July 29, 2012 – Davis Lake to Goddard Canyon

Title: July 29, 2012 – Davis Lake to Goddard Canyon

Trail head: Davis Lake

Hike Info:

Trail: Cross-Country

Destination: Goddard Canyon and maybe a little beyond

Actual Destination: Goddard Canyon

Distance: 5.8 miles

Travel Time: 12:30

Moving Time: 4:32

Elevation Rise: 1,098'

Maximum Elevation: 11,175'

Description:
Got up at first light and hit the trail at 7:30. More boulders and more slow moving. Sherri has gained some experience and is moving better. As we move along the lake, we realize just how huge this lake is. Also with the mountain backdrop, how breath-taking this area is. Davis Lake is so clear and we are the only ones here.



This part of my journal is written from memory. I was so tired, that it was hard for me to put pen to paper and have the words come out intelligible. Once free of the boulder field—Andrea and I did continue our system of ferrying Sherri's pack, we rested. We have not gone far, but there has been a lot of effort. Now we are faced with a talus slope of at least 30-40 degrees. And this is a long stretch. But once across this stretch, we should be in good shape. It turns out that once we climb about a hundred feet or so, there is a pathway across the talus slope. And it is pretty level without much give under our feet.

 



At the end of talus field, we are about three-quarters of the way around the lake, but we will be leaving the lake here. There is a small saddle above us. But before this, we get a splendid view across from where we came. The lake is below us by several hundred feet—from this height you can see almost everything about it. We would not be able to continue on around the lake on our side because of the cliffs coming down to the lake and the falls on the other side. The other side of the lake has even more impressive cliffs. So it is up and over the saddle.



This is easier to do on the map than in reality. We start climbing up the saddle and think we are following a cross country trail—in retrospect, we probably are, but when we come across a ridge, it looks like the path will take us on a pretty shear path, one which I am not sure I want to walk on. So we stop at this pond close to the saddle. It is idyllic. If we had enough food and time, I would say camp here. The pond is really deep—you cannot see the bottom, even though the water clear. We have lunch on a strip of grass and just enjoy the soft breeze blowing. But we need to continue on and we have much of the afternoon left.



I go on and find an easy, bouldering path over the saddle. My memory of this area after 40 years is shot and the things I remember is not very reliable. But after crossing this saddle, we have a nice easy meadow to go down for a quarter mile. But at the end, there is a steep drop, maybe 400'??? down. While it looks manageable, it will be slow going. There is one place where we need to take care and just go down a handhold at a time. Andrea is doing double work by ferrying Sherri's pack. But down we get.



And when we do, it is beside Goddard Creek—this is not to be confused with Goddard Canyon which has the San Joaquin River running down it. Goddard Creek empties Davis Lake and we are coming out below the falls which does the emptying. There is a large sloping meadow here and our only task is to cross the creek to get to the other side, then it should be easy walking for a ways.



Andrea finds some rocks to cross, but Sherri is unsure about this, so I go a little farther up creek to see what I can see. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement and a flapping of wings next to the falls. When I look over, this bird has a huge wingspan. My guess from the distance I am—150 yards or so—the the wingspan if 5-6'. It has swooped down onto the south side of the creek. The head is white and the body looks black. Sounds like a bald eagle to me. After a minute or so on one side, it flaps up and lands on the north side of the creek. I suspect it has caught a fish. After a minute, it flies away. Unfortunately, I could not get the camera focused on the bird and only got a blurry shot of him flying off.



By this time, Sherri and Andrea have crossed the creek and excitedly join them. They have a small bird chirping close to them—which I get a good picture of. But I can only tell them about the eagle. It is now more down the creek time and the canyon we are in is getting steeper. I see where I think we probably crossed 40 years ago. But this is after we have had another good slope to descend. But on this descent I do find a broken plant and a foot print. So at least someone else has been down this way. We cross a little river-let and it looks like there is almost a path. This leads us on for a ways—right up the side of a cliff. There definitely is a path here which others have taken, but where it goes from here, we are at a loss. After examining the options, we decide, there is a small crack in the rock and Andrea goes up it. She says that we can descend on the other side. So off comes our packs and we push them on up. Sherri has her first chimney under her belt now.



But it is getting late and we are at least a mile, cross-country from the Goddard Canyon trail. We decide that if we do not get down by 8, we will camp. We start our descent again—this time, it is a lot tamer from what we have gone on. But it tame only in comparison. It is still rough. We go up and over a second ridge—this time it is easy. We are able to look into Goddard Canyon and the San Joaquin River. Now the only task is to get down. Andrea leads the way and I work as a guide for Sherri. For the most part, it is more just picking our way down. And down we get as we reach the river at 8. Andrea finds a place to camp—or did I? Anyway, we start pitching the tent and hammock in the dark while Sherri cooks our meal. We will find the trail tomorrow. We turn in pretty much as soon as after we eat, all tired from yesterday.



Note: I found the trail—I went out to relieve myself and found the path.