TR: SEKI – Tar Gap Trail 6/28-7/1

[Pietro257]

The little-used Tar Gap Trail is in the John Krebbs Wilderness portion of SEKI. The bare facts:

28 June 2018, Thurs – Car-camp at Cold Springs Campground

29 June, Friday – Hike 12 miles past Clover Creek and Horse Creek to Hockett Meadow

30 June, Saturday – Without breaking camp, day-hike 5 miles to Evelyn Lake, back to Hockett Meadow

1 July, Sunday – Hike 12 miles back to car at Cold Springs Campground

I don’t think the Tar Gap Trail is anyone’s first choice in SEKI, but my son who planned the trip applied for the permit two weeks in advance and the ranger assigned us Tar Gap as all the good trails were reserved. (Nevertheless, Tar Gap is preferable to the Atwell Hockett Trail, which parallels Tar Gap, also goes to Hockett Meadow, and starts at a lower elevation.)

The trail rises steeply out of Cold Springs Campground for .5 miles and then contours around a couple of mountainsides. You cross several creeks, none of which are difficult. The walking is easy on dirt, not rock, under shade. If not for the haze over the Central Valley (always hazy in the summer, right?), the view of the Valley would be quite good. There is a forlorn campsite at Horse Creek. Other than the Horse Creek campsite we saw no camps good or otherwise until Hockett Meadow, some 12 miles from the trailhead.

Hockett Meadow is big and green with a 1930s-era log ranger cabin. We arrived the day after the Strawberry Moon and got to see spectacular moonrises over the meadow. Both nights we laid on our backs in the meadow to stargaze. There is only one campsite at Hocket Meadow, an excellent one with a sunken firepit and a bear box. The mosquitos were pretty bad, especially in the area west of the meadow. The meadow has a genuine babbling brook with grassy banks, wildflowers and shade. It looks like it belongs in the English countryside.

If Evelyn Lake were on the east side of the Sierras, it would be unremarkable, but seeing it after hiking in the forest was a pleasant surprise. The lake is surrounded by granite but not large. We were told to catch and release all fish caught below 9000 feet, and Evelyn Lake was 9000 feet on my map, so the fishermen in our crew were excited at the possibility of keeping the fish they caught. They caught 22 brook trout at Evelyn Lake, all too small to keep, all released back into the water.

On our return from Evelyn Lake we discovered a party of six in our campsite – a terrible breach of campground etiquette. However, they were apologetic and sheepish about it. And they were very quiet. And if they didn’t camp in our site they would’ve had to camp in the mosquito-infested woods to the west. I felt sympathetic and they turned out to be good neighbors. Hockett Meadow really ought to have more than one campsite. (There is another campsite northeast of the ranger cabin, but it looks like it’s for forest service members only. I might be wrong.)

It took us 7.5 hours to get to Hockett Meadow and only 4.5 hours to get back. Funny how the hike back always goes faster than the hike in.

Some more tidbits:

Our crew comprised me (age 59.92) and four 29 year olds. Three of these guys I took backpacking for the first time when they were teenagers. One had never been backpacking before. On the first day in camp they told me I didn’t have to do any camp chores. They owed it to me, they said. I didn’t entirely take advantage of their generosity, but I did refrain from doing my two least favorite camp chores – washing dishes and pumping water. I mention this to let anyone who goes backpacking with kids know that karma lives and someday the favor may be returned to you.

The parking lot in Cold Springs is under attack by marmots. The rodents have come down from the high country to feed on gas pumps and other items under cars. The rangers at Cold Springs have made tarps available for protecting your car. You drive onto the tarp and tuck the tarp into the doors, hood, and trunk of your car to seal the underside from marmots. Weird! I’ve never seen anything like it – a parking lot with cars wrapped in tarps.

To get to the Tar Gap trailhead at Cold Springs Camp you have to negotiate a windy, narrow 17 mile road (Mineral King Road). The ranger at Three Rivers said it would take 1.5 hours to drive the 17 miles, and I didn’t believe her, but she was nearly right. It took us 80 minutes to get up and 70 minutes to get down.

Our trip occurred in late June, early July. We had plenty of water, but if I did this trip in August I would be concerned about water.

The ranger at Mineral King ranger station who issued us our permit gave the longest ranger spiel I have ever heard – 15 minutes’ worth. It was the usual stuff about where to camp, where to shyte, etc. delivered in granular detail. He told a story about a backpacker who forgot to put his chapstick in his bear canister. He kept it in his back pocket. The man slept in a hammock and got bit on the arse by a bear. Could this story possibly be true? It sounds to me like the rural equivalent of an urban myth.

[wildhiker]

Nice report for an area that I've never been to.

In nearly 50 years of Sierra backpacking, I've always left my chapstick in the tent pocket - I sometimes need it in the night! Never been bothered by a bear or any other animal. I think my "aroma" overpowers that little chapstick. Would probably be more careful in grizzly country. Anyway, based on my experience, I think being bitten in the arse in a hammock for a chapstick is a myth.

-Phil