Bloodsucker Lake

This is an unusual route to Bloodsucker Lake in the Eldorado National Forest that involves a bit of cross-country travel but is still easy. I believe it shortens the distance to the lake. There are also no creek or stream crossings. My Atrix GPS said 4 miles but I think it was closer to 2 miles. The elevation is at about 7200 feet and there isn't much elevation gain or loss.

BL itself is not incredibly scenic but the views of Pyramid Peak are interesting.

We started by following the instructions of Ted's Outdoor World. Take highway 50 east from Sacramento. After Kyburz, turn left on Wrights Lake road. About a mile after the Lyon's Creek bridge, turn right onto forest service route 11N28. If you get to the big meadow, or to the Wrights Lake tie road to Icehouse reservoir, you've gone too far. The road is very good for about 1.3 miles. Then it starts to get bad. A higher clearance vehicle is probably best. The section pictured at left is an uphill section where it starts to get bad.






At just about 2 miles, turn left onto FS 11N28B. This will head uphill and will get progressively worse. Still, the original road looks even rougher so it's not hard to miss.

Park where the road ends in a burned over space that was probably used for logging. Just up the hill is a nice turnout for what is called distributed camping. Someone has already built a rock campfire ring and there are views.


You'll be traveling off trail for about a half mile to a mile so have a good map or GPS and some route finding skills. The area is fairly open from logging and there are plenty of use trails. You'll travel slightly uphill, then downhill to BL and generally veer left when you have a chance.

We spent some time wandering around finding the route but were never really lost.

Head uphill from where you parked heading straight up from the end of a stack of logs.




This tree stump growing out of a rock is a nice first goal just a few steps up the hill. Stay below this tree and head to the left.

















It's not very brushy here so by staying on the forest duff and heading on the easiest path we soon found the first use trail. Turn left on it to see a cute little No Name pond.

Here is the No Name pond. Folks have camped here and at the end just to the left. We ended up hiking around the pond and finding another and better marked use trail but it wasn't necessary. It's perfectly easy to get to BL by leaving this pond and heading right.

Our hiking day was under overcast skies with thunder and lightning. There were some sprinkles on the hike and we saw this hail on the ground but the really bad weather held off until we were in the car headed home.

It's always good to have Ma Nature wash the dust off the car.




By following the use trail away from No Name pond or to the right once found, you'll cross a marshy area and the use trail heads over a saddle and starts to head down, presumably to Lyon's Creek. Just after the marshy area head uphill to the left. About a football field up you'll come to another use trail that goes up the hill. Follow this and now you're good to go. There's a trail headed in the same direction as the saddle trail that crosses the uphill trail. You can get back to the No Name lake on this trail. This all sounds a bit confusing, but once you see the map and the terrain it will make sense.

This from the uphill trail near the top. There is Pyramid Peak showing that you're going in the right direction. There seemed to be some faint signs of horses along the way so this may be a pack trail.






Just over the crest of the hill you'll see another big, bare logging area. You'll see double tracks from an old logging or skid road and then you just follow it for a very short mile to BL.

I didn't take a picture, but there seems to be an old hunting blind built up in the tree behind the bushes. There is also another pond just downhill to the right. You'll see the reeds and grasses around it as you look through the trees on the downhill side of the road.











Here is the old road that you'll follow. It goes up for just a bit, and then heads down to BL. Just over this crest, you'll get a cell phone signal again just in case you want to call someone from the trail.

The road will curve back to the left and then you'll be very close.















This is the first view of BL with Pyramid Peak in the background and reflected in the water. On a sunny day it might be more spectacular, but even on this stormy day it was scenic enough for me. Some mother ducks were swimming around in the lake too.







At the other end of the lake I think this is Blue Mountain and perhaps Mt. Agassiz in the back. I could be wrong. I sat on a rock here and ate some nuts and drank some water until the mosquitoes decided that DEET was a sauce and not something to be avoided and we headed back.

Map coordinates

Silver Fork of the American River Hike

Commando and I hiked along the Silver Fork of the American River and stopped here for a long session of reading, napping, eating lunch, chasing rodents, messing around in the water, and playing splash. There's a heavily used trail along the river. About a quarter mile upstream is a small waterfall and above that some granite pools. There were tons of people in those pools and all over the surrounding rocks. I was hoping this trip wasn't going to be a bust. We left the river and headed down a wash just over a big granite ridge. It lead onto some more granite and then into the little forested area. Downstream and over another granite ridge was another small waterfall and someone's tent. We were at the river for about 2 hours and just after a splash session we were passed by two guys hopefully fishing the river. We hiked back up by just following the various granite outcroppings and then meandered (pushed through somewhat dense forest with lots of downed stuff) back to the trail.

I'll go back again in the spring, and maybe for a snowshoe trip this winter.