- Joined
- Mar 26, 2007
- Messages
- 2,798
Wow, has it been all summer since I've been able to post an outdoors picture thread? I can't believe I missed a whole summer of backpacking, fishing and mountain biking. Oh well, it's a good thing California offers more than 3 months of usable weather...
Anyways, thanks to Lambertiana for telling me about this hike. We had a great time, and the area was beautiful! Oh, and the fishing was pretty good too.
So the plan was to leave from bear diversion dam in the Sierra National Forest and hike to Bear Twin Lakes on Saturday. Then to Cirque lake, then bushwhack our way back to the diversion dam.
Well, let's just say things didn't go according to plan...
First of all, the last couple of miles to the diversion dam is an OHV road, which would have been fine for my 4 wheel drive blazer, if the 4 WD would engage.
So right off the bat we added an extra 1.5 hours to the hike that we already weren't able to start until about 10am because we had to wait until 8am to get our wilderness permits at the ranger station, then drive the last little bit to the trail head.
Then, you'll like this Lambertiana, I misread the topo, thought I found a good spot for us to shoot between two peaks from the John Muir trail to Bear twin lakes. Unfortunately I didn't notice 3 lines that were nearly on top of each other about half way up the mountain... At the end of an 11 mile hike, hopping from boulder to boulder like a mountain goat on the edge of a cliff isn't high on my priority of things I want to do. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of that section, I was just too tired and concentrating too hard on putting one foot in front of the other, I forgot.
By the time we got to camp, we realized that a summer away from the outdoors has left us less than peak physical condition and we started questioning if we wanted to spend the next two days climbing and relying on my topo map reading skills... Because, there is no trail that leads to bear twin lakes, or cirque lake, or back. Then the wife decided she didn't want to get home too late on Monday, seeing how we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us, it was decided to just do some day hiking on Sunday and head back the way we came on Monday.
So, anyways, on to the pics right!
The first night we just sleept in our car at the Ranger station, so we could pick up our permit and go! Man, the rangers need to get with it and do something different with there system. Going online would be nice. Being able to print your permit at home would be nice, so you can start hiking when you want, and not waste valuable trail time waiting in line at the ranger station.
Finally, the trail head, ok well, the road head?
Now we're at the trail head!
Entering the John Muir Wilderness!
Oh, and the double hiking sticks were a first for this trip and I have to say, I will never go back! They save a ton of wear and tear on my hips, knees, and feet. And, I swear I hike twice as fast with them. At the end of the trip, Kathryn has having a problem with her hip, so I let here use these and I took here single staff, and within a half hour she said her hip wasn't bothering her anymore and she wouldn't give them back... These were just some cheap $10 sticks from Walmart to see if I would even like them, but now that I do, I just need to convince the wife to let me buy the $150 pair I want...
If you can read that, it says "Pacific Crest Trail, National Scenic Trail". Then last portion of our hike on the first day was on the John Muir Trail, right before we went off trail to get to the lakes. Unfortunately if I had read the topo better I would have seen that there was a super easy ascent right from the trail intersection up a valley to the lakes. But no, I took us the mountain goat route instead. Ask me how I know about the super easy valley route? That's the route we took back...
Finally made it to the lakes!
Camp, and the one thing I like about backpacking in wilderness and forest... Campfires!!! For some reason it just seems unnatural to sleep outside without a campfire. I understand why a lot of parks don't allow it, doesn't mean I have to like it.
Anyways, thanks to Lambertiana for telling me about this hike. We had a great time, and the area was beautiful! Oh, and the fishing was pretty good too.
So the plan was to leave from bear diversion dam in the Sierra National Forest and hike to Bear Twin Lakes on Saturday. Then to Cirque lake, then bushwhack our way back to the diversion dam.
Well, let's just say things didn't go according to plan...
First of all, the last couple of miles to the diversion dam is an OHV road, which would have been fine for my 4 wheel drive blazer, if the 4 WD would engage.
So right off the bat we added an extra 1.5 hours to the hike that we already weren't able to start until about 10am because we had to wait until 8am to get our wilderness permits at the ranger station, then drive the last little bit to the trail head.
Then, you'll like this Lambertiana, I misread the topo, thought I found a good spot for us to shoot between two peaks from the John Muir trail to Bear twin lakes. Unfortunately I didn't notice 3 lines that were nearly on top of each other about half way up the mountain... At the end of an 11 mile hike, hopping from boulder to boulder like a mountain goat on the edge of a cliff isn't high on my priority of things I want to do. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of that section, I was just too tired and concentrating too hard on putting one foot in front of the other, I forgot.
By the time we got to camp, we realized that a summer away from the outdoors has left us less than peak physical condition and we started questioning if we wanted to spend the next two days climbing and relying on my topo map reading skills... Because, there is no trail that leads to bear twin lakes, or cirque lake, or back. Then the wife decided she didn't want to get home too late on Monday, seeing how we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us, it was decided to just do some day hiking on Sunday and head back the way we came on Monday.
So, anyways, on to the pics right!
The first night we just sleept in our car at the Ranger station, so we could pick up our permit and go! Man, the rangers need to get with it and do something different with there system. Going online would be nice. Being able to print your permit at home would be nice, so you can start hiking when you want, and not waste valuable trail time waiting in line at the ranger station.
Finally, the trail head, ok well, the road head?
Now we're at the trail head!
Entering the John Muir Wilderness!
Oh, and the double hiking sticks were a first for this trip and I have to say, I will never go back! They save a ton of wear and tear on my hips, knees, and feet. And, I swear I hike twice as fast with them. At the end of the trip, Kathryn has having a problem with her hip, so I let here use these and I took here single staff, and within a half hour she said her hip wasn't bothering her anymore and she wouldn't give them back... These were just some cheap $10 sticks from Walmart to see if I would even like them, but now that I do, I just need to convince the wife to let me buy the $150 pair I want...
If you can read that, it says "Pacific Crest Trail, National Scenic Trail". Then last portion of our hike on the first day was on the John Muir Trail, right before we went off trail to get to the lakes. Unfortunately if I had read the topo better I would have seen that there was a super easy ascent right from the trail intersection up a valley to the lakes. But no, I took us the mountain goat route instead. Ask me how I know about the super easy valley route? That's the route we took back...
Finally made it to the lakes!
Camp, and the one thing I like about backpacking in wilderness and forest... Campfires!!! For some reason it just seems unnatural to sleep outside without a campfire. I understand why a lot of parks don't allow it, doesn't mean I have to like it.
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