Trinity Alps Octoberfest

Nancy and I had a blast. Thanks Ken for introducing me to the area.

Jim hiking up to Sapphire Lake from Emerald Lake.

The crew taking a dip in their skivies in Emerald Lake.

Nancy swimming in Sapphire Lake.

Nice shots of the lake. Jumping in was…..refreshing.

I'll post some pics in a bit.

The Van!

Kat P.

The Crew!


The Crew!

Thanks Ken for organizing everything!!!!!

Nancy looks far more attractive than the rest of us who disrobed or swam.

I had a truly enjoyable time with everyone this weekend. What great company! Thank you Ken for being such a great organizer and camp host. I look forward to more pictures. Many of the the images in my mind will not soon be forgotten.

Best post ever.

"Oh, F the Shut Up."

Great trip! So glad I came down!

I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow.

Ken's BPL Van!

I love it!

Sorry that I missed out on the fun, but appreciate your posting photos of what happen and where you were.

Looking forward to seeing more photos and hearing about what happened.

-Tony

Quit picking on Tequila when she's not here to defend herself.

Koombaya

Emerald Lake

Sapphire Lake

I've been scared of this thread all weekend;-( Spent it in Cleveland airport(connection location) trying to get to Octoverfest. Took a 5am flight and never left my connection(12 hours of waiting and fighting). My flight NEVER left(plane had a broken windshield). Next flight 2 days away. Had to fly home. Today I need to deal with Continental.

Anyways, Glad to hear everyone had fun. Thank you to everyone that helped me plan and offered to help so I could be there. I will be out there with you guys another time.

Great photos everyone!

@Jim… what a hassle! I feel for ya man. Hopefully we'll have a chance to see you at a future meet up.

I had a blast! Such a great group of guys and gals to hang with. The scenery was surely beautiful. I took a handful of photos, here are a few of them. (Yeah I'm the guy who always breaks up the flow by posting large photos… sorry, Dare to be a Daniel and all ;)

A friendly note greets those who picked up a wilderness permit.

Off we go…

The quiet path.

The river was breath taking… cold and beautiful!

Shades of Fall

The first bridge

Popular view from the second bridge

Some of the guys chat with Ron.

Breakfast! Jay, Cameron, Doug.

Katharina and Ken

A few shelters…

A look inside Steven's Trailstar + SMD Serenity net tent.

Katharina's comfy hammock

Jacob's GG Spinnshelter

Quick panorama from the meadow.

Day hiking to the lakes with Jay, Ken, and Eli…

Steven, Eli, Adam, Matt, and I hike to Sapphire Lake…

Adam taking in the view.

Mining wreckage at Sapphire Lake…

I geek out over old machinery. Something like 'you can take the man out to the woods, but you can't take the engineer out of the man' :)

Party time back at camp.

A reluctant step onto the path back home.

Looking forward to the next one, gotta beef up on my Fortran!

What a fantastic trip, I already want to go back! More photos will show up later this week.

Sorry you couldn't make it. What a pain in the ass.

This was a great trip with beautiful weather and a nice group of people. It was about 8 hours to drive from Portland, but completely worth it (with a required stop at the In-and-Out Burger in Redding).

@Jim: what a frustrating situation! On a positive note, at least the window didn't break mid-flight!

Some pics:

Mt. Shasta, from I-5 South, somewhere between Yreka and Redding:

Another shot of Ken's BPL van:

First footbridge on the nine miles up to Morris Meadow, crossing either Little Deep Creek or Deep Creek:

Deer Creek waterfall from the second footbridge:

My Trailstar (not pictured is the SMD Serenity nettent I used underneath):

David's Black Diamond Firstlight & Eli's Lunar Duo:

James' Contrail & Ron Moak's cuben Skyscape X:

Eric's (?) Wild Oasis:

James' Contrail:

Doug's cuben LightHeart Awning & someone's stealthy set-up in the trees beyond (John Abela?):

Jay's BPL Nano Tarp (I think) & Cameron's DuoMid:

We camped at the edge of massive Morris Meadow. Ken said that the deer are normally apparent but the meadow was quiet as hunting season was still on:

A big rock:

The trail up and over the Sawtooth Ridge to Caribou Lake. Nobody in our group went up there this trip (a few have been up previously) but I just thought it was a cool-looking trail:

Some scenery as we day-hiked up the valley to Emerald Lake. Some hiked a bit further to Sapphire Lake. The maples and aspens were glowing yellow against the evergreens and granite:

Morning light above Morris Meadow:

What a great time. Glad to see familiar faces and meet new people. I'm a bit disappointed that my bum knee kept me from seeing the lakes. It looks pretty awesome up there, although some of the…uh…wildlife that was spotted swimming might very well have ruined the whole thing.

Jim, I can't even explain how frustrated I would be in your spot. I hope they at least comp you a free flight or two.

Just two photos worth seeing from me:

Proof that those Northeasters ain't got nothin on us!

A little bit of glow above Morris Meadows.

I can't wait to see the rest of everyone's photos.

Repeat in October 2012?

We met kilter Chris on the trail up to the meadow. Here with Matt.

Staying warm at camp.

Hiking to the lakes.

Emerald Lake.

Cameron.

Yes, Idester can't help but stand out.

Thanks everyone for a great trip in a beautiful place!

I regret not going up and was hoping to see someone else's pictures of it. And was it really a scramble?

…unless they were being really sneaky.

It sure did look like a scramble to me. Rock hopping around the lake then a scramble up to Mirror Lake.

I want to go up next time I'm there too. Caribou Scramble was also tempting, but….gnarly looking.

I arrived at the Bridge Camp around 9PM after driving in through the dark and twisting roads through Lassen and eventually Trinity National Forests. I rolled down the windows and took in that distinct forest smell that welcomes me back to the wild. Introductions were made and we all huddled near the fire and wait for others to trickle in from all around.

I wake in the morning and talk gear with the new neighbors A slow start by most standards but it’s refreshing from the normal busy work schedule. I follow the trail which appears to be an old jeep trail for the first mile or so before it narrows restricting further travel to hikers and horses. It’s a bit chilly but I keep a good pace and eventually catch up with Matt and Kat P. who had stopped to look at one of the many creek crossings along our trail. I decide to slow down and enjoy the scenery by taking more photos and sitting next to the larger creek for a few minutes to catch my breath.

I made good time making it to Morris Meadow and find a place to setup my shelter before running back to the meadow to snap a few pictures. Everyone meandered about looking at all the different shelters and hammocks already setup. Ron Moak gave me a few pointers for my own SMD Wild Oasis and he and John talked about gear and the cottage industry as a whole.

Here Matt, Chris, Steven, John, and Ron chat next to the fire after everyone else decided to call it a night. IT talk seemed to clear the area pretty quick!

In the morning the dew covered meadow still had a thin layer of fog. Slowly everyone woke up beginning their morning rituals, making breakfast, and departing for the lakes at their own pace.

As I finally crest the last climb to Emerald Lake I find that most of the guys in the group thought it was a great place for a dip. I decide that I’m game, disrobe to my skivvies, and jump in as well. I’ve done a few polar plunges before but the clear water without signs of snow create the illusion that this calm water will be nice. I’m mistaken and struggle to catch my breath before dunking my head and swimming back to the shore to sun myself.

We met up with Jen and her dog Nancy who camped at Portugese Camp the night before. Some of the crew decided to go up to Sapphire Lake while the rest of us decide to head back to camp for some relaxing.

Here Jay captures a few photos in each direction.

Back at camp the sun goes behind the surrounding mountains and it starts to get cold again. We decide to start the fire which Ken kept feeding thought the evening.
Two new arrivals, Details aka Tequila and +1, arrive at camp. They later joint the group around the fire and start telling stories.

In the morning we grudgingly break camp and the walk out is quiet. I’m thinking of coming back some other time as I’m sure others are as well. I finally catch up with most of the group and we hike together for a bit. I talk photography with Jacob D. and Adam who brought a full fledged tripod. Eventually the pace (3mi/hr) starts to take it’s toll and I decide to slow it down and take my time to snap a few more photos on the way out.

What a great trip! Nice to meet up with you all. I am really enjoying the great photos being posted. I will try to add a few from a different perspective.

There were so many cool mushrooms I have to post a couple

Landscapes

Random bits

People

And finally some night shots

One more for Jacob. I wasn't really happy with this shot but here is the best of the two long exposures.

Thanks for a great weekend!

@ David W…..Sooooooo, you're the one that stole the money!!!

@ Steve…….hey, you speak my lingo.

@ Eli….thanks for watching my back. :)

What ever happened to "What happens in the Trinities, stays in the Trinities??

The Trinities is more a state of mind than a place. I suppose most of our minds are still there;)

"Repeat in October 2012?"
For me, definitely YES. The scramble to Caribou looks like it would be gnarly fun, I think that's on my to-do list next time around.

@Eric, Adam, Cameron, and James
I had a good time talking photography with you guys. It's always interesting to see some "alt" cameras and glass being used.

@Everyone else
Thanks for making it a great trip! Keep those photos and reports coming :)