Clockwise around Castle and Basin Peaks

Castle Valley with icy spots

Phew!!  Long hike yesterday with a lot of elevation gain.  Six of us hiked across Castle Valley with it's stunning fall colors and Peak view, to follow the PCT  north past Castle Pass and Peter Grubb hut.  From there,



Castle Pass



heading up PCT



Use trail on side of Basin





Lunch spot



Devil's Oven from lunch spot

Devil's Oven with Paradise Lake above it



Warren Lake Trail



Steep going

 the PCT climbs steeply.  We branched right on an unmarked use trail which climbs even more steeply as it goes by a couple of meadows on the side of Basin Peak.  In about a half mile the trail branched and we took the right fork which climbs toward Basin peak, but soon left that trail and headed cross-country in beautiful open woodland to the saddle area between Paradise Valley and Warren Lake.  After briefly floundering around in the woods, we discovered another use trail seemed to be headed in the exact direction we wanted.  We soon realized it was the continuation of the same trail we had been on before we took the right hand branch.  Delighted with our luck and the incredible scenery, we took off toward the Warren Lake trail (we hoped).  Beautiful heather meadows and open woodland with incredible rock outcroppings surrounded us.  It was enchanting.  By 1 PM we were starved enough to notice that we were right near a wooded, rocky view spot that looked into the canyon far below.  Lunch time.  This area was as beautiful as the views of it from the ridge between Castle and Basin Peaks had been.  A Red-tailed hawk circled the valley being menaced by a crow.

After lunch as we followed our trail as it went around the top of the cliffs above Devil's Oven Lake, Paradise, and Warren Lakes and under the cliffs of the ridge trail between the Basin and Castle Peaks.  We could see the lakes as well as smooth, sheered-off rocks reminiscent of Half Dome.  Finally we came to a steep downhill section that ended up meeting up with the Warren Lake Trail.  And a sign!  Our first since the trail off to Sand Lake near the Peter Grubb Hut.  The sign said that Warren Lake itself was only a mile away to the left but we headed the other way.  The hike was going to be long, the days were getting shorter, and I had been the unlucky recipient of a double yellow jacket sting.

Again we went around a valley until we once again ascended and descended steeply to still-wet meadows under Castle Peak.  This must be a very wet hike at other times of the year.  Finally we got to the last stream and headed steeply uphill towards the pass where the trail comes close to Frog Lake overlook.  I spotted a marmot in the rocky cliffs above the meadows we were leaving.  The uphill trail was longer than we remembered it...guess we were getting tired and we still had a lot of miles to go before the cars.  There we met some young hikers with some big dogs.  At some distance down the trail was a Chihuahua trying desperately to keep up with them. 





By the time we got back to the cars, we were pretty tired.  We had hiked just shy of 13 miles with a whopping 2650 foot elevation gain and a top elevation of 8600 feet.  As we discovered, this entire hike can be been done on trails with no cross-country.  But you won't find them on your maps, nor will you find many signs. 

From Peter- thanks