Trip Summary (7/15/2005-7/17/2005): The youth group at my church was wondering if
I could pick a good place to go backpacking and if I could help lead them. So
I recommended we go to First Dinkey Lake since it is a pretty short and easy
hike. So we got started Friday morning and stopped by the ranger station in
Prather
for the permit. Unfortunately we had some problems had to split up and stay at
separate lakes. We continued up and got to the turn off for the trailhead and
went up the deteriorating road. After awhile we came to a snow pack blocking
the road and had to go up a steeper slope. A few cars made it up that steeper
slope, but we decided to dig down the snow pack for two other cars. (When we
came back down that snow pack was melted). After a long drive on that road we
finally came to the trailhead. We took a picture and got started. Immediately
we had to take our boots off and cross Dinkey Creek that was about knee deep. We
continued on going up. It was pretty easy, there were a few steep parts, but a
lot was fairly level. Along the way we heard one of the kids was feeling sick.
We went back and picked up his pack and slowly made our way to the rest of the
group (after getting to camp, he felt fine). After rejoining the rest of the
group, we made our way up the last steep section and got to First Dinkey
Lake.
We got a little drizzle of rain during this section of the trail, but after
that there was no more rain.
The mosquitoes
here were terrible and they were terrible during almost the entire trip. There
were swarms of them and the deet wasn't doing a very good job at keeping them
away. Everything was very green and beautiful after the long winter and it was
very nice being up there. And I noticed there was a lot less snow than there
was two weeks ago; it was almost completely gone. We found a good campsite and they began setting up camp. However, four
of us had to go up to South Lake so after a little while, we headed up there.
We took the long way getting up to South Lake, but eventually made it (later
we found a faster way that only took ten minutes to get between the lakes). We set
up camp and then headed back to First Dinkey Lake for dinner and then back to
camp to go to bed. About 12:15 AM I woke to a big crashing noise. I determined
it to be a rockslide, although I thought later that it could have been an
avalanche, but I had heard an avalanche a few weeks before and this was much
louder than that had been. The next morning we ate breakfast at First Dinkey
then headed back to South Lake to start on a day hike. While we were waiting
for everyone at South Lake, I went for a little swim. It was
pretty warm out so I thought it would feel good, and it did. The water was a
little cold, but really was nice and refreshing. After that short swim, we
headed on up to Second Dinkey Lake. After a fairly steep climb, we made it to
the lake. We went to the ridge to the west of the lake. There was a really
good view from here and a nice breeze and for once, no mosquitoes. We had a
nice long lunch stop here enjoying the view and the breeze, then we headed up
to Island Lake. It was a fairly steep climb above Second Dinkey, but it was
pretty short. There was some parts with snow on the trail and water running
down it, but we made it up without any problems. We took
a nice break at
Island Lake. Richie and I decided to climb the small peak to the north of the
lake. We got some good views of the lakes we were staying at and Dogtooth Peak
and several other things. We also say some snow that had recently slid off
some rock which could have made the noise I heard the night before. But as
I said, that was a really loud noise and didn't sound like an avalanche. We
then headed down and met up with the group heading down the trail. We got back
to camp and then headed to First Dinkey again and had dinner. Dinner was
delicious. Spaghetti, mashed potatoes and pudding for dessert. We stayed there
and then headed back to South Lake to go to bed. The next morning we packed up
and headed to First Dinkey for breakfast. We thought we'd hike out by Swede
Lake and Mystery Lake, so we headed back to South Lake and caught the trail
going that way. We climbed up a little ways and then dropped down to Swede
Lake. It was a nice lake, but we basically passed right by it. We then dropped
down a lot and then got to Mystery Lake. We stayed there a while and had
lunch. I went in the water a little bit. It was actually pretty warm. After
lunch, we dropped down some more and met up with the trail we came in on. I
thought that instead of crossing
Dinkey Creek twice again, I'd just go around the little bend. There was a trail
that went that way, so I followed it and came out to the west of the main
trailhead. At the parking lot I found a little cave. It only went back about
five or ten feet and then there was an opening at the top. So that was kind of
interesting. After we all got back and rested awhile, we headed down that long
road. I didn't enjoy going down it very much, I just wanted smooth road. After
a long bumpy drive, we finally got to Dinkey Creek Road and headed to Hungry
Hut in Shaver Lake. I got a small cheeseburger, which was very small, but it
tasted really good. After the food stop, we headed back down to the valley.
