Hiking to East Boulder Lake
Jul. 30th, 2024 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerThis past weekend we headed up to far northern California. Friday night we drove to Redding and stayed there. Saturday morning we saw a lot of smoke to the east from the Park Fire, but then we drove almost two hours northwest toward the Trinity Alps. By the time we reached the trailhead for East Boulder Lake an hour west of Mt. Shasta there was no longer any sign of smoke in the air.
We got to the trailhead at 5,700' elevation with no problem. A combination of AllTrails user comments and Google Maps were our guides. Even the 6 miles of dirt road, which we took our 4x4 to make sure we could conquer, were mild enough that we probably could have driven them in our convertible. Still, it's better to have the certainty of a real 4x4 in case there's an obstacle on the vehicle trail.
The foot trail climbed steadily through the forest at first before leveling out and opening up a bit as it crossed the boundary into the Trinity Alps wilderness. Somehow it just seemed that everything was greener once we crossed the invisible line into the wilderness.
Soon enough the trail started climbing more steeply again. First it was a steep climb through forest, then we broke out onto grassy hillside with a view of a waterfall ahead of us.
From here on up the trail was frequently wet. The outflows from East Boulder Lake and other lakes up above all pour down through this area, and the trail is often the path of least resistance for the water.
The trail climbing up above this falls was steep and often slow-going. I didn't mind the huffing and puffing and knee twisting because there was so much to look at. In beauty I walk.
Soon enough we were at the last bit before the lake. How could we tell? Just reading the terrain. There's obvious a huge flat spot up above us. That's where the lake is going to be.
And, yup, that's where East Boulder Lake is. 6,680' elevation. In beauty I walk.
To be continued....
Update: Keep reading in part 2 of this hike!
We got to the trailhead at 5,700' elevation with no problem. A combination of AllTrails user comments and Google Maps were our guides. Even the 6 miles of dirt road, which we took our 4x4 to make sure we could conquer, were mild enough that we probably could have driven them in our convertible. Still, it's better to have the certainty of a real 4x4 in case there's an obstacle on the vehicle trail.
The foot trail climbed steadily through the forest at first before leveling out and opening up a bit as it crossed the boundary into the Trinity Alps wilderness. Somehow it just seemed that everything was greener once we crossed the invisible line into the wilderness.
Soon enough the trail started climbing more steeply again. First it was a steep climb through forest, then we broke out onto grassy hillside with a view of a waterfall ahead of us.
From here on up the trail was frequently wet. The outflows from East Boulder Lake and other lakes up above all pour down through this area, and the trail is often the path of least resistance for the water.
The trail climbing up above this falls was steep and often slow-going. I didn't mind the huffing and puffing and knee twisting because there was so much to look at. In beauty I walk.
Soon enough we were at the last bit before the lake. How could we tell? Just reading the terrain. There's obvious a huge flat spot up above us. That's where the lake is going to be.
And, yup, that's where East Boulder Lake is. 6,680' elevation. In beauty I walk.
To be continued....
Update: Keep reading in part 2 of this hike!
