Wednesday Ramblings: Peter Grubb and Loney Lake

From Selma:

Wednesday 5 women headed up the hill to hike the trail to Peter Grubb Hut. We did not get very far before we were stopped in controlled traffic on Highway 20.
The crews were busy on each side of the Highway clearing brush and trees. This happened multiple times. As a result we did not reach the trail head to begin hiking until 10:45 a.m. Undaunted we started out enjoying a beautiful Fall day. The air was clear and fresh, blue skies and the signs of Fall in the views. and foliage. Not many other hikers. Priscilla brought her book to identify trees and she and Karen gave Barbara, Maureen,and myself a lesson while we had our lunch. After a relaxing we headed back. Shortly after leaving Castle Pass we turned left and followed the loop trail back through the trees to the parking lot. Fortunately on the return trip we were only stopped once on Highway 20. We all agreed that it had been a lovely day.

From Maureen: (her pix too!)
hi hikers

the temperature was so pleasant.
we enjoyed lunch at the peter grubb hut area.
all and all we had such a good time together.
oh! and to top it off we met a poodle named dino
named after no other than dean martin.
take care,

Three Guys, Two Lakes, One Tough Hike

It turned out to be a guys day out for the 8:00 hikers on Wednesday. Three of us decided to try a cross country hike to Loney Lake, and then on to Sanford Lake. We started at the locked gate below Blue Lake, having decided to drive the very rough road up from our regular parking place. We got to the petroglyphs area in about an hour, then continued another half mile or so on the trail to an area below our goal, just before where the trail crosses the stream that flows from the lake. Loney Lake is not reached by trail, but we headed in an approximate straight line towards the lake, using our GPS as a guide. We were about a mile from the lake, and initially the going was pretty easy in open granite country, but closer to the lake as we reached the outlet stream, the country became quite jumbled with granite cliffs and deep ravines. There was a surprising amount of water in the stream, and beautiful pools and waterfalls. Plenty of picture postcard views. There is a lovely small grassy tarn below the main lake affording more photo opportunities. Loney Lake itself is beautiful with cataracts crashing down the steep sides on the cliffs above the opposite shore from where we stopped to each lunch. But soon we were surveying the very steep slopes which separated the lake from Sanford Lake, which we knew was above us on our left. Once again the GPS was our guide, showing that we were only ¾ of a mile away. But this was the toughest part of the hike. Very steep going, slippery gravelly footing, lots of all-fours scrambling. Frank did a great job of picking our route and we followed him as he scouted ahead. The last part was the most challenging, heading straight up a chute, but plenty of handholds and footholds made it possible. And we emerged at the top to find Sanford Lake right at our feet. It’s a hanging lake, perched in a beautiful bowl with a very narrow rim separating it from the steep cliff that plunges down to Loney Lake. This is quite amazing country. The rest of the hike was on trail, first up to the Grouse Ridge campground, then down down down back to the petroglyphs area and back to the car. We were happy we had driven up that last bit of rough road, as we were definitely ready to sit and ride. We hiked about 10 miles and climbed a total of about 2200 feet.

Next week: perhaps Devil's Peak from the West side.