Dale Matson
Click On Photographs To Enlarge
Hike Route
This hike was three days and two nights covering 39 miles
with an overall elevation gain of about 5,000’.
Many of my backpacking trip ideas come from day hikes. Last
year I reported on a day hike to Hobler Lake out of the Maxson Trailhead at
Courtright Reservoir. http://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2015/05/day-hike-from-courtright-reservoir-to.html
Looking at the map after the hike I thought it would be
interesting to stay on the Blackcap Basin Trail until the Hell For Shure Pass
Trail and follow it northeast. The nice thing about a preliminary day hike is
the familiarization with the driving, parking, and initial part of a trail. Plan
“A” was a three-day 2-night hike. I hoped to hike to Hell For Shure Lake the
first day, do a day hike to Martha Lake in Goddard Canyon and return to Hell
For Shure Lake for the second night. Then I would hike back to Courtright the
following day. My plan “B” was better suited to my advanced age and this is the
story of plan “B”
Maxson Trailhead Sign
Maxson Dome
Trail Leaves Dusy Ershim OHV Route
Maxson Meadow
Small Meadow
Post Coral Creek
Greg And Gates
Disappointment Lake
Small Unnamed Lakes On Way To Hell For Sure Pass
Hell For Sure Lake With Mt. Hutton
Red Mountain From Pass
LeConte Divide
Author
Horseshoe, Iceberg and Devils Punchbowl Lakes
Fleming Lake
Red Mountain Basin
Disappointment Lake
Heavenly View Of Hell For Sure Lake
Hell For Sure Pass Without Signage
Mt. Goddard
Goddard Canyon From Pass
LeConte Divide
Fleming Lake
I left Fresno at 4am and arrived at the parking area for the
Maxson Trailhead by 6am. It was cool since the trailhead elevation is about
8,200’. Daybreak is a great time to start a hike since the daytime temperatures
were in the triple digits in Fresno. The
trail from the trailhead is dry down to Post Coral Creek this time of year.
The trail initially drops down to and follows the infamous Dusy-Ershim OHV trail
for a time and then breaks off. Hiking on the west side of the Sierra Nevada
one must be more patient since the trails generally wind through small meadows
and timber with no immediate view of the mountains. This is not like traveling
on the east side of the Sierra.
The trail then climbs until near the junction with Hobler
Lake and unfortunately drops to the starting elevation by the time you get to
the Post Coral Creek crossing. It is
important to note that at this time of year, this is the first flowing water
available before the long climb to Fleming Lake. Soon after you cross the
creek there is a sign on your right on a tree indicating the junction of the
trail to Blackcap Basin and the trail to Hell For Sure Pass.
And….you guessed
it, the trail begins climbing in earnest once again as you head northeast to
Fleming Lake. Along the way I met Greg and his seven year old son Gates. They spent
the previous night near Post Coral Meadows and were headed to Disappointment
Lake. We got to know each other on the difficult 1,500’ 4.5 mile climb to
Fleming Lake (elevation 9,700’). Gates led the way and I was happy to find a
sitting rock in the shade every time he took a break. When we arrived at
Fleming Lake the scenery began to open up. There were several nice campsites on
the east side of the trail as it passed by the lake.
It was early afternoon and Greg and I both thought
Disappointment Lake was doable. It was another 2.5 miles with a net gain of about 600’. There were times
when we crossed smooth granite with Cairns to mark the trail. Many of the
topographical maps indicate a split in the trail that rejoins itself between
Fleming and Disappointment Lakes. I saw only one trail. Additionally, I saw no
evidence of a side trail leading to Disappointment Lake. Once we saw the lake
from the trail, we headed down cross-country toward the northeast shore. My
Garmin GPS had the distance at over 15 miles, which is my limit. Greg did a
wonderful job of teaching and affirming Gates. Greg had been in this area with
his father 25 years to the day earlier. There were no sundown photographs for
me since I was in my tent by 7pm, exhausted.
I was up at dawn the following day and planned on hiking to
Hell For Sure Pass. While this is only about a mile and a half and 1,000’ of
gain, I struggled during the steeper part of the climb with a minimal amount of
gear and camera equipment. The route was sketchy at best and I was off the
trail for about a third of the hike. The low morning sun made trail finding
difficult. I absolutely loved Hell For Sure Lake with Mt. Hutton (elevation
about 11,900’) directly south of the lake.
Looking east from Hell For Sure Pass (11,286’) one can see
the LeConte Divide, Goddard Canyon and the giant Mt. Goddard (13,563’) to the
east. When you are at the pass, Red Mountain (nearly 12,000’) is immediately
north. Joseph LeConte named many of the features in the Red Mountain Basin.
From the climb to the pass, you can see other basin lakes like Horseshoe,
Iceberg and Devils Punchbowl.
I returned following the trail and arrived back at camp by
noon. It was then I decided that it would be better to move camp down to
Fleming Lake for a “shorter” hike out the next morning. I broke camp and said
my “good byes” to Greg and Gates who were headed overland to Bench Valley the
following morning. I arrived at Fleming Lake about 3pm and made camp. I slept
better that night but the trip back to the trailhead was long on tired legs. I
ran out of water on the climb from the creek and put a chlorine tablet in a
liter bottle that I filled with stagnant creek water and then later transferred
to my Katadyn filter cup.
Overall, the weather was good, the insects were few and I
should have planned for an additional day to get to Martha Lake in Goddard
Canyon.
There is a YouTube video slideshow with additional graphics here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_JJ81Kbcno&feature=youtu.be
There is a YouTube video slideshow with additional graphics here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_JJ81Kbcno&feature=youtu.be
No comments:
Post a Comment