Trip Summary (5/22/2004-5/23/2004): (Links go to pictures)
This was supposed to be an easy 1 nighter to some hot springs in Blaney Meadow,
near the Muir Trial Ranch. We got going a little later than we would have
liked to, I think about 8:30. We got to the one lane Kaiser Pass road, which
wasn't as bad as I remembered. Shortly pass Kaiser Pass there were some great
views of
snow covered peaks. The drive down to Florence
Lake took probably about an
hour and when we got there we discovered that there was no ferry. Apparently
they hadn't opened yet for the season. By now it was about noon. We decided to
hike around the lake and add an extra 4 miles to our trip and this turned out
to be a little harder than it looked on the topo. But we managed to get to the South Fork San Joaquin River about 2 hours later. We only passed one group of
hikers on this stretch, the only people we saw on the whole trail. There wasn't
many points of interest along the way, so we didn't make many stops, however the
snow-covered peaks made great scenery for the hike. It was probably about
5 when we got to camp and we were exhausted. The hot springs were really
starting to sound good about this time. So we went off to look for them. A few
years ago when I went there we crossed the river of a log, the water was also
very deep there and looked inviting to jump in (however the water was probably
moving very fast). But we got to the spot where the log was after quite a
hike, but there was no log. So after awhile we turned back. The sun was
starting to set. We got back near our camp site and thought about crossing the
river on some of the stones in the river, but we didn't even try because the
water was cold and moving very swiftly over them, no rocks were exposed. So we
went back to camp and started a fire for our tri-tip. That's right, we brought
a 3 pound tri-tip roast with us for dinner, which by the way was defiantly
worth it and didn't add too much weight to the pack. we had it all wrapped up
in foil and were lucky enough to find a grill. so we set it on the grill and
let it cook for an hour or two. When we unwrapped the foil the smell escaped
and smelled so good. The three of us quickly devoured the meat. It still had
most of the juice in it when we started, but toward the end it had started to
get a little dry. After dinner, we were tired and went to bed. Woke up the
next morning, ate breakfast and packed up. We went all the way out and finally
got to the car and rested there for awhile. We left and got down to Prather
and enjoyed a good meal at Fosters Freeze.
(The hot spring from one of my previous trips can be seen
Here)
