Gary-Summer: August 3, 2019 - George Lake to Trailhead

Saturday, August 3, 2019

August 3, 2019 - George Lake to Trailhead

Title: August 3, 2019 - George Lake to Trailhead
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: George Lake

Hike Info:

Type: Backpacking

Trail: 7s32 California Riding Trail, 24e03 Twin Lakes Trail Loop, 26e31 George Lake

Destination: Potter Pass Trailhead

Distance: 4.76 miles ¹

Start Time: 11:15

End Time: 4:30

¹I forgot my GPS. The information on length and elevation is taken from a trip we made on August 19, 2014.

Description:

Traditional Creek Crossing

Last night was somewhat miserable and it was my fault that I had not taken care of the issue. Yesterday while hiking up to College Lake, I acquired a headache. It was not bad-I was wondering if it was somewhat altitude induced. Anyway, I thought that I could sleep it off. Nope. As the night wore on, it got worse. So on one of the midnight runs, I asked Sherri if she had any Advial in the tent, otherwise I would dig through the bear canister for some in my medicines. Sherri did not, but she knew right where hers was, so St. Sherri rummaged around her first aid kit and rescued me. I slept the rest of the night very well. Thanks Sherri.

Flowers on the way down

I got up around 845 pretty refreshed. While Sherri was sleeping, I finished off the book The Art of Dying Well by Katy Butler. Not that I am thinking of dying soon, more because my parents have been on my mind and how they went I just want to be responsible for my own passing when the time comes. It is a book which at the least will cause you to consider how you want to go.

We are in no rush today. I figure about three hours to walk out of here. So Sherri is sleeping in even more than I did. Breakfast is the normal oatmeal fare. Sherri did put an extra serving of oatmeal into us, so I am feeling a bit bloated after breakfast. Good to know.

More flowers along the way

What is not normal is we are a bit lethargic in our morning. Neither of us are moving too quickly or purposely. Still, we have plenty of time to walk out of here. There are 5 miles to travel and all except for a mile is downhill. We manage to leave around 11:15-or maybe a few minutes afterwards. It is a lot easier going this way than it was Thursday coming up the hill. Also there is a lot less mosquitoes. All of this allowed us to stop and enjoy things.

Quartz Rock

Things like flowers and butterflies. Coming in, where there were pretty flowers, there was mosquitoes. But having gotten a later start, the mosquitoes are more dormant now. So we stop and enjoy the flowers a lot more. And there are a lot more flowers to enjoy. The yellow-orange of the leopard lily, red of the Indian Paintbrush, and of course, purples of lupine. All combined to provide a visual feast. Then as we get close to Upper Twin Lake, butterflies come into play. Mostly fritillaries, but some checkers and swallowtails pop up.

Round Meadow

We follow the trail around the north side of the lake and come to a large camping spot at the east end of it. So we stop for a few minutes to take a break before moving on. There is a couple coming up the trail from Sample Meadow. The guy looks familiar, and then we recognize the women-it is Julie and Michael from our church. Julie is the worship leader there and to be frank, we do not know them very much. We talk for about 45 minutes-much more than we have talked with them ever. It is good to have “accidently” met them up here. Sometimes you meet people in the strangest places. Amazing stuff beauty, hiking and God bring together.

Looking north from Potter Pass

They leave and we go about 200’ and then we see Mark, from our house church coming along the trail with some of his forest service friends. They are coming in to camp at Upper Twin Lake. A series of coincidences. Actually I am not sure there are coincidences, just fulfillment of plans.

The end of the trail is not getting any closer, so we move on. The path starts to go uphill, which means, I am huffing and puffing. This side of Potter Pass is shorter, but steeper than the south side. More reason to stop and breath. But the good thing about going up a bit steeper, is that as you climb, you start seeing over the trees. And what a sight we see-as I rest often. The crest of the Sierra rises up along with much of the drainage of the San Joaquin River.

Sherri descending from Potter Pass

This is culminated at the top of Potter Pass where we can see both to the north and south of us. A pretty good view for a lower Sierra pass. As we rest at the top, a couple who had done a day hike to George Lake came over the top. We talked a bit. The lady shared a quote about llama’s-see below. Then they are off. As Sherri and I are thinking about leaving, three young females come up and ask if they can share our shade-of course. I think they are much younger than they are-they are in college and all met in New Zealand-are all Americans (not that it matters much up here, we will talk with anybody it seems like.) We sit and talk for about half an hour before they leave and we decide it is time for us to leave.

Huntington Lake

The rest of our trail, about 2 ½ to 3 miles is all downhill. My body seems to be more tired in the afternoon than in the morning. So even though we have not gone more than 2 miles, the body seems to be dragging. Yesterday I said that I do not so much description on smell, that is true about noise. Both coming in and going out, we are being serenaded by grasshoppers, sending up a constant racket. I suppose if it was only one of these pests, it might sound like a rattler. But with it being so many, it is a rataplan of clicking sound. Once we get into the forest it subsides.

Going down, we stop a few times, just to rest for 30-60 seconds, then we are off again. We make it back to the car around 4:30, pretty tired, but surprisingly not very hungry. Even when we get to Shave Lake, we only stop to pick up something cold and a bag of chips. I guess Sherri’s extra serving kept us going and full. So we get home around 6:00pm and get cleaned up. After laying around for about an hour, we decide to eat at Yosemite Falls restaurant. I have a small dinner and bring the rest back home. Then it is off to sleep.

Trail Lesson: Be more like a llama rather than a horse-look around, not always at your feet. From a fellow hiker.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Ritz Crackers, Tortillas, Peanut Butter, Nutella	Yosemite Falls restaurant	Clif Bar, Scratch, Coffee Candy