July 13, 2016 - Backpacking to Ostrander Lake

Title: July 13, 2016 - Backpacking to Ostrander Lake
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Menu : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Lost Bear Trail Head

Hike Info:

Type:  Backpacking

Trail: Ostrander Lake

Destination: Ostrander Lake

Distance: 6.27 miles

Start Time:  11:10

End Time:     5:04

Travel Time: 5:54 (1.06 mph)

Moving Time: 3:29 (1.80 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,929'

Maximum Elevation: 8,590'

Description:
This was to be a two night trip, but we needed to make a decision on getting an air conditioner, so we cut off a day. Also we decided to go to an old stand-by: Ostrander Lake. We know the trail and it will be a good training for our JMT hike in August. Also, as a side benefit, the lake is beautiful.

We leave the house a little after 8am and get to Oakhurst at 9am where we stop at Pete's Place and pick up a turkey sandwich. They were making some breakfast burritos which looked good. So we got one for dinner as well. Then stuffed them into our bear canister. Next stop: Wawona Ranger Station. There we got our wilderness permit, then headed to our trail head: Lost Bear Meadow-appropriately named since last year we saw a cub which seemed hopelessly disoriented. Also a friend of ours saw either the same cub or a close cousin around the same area last weekend.

Coming up the trail

But there is no bear today, except today is going to be a bear. We are getting started late and the  it is a warm day. The first part of this trail, until the Deer Camp trail junction is a pleasant, gradual up. We do ok, but I think the GPS has gone wacked-showing we have traveled about 3.5 miles when this section of the trail is only 2.3 miles. But even more impressive is we are traveling more than 3 mph-I am thinking only in my dream.

We stop at our disintegrating  log at the Deer Camp junction. When we first started doing this trail, it was a nice place to sit and have lunch. Today we choose some rocks behind what used to be the log. Fairly comfortable rocks too. But our lunch is interrupted by some bumble bees and biting flies. So off we go, not fulling appreciating the Pete's Place turkey sandwich.

Sherri walking the Ghost Forest

We start up the steep part of the trail, rising about a thousand feet in two miles.  The heat is wearing us down, still one foot in front of the other. There is a ghost forest from a fire two decades ago. We also cross some exposed granite which gets us a bit more baked.  And then it is more uphill.

Sherri is a bit a head of me-I have been waiting a bit more when she stops and rests. Even as slow as we are traveling, we pass a group of young teenage girls from Camp Tawonga. They look even more spent than us. I offer a few words of encouragement that the lake is really  beautiful and there is a tendency for the pain to be forgotten. I do not know how convinced they are.

When we reach the top of Horizon Ridge and take a break, that gets short lived. A bumble bee starts to attack Sherri. This gets her going fast-not hiking fast, but away from the bee with her pack. I also get attacked when I put on my pack. While killing it, I do get a measure of revenge by whacking it with the heel of my boot. I sort of wonder why anything hit by my boot survives.

We trudge up Horizon Ridge. Having been somewhat spent from the last two miles, our progress is not very fast or energetic.  Three people on horses are on their way down and we use that as an excuse to stop and talk. They are from Placerville. But our rest time ends when they move on. One of the ladies think we are cute and takes our picture.

The advantage we have is we have been on this trail many a time and know how far more we have. The disadvantage is the same. At this point, we have conquered the hard part and just need a mile more. A little before the final hump we get a view off of Horizon Ridge to the east-seeing the Clark Range. Always an enjoyable sight.

And now for an even more enjoyable sight,  Ostrander Lake comes into view. The ski hut is there, looking the same. We veer off to the west and the camp spots there. We try to leave the largest camp spot for the girls coming up.  While the intention is good, where we had set our packs, but not set up the tent yet had a bigger flat area where the girls could sleep. So we traded. You sort of expect the leader to say "Thank You". But we were really surprised and impressed that each of the girls also addressed us and thanked us.

So we set up camp and lounged around. Got a bit thirsty and found out that the filter was not working. The filter is new, why isn't it working? After the initial panic of will we have water on this hot evening, I took apart everything and then noticed the valve I had recently put in had a ball valve. Unfortunately the ball allowed flow the wrong way. So took it off when I wanted to filter water and then screwed it back on to stop the flow. Crude and inefficient, but we got water.

We had our Breakfast Burrito dinner, well most of it-this thing was large. Then went to bed for a good night sleep.


Trail Lesson:

Make sure your equipment is working before you get on the trail.


Background
The Ghost Forest is the result of a big burn called the Horizon Ridge Fire in 1994.

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Home-granola	Turkey sandwich from Pete's Place in Oakhurst	Breakfast Burrito from Pete's Place in Oakhurst	Clif Bar, Scratch, Propel, GORP

Flowers and Plants

Scarlet Fritilla