TR Courtright to Red Mountain Basin 7/20 - 7/23

[Love the Sierra]

I went out with my two dogs intending to make this a 6 day trip.
The weather was surprisingly hot, High 60’s in the day and the water warm at both Fleming Lake and Post Coral.
Magnificent flowers of every size, shape and color accented the trail. We saw a bear on the trail before Long Meadow but didn’t get a very good look because it took off when it saw us.
Long Meadow was a beautiful, bright green and Maxson Meadow carpeted with flowers. Not many pictures because I had to keep moving due to mosquitos. (Full report in the mosquito conditions sections of the forum.)
Fleming Lake was beautiful, surrounded by bright green grasses and flowers and ringed by granite walls. A big storm rolled in on the 23rd when we packed out and we heard lots of thunder and saw big black clouds from 3:00-5:00pm.
The original plan had been a layover day or even two at Disapopointment Lake and to climb the pass and explore around Devil’s Punchbowl.
However, considering the mosquitos we had encountered and reports from other hikers telling us that Disappointment had ALOT OF MOSQUITOS and was not pleaseant even with lots of repellent, I decided to head down to where Kings meets Fleming because 3 years ago we had found it to be a safe haven from mosquitos during a late spring trip. The river is beautiful there and we had had a really fun time climbing across the granite and following the river down.
However, my 7 month old pup was showing signs of fatigue on the way down. She is great on day hikes from 6-10
miles. However, fatigue is cumulative and all of the hiking and exploring around the granite for three days was beginning to tire her out. She still had a spring in her walk, but when we stopped, she was asleep before I had my pack off! (This pup usually spends all break times finding mischief and chewing sticks.)
So, when we got to Post Coral, I decided to head back to the TH instead of King’s.
I was disappointed to shorten the trip, but did not want to endanger my pup’s joints and muscles.
However, this last day was the best of the trip. We began at about 5:30am with a climb up the granite above Fleming Lake and explored around until about 7:00am when the mosquitos came out. Then packed camp.
We had plenty of time and the way down was an easy stroll. The dogs and I played in Post Coral for a while. I enjoyed every tree and every meadow we passed. I most love to watch the trees change with changes in altitude. From one variety of pines to Mountain junipers covered in big purple berries and their hairy barks, to aspens and pines to Red firs and pines and even a few cedars. Some of those firs are enormous and very beautiful. They were logging like crazy before the dam and it was good to see these huge protected trees. Flowers, flowers flowers! The views all the way from Fleming Lake all the way down were gorgeous and I stopped to admire them often.
At the parking lot, we found a HUGE, very pretty rattler coiled up. We han’t seen it, but it rattled loudly as we approached so, happily, we were able to give it plenty of space and took a wide detour to the car.

[rightstar76]

Love the Sierra, glad you had a great time. I can almost feel the joy you felt in the words of your trip report. Thanks for sharing!

[balzaccom]

Excellent report. We had a similar trip over 4th of July a few years ago. As we hiked in people who were on their way out were a bit shell-shocked by the mosquitoes. But the scenery, the flowers, and the fun made it all worth while. Glad you had a great trip--and made the right move for your puppy!

[Harlen]

Sounds great! We envy you all the animals you saw... and the flowers! Congratulations on a fun trip.

[Love the Sierra]

Speaking of animals, I forgot to mention that I also saw a wonderful little bright, kelly green frog. It was about a square inch in size and the color of newly sprouted foliage!

[SSSdave]

Pacific Tree Frog was split into 3 species with ours pseudacris sierra, Pacific Chorus Frog. More common than yellow legged frogs.

http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pa ... gilla.html

[Love the Sierra]

Yes, that is the little fellow!Thanks Ssdave!

[sekihiker]

My six pound Yorkie, Beans, loved the area you visited. She even dictated a report to me for one of our trips. See: http://www.sierrahiker.com/IndianLakes/index.html

She went from Rae Lake to the Maxson Trailhead in one day on one of our trips. I clocked her on the GPS at four miles per hour on the last half mile. I had to trot to keep up.

[Love the Sierra]

Sekhiker,
Beautiful pictures! Beans is adorable and quite a hiker! Hope to see her on the trail one day. My Jasmine is only 7 months old, that is why I am letting her set the pace this year. I do not want to damage her joints.

[sekihiker]

Good for following your dog's lead. She will love you for taking good care of her. Beans passed away three years ago at the age of 16. She hiked from age 3 to 15. That's age 21 to 105 in dog years. Not bad, I'd say.