Camping at Blue Lakes

It was slated to be an over 100 degree weekend here in the Valley so we decided to head up to the Sierras. I had been wanting to take the Burnside lake trail from the lake to Grover Hot Springs state park and this seemed like the time to do it. We arrived at the Blue Lakes area around 5 pm-ish and drove through all of the various camp sites before settling on the farthest site, or Upper Blue Lake.

After setting up camp and eating a Trader Joe's packed meal, Commando and I drove down to the lake shore and splashed around for a bit. The moon was full (or close to it) so the water was extra beautiful.

The next morning we ate and headed to Burnside lake. We stopped at Sorenson's Resort for coffee to go. I will give Sorenson's props for living up to it's luxury reputation. The extremely courteous concierge helped a woman who complained that her mattress was falling off her bed and also complained that her dinner dishes hadn't been picked up yet. The concierge was affable and polite although I was wondering why you would come to a beautiful place like Sorenson's to eat dinner inside. Next he helped a peevish older woman with a call to Southwest. She seemed to take it personally that her cell phone didn't work here (duh!). He dialed the number (from memory!), joked that he flew SW too and that's why he knew the number, and reminded her that there was a phone room available. She remarked that they were going to have to drive down to Sacramento and I wondered why they didn't try for cell reception somewhere along the way.

When it was my turn the concierge told me the coffee was around the corner and unblinkingly charged me $5 for the two paper cups of ordinary (but good) coffee.

Burnside lake was packed with campers, including some at our "special" location. I would have let Commando splash around in the lake and gotten both of us wet for the start of the hike but the two dogs nearby didn't look like suitable playmates. I geared up, checked my watch and headed off on the trail.

The meadow just to the southeast of the lake is gorgeous, absolutely stunning. We walked through tall grass that was halfway between spring green and full-on summer golden. We hopped over a sluggish and slow moving stream with deep, deep sides. Thousands of grasshoppers leapt up in outrage at our passing and then settled back down into the grass. I also lost the trail here, or perhaps no trail can compete with the lush growth of this meadow.

There was one mark. At the camping side of the meadow, some brainless idiot buryed their camping trash (a whole carload of it) a good 2-3 feet deep. Animals had dug it up and strewn the trash around. May these people someday realize what they'd done and burn in shame and then spend years cleaning up other people's messes in payment of their debt.

I found the well marked trail at the east most side of the meadow and was very glad. I knew this was a rough trail, but it should have been well marked and I wasn't quite sure what I would do if it wasn't.

The trail wound slowly down by the same stream that had cut such a channel through the meadow. Then we reached the edge of the downhill part. Wow. I had been imagining a slope, this was a cliff. There were spectacular views over the valley below. I could even see the roofs of the hot springs bathing facility.

The trail was now steep, and still followed the stream, now more of a boulder choked waterfall...although, I could only faintly hear water underneath the boulders, not actually see any water. There were still pines.

Eventually we came to a sentinel pine, crouching at the cliff edge and guarding the end of shade for some time to come. I had to lower myself off a 2 foot granite drop (sliding on my ass) to continue. We headed down, still loosely following the waterfall on a very steep trail composed of loose dirt and granite rocks. Manzanita brush and another bush lined the path along with willow and stumpy, poor soil aspens. I inched down the trail and Commando scurried from shade patch to shade patch...sometimes jamming himself into a bush to cool his paws. We stopped several times for water.

We reached what I will name, "Cabin Rock" and had a good long rest in it's shade. Cabin Rock marked another level-ish part of the trail perhaps about halfway down. We were just reaching the top of a thrust of rock across the waterfall and I kept scanning it for signs of a trail to see if we would have to climb any part of it.

During this level part, I decided to stop to pee. As I stepped off the trail, towards the boulder creek, a bear leaped out of the rocks below and ran off up the creek and to the other side. Commando ran off full tilt after it and only stopped when he got to the boulder creek. Poor bear, if it had only stayed still I would have peed and we would have been on our way without being any wiser.

The trail soon became extremly steep again, and hot. I couldn't believe how hot it was and poor Commando was really suffering too. He hates to drink bottled water, but he drank twice at our rest stops (although he spurned the water once too).

The next milepost was crossing the waterfall that we'd been following down and getting onto that ridge of rock I'd been eyeing. I could swear I heard ducks fussing and a loud splashing noise but couldn't see any pond nearby. Although I wanted to rest near a pond, and get Commando a good long drink and get him soaking wet I didn't want to go off the trail. We were now down in the forest and could get lost or wander around aimlessly searching for a teeny tiny pondlet and expending energy that I didn't have to spend. I was getting a blister on my left big toe and I hoped it would stay at the annoying stage and not progress to the "must take my boot off and limp home" stage.

The trail went down, down, down still with both toes jammed into the front of my boots. I stopped a few times to re-lace, but it wasn't any help. At least now we were (mostly) in the deep shade and I thought I could see level ground below.

Down, down, down. Switchback after switchback. Surely just a few more steps. Down, down, down, the bottom is just there, I can see it, why aren't we there yet? I slid down a dusty part. I slid down a pine needle part (surprisingly fast, perhaps scarily fast). Still the trail went down.

Finally, finally, the trail leveled out. The downhills were mild and short and we were headed due east-ish...or due Grover Hot Springs. We crossed a wet swampy area and Commando wet his paws and drank some of the water. We stopped soon after and had our lunch and finished the water. No more until trail's end.

I thought I recognized where we were from previous visits and got excited when we crossed a dry streamlet (hadn't the crossing been bigger?) and I thought for sure we would soon be on the flat meadow proper.

Oh no. Another steep, sandy, and hot hot hot downhill. We had just been on a plateau, not the floor. Ow. My aching toes. How can we be suffering so much from the heat? It can surely only be 80 and that's not so hot. More down. Stop and rest. Down. Stop and rest.

Finally, finally we're down. We're in an open forest and I can see the line of the creek that runs through GHS just off to the right. Then, at last, I can see other hikers ahead...soon, the Burnside Lakes trail joins the trail the trail to the falls. We are almost home! I'm not sure how far we have to go, and it's still amazingly hot, but I'm pretty sure I can stagger to the waiting car.

The trail soon gets very close to the creek and Commando cools his paws and soaks his belly in the cool, cool, cool water. I want to go down and soak my feet, but even the few short downhill steps seem like too much. I want to conserve energy at this point and rest my aching toes.

Soon, we come to the junction with the trail that goes to the hot springs, and I see that we only have 3 tenths of a mile to go. Whew. I can make that. Although, why does it feel so frickin' hot at only about 80 degrees F?

I make it back to the car. The temperature is 99. GHS is lower than Burnside (by about 2000 feet) and that explains why it is so hot...because it is.

We stop at the ranger station at the exit so I can wash Commando's feet with their hose. He had cut the back of his leg and there was quite a streak of blood. I wanted to make sure it was okay before we left civilization in case I needed to find a vet. He had licked the leg a lot, and perhaps favored it a bit when lying down, but he hadn't been limping and he had no trouble running off at full speed to chase the rodents and other critters.

Total miles for the hike is 5.5. I was glad mother was there to pick me up at the end, because there is no way I could have hiked back up! As hard on me as the downhill was, the uphill and the heat would have killed me!

Hmmm, next time maybe Charity Valley?