing in rock.

Trying to avoid the continuing Sierra thunderstorms,beastly heat, and smothering smoke, eight of us opted to forego the planned Squaw/ hike and instead do the less punishing Sand Ridge Lake.  The weather stayed cool enough in the high country but the clouds did come in while we lounged around the lake.  Although we decided we better get on with it, we never did get rained on as we hiked over the shoulder of Andesite and back to the car.  We had hiked 10.2 miles.

Maybe next week we will hike the PCT section from Squaw to Tinker's Knob.  We will email you all our plans.

Jim was the only hiker who showed up for the 9 o'clock group.

Benson Hut

Four of us headed south on the PCT for another stunning high sierra hike to the Benson Hut on the flanks of Mt. Anderson.  This time there was no snow and more wildflowers grew precariously in the steady wind.  At the hut we paused for a leisurely lunch and Akiko and Elly went part way up the talus/scree route to the top of the peak to see how far they could go.  Going up was slightly challenging but the fear of going down made them turn around after only a small amount of time. 

We met a few hikers,  two sisters our age hiking from Sonora Pass to Sierra City.  They were to meet their husbands for a re-supply at Highway 40 and hiking ahead of time.  Although they seemed fine, they stated that this was the last of the long hikes for them.  Carrying enough water and food seems to be the big problem.   We also met some day hikers and young runners.  One man was hanging in the shade of a large rock in nothing but shorts and boots.  He has a weekend house in Truckee and told us of some other routes that sounded interesting.  Everyone is excited about the massive purchase by a Truckee land trust of the Royal Gorge area and it's future for hiking.  One of the hikes he described is up Cold Creek Canyon to Tinker's Knob, then making a loop by continuing to Benson and returning to the car in Cold Creek Canyon via a trail called the "foul weather escape route". 

Next week we are talking about driving to Squaw Valley and hiking the Granite Chief Trail up to the PCT  and the PCT to Tinker's Nob.  We would then return via the gondola to avoid the long downhill on the Granite Chief Trail. The gondola is no charge heading downhill.    Wednesday's hike was 12 miles, with a gain of about 2200 feet.  The hike we are proposing for next Wednesdy is approximately the same length, with perhaps more elevation gain.  We will probably not get back to Brunswick until 7 PM or later.  We do like to linger here and there along the way to enjoy the magnificant high country.  We will start at 8. 

 
Selma reports that she was the only one who appeared for the 9 AM hike so she hiked the Cascade Ditch. 

Castle/Basin

Six of us in the 8 o'clock group headed for the challenging hike up two peaks.  The weather was perfect and didn't blow us to bits on either peak or on the ridge trail between them.  We ate lunch on Castle Peak, enjoying the view, especially where we had been on the Warren Lake Trail two weeks before.  While we were hiking the ridge trail, we noticed the thunderheads that appeared to be in the Mt. Tallac area and a  plume of smoke that looked like a Lassen eruption.  The smoke plume headed high, catching the lighter sunlight before it blew east in the wind.  Guess it was the fire up near Quincy.

It was fun to see the wildflowers reproducing in that harsh environment.  Depending on the amount of shelter, we saw, bladderwort milkvetch, various paintbrushes, pennyroyal, mule's ears, a phoecia, sulfur flower and other buckwheats, and others.  Later, we headed down through the lush meadows (but still not as lush as two years ago - next year we will have to take this hike no later than mid-July).  The flowers included those tiny-flowered orchid stalks - don't know which one)...monkey flowers, corn lilies and the flowers that we had seen above.  Also we saw larkspur, lupines, asters. and various yellow flowers - senecio?

It was a long, beautiful hike - we enjoyed it immensely - 10-11 miles long, 2500 foot elevation gain.  Great views...ran into a few other hikers - including two thru-hikers on the PCT towards the end.  As we approached the cars a large bicycle group was headed out for a full moon ride. 

Although we haven't heard from the other group, word got to us while resting on on the top of Basin.  Apparently a certain hiker's husband's rescue group almost ran them down on the way to an emergency.  They had to jump for cover in the brush. 





Next week, the  8 AM group plans to hike the PCT trail south to Benson Hut (12 miles RT).  We might also explore the peak behind it.