Caples! A wonderful tradition continued last week as we gathered at Caples Lake Resort for our annual Sierra fix.
07/12 - Old Hwy 88
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Lee, Ulla and Karen did a reconnaissance hike.
Lots of flowers and thus very slow progress; a little over 1 1/2 mile up and back.
07/13 - Winnemucca and Round Top Lakes etc.
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Ulla, Lee and Karen started from Woods Lake. At Winnemucca, Debbie joined them and they went up to Round Top Lake, explored the moraine on the south shore and took the Lost Mine Trail back to Woods Lake. About 6 miles.
Susan, Monique, Juanita, Ron, Polly, Jeanne, Debbie (and Debbie's son-in-law and grandson) started at the pass and went to Frog Lake. From there Susan and Monique headed up the slopes of Elephant's Back. The others came on to Winnemucca where all paused for lunch. All but Debbie returned to the Pass.
Arriving later, Phred and Elaine went as far as Frog Lake.
07/14 - Emigrant Lake
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Debbie, Phred, Elaine, Lee, Ulla and Karen hiked from the dam to Emigrant Lake and then took the trail labeled "Kirkwood Mdw" hoping to find an easy/direct route over the saddle to Kirkwood. The result was a hike that felt much longer than it actually was...somewhere around 7.75 miles as it is hard to judge just how we zigzagged up the ski run. Once on top of the saddle we were a bit lost and ended up taking a longer than necessary route down to the village.
Jeanne, Ron and Sylvia did some car-based exploring; Juanita went to Reno; Susan, Dan and Bridget, Monique and Polly walked up the Meiss Crest and then headed over to Grover Hot Springs.
07/15 - Diminished numbers
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Juanita stayed at Caples and went kayacking; Phred, Elaine, Monique and Jeanne walked the Old Highway section before heading home. Susan and Polly did a similar hike, starting later. They continued up the road and went as far as the historic area just below the pass.
Ulla, Lee and Karen drove over the pass and down the Blue Lakes Road. There were several objectives: document the Charity Valley Trailhead (done), find the start of the Thornburg Canyon Trail (unsuccessful on the ground, easy on Google Earth once home), explore some of the lakes near FS Rd 204 and along that section of the PCT. Their main walk was from a parking spot above Lower Sunset Lake, along the PCT, lunch at Lily Pad Lake and on to an unnamed lake and back; just under 4 miles
07/16 - Meiss Crest
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There were only 5 of us as Juanita decided to head home. Ulla was ahead on the trail up from the parking area and when she found she had passed the trail we intended to take, decided to walk on down into the meadow. Susan, Polly, Lee and Karen meandered up the hill toward the crest, roughly following the old fence posts, We found a wonderful garden at the edges of a swale nestled between two dark rock ridges. We made it to the first peak on the ridge for lunch, but didn't linger as the clouds were building in and thunderstorms were predicted. We got a bit of rain as we started down to the main trail, but not enough to really matter. We met Ulla at the trailhead. Our mileage (again approximate since we wandered a great deal) was about 4.5 miles with an elevation difference of +525' from the parking lot to the peak.
7/17 - departure
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Susan and Polly went on to Bishop; Lee, Ulla and Karen drove back home.
Along Mormon Emigrant Rd we saw a trailer with wooden carts. I'm fairly sure they were for a re-enactment of the Mormon Battalion trek in the summer of 1848 which established this route. An article on such a re-enactment can be found at:
http://www.folsomtelegraph.com/article/about-300-folsom-el-dorado-hills-area-mormons-retrace-steps-pioneers
Altho the article is from several years ago, it is still relevant.
