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rubywrangler
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Joined: 04 Aug 2015
Posts: 310 | TRs
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After my housesitting gig of sorts ended and I dropped off my ballot in mid-October, I headed south in the cRV. I spent a few days meandering down the Oregon coast, camping at some lovely OR state parks, and landed in Northern CA. I spent a couple days hiking the Tall Trees grove at Redwoods NP (ok) and the James Irvine/Miners Ridge Loop at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (incredible).
My first extended stop was the Trinity Alps, where nighttime temps were generally still warm enough that the statewide ban on backpacking stoves wouldn’t be a problem. I had been eyeing the Trinity Alps High Route for awhile after reading about it on Leor Pantilat's blog, but some recent reports scared me off. Having never been in the Alps before, I decided to do some (mostly) on-trail exploring this time around. I picked up a delicious pizza from Tangle Blue Saloon in Weaverville and took it along for dinner on a 2 night trip to Canyon creek lakes, El lake, Kalmia lake, Boulder creek lakes, and Forbidden lake in the White Trinities (the western part). This area is among the most popular backpacks in the Alps but I only saw a handful of folks. The weather was ridiculous. 70s in the daytime, mid-high 40s at night, no clouds. From upper CC lake, there is a bootpath up to El. Then I followed a sometime-bootpath, sometime-deer path from El up to Kalmia lake, which was lovely. I read that this spot receives the most snow in CA, don't know if that's true. A quick side trip to the saddle overlooking the upper Stuart Fork valley and 3 more lakes (Mirror, Emerald and Sapphire) was one of the highlights of the trip. I descended a pair of steep gullies west of Kalmia and picked up a way trail in the valley below Thompson Peak and Wedding cake. Then headed back down past the CC lakes and up the much steeper and narrower trail to Boulder Creek lakes, a gorgeous spot. In the morning I followed cairns up slabby granite to Forbidden lake before hiking out.
 lower canyon creek lake, wedding cake and thompson peak beyond  looking up valley from the route to el lake  canyon creek lakes  El lake  breakfast companion  off route to kalmia lake  canyon creek lakes from pt 7861  caesar peak and mirror lake  mirror pass and n/ne ridge above el lake  kalmia lake  view from descent gully  almost to the valley  heading back to upper canyon creek lake, sawtooth peak above  sunrise on hilton  sawtooth and little granite peak from boulder creek lakes  heading up to forbidden lake  boulder creek lakes  boulder creek lake + hilton  boulder creek lakes  sawtooth + boulder creek lake  looking up the trail to boulder creek lakes
The weekend looked cold and I was ready for a shower so I drove over the Alps on CA-3 to Etna. Awesome drive, incredibly scenic. Made a detour to the Russian Wilderness for a dayhike that had been recommended - the big blue loop aka 7 lakes loop, a mostly on trail and partially off trail side trip along the PCT. It was ok. Big blue lake was lovely but the rest of the loop was not as interesting.
 big blue lake  big blue
After a couple days working from Etna, I headed back down CA-3 to the Alps for an overnight to the Red (eastern) Trinities- the four lakes loop via long canyon, with side trips to Siligo peak (8162') and pretty Lake Anna - on election day. Usually I stay up all night watching election returns but that seemed pointless this year so I skipped it - turned out to be a good decision. This is another very popular hike, but I had it all to myself. The Long Canyon trail climbs up to Bee Tree Gap, then over to Deer Pass where it intersects the 4LL. The loop circles Siligo and the best camping is at Diamond lake, which has views to Sawtooth peak and the rest of the white trinities. There is normally an infinity pool-effect but the water level was much lower than usual (this was the case for pretty much every lake I visited in California). On Wednesday I woke up very antsy for election results but couldn't get cell service anywhere on the loop trail. By the time I got back to Bee Tree Gap and service around noon, it seemed like the election tide was already beginning to turn blue. Yay! On the way out I made the short side trip up a rocky gully to Lake Anna, which was totally worth it. My favorite lake on the trip.
 gibson peak  bee tree gap  deer lake and siligo peak  summit lake  siligo peak summit ridge  diamond lake  diamond lake  cloudy sawtooth sunset  dawn view from the tent  sawtooth and diamond lake  luella lake  siligo meadows  lake anna  lake anna
On my last day in the trinities before the weather turned wintry, I dayhiked to granite lake. Very fancy campsites there. It was cloudy and breezy and I got snowed on briefly. Didn't stay long.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip(s) in the Alps and have already started planning my next one! Also the area around Trinity lake on CA-3 is a great place for car camping/caRVing. I spent several nights there in between hikes as well as a couple nights at Whiskeytown NRA which nearly all burned in the Carr fire in 2018. It is pretty mindblowing (and sad) to drive on Hwy 299 through Whiskeytown toward Redding. But the lake is still pretty!
Next stop: Sierras |
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flatsqwerl
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Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Posts: 876 | TRs
Location: tacoma
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some pretty great hiking ideas here!  |
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timberghost
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Joined: 06 Dec 2011
Posts: 645 | TRs
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Gimpilator
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 1488 | TRs
Location: Edmonds, WA
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geyer
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Joined: 23 May 2017
Posts: 390 | TRs
Location: Seattle
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reststep
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Joined: 17 Dec 2001
Posts: 4482 | TRs
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That looks incredible. Thanks for sharing.
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"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir |
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Get Out and Go
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Joined: 13 Nov 2004
Posts: 1940 | TRs
Location: Leavenworth
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Very nice. I remember checking it out from above on a flight to San Francisco and thinking that looks like a nice place to hike. A lot of the photos could pass for the Chelan/Sawtooth Wilderness; which is definitely not a bad thing. 
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"These are the places you will find me hiding'...These are the places I will always go."
(Down in the Valley by The Head and The Heart)
"Sometimes you're happy. Sometimes you cry.
Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky."
(Thanks, Tom Petty) |
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NWtrax
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Joined: 27 Apr 2008
Posts: 610 | TRs
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| This area was on my radar a long time ago, it's back on now. Awesome! Thanks so much for the report. |
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rubywrangler
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Joined: 04 Aug 2015
Posts: 310 | TRs
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Thanks all - it's definitely worth a trip, especially with the mild fall weather in the area. Summer must be blazingly hot though!
I don't fish and didn't see anyone else fishing the lakes, but did notice a large population of some kind of trout at Diamond lake. Seemed to be lots of folks fishing the Trinity River. |
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benneke
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Joined: 15 Sep 2018
Posts: 25 | TRs
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| Used to live in that area, you hit a lot of the highlights. You were there at the best time of year |
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NorDub
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Joined: 17 Jul 2015
Posts: 53 | TRs
Location: Redmond
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olderthanIusedtobe
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Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7019 | TRs
Location: Shoreline
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| Looks fantastic. I spent a little bit of time in the Trinity Alps, looks like I need to spend some more. |
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