Way Too Long Hotsprings Hike Report, 8/15 - 8/29
Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:58 pm
What can I say, I'm lazy. I'll just be posting my journal entries that I wrote each night while hiking with a few photos thrown in. I plan to put up 3 days at a time.
Day 1
Not the best of starts to my 2017 Sierra Hike. Schatt’s Bakery decided not to open this morning, but they did leave a nice note on the front door, “Closed, sorry for the convenience.” I don’t think they know what that word means. I took care of a few last minute tasks before taking the town trolley out to the Welcome Center/Ranger Station to pick-up my permit. That’s when I found out about a new rule that the Inyo Ranger had implemented that requires all backpackers to carry a trowel for digging cat holes. The ranger I got my permit from said that they had determined that people who don’t use trowels/shovels do not dig deep enough holes. I didn’t ask him how they determined this, but I bet they determined it through an extensive study conducted by the Inyo Ranger who uses a trowel for digging cat holes, which concluded that anyone not doing it that way must not be doing it correctly. My experience with digging cat holes seems to differ. I find using a sturdy tent stake works great at loosening up the rocky ground common in mountainous areas. I’ll put my stake and hand dug cat holes up against any dug with a pretty orange trowel. Just a word of advice, when picking up your permit, make sure you tell them you are using a trowel to dig your cat holes, otherwise they will make you buy a piece of garbage that will break if it gets near the ground. (Rant over)
I took the Lakes Basin trolley out to Horseshoe Lake, oriented myself, and got on the trail at 10:05, headed towards Reds Meadow and the Fish Creek Trail to Iva Belle Hot Springs, my goal for the day. After a very short climb I came to a sign that indicated the PCT was 5 miles away. This was my first indication that the miles I had estimated for today were way off. I decided to take the trail to the PCT anyway as it looked nicer on the map than my planned route and only a mile or two longer. I was falling behind as I finally arrived at the Fish Creek Trail near Rainbow Falls. I had seen the falls before during my 2015 JMT hike and had no problem bypassing them this time. I was behind schedule but made up that lost time by taking a 15 minute break at the Crater Creek Crossing instead of the 1 ½ hour break that I had planned originally. My feet were paying the price for the dusty trail. The fine dirt working its way through the breathable uppers on my Merrill Moab Ventilators and turning my socks into a fine grit sandpaper.
Near the top of the climb after the Crater Creek crossing, I saw or rather heard a rattlesnake in the brush and grass to the right of the trail. Right after, I passed a couple headed back out and let them know. The guy laughed it off, but I asked him to pass the info along to the two hikers behind me that I had just passed. Less than ¼ of a mile further along I heard and saw a large rattlesnake in the grass to my right. Fortunately, his business end was pointed away from the trail and moving further away with his tail just clearing the trail. I couldn't resist another break shortly after where I had wide open views of the canyon below me. I finally made it to Island Crossing at 5:00, about 1 hour behind my planned schedule. Fortunately, when hiking schedules are pretty meaningless and I decided to stop and make camp at one of the established sites in the area. My feet appreciated the respite, and after pitching my tent, I headed down to Fish creek to filter some water, rinse the dirt from the clothes I had worn that day and rinse the dirt from myself in the creek. As I made my way back to camp, I spied a cinnamon brown bear checking out the same camp site that I had chosen. I don’t like sharing camp sites with others and I let the bear know this, shouting at him as I made my way towards my tent. He loped off a few strides and turned, then a few more as I continued walking towards him yelling. By the time I got back to my tent, the bear had moved to the perimeter of the camp site, but was still visible in the trees and brush. I did the fastest camp break down and packing job I have ever done and was back on the trail in 10 minutes. About five minutes down the trail, I saw a second bear on the creek side of the trail that took off crashing through the brush.
Here I am now, camped below Iva Belle Hot Springs. I got here after sunset and made camp in the last waning light of the day. Dinner was made after dark, and I am dirty once again as I write these lines by head lamp before going to sleep. Today I saw 1 deer, 2 rattlesnakes, and 2 bears. I could have done without the last two animals. I did finish off the day with a lemongrass, ginger Kombucha ale from Black Doubt Brewing in Mammoth. Very tasty and well worth the extra 2 lbs of weight for the 32 oz crowler can.
Day 2
Day 2 began with a late breakfast. Camp wasn’t packed until 9. Next up was Iva Belle Hot Springs. As I made my way around the black streaked, water stained granite above the trail I came upon my first surprise of Day 2. No, not another bear or snake. It was a bare naked man bent over doing something at the outlet from a pool. I made myself known, and he stood up wearing nothing more than what he had born with; yes, entirely shaved, entirely. I mumbled something about the springs, and he told me to just keep going up until I ran into an obvious trail. And, that’s what I did. It was a decent climb finishing in a steep pitch to the highest and hottest spring. I reached down and tested the waters with my hand, deciding that this pool would do nicely, hot but not too hot. I stripped down, looking forward to a nice hot soak with beautiful views of the canyon stretched out before me. I took two steps into the pool before quickly taking two right back out. It was HOT, too hot! I got my stuff together and carefully made my way down to a lower pool that I had passed at the bottom of the steep climb. This one was much better. Not quite hot enough, but nice with those same excellent views. As I got dressed and left the hot spring, I felt clean and relaxed. I met shaved man again on my way back down to the trail. This time he was dressed and we had an actual conversation. He said that he had been coming to the hot springs for years and had decided to pay back by skimming the pools and doing what he could to keep them nice for others. By the time I made it back to the creek crossing to take the Sharktooth Creek Trail, it was 10:45. Now that’s a late start to the day.
Now I had a climb up along Sharktooth Creek from 7,120 feet to 9,080 feet. Around 7,700 feet I passed a gourgeous view of Sharktooth Creek streaming over gigantic boulders. After several short rest breaks including two to rinse the dirt off my feet and filter some water, I arrived at the Lost Keys Lakes Trail. I was already woefully behind my planned itinerary, so I figured why not add in a hike up to Lost Keys Lakes. On the way up, I went slightly off trail for some views back north where I saw a plume of smoke rising. It looked like it was in the area west of Red’s Meadow, but I’m horrible at estimating distances. I just hoped it wasn’t going to turn into something big. I arrived at the middle lake and headed up to the left of the inlet stream to the upper lake. The lakes were your typical alpine beauties with fish cruising the shoreline. I headed back down off trail, arriving at the Lost Keys Lake trail just above the trail junction.
Given the time, I changed my planned camping site for the night from Graveyard Lakes Basin to Wilbur Mae Lake. While there had been no noticeable mossies on Day 1, I noticed a few when I stopped for water at the outlet stream from the lakes. Not a lot, but I did kill four while filtering water. Things got worse after Long Canyon Trail Jct. The mossies grew in number but were manageable so long as you kept moving. Then I stopped to chat with two other hikers headed in towards Iva Belle Hot Springs. It was 4 and they wanted to know how far to the hot springs; unfortunately, I had to tell them that it was too far to make it today (about 8 miles at that point, I think). While talking to them, I noticed the cloud of mossies surrounding both of them. I could only imagine, that I looked much the same. They let me know that the mossies only got worse in the direction they were coming from. We parted and continued on to our camp sites for the night. From Jackson Meadow to Wilbur Mae Lake, the mossies were a 4 on a 0 to 4 scale. I had washed my long pants the night before and was wearing shorts this day. Finally, I had to stop, drop my pack, and quickly apply copious amounts of Picaridin to my legs and hands. The head net went on over my hat, and I continued down the trail to the Wilbur Mae Lake Trail Jct. The meadows were verdant and the granite peaks rising around me impressive. I was struck by the fact that a quintessential shaped granite peak had no name. I guess that’s the way it is in the Sierra where an 11,000 foot peak is so common, no matter how striking it might appear. I hiked over to Wilbur May Lake and set up camp quickly to get inside my tent’s bug net and away from the mossies. The lake was beautiful, and I planned to do a little fishing the next morning before leaving. Day 3
Day 3 was short but fun. After spending an hour fishing at Wilbur May Lake (half of it fixing my reel, which still doesn’t really work properly), I had breakfast and packed camp to Graveyard Lakes or possibly beyond. The morning views at Wilbur May Lake were beautiful as was the view looking down on Lake of the Lone Indian an hour later. The mossies went from an early morning 3 (on a 0 to 4 scale) to a zero at Lake of the Lone Indian. There were some snow fields to cross, especially going up to Goodale Pass. Cross-country scrambling over snow free rocks was my method of choice for tackling the snow fields without any traction devices for my boots. I reached the pass at 12:30 and started the long descent to Upper Graveyard Meadows. Just before the Cold Creek Crossing, I stopped to answer Nature’s Call and discovered the mossies were back up to a 3 as they swarmed me. The head net went on, and I got moving as fast as possible.
I made the turn up to Graveyard Lakes and reached the lowest lake at 2:30 where I saw the first people of the day camped at a nice site just off the east side of the trail. I waved hi and took off the head net as the mossies had disappeared again. I saw where several people had camped in the past, but didn’t stop at any of them as they were either too close to the lake, not big enough to pitch my tarp, or some other problem. I continued off trail to the northwest on the left side of the outlet from the highest Graveyard Lake. After hiking around the lake a bit, I found a nice level, clear spot on the south side of a ridge above the lake. I had great views of the mountains to the west and the string of smaller Graveyard Lakes below. I saw no surface action or minnows in the upper Graveyard Lake, so I assume this huge, deep lake at 10,000+ feet elevation is fishless. Good night from 10,400 feet.
Day 1
Not the best of starts to my 2017 Sierra Hike. Schatt’s Bakery decided not to open this morning, but they did leave a nice note on the front door, “Closed, sorry for the convenience.” I don’t think they know what that word means. I took care of a few last minute tasks before taking the town trolley out to the Welcome Center/Ranger Station to pick-up my permit. That’s when I found out about a new rule that the Inyo Ranger had implemented that requires all backpackers to carry a trowel for digging cat holes. The ranger I got my permit from said that they had determined that people who don’t use trowels/shovels do not dig deep enough holes. I didn’t ask him how they determined this, but I bet they determined it through an extensive study conducted by the Inyo Ranger who uses a trowel for digging cat holes, which concluded that anyone not doing it that way must not be doing it correctly. My experience with digging cat holes seems to differ. I find using a sturdy tent stake works great at loosening up the rocky ground common in mountainous areas. I’ll put my stake and hand dug cat holes up against any dug with a pretty orange trowel. Just a word of advice, when picking up your permit, make sure you tell them you are using a trowel to dig your cat holes, otherwise they will make you buy a piece of garbage that will break if it gets near the ground. (Rant over)
I took the Lakes Basin trolley out to Horseshoe Lake, oriented myself, and got on the trail at 10:05, headed towards Reds Meadow and the Fish Creek Trail to Iva Belle Hot Springs, my goal for the day. After a very short climb I came to a sign that indicated the PCT was 5 miles away. This was my first indication that the miles I had estimated for today were way off. I decided to take the trail to the PCT anyway as it looked nicer on the map than my planned route and only a mile or two longer. I was falling behind as I finally arrived at the Fish Creek Trail near Rainbow Falls. I had seen the falls before during my 2015 JMT hike and had no problem bypassing them this time. I was behind schedule but made up that lost time by taking a 15 minute break at the Crater Creek Crossing instead of the 1 ½ hour break that I had planned originally. My feet were paying the price for the dusty trail. The fine dirt working its way through the breathable uppers on my Merrill Moab Ventilators and turning my socks into a fine grit sandpaper.
Near the top of the climb after the Crater Creek crossing, I saw or rather heard a rattlesnake in the brush and grass to the right of the trail. Right after, I passed a couple headed back out and let them know. The guy laughed it off, but I asked him to pass the info along to the two hikers behind me that I had just passed. Less than ¼ of a mile further along I heard and saw a large rattlesnake in the grass to my right. Fortunately, his business end was pointed away from the trail and moving further away with his tail just clearing the trail. I couldn't resist another break shortly after where I had wide open views of the canyon below me. I finally made it to Island Crossing at 5:00, about 1 hour behind my planned schedule. Fortunately, when hiking schedules are pretty meaningless and I decided to stop and make camp at one of the established sites in the area. My feet appreciated the respite, and after pitching my tent, I headed down to Fish creek to filter some water, rinse the dirt from the clothes I had worn that day and rinse the dirt from myself in the creek. As I made my way back to camp, I spied a cinnamon brown bear checking out the same camp site that I had chosen. I don’t like sharing camp sites with others and I let the bear know this, shouting at him as I made my way towards my tent. He loped off a few strides and turned, then a few more as I continued walking towards him yelling. By the time I got back to my tent, the bear had moved to the perimeter of the camp site, but was still visible in the trees and brush. I did the fastest camp break down and packing job I have ever done and was back on the trail in 10 minutes. About five minutes down the trail, I saw a second bear on the creek side of the trail that took off crashing through the brush.
Here I am now, camped below Iva Belle Hot Springs. I got here after sunset and made camp in the last waning light of the day. Dinner was made after dark, and I am dirty once again as I write these lines by head lamp before going to sleep. Today I saw 1 deer, 2 rattlesnakes, and 2 bears. I could have done without the last two animals. I did finish off the day with a lemongrass, ginger Kombucha ale from Black Doubt Brewing in Mammoth. Very tasty and well worth the extra 2 lbs of weight for the 32 oz crowler can.
Day 2
Day 2 began with a late breakfast. Camp wasn’t packed until 9. Next up was Iva Belle Hot Springs. As I made my way around the black streaked, water stained granite above the trail I came upon my first surprise of Day 2. No, not another bear or snake. It was a bare naked man bent over doing something at the outlet from a pool. I made myself known, and he stood up wearing nothing more than what he had born with; yes, entirely shaved, entirely. I mumbled something about the springs, and he told me to just keep going up until I ran into an obvious trail. And, that’s what I did. It was a decent climb finishing in a steep pitch to the highest and hottest spring. I reached down and tested the waters with my hand, deciding that this pool would do nicely, hot but not too hot. I stripped down, looking forward to a nice hot soak with beautiful views of the canyon stretched out before me. I took two steps into the pool before quickly taking two right back out. It was HOT, too hot! I got my stuff together and carefully made my way down to a lower pool that I had passed at the bottom of the steep climb. This one was much better. Not quite hot enough, but nice with those same excellent views. As I got dressed and left the hot spring, I felt clean and relaxed. I met shaved man again on my way back down to the trail. This time he was dressed and we had an actual conversation. He said that he had been coming to the hot springs for years and had decided to pay back by skimming the pools and doing what he could to keep them nice for others. By the time I made it back to the creek crossing to take the Sharktooth Creek Trail, it was 10:45. Now that’s a late start to the day.
Now I had a climb up along Sharktooth Creek from 7,120 feet to 9,080 feet. Around 7,700 feet I passed a gourgeous view of Sharktooth Creek streaming over gigantic boulders. After several short rest breaks including two to rinse the dirt off my feet and filter some water, I arrived at the Lost Keys Lakes Trail. I was already woefully behind my planned itinerary, so I figured why not add in a hike up to Lost Keys Lakes. On the way up, I went slightly off trail for some views back north where I saw a plume of smoke rising. It looked like it was in the area west of Red’s Meadow, but I’m horrible at estimating distances. I just hoped it wasn’t going to turn into something big. I arrived at the middle lake and headed up to the left of the inlet stream to the upper lake. The lakes were your typical alpine beauties with fish cruising the shoreline. I headed back down off trail, arriving at the Lost Keys Lake trail just above the trail junction.
Given the time, I changed my planned camping site for the night from Graveyard Lakes Basin to Wilbur Mae Lake. While there had been no noticeable mossies on Day 1, I noticed a few when I stopped for water at the outlet stream from the lakes. Not a lot, but I did kill four while filtering water. Things got worse after Long Canyon Trail Jct. The mossies grew in number but were manageable so long as you kept moving. Then I stopped to chat with two other hikers headed in towards Iva Belle Hot Springs. It was 4 and they wanted to know how far to the hot springs; unfortunately, I had to tell them that it was too far to make it today (about 8 miles at that point, I think). While talking to them, I noticed the cloud of mossies surrounding both of them. I could only imagine, that I looked much the same. They let me know that the mossies only got worse in the direction they were coming from. We parted and continued on to our camp sites for the night. From Jackson Meadow to Wilbur Mae Lake, the mossies were a 4 on a 0 to 4 scale. I had washed my long pants the night before and was wearing shorts this day. Finally, I had to stop, drop my pack, and quickly apply copious amounts of Picaridin to my legs and hands. The head net went on over my hat, and I continued down the trail to the Wilbur Mae Lake Trail Jct. The meadows were verdant and the granite peaks rising around me impressive. I was struck by the fact that a quintessential shaped granite peak had no name. I guess that’s the way it is in the Sierra where an 11,000 foot peak is so common, no matter how striking it might appear. I hiked over to Wilbur May Lake and set up camp quickly to get inside my tent’s bug net and away from the mossies. The lake was beautiful, and I planned to do a little fishing the next morning before leaving. Day 3
Day 3 was short but fun. After spending an hour fishing at Wilbur May Lake (half of it fixing my reel, which still doesn’t really work properly), I had breakfast and packed camp to Graveyard Lakes or possibly beyond. The morning views at Wilbur May Lake were beautiful as was the view looking down on Lake of the Lone Indian an hour later. The mossies went from an early morning 3 (on a 0 to 4 scale) to a zero at Lake of the Lone Indian. There were some snow fields to cross, especially going up to Goodale Pass. Cross-country scrambling over snow free rocks was my method of choice for tackling the snow fields without any traction devices for my boots. I reached the pass at 12:30 and started the long descent to Upper Graveyard Meadows. Just before the Cold Creek Crossing, I stopped to answer Nature’s Call and discovered the mossies were back up to a 3 as they swarmed me. The head net went on, and I got moving as fast as possible.
I made the turn up to Graveyard Lakes and reached the lowest lake at 2:30 where I saw the first people of the day camped at a nice site just off the east side of the trail. I waved hi and took off the head net as the mossies had disappeared again. I saw where several people had camped in the past, but didn’t stop at any of them as they were either too close to the lake, not big enough to pitch my tarp, or some other problem. I continued off trail to the northwest on the left side of the outlet from the highest Graveyard Lake. After hiking around the lake a bit, I found a nice level, clear spot on the south side of a ridge above the lake. I had great views of the mountains to the west and the string of smaller Graveyard Lakes below. I saw no surface action or minnows in the upper Graveyard Lake, so I assume this huge, deep lake at 10,000+ feet elevation is fishless. Good night from 10,400 feet.