Trinity Alps Septemberfest 2012
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Mt. Shasta
Billy Be Damned Lake?
Lake Anna
Eric,Erik, Marty!
Ken back to camp.
Eric
This is were the crew split into to 2 groups?
Parting shot at 6:30am— Another great GGG.I drove down from Portland on Thursday night, spending that night at a state park near Grants Pass, OR. An early start got me to Redding for lunch at In-and-Out, then on to the trailhead.
We camped in Bowerman Meadow, another great spot picked by Ken. The meadow was about 4 miles from the TH and halfway up I was caught by Marty, a fellow Oregonian (although he had an easier commute from Ashland). I took a camera, but I didn't check the battery — totally dead and just dead weight. All these photos were taken with an iPhone, so some are a little blurry (especially in low light).
Camp photos:
My SoloMid (this was my first trip with this shelter):
Marty and his DuoMid:
Doug's cowboy camp set-up:
Jim's Warbonnet hammock set-up:
Justin's flat tarp, pitched low:
Eric's Wild Oasis:
Ken's Hennessy Hammock set-up:
On Saturday, the group went for a day hike up the valley above Bowerman Meadow. Eric E. had scouted out the correct trail the day before. Rick and Marc left two hours before anyone else and had an epic day, climbing out of the valley "headwall" (like us) and continuing on to a Four Lakes Loop and not returning until after dark. The rest of us did a loop up the headwall, around the back to two high lakes and back either cross-country or down to an adjacent valley trail.
Looking back towards the valley with Bowerman Meadow below:
Up the valley:
Doug (seated) talks with Jacob and Sandra:
Eric E. and Marty:
We followed the chute in the center up. Lake Billy-Be-Damn lays behind the peak at center:
Near/at the top of the chute. Shasta is in the distance:
Lake Billy-Be-Damn, a few minutes hike from the top of the chute. We continued up the use trail up the opposite slope:
Looking down at Lake Anna:
To the right and up a short slope, we stopped, regrouped and ate with an amazing view of the valley below:
From Wikipedia: "Geologically, the Trinity Alps consist of a mixture of igneous, granite and metamorphic peaks. In the eastern mountains are the Red Trinities, due to reddish ultramafic peridotite, in the central granitic batholith are the White Trinities, and in the western mountains are the Green Trinities due to more extensive forest cover." Here is granite framed by the red igneous peaks we were on:
Ken ponders, on the edge:
Jay and Marty looking at the view:
From there, we made our way down to Lake Anna for water. Justin and his friend Kyle stayed at the lake to fish. We split up into three groups. Jim, Sandra, Jacob and Doug went down to the Long Canyon Trail. Marty and I traversed over to a small pass and then back down to the meadow where we had started. We caught up to Jay, Ken and Eric halfway down. Closing our loop, tired and back in the upper meadow (Ken, Jay, Marty and Eric):
Looking back at the peaks we circumnavigated:
Another night of good company at the camp, then a long drive back to Portland!
Another fantastic trip in the Trinities. It was great to see some new faces and connect with those I've met from last year's Trinity Alps trip and the GGG IV. Thanks again to Ken for planning such a wonderful trip!
A few photos for now. The rest to follow later in the week.
Bowerman Meadow just before our "group" campsite.
A view looking down on Billy Be Damn Lake and the saddle to Anna Lake.Rick and I got to the trail head about 2:30 Thursday afternoon and decided to hike in to Bowerman Meadows rather than spend the night there. Friday we hiked up the meadow but turned to the left instead of the right and after some brush beating ended up too far east to make it up to the lakes. We hiked to a notch at the west side of the meadow which overlooked Red Mountain and the Trinity Alps Creek drainage. Got back to camp and met up with everyone. Had a nice campfire and talked about the next days hike. Rick and I decided that we would go up the notch on the east side of the meadow which we had seen on our hike and drop down to Long Canyon trail and head up to the Four Lake Loop. We set the alarm for 5:30 and got a good nights sleep. The next day we got up, had breakfast, got our packs together and went over to where everyone was camped. No one was ready to go so we headed out about 7:30. Made it up to the notch and around to Lake Anna then down to the Long Canyon Trail and from there up to Bee Tree Gap. I looked at the time there and thought it said 1:30 but it was really 11:30. After a little lunch we decided to go ahead and do the Loop figuring on getting back after dark. I'm glad we did because the Loop has a lot of nice scenery. We had thought earlier about going back cross country but decided against it because of the late hour. We ended up going down Long Canyon and back up to the meadow. It got dark just after we hit the trail junction so hiked in by headlamp getting to camp about 7:30 PM. Approximatey 5000' up and 5000' down.
Looking east from camp.
Looking across to the scramble to Lake Anna.
Across the upper meadow looking east from the Lake Anna scramble.
Lake Anna.
Down Long Canyon from Bee Tree Gap.
Mt. Silago.
Deer Lake.
Looking East above Deer Lake.
Summit Lake.
Diamond Lake.
Looking toward Sawtooth Mountain and down into the Stuart Drainage.
Luella Lake.
Looking east toward the trail going to Granite Lake.
Looking across Deer Lake toward Deer Creek Pass.
Ken, thanks for organizing a great trip.
I'm in for next year.Some photos:
Eric and Jay
Eric, Jay and Steve
The Route
Anna LakeKen, Thanks again for being the motive force behind yet another fab get together. Sandra and I had a good time.
So, we rolled into the trailhead about 6:15 Friday evening and were on the trail just before 6:30. By 7:30 we'd lost the light and nearly passed the junction to Bowerman Meadow. Not long after we hit the low soggy area where the trail was a bit overgrown. I hoped we hadn't picked up a different trail or missed another fork. A little after 8:00 we came into a large meadow and made out the head lamps of who we hoped were our friends on the opposite end. This was confirmed shortly by Ken's voice booming across the meadow "Jaaaacob!". We were last in and the group was kind enough to save us the honey moon suite.
I was up early enough to photograph the sunrise and found Mark and Rick on their way out of camp to scramble up to Anna lake, then the 4 lakes loop. The rest of us decided to do some x-country route to Billy Be Damned and Anna lakes and whatever else. After a slow start the gang filed out.
Events of the day consisted of wandering to the end of the valley, heading up a rock scramble to attain the ridge, making our way to a few lakes (not of the four lakes loop), scrambling down yet more rocks, and heading back down the long canyon trail (long way) back to camp. It was a good day, beautiful sights, good company, and a great workout. When the groups split ways I was with Sandra, Doug, and Jim, we eventually met up with Eric only because he doubled back at some point. I think we made it back to camp 6 ish. Marc and Rick returned triumphantly, followed lastly by Justin and Kyle.
Every splash of whiskey that evening reminded me I forgot my SPF chapstick.
Great trip.
(edit: figured out how to shrink my photos)
Me & Sandra D hit the trail Friday evening.
Our first glimpse of the moon while hiking in.
Sunrise over the meadow.
Cuben fiber bear bags… a mark of UL folk.
09:30 The gang files out…
Yep. We're headed up there.
A look back from where we came.
Doug and Marty head across the meadow at the end of the valley. Can you spot Jay on the rock scramble?
There's Jay!
Sandra, on the scramble contemplating the boys' "plan".
Looking up towards top of the scramble.
First views of Mt. Shasta from the top.
Doug and Ken head towards Billy Be Damned lake.
Billy Be Damned Lake (we think).
Sandra heads towards Lake Anna.
The group stops for lunch.
Doug, Jim, Steven, Jay, Marty, Ken, and Sandra's Toes.
Another view of Shasta.
Beautiful Lake Anna.
Jim and Sandra making their way along Lake Anna.
Steven rock hopping.
Doug and Sandra doing some route finding.
Decision made. Gotta go up, to go down. Let's go!
Rugged Beauty.
The majority of the group arrived around noon at Bowerman Meadow. We stumbled on Marc and his brothers campsite, easily identifiable due to the presence of cuben fiber, and looked around for what the guidebook called a large camping area. Luckily Ken found a lightly used trail which crossed the creek and to our campsite.
Ken returned to Marc's campsite to await those who didn't camp overnight at the trailhead.
A view of the smaller details. Here is a fern growing over the small creek near our campsite.
A small mushroom growing out of the end of a downed tree.
Everyone getting settled at camp.
My BearVault450 with food for the trip and cook setup consisting of a 2-cup Zelph Ridgeline pot for boiling water and a 1-cup pot for drinking my morning coffee.
Doug using his homemade cone with a 12oz Heineken can.
Saturday morning we all started the steep climb to the upper meadows.
The upper meadow was beautiful. There were plenty of flat areas and a few trees for the hangers here as well. We only passed through but I made a note so that I can come back some other time.
Looking back down the way we came.
A few shots of the upper meadow and our off-trail route to Billy Be Damn lake. We followed the rocky area in the center.
Looking back down about 3/4 of the way up the scramble. There were a few of us who weren't entirely comfortable with the climb but we all made it in one piece.
Billy Be Damn lake. Some of us stopped to fill up our water before continuing on to catch up with the others. We followed the north west bank of Billy Be Damn before following a faint trail up to the saddle toward Lake Anna.
Looking up the saddle between Billy Be Damn and Lake Anna.
Looking back down at Billy Be Damn. Justin, Kyle, and Jim on their way up.
Looking west toward Lake Anna. Ken, Jay, and I found a campsite on the eastern side of Lake Anna (the only one there) and turned south to find an off-trail route back town to the upper meadow.
The descent required light scrambling, but nothing as difficult as our way up to Billy Be Damn.
There was evidence that this route has been used before but it was quite faint.
Ken leading the charge down the gentle slope to the upper meadow.
We arrived back at camp much earlier than the rest of the group as they chose to take the Long Canyon Trail back down to the junction with trail to Bowerman Meadow. I took the opportunity to walk around and snap a few photos of the wildflowers and grasses in the meadow around camp.
The trip was wonderful and Ken did a fantastic job with all of the planning. It's a little sad to walk past the Wilderness Boundary, knowing that another trip is over. I can't wait for next years meetup!
All of these pics were taken by Kyle.
Hike in.
Ken in his hammock.
Lake Anna
Little Fishy
Down, down, down. We must have taken a weird route, but it took us down to long canyon trail.
Looking out of and over. I realized that the pine forest turns into rock and cliffs.
Skirting over to the left to avoid the cliffs.
Down at a flat little area before descending further.
What the hell did we get ourselves in to?
On Long Canyon trail.
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