Backpacking Day 2: To Bench Valley

The second day of our trip took us up out of the North Fork valley to Guest Lake, in a hanging valley above it.


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There are two ways up to Guest Lake from the river. You can either take the established trail, or you can use the old trail, which has been abandoned for many years. The old trail goes straight up the hill, and the new one requires a three mile or so dog-leg upstream on the river. We opted to try the old route.

After hiking for a few miles, along the river valley filled with big lodgepoles, aspens, red fir, and douglas-firs, past calm pools and across narrow tributary streams, and past a water survey cabin, we finally made it to the turn-off.  It was a bit hard to find, though, and we walked past it the first time.  We then doubled back and saw the nails in a tree that indicated there used to be a sign there.

From then on, it was usually just find-the-duck, and we worked our way up the hill steadily but slowly.  In some places, the path was still obvious as a track in the dirt, but in other places there was no sign of it at all. It gets a bit confusing in switchbacks, but it probably saved us time to go this way in the long run.  We also got good views back down the valley.

The North Fork valley

After lunch, we topped out into a splendid verdant collection of forest, meadows and wildflowers, the trail becoming very clear as it wound its way through the low understory of the forest.  Then we met up with the maintained trail, and had an enjoyable walk.  The last few hundred feet up to McGuire Lakes are a very steep set of switchbacks, though, and we had to grunt our way up.  Those lakes were very pretty, but as soon as we got there big swarms of mosquitoes descended on us.  We stopped to take pictures, anyway, before moving on to Guest Lake.

Smaller McGuire Lake

Guest Lake has some meadows around the outlet that were very buggy, and our camp at the foot of Blackcap turned out to be the buggiest of the trip.  Curiously, there were two well-established campsites with fire rings here (despite the elevation: over 10,000'), but we didn't use one of the big camps.

That evening was one of the few we did not go swimming, but I did go fishing.  Guest is the sort of lake where you catch a little Brookie with every cast.  So, we had fish for dinner and then for breakfast the next morning.  The rise was pretty spectacular as there were both lots of fish and lots of insects for them to eat.

Most of these ripples are from fish, not the wind!

More pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/sets/72157634830824622/with/9380125535/

Backpacking Day 1: To North Fork King's River

Last year, I never finished writing up our backpack trip on this blog, but this year I'll try again, anyway.  It's a nice way to record the memories while they're still fresh.

The first day of our trip this year we hiked from the Maxson Meadows trailhead at Courtright Reservoir over to the North Fork of the King's River.  This was the first time Libby and I started a trip out of the west side of the Sierra, so it was interesting to have a first day that wasn't over a pass.  We only gained about 800 feet this first day, but it was more than 10 miles, so it was a bit longer than we normally do on a first day. It was also the first time we started a backpack trip on Libby's birthday!



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It turned out to be a pretty memorable day. A few miles into the hike, we took off our packs to apply DEET. I had started the day with sunscreen, but there were mosquitoes attending any damp and shady spot in the forest. These spots weren't uncommon, despite the dry winter, and after entering one of these areas, I'd soon attract an attending retinue of the bloodsuckers -- with a flock focusing on each elbow. The wisest route was clearly chemical, so out came the bug juice.

As we were applying, we heard a strange noise in the distance. The first mile or so of the trail starts out on a multi-use four-wheel drive trail, which we had only left a short time before, so my first thought was that a noisy jeep was bumping down the road. But, this was too chaotic of a noise for that, so it was one of those nagging curiosities in the back of our minds. Dad looked down the trail the way we had come, and suddenly exclaimed, "Run-away mules! Get off the trail!"

So, we scrambled for high ground!  Sure enough, here came two mules tearing down the trail toward us with a riderless horse in their train. I split east, and Dad and Libby split west, and here they came east of the trail straight toward me! I had the new-to-me experience of seeing their bright white terror-filled eyes as they galloped just around me off the trail, before circling back and plunging through a fallen tree to regain the path. They were dragging their lead lines and their loads were jostling, undoubtedly compounding their panic. The horse took an even wider birth before following suit.

Just a half a minute later, their wrangler came loping down the trail after them, a little dog trailing behind him. This was really a new experience! Mule trains are common sights on backcountry entrance trails, but we'd never seen one out of control before. Later, as the wrangler came back down the trail with the horse and one mule (he got all of them eventually), he explained that his client had gotten off his horse to use the bathroom without telling him, and that I guess one thing led to another.


The hiking itself wasn't bad. Our packs were heavy, and the day was long, but it was nice to be at 8,000' for the first day of the trip. We crossed Post Corral Creek at lunch, and soaked our feet there. We saw quite a few people coming out, but after lunch we didn't see anyone else for five days.

 Our campsite was fantastic. We found a few granite benches in the warm sun and went swimming in the creek. It was cold, but not chillingly cold, and the granite surrounding it was beautifully warm to lay out and dry on.

 

Our swimming hole on the North Fork Kings River

That night there were some high clouds that caught the moonlight and were very beautiful. To celebrate Libby's birthday, we had a Mountain House stew and some instant pudding before walking down to a lovely waterfall downstream from our camp.

The birthday girl and the waterfall

More pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/sets/72157634798418531/