Topic: While you were at the roundup...UPDATE 9-14

[kneedownnate]

...I was hiking in the alps.  No, not the swiss alps, but the trinity alps.  I should be posting this in 3 days, but some nearby fires kinda drastically changed our plans.  We were met at upper canyon creek lake by a ranger, informing us that we had to leave. 

CAUTION: DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE NOT READY FOR A LONGISH STORY!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We left at 1:40pm from the canyon creek trailhead, and set off to way too fast a pace.  I'd vowed to not complain while in the alps, so I kept my mouth shut while trying to double time it while my friend just lumbered along.  Long legs seem to do wonders for trail speed, and my cotton hill legs don't seem to like a heavy pack.  I was pushing pretty hard just trying to keep pace with my friend, but no matter how hard I pushed he kept out pacing me.  It didn't take long for the heavy pack and our speed to over stress my hips (not what I woulda expected to give), and within about 2 miles they didn't wanna move anymore.  I finally opened my mouth and let him know what was going on, and told him to just go at his own speed and I'd eventually make it.  He likes to stop a lot more than I do, so it woulda worked out ok anyway.  I was really surprised at how wrecked I felt with the pack on, then when we stopped at the lower falls I had no problems rock jumping through the creek bed.

It ended up taking about 5 hours or so to make it the 6ish miles to our base camp, and luckily there was still ample light to setup and do some exploring.  We backtracked a little to check another trail that split off ours, figuring it'd lead to another camp site or two, but it actually led to a pretty bitchin site on much more level ground.  It also led to a pretty cool experience.  We were just standing there looking around the place when my friend said excitedly "BEAR!"  I couldn't see it at first, but it moved out onto a log about 35 feet away and started walking over toward us.  I whistled quietly to get it's attention, then waved slowly and said "hey buddy", at which point he was asses and elbows through the brush and dissappeared.  He had a really nice dark coat with a tan snout, which is (in my experience) a rarity.  Most bears I've seen around here have a matching snout.  Best guess is he was atleast 225 lbs, but probably closer to 250.  Good times. 

I got woke up that night by a buck snorting right next to our tent, then stomping off as loud as he could.  I went out the next morning to look for his tracks, and not only found his but found fresh mountain lion tracks too.  The buck tracks were pretty big, but the cat tracks were smaller, probably a juvenile or a female. 

Our friend and his son were supposed to come in later friday night, but got turned around at the trailhead, leaving us a note on my truck.  We had no idea, so figured they could have come in later than anticipated and stayed at a lower campsite and come up the next day.  We ended up waiting till 1pm for them to show up before deciding to push on up to the lakes.  I was barely a little stiff and sore, but only enough to be a slight annoyance at first.  We made really good time up the scramble to even more water falls, one of which had fish.  I couldn't help it and had to flick a lure across the hole.  Surprisingly I caught three fish outa that pool, two of which were decent size for the area, and all of which had gorgeous colors.  Just up the trail were some pipes left over from old mining operations, and around the corner was stonehouse site.  We didn't know what that was, but when massive boulders lay over each other and form a shelter it just kinda screams at you. 

The last insult, or so I thought, was the climb up the rocky trail to the first lake.  The lake was gorgeous too, but the thought of catching fish overrode the thoughts of snapping pics.  I was surprised to catch a few fairly quickly, especially since we knew it'd probably been fished recently.  I worked around the lower end for a short while, catching a few decent little brook trout, then we decided to head to upper canyon creek lake so I just pitched it out a few times as I skirted the shoreline.  That's where I found the next insult in the form of a very steep, loose and nasty section of the trail.  I kept saying to my friend "this can't possibly be the trail", but he insisted it had to be.  As went the theme of the weekend, I ended up being correct, as we found the real trail up above, which was also surprisingly LEVEL! 

I decided to try a different lure at the upper lake so I could cast further, which ended up being a horrible decision.  I got tired of watching the fish turn away from my lure, so I went back to the same style but a little bigger.  Why the hell didn't I do that in the first place?!  I started catching fish right and left again, and caught some very nice brookies up there.  That's when the fun began.  I saw another hiker approaching, and we struck up a conversation with him as he came in.  After the initial hellos my friend asked him if he was with another group up there, to which he replied "no, I'm with the forest service" (while tugging at his FS shirt).  At the same time we both said "uh oh!", and we were right.  He had come in to evacuate everybody due to approaching fire danger.  I had anticipated the possibility of this before leaving, and kept bringing it up with my friend, but he just kept shrugging it off saying it just won't happen.  He also informed us we didn't hafta leave till the next morning, so we hiked back with him for a little ways before running into his partner in crime (a chick), then continued with them till the camp of some others.  I got to talking with the girl and found out I recognized her last name, and had infact gone to school with 2 of her brothers, and she knew my mom from the elementary school. 

We walked back down to their camp with them, talked for a few than continued on to ours.  Once we got back we crossed the creek and informed the other campers of the evacuation.  Turns out 1 of them was from british columbia, while the older 2 were from there also but lived in LA.  The rest of the evening was eventless, and I probably only got a couple hours of sleep the whole night.  I got atleast a few the night before, but was really not comfortable with my sleeping pad or how cramped the tent was, and continued to toss and turn the whole night.  It kinda sucks when you wake up and think it's nearly time to get up, look at your watch and see it's only 2am!  Daylight couldn't come soon enough, but it was welcome when it came. 

I went over to the creek to rinse my face and my contact lenses, and I looked up to see what looked like a large chocolate brown squirrel scurrying away.  He stopped after a few steps and turned to look back, at which point I realized it was a small funny looking fox, real stubby legged.  I've never seen one like that, but I've actually seen way less foxes than mountain lions even, so I don't have much to go on. 

We packed it all up and headed down the trail at a pretty good pace, and after a little while we ran into the 2 forest rangers sitting down near the lower falls.  We jawed with them for a few, then I proposed that we move on.  Oddly we seemed to be outpacing the rangers a little, but on some sections my friend would slow down a little and they'd catch back up.  At one point we began pulling a little more distance on them and my friend kept slowing and looking back at them, so I suggested he let me by so he could slow down for them.  That proved to be one of my best decisions all weekend, as I seemed to be outpacing them all and pulling away.  After about 100 yards or so I got the sensation, so I began jogging.  I wouldn't recommend it with a heavy pack, but for whatever reason it was working well.  I just tried to find a good rhythm and keep up my momentum, and was surprised at how far I was able to keep it up.  I only stopped doing so when I came upon a blue jay and grouse fighting in the middle of the trail.  I pulled out my camera and tried to sneak up to get a good shot, but as soon as I came around they split up and flew off.  After that I just settled into a good walking pace, trying to remember what the trail looked like coming in so I could judge how far I had to go still. 

After a while I came to a creek, which I thought meant I was about 1.5 miles from the trailhead, but it was only about 10 minutes in.  At the trailhead I walked around, taking a few pics to show how heavy the smoke was near the trucks and through the canyon.  I waited about 10 minutes before deciding to grab a water bottle and jog back to the creek to wait for them, which only took about 5 minutes.  I think they only ended up being about 25-30 minutes behind me, and I ended up getting out in about half the time it took to get in. 

All in all it ended up being a pretty cool experience, even with my hip and knee problems, but it woulda been way cooler to go in from a different direction and be able to stay the whole time.  My friend is just gonna go back to work, but I'm going back to the forest service and get permits to go in for another 3 days or so and just do some day hikes/runs.  It'll be a lot less impact on me not having a heavy full size pack, opting for my camelbak with a 100oz bladder and minimal fishing gear.  I shouldn't hafta pack much food with me, because I was only eating a few kudos bars and one meal a day, so making time will be much easier. 

I have some pics of this trip to post, but will hopefully have a bunch more to post when I get back. 

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Some pics of the falls near our first campsite.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

A shot of one of the surrounding peaks.  Most of them looked similar, sharp rugged rock.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

A couple of our camp visitors

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Another one of the neat little falls/pools, and a shot of an adjacent peak to see how smokey it was

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Some old pipes left over from gold rush era mining operations, then a couple shots of stoneshouse.  If you look on the flat slab in the first pic you can barely see a little shiny silver thing.  That's the reel on my fishing rod, just for size refference.  The boulders were amazingly huge, and it's hard to believe they just fell like that.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Another pic of another peak on the other side of the valley and a pic of some more falls.  The waterfall pics make them look small, but they're much bigger than they appear.  On this one you can get a fair idea of the size if you look at the trees up near the flatter rock ledge and understand that they're pretty good size trees. 

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Here's a pic I snapped of mine and the ranger's trucks when I came off the trail.  Second is the warning note they left us along with the note our friend left us.  Third is a jeep that was there before us, and it appears people had been writing on it as they came out.  It had the smiley face and "happy trails" on it before we got there, but the other writings were fresh.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Last pics are a couple shots to show how smokey it was at the trailhead, and last one is a leaf near the creek to show all the ash that had gathered on it.

[BikerTrash]

Man, that is some beautiful places. Makes me want to take a trip...

[BUDDERS]

That looks like my old stomp'n grounds.  Let me guess: this area was in between Trinity lake and Calahan off Highway 3 right?  Was that the trailhead for  Pacific Crest Trail at the top of the pass right off the highway or was it a different one?

[Rocksurfer]

Wow, that's some beautiful country too bad about the fire hope it misses that area.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

I'm pretty sure the fires will miss it, but they have been blazing through some other areas of the alps already. 

It's similar budders, but access is off 299 right outa junction city.  I was in fairly close to the southern edge of the wilderness, but the pacific crest trail skirts along closer to the northern edge.  I'm going back in around half way up or so, just doing easier day hikes.  I'm glad I didn't go in this morning because my legs are kinda stiff, but they should loosen up tomorrow morning after a little more movement. 

[CTENG in KS]

Where are the naked bathing beauties?

[cruzila]

and the forest nymphs, naked of course

[kneedownnate [OP]]

We only saw 3 females, 2 of which most of us probably wouldn't wanna see naked, and the one with the nice body had on way too many clothes for my tastes   Still a few days to go, so keep em crossed 

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Ok, so the plan was to go back in for a few more days, just doing day hikes so I wasn't carrying a heavy pack.  I ended up going on an easy hike the first afternoon/evening to lake eleanor, thinking I might head up toward shimmer if my legs felt ok.  Eleanor didn't outwardly appear like a trout lake, and I didn't initially see any fish so I figured it'd be a bust.  But farbeit from me to pass up a body of water without throwin out a line     I ended up catching a few rainbows, 2 of which were the biggest of the trip.  At the upper end of the lake there was a babbling brook and a good place to snap a pic.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

  This lake is actually half inside and half outside the wilderness boundary, split right down the middle.  Years ago, logging companies cut roads above and around the lake, making the trail harder to find.  My legs were feelin ok, so I took the short walk up the trail to where it met the road.  I was following the road and the halfass trail markers on it, just hoping at some point I'd see the trail shoot off the side, when I heard something in the brush above the road.  Years of experience have told me it's most likely one of 3 animals, since it was being pretty loud.  Squirrels can actually be very loud in the brush, as can can quail.  Last choice is a bear.  I worked closer to the brush to see if I could find the source of the noise.  It was hard to pinpoint the location of the noise through the trees in the gully, but after a few minutes I saw a very clean sign of where it was coming from when I saw a dark blob moving through the brush.  It was really hard to get a pic of him, but if you look about 2/3 the way down the pic, nearly in the middle, you'll see the dark blob.  As quick as I saw him I lost track of him.  No biggie, he didn't know I was there so I just kept on my way.

  A little way down the road I found the trail and began up it.  I went a short distance up the trail before again hearing the same sound.  I says to myself I says, "there's no way he moved over here that quickly!", but sure enough he was there.  I once again approached for a better angle and got the camera ready.  I figured I'd have a chance for one quick pic before he bolted, so I wanted to be ready.  I was dead wrong.  Where he had stopped didn't present a good shot, so at the risk of spooking him I stepped straight to the side, a move that will typically spook any bear.  The view was even worse, so I moved back over, and again he didn't budge, not even moving an ear.  I took the only pic that was offered and decided to break up out little encounter by waving and saying "hey buddy", but to no avail.  He still just stood there staring at me, at which point I had something happen to me that hasn't happened in atleast 14 years.  I got nervous.  I got beyond nervous and for the first time watching a bear, I actually got a little shaky.  I put waved both arms at almost full stretch and said, "ok buddy, I see you there", stepping once again to the side.  Still nothing.  He wasn't making any effort to leave or even scout out an escape route.  At this point, I began contemplating my options and what I should do, and wondered if I should switch the digi cam over to video.  While I was thinking I was still watching him.  Nearly a minute had gone by, just standing there having the most intense staring contest I've ever had, which I will say sparked quite the adrenaline rush.  About the time I looked down at the camera to choose my setting he turned around and left, walking for a few steps then running.  I tried my damndest to get a pic, but I can't tell if he's in the shot or not, not to mention it's a little fuzzy.  Maybe somebody with a better moniter will see him in this pic.

  The last pic is a perfect shot of his rear pad and a big deer hoof print for size reference. 

[kneedownnate [OP]]

  Once that was all over I figured it probably wasn't terribly sane for me to walk up the same trail and have a 3rd encounter.  I doubled back to the road, but since my legs were feeling ok I didn't wanna go directly back to the lake.  I decided to just continue up the old logging road and see how far I could walk.  By this time the smoke was rolling in pretty thick and ash was again falling, which I found pretty surprising considering how far away from the fire I was.  I walked for a pretty good distance before deciding to head back, figuring if I could make it back to a nearby town I might be able to find some food. 

  I walked quite a way without seeing anything more than the occassional chipmunk and birds, but I again heard something moving in the brush above the road a little distance away.  I found it pretty quickly, realized what it was and thought, "there's no way I'm gonna see that bear a third time", but I was wrong.  I again saw a dark mass moving through the brush, but this time had a much more open view and couldn't believe what I'd seen.  This thing was big!  I watched him angle down through the brush toward the road and decided to move a bit closer to get a better shot.  Once he hit the road I got a pretty fair idea how big he was, snapped a couple pics and watched to see what his path would be.  He walked a short distance down the road, eating berries as he went, then angled off over the edge of the road.  I moved closer to the edge where I could watch him work down the hillside and snapped a couple more decent pics.  It was funny, cause even though I was pretty much ready to snap pics, he was so big and moved so fast that it made getting them difficult, despite the fact that he appeared to be walking slowly.  I watched him sneak off into the brush, then decided I should ready the camera for video incase he made it through the area a ways below where I'd seen a small pond.  I made my way down there and waited maybe 15 seconds before seeing him heading exactly where I'd hoped to see him, got several seconds of video of him passing behind the pond before dissappearing into the brush.  That was it, the last I'd seen of him, and I figured now would be a good time to head back toward the lake before he did. 

  Once I got back to the lake I couldn't resist the temptation to fish again, so I just kept an eye out for him entering the top of the valley.  I half expected to either see him there or to glance up and find him standing on the shore end of the large log I was fishing from.  I wouldn't have minded seeing a normal bear again, but considering he didn't exhibit any of the typical fears of humans most bears have, I didn't wanna tempt fate anymore.  No fish were biting, and I needed to search for my own meal, so I said my goodbyes to the little lake and left.  And no, I didn't find any food in town, so I just headed for my next trailhead and made a sandwich.

  I maybe shoulda prefaced this by saying I've seen many many bears, and have even patterned their escape habits enough to know what they typically do when realizing that they're looking at a human.  I also (like a lot of morons) like to think I'm a decent judge of size, and I conservatively figured this guy at 350+ pounds.  I was discussing this with my dad, who for years had helped a friend of his guide for bears, and his thoughts were that if you're used to seeing bears on a regular basis and one strikes you as being huge, it's a safe bet it's probably a 400+ pound bear.  I hadn't thought of it that way, but when I saw it I'd figured it atleast 100 pounds heavier than any other bear I've ever seen, so it makes sense to me.  Either way it was really neat, but it's a whole different experience being in that situation without a firearm, though I've never had a bear indulge in a staring contest with me either so

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Ok, enough with the long boring stories!  I'll keep the descriptions to a minimum from here on out.  First pic is from the trail walking in to big and little boulder lakes the next day.  Notice how clear the view is?  Well, enjoy it, cause it only lasted till the wind kicked, after which the valley became very smokey and I kept getting rained on by ash and burnt leaves.

Second pic is the granite hillside above little boulder lake.  I contemplated going up and over that rather than walking the trail between the two lakes, but not knowing the actual direction or trail time am very glad I didn't. 

Third shot is the best I could get of little boulder.  So many of these alpine lakes don't seem to offer great picture opportunities, atleast when you're trying to get the whole lake in a shot.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

When I arrived at little boulder I heard campers at the far end, one of whom was fly fishing.  I had been there maybe 40 minutes when I heard his friends holler to him, "we're gonna head up to the other lake", at which point I says to myself, "you're not gonna beat me there!".  I reeled in and set off to a quick pace, lightly jogging in spots that were either level or barely uphill/downhill.  I had to backtrack the trail to where it'd forked, then turned left and headed for big boulder lake.  Surprisingly, it didn't even take that long to get there, undoubtedly much less time than it woulda taken if I'd tried going up and over the granite hill. 

Once at the lake I had a decision to make:  stay here and fish, or head up to tapie and found lakes and fish this on the way back through.  I didn't know the other campers intentions, so I figured it wise to head to the upper lakes.  I started down the trail below the lake, heading downhill and thought, "how the heck far dowhill is this gonna go before turning to go up to the lakes?!".  After about 10 minutes I ran into a women who appeared to be solo hiking and asked her where she was headed and where she'd been.  I asked her if she knew the way to tapie, to which she replied, "well sorta, you need to head back to big boulder and scramble up the hillside because there's no trail!".  I thanked her and we set off together, but having no pack I quickly outpaced her and dissappeared from her sight. 

I walked just past boulder and followed what I THOUGHT was the trail, which quickly dead ended.  I couldn't quite remember where the other lakes were in relation to this one, and not having a map or compass just started following my instinct.  I made the fairly grueling climb up the loose dirt/rocky hillside (I woulda died on the spot had I a pack) till I could see what appeared to be a small basin, at which point I thought, "there hasta be a pond there".  I worked a bit farther up and came out directly above tapie lake.  You can't imagine the feeling of satisfaction I felt coming out so close, having just followed my gut. 

Lemme just say, if you wanna go up there to go fishing, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!  There were no fish, just a kinda scuzzy little pond with tons of frogs, water beatles and a couple salamanders.  I worked my way around the pond but never saw one fish. 

I once again set off blindly up the hillside, following a small ravine full of boulders up in the direction I'd expect to find water.  Near where it platued I looked around and saw 2 places where I would expect to find water, so I set off for the higher of the two.  Once again my guts were right, and I ended up coming in right by another pond.  This one was pretty neat, but again had no signs of fish life, just the same old pond dwellers as before.  I still fished around it, I didn't carry my rod up there to not atleast try. 

After checking it out I headed off in a different direction than where I thought another pond might be, in search of a good pic of the valley.  What I found was a great pic spot of a huge granite slide/wall, and I could even see another trail making it's way near the top.  I shot that then set off in search of the last pond.  Somehow I again came in directly to the pond, and once again fished in vain (sp).

Up until now I'd forgotten about an old problem.  Having previously hurt my hips, my attention had been taken away from my knees, thought every step I took coming down brought back to memory old injuries.  It wasn't terribly bad coming about half way down to tapie, but the closer I got the worse my left knee felt.  By the time I again reached that little lake my knee was toast.  I didn't look forward to making my way down the rock face I'd come up, and figured I may be able to find an easier route down the opposite side of the granite peak I'd come up.  I was right, sorta.  I found a wooded area heading down the mountain, and it had enough game trails lacing it to offer an easier descent in a way, but climbing over the downed trees and over the very loose soil proved difficult in it's own right.  Despite that, I stil made it down in good time and fished my way along the backside of big boulder, but not much was biting. 

I worked my way around the lake, fishing where I could and talking to the other campers who'd shown up while I was above.  I then decided to make it back over to little boulder and try my hand there again before leaving.  It was worth it, and I caught a few more fish and got hundreds of strikes.  Never could catch the biggies that were jumping along the steep hillside of the lake, but atleast I fished around the entire lake.  Lost one lure, but found 2 more and a casting bobber.

Once I hit the backside of the lake the smoke had rolled in, and it was again showering me ash and getting pretty windy.  It was also getting later, and having been in there since the earlyish morning I figured it was time to leave.  Hurt knee and all, it only took me a few minutes less to go out than it had to go in, so I was pretty happy with that.  The downer is, I wanted to hike into the caribou basin the next day, 20 mile round trip, just to have a big finish to my vacation, but my knee didn't agree with my plans. 

Either way, injuries, soreness and all, bear encounters included, it was still a great vacation and a far cry from my typical vacations.  I fully intend to do more day hikes throughout the year, and hope to learn how to hike better so as not to constantly induce injury.  I also learned a fair amount about high country endeavors, including that while a 7' light rod is great, the benefits it gives are outweighed by the loss of action when catching tiny alpine trout.  I also learned that I had way too many lures initially, and you can pretty much get by with about a half dozen or so.

Sorry, I know I said I'd keep it short, but it's easier to get the story out at once rather than splitting it between pics.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

First pic is looking southish past big boulder lake.

Second is big boulder and the hillside I worked around to get to the upper lakes, going up the left side and down the right.

Third is another of big boulder.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Granite slide by the uppermost lake, near the top you can make out a trail. 

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Tapie lake coming in, then looking down from the upper cliff.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Found lake and the peak above.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Last 2 I think.  Some little un-named lake and a shot of the sun through the smoke. 

[MiniSimp]

Nice pictures!

How was the Bear-B-Que?

[unclejpl4x4]

nice pics   buy way 2 many words for my simple

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Nice pictures!
How was the Bear-B-Que?

If I cared to bear hunt, that dude woulda tasted pretty good!  Just a little tough 

nice pics   buy way 2 many words for my simple

Oh yea, I'm with you there.  It took for frickin ever to write, and I'd definately recommend either ignoring it or just skimming through if you find a picture of interest.