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East Boulder Lake & Upper Boulder Lake
Jul. 31st, 2024 01:29 pmLast Saturday we hiked to East Boulder Lake in the Trinity Alps wilderness west of Mt. Shasta. As I shared in part 1 of this trip, the climb up to the lake was steep in places but full of views.
Once we got to East Boulder Lake we walked around the left side of it to sit under one of those large trees (the distant one) you can see in the photo above. Why the left? Well, because One, there was a tree there to sit under, and Two, there was another small group of hikers laying out in the tall grass around the right side of the lake. We figured why crowd each other.
We rested our muscles and ate a bit of a pack lunch while enjoying views at the lake. We also discussed whether to go farther. The hike up to the lake was strenuous enough, and the lake was pretty enough, to call it a full day's activity. But it wasn't a full day, especially with us getting a head start after Friday Night Halfway knocked out 4+ hours of driving. There was definitely time on Saturday to do more. The only question was whether we had the energy to do more.
After resting up a bit at the lake we decided we did have the energy to do more. Upper Boulder Lake wouldn't be that tough of an add-on to the trek. Reading our topographic map showed it would be maybe an extra mile round trip and not more than another 150' of elevation gain. Looking at it visually, it was just a matter of walking around to the back of East Boulder Lake and up a marshy draw to the next lip below the far ridges.
So that's what we did. We walked around the left side of the main lake, up the marshy draw at the back, and angled up to the foot of the far ridge. We explored the area a bit as we went, investigating a spot that was off trail according to our map but looked like it might have a small pond in it. It turned out instead of a pond it was another wet meadow. Then we trekked cross-country to get over to Upper Boulder Lake, shown above. Our cross-country route was fun because it gave us this nice view of the lake from atop a small lip.
We didn't stay long at Upper Boulder Lake. By that time we were already calculating times: how long it'd take us to hike back down to the trailhead; how long it'd take us to drive to Yreka, where we were staying for the night; and when we might eat dinner.
We took a slightly different route down from the upper lake to the main lake. There wasn't really a marked trail the whole way— or at least we couldn't see one past the bit of trampled-down grass you see in the photo above. The trail went indistinct as it crossed the marsh area. That's not too surprising.
I mentioned in a previous blog that I accidentally my camera on this hike. One of the reasons I picked this photo is that this (where I'm standing) is near where I lost my other lens.
"If you remember where you lost it, why didn't you go back to get it?" you might ask.
Well, like I said, this is near where I lost it. I think it actually dropped out of my pack in the marsh. By the time I'd gotten down to the far side of the main lake I did not feel like going back to the marsh and trying to retrace my steps through the waist-high grass and ankle-deep (or deeper) muck to find a lens.
Once we got to East Boulder Lake we walked around the left side of it to sit under one of those large trees (the distant one) you can see in the photo above. Why the left? Well, because One, there was a tree there to sit under, and Two, there was another small group of hikers laying out in the tall grass around the right side of the lake. We figured why crowd each other.
We rested our muscles and ate a bit of a pack lunch while enjoying views at the lake. We also discussed whether to go farther. The hike up to the lake was strenuous enough, and the lake was pretty enough, to call it a full day's activity. But it wasn't a full day, especially with us getting a head start after Friday Night Halfway knocked out 4+ hours of driving. There was definitely time on Saturday to do more. The only question was whether we had the energy to do more.
After resting up a bit at the lake we decided we did have the energy to do more. Upper Boulder Lake wouldn't be that tough of an add-on to the trek. Reading our topographic map showed it would be maybe an extra mile round trip and not more than another 150' of elevation gain. Looking at it visually, it was just a matter of walking around to the back of East Boulder Lake and up a marshy draw to the next lip below the far ridges.
So that's what we did. We walked around the left side of the main lake, up the marshy draw at the back, and angled up to the foot of the far ridge. We explored the area a bit as we went, investigating a spot that was off trail according to our map but looked like it might have a small pond in it. It turned out instead of a pond it was another wet meadow. Then we trekked cross-country to get over to Upper Boulder Lake, shown above. Our cross-country route was fun because it gave us this nice view of the lake from atop a small lip.
We didn't stay long at Upper Boulder Lake. By that time we were already calculating times: how long it'd take us to hike back down to the trailhead; how long it'd take us to drive to Yreka, where we were staying for the night; and when we might eat dinner.
We took a slightly different route down from the upper lake to the main lake. There wasn't really a marked trail the whole way— or at least we couldn't see one past the bit of trampled-down grass you see in the photo above. The trail went indistinct as it crossed the marsh area. That's not too surprising.
I mentioned in a previous blog that I accidentally my camera on this hike. One of the reasons I picked this photo is that this (where I'm standing) is near where I lost my other lens.
"If you remember where you lost it, why didn't you go back to get it?" you might ask.
Well, like I said, this is near where I lost it. I think it actually dropped out of my pack in the marsh. By the time I'd gotten down to the far side of the main lake I did not feel like going back to the marsh and trying to retrace my steps through the waist-high grass and ankle-deep (or deeper) muck to find a lens.
