Bassi Creek Loop

It's hot again! I decided to ignore the heat though and hike the whole Bassi Creek Loop trail. I'm not sure if I've done the whole loop before. I've hiked the whole thing in both directions but at different times.

My one concession to the heat was to carry a lot of water and Revive Vitamin Water (don't care if it's bad, it keeps me well when hiking in the heat) and stop at Bassi Creek and rest in the cool water for a long time. I even brought a book.

Commando doesn't like the heat either and he actually deigned to drink some of the water I carried when we stopped at about the half way mark to the creek.

The creek was higher than the last time but not so high that it was dangerous. The water poured over the granite in sheets and pooled up deeply in spots. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of shade. I got soaked nicely and had a good rest.

We meandered to a few places with shade that had various kinds of bugs. A spider scared the shit out of me on rock 1. Some kind of fly bothered me at rock 2. Rock 3 looked good for a while and I rested and almost napped. Then I noticed a tick like insect, some ants, and some kind of tiny red bug.

This was the only place I saw people. As I was heading to a good crossing, some people were meandering up the other side. Three horses came down going the opposite way. I headed along the trail.

At one point I almost lost the trail. It was rocky and overgrown and there were a lot of likely looking "trails." Some people were camping and I asked them. They weren't sure but the guy said he thought I was on the right trail and that it headed up. Well, I knew that part.

Within a few feet I could see the horse hoof strike marks on the granite and a cairn and was pretty sure I was on the right path. After that I never lost the trail again.

After hiking a LONG time up and up and not seeing the intersection that was next goal I was starting to worry. Could I have missed a turnoff? My map didn't show a turnoff and I hadn't seen one, but that didn't really mean anything. We came in sight and sound of a creek. If I was where I thought I was that would be Bassi Creek again. I wasn't so pleased that we were so close to it though. I kept going up and up and at LAST saw the sign and the trail junction that put me back on impossible to miss trails back to the car.

Had a great pizza and Commando is snoozing heavily in his basket. I guess it is possible to hike his paws off after all!

alea iacta est

Tom Stienstra's thoughts on getting out and hiking.

Good hike, Meh hike

Today we drove up 50 to Wright's Lake road and then parked at Dark Lake to hike on the Barrett Lake Jeep Trail. The gate was closed. That's bad for the jeeps, but good for hiking. It's definitely a road that requires special outfitting on your rig. It's a lot more like a trail than a road. There are still trees down across the trail. For hiking it's quite nice. It's relatively level. It climbs a bit, then is flattish, then drops a bit, then climbs a bit, then drops. We stopped about a mile in at the crossing of the Jones Fork of Silver Creek. The trail is mostly dry and dusty with a few muddy spots. The creek is great. It was running nicely but the snow has melted and the water was warm enough to soak my feet. Commando fished for sticks and spent most of his time hunting rodents on the surrounding granite.

The trail has lots of fabulous views of Red Peak, Taylor Peak and the rest of the Crystal range.

Saturday we drove up 50 again to Wright's Lake road and then turned up the Wright's Lake tie. Just after crossing the cattle guard near the Wilson Ranch meadow we turned left onto a forest service road. From the maps, it looked like we could explore Lyons Creek from some unusual angles. It wasn't much of a hike. We parked and walked along the very bad road and could occasionally see the creek below, protected by steep canyon walls. There were some dusty, rocky, brushy places to scramble down but we didn't try any of them. The road eventually just disappears.

We turned back the other way. The road dead ends at Lyons Creek and the land to the left is marked private property. We scrambled around on the Eldorado side and eventually found shade a nice granite and a sandy pool. I read until deer flies forced us to leave. Commando chased rodents.

Visited Donna, Malene, and Gary for dinner. Donna and Malene were having a quilt fest and I borrowed their sewing machines to do some much needed repairs.

I can recommend the Barrett trail for hiking but Lyons Creek is a bit of a hot, dry scramble without much payoff.

Forgotten Flat Trail Fail

According to various maps, including new maps, there is a trail about a mile up a dirt forest service road. The road is undriveable just past one of the creeks because there has been major flood damage. At one place, they have removed giant culverts leaving a hard to cross gash across the road. It's easily 10 feet deep with steep sides. I went up stream to where the natural banks were more gradual and crossed there. I hiked up about a mile and saw where the trail should be according to the map, but no easily identifiable trail. I hiked up the dirt road a bit more, but it was hot so I turned back.

It's a nice area, the pine forest before getting high enough to be all granite. There are lots of streams and some might even have water in them all year.

I'm not sure I'll try this again unless I check with a ranger to see if the trail is passable. It's one thing to follow a road, but I really don't want to follow a faint trail that gets lost and then dead ends at an impassable creek.

Sat in the creek where the car was parked and cooled my feet.

Dinner in the City

Left Sacramento a little late and was the last arrival at the Eureka Lounge near the Castro in the City. It was a very nice place with a homey feel to it. Before I'd even said anything when I entered the guy said, "Oh, you must be the long-lost last member of the Victoria party!"

It was great to see everyone and rehear or retell all the old stories and catch up on whatever we're each doing now. Mrs. Robinson, the Hartman, the Peeps, our plethora or lack of "friends" on Facebook, the famous artist's ceramic pots, J Bird, the kids, the grand-kids, the pets, etc.