Gary-Summer: Shaver Lake

Showing posts with label Shaver Lake. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

April 29, 2025 - Mt Ely

Title: April 29, 2025 - Mt Ely
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Balsom Forebay Parking Lot

Trail: Balsam Forbay, Dogwood trail, Trail to East Ely

Destination: Mt Ely

Distance: 4.42 miles

Start Time: 10:37

End Time: 2:23

Travel Time: 3:46 (1.17 mph)

Moving Time: 2:36 (1.70 mph)

Elevation Rise: 890'

Descent: 861‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,930'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Sherri at start of trip

Rachel has been with us two weeks and we have not been able to go for a hike yet. But today is the day. The question is where to go? The choices which we have narrowed down to are Musick Meadow or Ely Mountain. Which one to go on?

I got up around 5:40. Just did a few things which I needed to get done--at least in my mind they needed to be done. By 9:15, we are all in the car. Fortunately, both of our choices are close to Shaver Lake, so we can discuss it on the way up to Shaver. It was not much of a discussion. We decided to go to Ely Mountain.

Korra, the snow dog

We arrived there at 10:30 and hit the trail by 10:45. We have done this walk before, but in the evening for a full moon walk last May. The route we follow is an SCE road almost all the way. The first couple hundred yards is an incline. While my legs are OK, I can tell I have not been up at elevation for awhile.

Unknown dome

We drop down to the Balsam Forebay area and enjoy that view of the water. The ridge which Kaiser Peak is on looks down onto the water-it is a ways away. The road then rolls along for a way. Sherri spots a dome-she calls it a Half Dome, but it looks like a full dome. Not sure what it is, but Kerckhoff Dome is someplace in that vicinity.

QR Code for AllTrails

We come to a junction. Fortunately for us, there are two clues. First a little circular arrow points the way and second, there is an AllTrails QR code enlightening us. Sherri interrogates that, but Steven knows the way and leads on. The road leads down a ways and then we start climbing Ely Mountain proper.

Remember that comment I made about not being at elevation for awhile? This climbing up the road is doing me in and I am quickly huffing and puffing. I walk a ways and then stop and breathe. Sherri thinks that I am stopping to wait for her, but that is only an appearance.

Eventually we leave the road and get to a high point. It does not look like where we were before and there is not much of a view. I tell them I am going to wander around and look for a good view. Steven takes a lead and we find a trail which leads up to a higher point with the view. This is where we were last year, instead of at noon, it was with a full moon.

We made it there around 12:15 and had our lunch. There was a discussion about whether we have lunch now or save ourselves for pizza later. We have lunch. This is between looking around at the various sights and the clouds hovering overhead, we stretch our time on top of Ely to about half an hour, not that we are in any rush. What can we see? We look right down onto Shaver Lake. Then to the east of the Lake is Bald Mountain-one of the many by that name. Then looking to the northwest, I saw Shuteye. And close to straight north is Kaiser Peak. There is a lot more which we could have identified if I had spent the time to gaze, wonder and figure out. It is still a wonderful view.

I did say clouds didn’t I? Last Saturday I did a presentation on clouds and thunderstorms. You would think I would be at least a semi-expert on the subject and be able to identify the clouds which I am seeing. I am just enjoying the clouds or as Judy Collins says:

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now

From up and down and still somehow

It’s cloud illusions I recall

I really don’t know clouds at all.

The way down is the same up all the way back to the car. One thing which I did not note coming up is that there is still snow on the trail. It is rather patchy and only a couple inches thick in most places. It was pretty firm going up. But coming down the sun has melted a lot of the snow. On the downhill stretches the snow can be a bit slippery. But none of us fell.

We get back to the car about 2:25. There is still a hunger for pizza. We stopped in front of Shaver Lake Pizza and see that it is closed today. But the Pub and Grub is, so we stop in for a bite. We have eaten here before and the waitresses have been friendly. Today is no exception. She tells us she is going to Italy next week and Rachel relays some of her experiences from there. We have burgers which are pretty good and then are on our way. We make 4:30. I think most of us were still feeling the effects of not being at altitude in awhile as we all took time to rest.

Background

Dome. That dome we were seeing is at 354^o, at lat/long of 37.162, -119.258. When plotting this out on Google Earth with a topo map overlay, the dome is called Mushroom Rock.

Extra Photo's

Cloud over Shaver Lake

Balsam Forebay

Steven, Rachel, Friday and Sherri

Rachel and Friday

Sherri

Shaver Lake

Kaiser Ridge

Baldy Mountain

On the way out: Rachel, Steven and Sherri

Animals

Flowers and Plants

Manzanita

Snow Plant

Saturday, July 20, 2024

July 20, 2024 - Backpacking to Lower Twin Lakes

Title: July 20, 2024 - Backpacking to Lower Twin Lakes

Hike Info : Description : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Backpacking

Trail head: Potter Pass

Trail: 24E03 - California Riding and Hiking Trail

Destination: Upper Twin Lakes

Actual Destination: Lower Twin Lakes

Distance: 3.3 miles ¹

Elevation Rise: 1.138 '

Descent: 807‘

Maximum Elevation: 8,984'

¹The GPS turned itself off. The above information is based upon a plot on Google Earth. The mileage is close to what I anticipated.

Description:

Gary at the start

Am I ready to go on my first backpacking trip in two years? I think I have the equipment ready, but is my body ready? I am cognizant that my body is older and that there have been some things which has weakened the body. If I sound like I do not want to go, you would be wrong, I am just aware that I am not as young and strong as I used to be.

Now that I got that out of the way, here is how the day went. Last night I did the lightning report for today, so that meant I had the morning free to get things ready to go. I still get up at 5:30. I just did a few things until the others got up at 7. We still take until after 9 before we leave. Some of this is that Rachel got in late last night and she needed to get repacked after some equipment failure. A little slow start but we do not have a long hike today.

We stopped at Prather to pick up our wilderness permit-I had gotten a reservation and just needed to pick up the actual permit. But if you know me, I can stretch things. Recently I had been in communications with BC42 and I checked to see if he was in-he is! He came out and talked with me for a little while. It is good to see somebody face to face.

Mountain Meadow

Off we go with Steven continuing to drive. It takes close to an hour to get to the trail head. We passed by Shaver and Huntington Lakes, then went up Kaiser Pass Road. The trail head is called Potter Pass, not to be confused with the Potter Pass Cutoff, which is a bit lower. The parking lot is full, but we are able to find parking about 200’ up the road at an auxiliary parking area.

View from Potter Pass

It is a bit after 11:00 when our boots hit the dirt. My pack is starting out as the heaviest, about 35 pounds. The reason is I am trying to carry the weight as if Sherri and I are going along. I will use Steven and Rachel to offload if I feel like I am going to have trouble carrying this,

Round Meadow

The first two miles is up to Potter Pass. It is a 900’ climb. Because of our late start, it is a bit warm. But we work our way up. I am going OK, keeping a steady pace up. Not terribly fast. While the landscape is not terrible, the flowers which are in bloom kept me inspired as we walked along, And there are many flowers in bloom-see the pictures below.

Korra and Steven at Lower Twin

About half way to Potter Pass we stop for lunch. It feels good to rest for about half an hour. As we get ready to leave, we hear a familiar voice. Our hiking friend, Jerry J comes down the trail and stops with his friend Emma. We chatted for a while and then each went our separate ways.

We still have a bit to go up, which we do, It is a hot, exposed section. I concentrate on making steady progress towards the Pass. Steven and I get to the top and there are several groups already there. We find a spot off the trail in the shade and wait for Rachel and Sherri. We see more people come through, some on horses. Korra eyeballs them, but does not seem to be too interested in giving chase. Maybe she is hot.

Sherri and Rachel come up and rest as well. Even though I have been laying down for awhile, I still feel like the rest I am going. I feel good that I made it up to the top, since most of the rest of the trail is downhill. Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of haze today. The mountains to the north are only a faint outline of when we have seen them before. To the east are some clouds and before we take off, we hear a couple booms of thunder. I guess this means it is time to move on.

Place of rest

The trail down is steep and dusty and exposed. This equals not a whole bunch of fun since I know we will be climbing out of it again tomorrow. Eventually we get into a tree covered area which makes this part of the trail a bit more pleasant. Rachel and Steven go on ahead while Sherri and I pick our way down through the stones on the path. At our age, we are a bit more cautious of what happens when we roll on one of these rocks.

Upper Twin Lake

We get to the junction to Twin Lakes. And now the trail goes more even. We pass by a nice meadow, Round Meadow. And we continue on with the two “kids” in front. I stop and talk with a couple backpackers who are coming out. They advocate stopping at Lower Twin Lake to camp. They say that there are some large groups at Upper. I keep this in mind for when we arrive at Lower.

That is only about ten minutes away. When we discuss our plans among the four of us-Korra has a tendency to do whatever the rest of us wants to do, Rachel goes off to find if there is a suitable camp spot. She finds one at the northwest end of the Lower Twin Lake, across the trail from the lake. It is back aways, not hidden, but obscure. There is a fire pit, not that we are going to use it, and places for a tent and a couple hammocks. We decided to stop here.

Reflection in Lower Twin Lake

The kids put up their hammocks. I just lay around for about 20 minutes. I guess the hike, even though it is about 3½ miles, tuckered me out. I laid around some more and eventually put up the tent. Steven and Rachel went over to Upper Twin for a swim. That gives me about an hour more to read and rest. When they came back, it is time for dinner. It is freeze dried stuff. Pretty good and filling, or maybe it is that I am not all that hungry.

After dinner, Sherri and I walk over to Upper Twin and enjoy a sunset. Then we walked back to Lower and enjoyed some more of the evening, before heading back to camp. Rachel and Steven have cleaned up camp. There is a little bit of smelly stuff left over which will not fit into a bear cannister. So we will do one of my favorite camp tasks-hanging the food. Rachel tries several times and either the cord comes off of the rock or the rock does not go up high enough. She turns over the task to me. I somehow do it in one toss. Is this experience or luck? I am leaning towards the latter.

Since it is dark, we all head to bed, around 9pm. I read for a while and then turn over and go to sleep-Sherri does go to sleep a bit after me.