Re: TR:Davis Lakes-Garnet-1000 Island-Minnow Creek- and More
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2019 10:24 pm
Day 3
What a night. I. Could. Not. Sleep. I ended up getting about 2 hours sleep before enjoying some gorgeous sunrise views. Stumbling out of camp at 6:45 AM, I headed down the JMT towards the Ediza Lake Trail junction. I made the turn up towards Ediza, following along the stream, which was flowing strong, before eventually beginning the climb up to Ediza Lake. I got to ford the stream, but where it was wide and shallow and not at all exciting. Arriving at Ediza, the views were awesome, clouds piled up and spilling over the mountains ringing the lake. I made my way around Ediza and started climbing towards Iceberg Lake. Iceberg Lake lived up to its name. Even on September 6, there were still thick sheets of ice climbing up the slopes around the lake and calving small “icebergs” into the lake with a loud snap and crash. I was worried as I watched two people struggle across two small but steep ice fields covering the route up to Cecille Lake, my planned goal for the early afternoon. As I lay there resting and eating an early lunch, I began talking myself out of the loop up to Cecille, around that lake and down to Minaret Lake. In the end though, I decided to give it a shot since I was already there. After a bit of boulder hopping and scrambling, I arrived at the first snow field. I’ve read that it is 35 degrees, but standing next to it, it looked a bit steeper. A slip here without an ice axe to act as a brake would almost certainly mean death, body broken either on the rocks at the bottom or in the frigid waters of Iceberg Lake. As a matter of fact, a hiker had died here approximately 2 weeks prior. After strapping on my micro spikes – practically worthless on slopes greater than 15 degrees – I took one step onto the now slushy snow then a 2nd. Then I turned around and went back. The route will still be here for years to come, and I want to make sure I am too.
Day 3 just got a whole lot longer. Rather than tempt fate, I turned around and headed back, back past Iceberg Lake, back past Ediza Lake, back across Shadow Creek, all the way back to the JMT. And then, I turned south towards Shadow Lake. I took the first Shadow Lake exit off the JMT highway and headed past the lake for the descent down to the River Trail, the descent that I had photographed on Day 1 from the High Trail. After a slow, knee pounding drop into the canyon, I crossed the river and turned south. I reached Agnew Meadows and continued hiking, hiking to the PCT and continuing all the way to the Soda Creek Campground. Here I found a flat and free site on the opposite side of the river from the Campground. My left knee was swollen and sore, and I began wondering if I should continue hiking past Red’s Meadow. I decided to sleep on it, hoping to actually get some sleep this night. Day 4
I popped 400 mg of “Vitamin I” the night before followed by 800 mg of aspirin and some Fireball trying to calm down my knee enough to sleep. After a strangely slow packing up, I hit the trail at 7:15. Then I took a wrong turn, but still made it to Red’s Meadow by 9 AM. The next 4 hours were spent drinking and catching up on sports. I also spoke with a few SoBo PCTers, but nothing of consequence. And, I spent nearly an hour on my cell phone with my wife.
Finally, I pried myself up from the picnic bench and headed for the Fish Creek Trail. A little after 3 PM, I arrived at the Cold Creek campsite where I had camped the first night of last year’s hike. This time, I took a long break that included dinner and rinsing clothes, but I didn’t stay for the night. This night, I cowboy camped on a rock outcropping with views back to Mammoth Mt and up the Fish Creek drainage. Rock walls on three sides provided good shelter from the wind whipping through the treetops above me. Day 5
After a beautiful star filled night, with no tent to obstruct the view, I hit the trail a little after 7 AM and arrived at the Iva Belle Hot Springs a little after 11, a leisurely pace necessitated by my sore and swollen left knee. I had a nice 25-minute soak to get the worst of the dirt off before relaxing and eating in the nearby shade until 1 PM.
Next up was the climb up to Cascade Valley. Rather than give up the 600 feet of elevation gain I had worked hard for to get to the hot springs from the trail junction, I headed further uphill and south to intersect the Minnow Creek Trail higher up the hill. After gaining 120 feet, I came upon a use trail that I was able to follow all the way to the maintained trail shown on the maps, but it wasn’t all good. I came upon two beehives in the middle of the use trail. As I came upon the first hive, I noticed a lot of bees and wondered where they were coming from. I finally spied the mouth of the hive in the middle of the trail as I stepped over it. Simultaneous with that realization I felt a sting on my left ankle, and I took off running or at least as close to running as you can on a grassy slope with a 30 lb pack on your back. After a few minutes of running, I decided it was safe to slow down to a walk again. Then a few minutes after that, I spied heavy bee activity again, but this time, I saw the hive opening a few steps before I reached it, in the middle of the use trail again. I started my running sooner and detoured slightly as well, avoiding any stings this time.
Reaching the trail, I slowly but surely made my way up the remainder of the climb then entered mosquito hell when I stopped to get water from the Beetlebug Lake outlet stream. I filtered about 1.5 L, ate a little jerky, and put on my head net before continuing. Turning right at the Long Canyon trail junction, I walked as quickly as I could towards Beetlebug Lake, driven by mossies and the descending sun. Along the way to the lake, I stopped for a few photos and killed at least 23 bloodsuckers while stopped. At least the lake is beautiful, but Long Canyon is aptly named. It was a cold dinner, driven into the tent by the mossies. Day 6
I busted out 19 miles and 2,800 feet of climbing to Vermillion Valley Resort. While I didn’t start hiking until 8:10 AM, I still made it by 5:40 PM, just in time to watch the Saints second half comeback over the Texans and all of the Raiders game. It all started with frozen shoes when I finally drug myself out from under my warm quilt at 7 AM and got dressed. Then I checked my phone, 27% battery life; so, I snapped a couple of morning pics of Beetlebug Lake and finished packing up. I wanted to get a photo of the beautiful landscape as I descended Long Canyon but couldn’t. All of a sudden, my phone was completely dead. It was good that I had been here twice before because there would be no more pics this day. Goodale Pass was awesome, as I had put some distance between me and a pair of hikers with a pair of dogs but no leashes. I had seen them at Lake of the Lone Indian and tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid them entirely. But, the dogs came charging towards me hackels raised and teeth bare as I ascended towards Goodale. I said something not nice and one of the owners called the dogs, telling me that they hadn’t seen anyone in days as a reason for letting their aggressive dogs run loose on trail.
After some good beer, good conversation, and corn chips, I crawled into my tent at 10 PM, planning to take a zero at VVR the next day as I was a full day ahead of my planned schedule.
Day 7
Not much happened today. I combed through the hiker box, took a shower, washed clothes, got a yummy cheeseburger, bought food for the next few days, got an even yummier plate of gnocchi with braised short ribs for dinner, and just relaxed while talking with a few of my fellow travelers who were also taking the day off at VVR.
What a night. I. Could. Not. Sleep. I ended up getting about 2 hours sleep before enjoying some gorgeous sunrise views. Stumbling out of camp at 6:45 AM, I headed down the JMT towards the Ediza Lake Trail junction. I made the turn up towards Ediza, following along the stream, which was flowing strong, before eventually beginning the climb up to Ediza Lake. I got to ford the stream, but where it was wide and shallow and not at all exciting. Arriving at Ediza, the views were awesome, clouds piled up and spilling over the mountains ringing the lake. I made my way around Ediza and started climbing towards Iceberg Lake. Iceberg Lake lived up to its name. Even on September 6, there were still thick sheets of ice climbing up the slopes around the lake and calving small “icebergs” into the lake with a loud snap and crash. I was worried as I watched two people struggle across two small but steep ice fields covering the route up to Cecille Lake, my planned goal for the early afternoon. As I lay there resting and eating an early lunch, I began talking myself out of the loop up to Cecille, around that lake and down to Minaret Lake. In the end though, I decided to give it a shot since I was already there. After a bit of boulder hopping and scrambling, I arrived at the first snow field. I’ve read that it is 35 degrees, but standing next to it, it looked a bit steeper. A slip here without an ice axe to act as a brake would almost certainly mean death, body broken either on the rocks at the bottom or in the frigid waters of Iceberg Lake. As a matter of fact, a hiker had died here approximately 2 weeks prior. After strapping on my micro spikes – practically worthless on slopes greater than 15 degrees – I took one step onto the now slushy snow then a 2nd. Then I turned around and went back. The route will still be here for years to come, and I want to make sure I am too.
Day 3 just got a whole lot longer. Rather than tempt fate, I turned around and headed back, back past Iceberg Lake, back past Ediza Lake, back across Shadow Creek, all the way back to the JMT. And then, I turned south towards Shadow Lake. I took the first Shadow Lake exit off the JMT highway and headed past the lake for the descent down to the River Trail, the descent that I had photographed on Day 1 from the High Trail. After a slow, knee pounding drop into the canyon, I crossed the river and turned south. I reached Agnew Meadows and continued hiking, hiking to the PCT and continuing all the way to the Soda Creek Campground. Here I found a flat and free site on the opposite side of the river from the Campground. My left knee was swollen and sore, and I began wondering if I should continue hiking past Red’s Meadow. I decided to sleep on it, hoping to actually get some sleep this night. Day 4
I popped 400 mg of “Vitamin I” the night before followed by 800 mg of aspirin and some Fireball trying to calm down my knee enough to sleep. After a strangely slow packing up, I hit the trail at 7:15. Then I took a wrong turn, but still made it to Red’s Meadow by 9 AM. The next 4 hours were spent drinking and catching up on sports. I also spoke with a few SoBo PCTers, but nothing of consequence. And, I spent nearly an hour on my cell phone with my wife.
Finally, I pried myself up from the picnic bench and headed for the Fish Creek Trail. A little after 3 PM, I arrived at the Cold Creek campsite where I had camped the first night of last year’s hike. This time, I took a long break that included dinner and rinsing clothes, but I didn’t stay for the night. This night, I cowboy camped on a rock outcropping with views back to Mammoth Mt and up the Fish Creek drainage. Rock walls on three sides provided good shelter from the wind whipping through the treetops above me. Day 5
After a beautiful star filled night, with no tent to obstruct the view, I hit the trail a little after 7 AM and arrived at the Iva Belle Hot Springs a little after 11, a leisurely pace necessitated by my sore and swollen left knee. I had a nice 25-minute soak to get the worst of the dirt off before relaxing and eating in the nearby shade until 1 PM.
Next up was the climb up to Cascade Valley. Rather than give up the 600 feet of elevation gain I had worked hard for to get to the hot springs from the trail junction, I headed further uphill and south to intersect the Minnow Creek Trail higher up the hill. After gaining 120 feet, I came upon a use trail that I was able to follow all the way to the maintained trail shown on the maps, but it wasn’t all good. I came upon two beehives in the middle of the use trail. As I came upon the first hive, I noticed a lot of bees and wondered where they were coming from. I finally spied the mouth of the hive in the middle of the trail as I stepped over it. Simultaneous with that realization I felt a sting on my left ankle, and I took off running or at least as close to running as you can on a grassy slope with a 30 lb pack on your back. After a few minutes of running, I decided it was safe to slow down to a walk again. Then a few minutes after that, I spied heavy bee activity again, but this time, I saw the hive opening a few steps before I reached it, in the middle of the use trail again. I started my running sooner and detoured slightly as well, avoiding any stings this time.
Reaching the trail, I slowly but surely made my way up the remainder of the climb then entered mosquito hell when I stopped to get water from the Beetlebug Lake outlet stream. I filtered about 1.5 L, ate a little jerky, and put on my head net before continuing. Turning right at the Long Canyon trail junction, I walked as quickly as I could towards Beetlebug Lake, driven by mossies and the descending sun. Along the way to the lake, I stopped for a few photos and killed at least 23 bloodsuckers while stopped. At least the lake is beautiful, but Long Canyon is aptly named. It was a cold dinner, driven into the tent by the mossies. Day 6
I busted out 19 miles and 2,800 feet of climbing to Vermillion Valley Resort. While I didn’t start hiking until 8:10 AM, I still made it by 5:40 PM, just in time to watch the Saints second half comeback over the Texans and all of the Raiders game. It all started with frozen shoes when I finally drug myself out from under my warm quilt at 7 AM and got dressed. Then I checked my phone, 27% battery life; so, I snapped a couple of morning pics of Beetlebug Lake and finished packing up. I wanted to get a photo of the beautiful landscape as I descended Long Canyon but couldn’t. All of a sudden, my phone was completely dead. It was good that I had been here twice before because there would be no more pics this day. Goodale Pass was awesome, as I had put some distance between me and a pair of hikers with a pair of dogs but no leashes. I had seen them at Lake of the Lone Indian and tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid them entirely. But, the dogs came charging towards me hackels raised and teeth bare as I ascended towards Goodale. I said something not nice and one of the owners called the dogs, telling me that they hadn’t seen anyone in days as a reason for letting their aggressive dogs run loose on trail.
After some good beer, good conversation, and corn chips, I crawled into my tent at 10 PM, planning to take a zero at VVR the next day as I was a full day ahead of my planned schedule.
Day 7
Not much happened today. I combed through the hiker box, took a shower, washed clothes, got a yummy cheeseburger, bought food for the next few days, got an even yummier plate of gnocchi with braised short ribs for dinner, and just relaxed while talking with a few of my fellow travelers who were also taking the day off at VVR.