Labor Weekend in the Trinity Alps Wilderness

Beth, Diego, and I took advantage of the long labor day weekend to head out in the Trinity Alps Wilderness with Greg and Teresa. We headed out Friday and after a three hour trip inland we were at the Scott Mountain trailhead. This trail is part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) that runs from Mexico to Canada.

That night we hung out at the trailhead and slept under the stars. Well at least the humans did; Diego stood watch all night.

In the morning we packed up and headed into the back country. We hiked about 8 miles west to the East Boulder Lake Trail, which diverts from the PCT to the north towards the East Boulder Lakes and to the south towards the Marshy Lakes. Both lake systems are high altitude. We decided to head over towards the Boulder Lakes. This involved hiking up over a ridge and dropping down into the Boulder Lake's watershed. Almost instantly we realized there were other people camped along the four lakes (three pretty small). After striking out on a great campsite, we debated taking a less than great site. Luckly, we all felt good enough to do some more hiking and decided to head back over the ridge and drop down into the Marshy Lake system.

Hiking into the East Boulder Lakes


Diego and his pack

BINGO! We found a lake all to ourselves with great views, a great rock to swim from, refreshing (but not to cold) water, and a great cooking area. We set up camp and headed straight for a swim. A lot of times high altitude lakes are really cold, but with the snow gone and the sun hot for most of the summer, the lake was perfect.

Big Marshy Lake (rock in below picts
is on right side)

Chillin' on the lake's shore

After some swimming and hanging out in the sun, it was time for some dinner. Greg and Teresa made up some killer chili with fresh avocado, tomato, and cheddar cheese. We were stuffed. It was about this time the wind started.

That night the wind blew hard. It blew harder than I have ever camped in. After hanging the food (to keep the bears from eating it), we headed to bed. We all thought the wind would die down once the valley below cooled off, boy were we wrong. Beth and I went to sleep without the rain fly on, but by 12:30 it was apparent the wind was here to stay and was getting stronger. I reluctantly got out of the tent and put on the rain fly. I hoped it would be easier to sleep with us more protected, but the wind was so loud that sleeping only came in bursts. By morning, the temp must have been in the 40's and the wind was still blowing. We climbed out of the tent to find Greg and Teresa had the same difficulty sleeping as we did and had already found another campsite on the other side of the lake where it was better protected. We packed up and headed over.

Our new tent site on the northwest edge of the
lake after the windy night

Later that morning the wind died down and all was good. We decided to go for a hike up and around the rim above the lake. There was really cool views of Mount Shasta, the lake, and all the other mountains around. We found a really cool meadow to come back down through.

Video taken while above the camp.
Greg is the goofy one with the other camera.

Teresa and Greg

Greg and Diego enjoying the view

After we got back in camp it was time for some reading and a nap in the sun.

Doing nothing!

Later we did some swimming. Since Beth had a triathlon the following Sunday, she took the opportunity to get some open water training in. She had her own private lake and since it was at altitude (~7,000 FT), she really got in a good workout.

Beth swimming in her private lake

That night it was our turn to cook dinner. We brought tasty bites (Indian food). During dinner we were all wondering if the winds would start again. Although it blew a couple of strong gusts, the previous night was not repeated and so we slept like superstars.

Beth and I woke early to watch the sunrise. We crawled out of the warm tent into the crisp mountain air with warm clothes on and our sleeping bags in tow. We hiked to the east end of the lake and found a protected spot on the cliff overlooking the lower lake. The sun came up just south of Mount Shasta where three months ago, to the day, we got engaged. It was a great way to start the day.

Sunrise


Our trio

After watching the sunrise, we returned to the tents for some breakfast. We spend the rest of the morning laying around enjoying the last few hours of our private retreat. At about 1:00 we packed up and headed back towards the car. We had a really good pace and reached the car in just over two hours.

On the way home, we stopped in Weaverville for a late lunch and then continued home. Beth, Diego, and I reached home at about 8:00, which is really early compared to our other recent trips.

Well, that is that. We had a great time. We highly recommend the Trinity Alps.

-BnT