Trip Summary (7/17/2004-7/19/2004): (Links go to pictures)
Day 1: We woke up at 5AM had breakfast and hit the road at 6:35. We got to
Deer Creek Trailhead at Huntington Lake and started on the trail at 8:15AM.
It was a pretty steep climb to potter pass, but it wasn't too bad. We got
to Potter Pass at 10:45AM. We stopped for awhile and enjoyed the views. Started
on the trail again at 11:15AM. We passed by
Lower Twin Lake at 11:50AM and
arrived at
Upper Twin Lake at Noon. We set up
camp and enjoyed our lunch, pizza.
Then we went for a swim. Swam out to the island and walked around it for a bit.
After Swimming we went around the lake to where the outlet is. Although the
outlet doesn't go very far. It goes about 50ft or so then ends right at the
base of a rock. It looks like it soaks into the ground. We looked around a bit
and found a sink hole with some cave entrances in it. Didn't really want to go
in, so not sure how far they went back. After that we ate dinner, had a
campfire then went to bed.
Day 2: Woke up probably about 8:15, had a good cup of hot
chocolate, and had
breakfast. Took awhile getting packed and
eventually got out on the trail
around 11:30. We got to
George Lake and the end of the official trail at
12:25. We weren't sure which way to go since there was no trail marked on the topo. I knew there was a trail somewhere because I had seen it from Kaiser
Ridge the year before. So we took the right-hand side of the lake because
there looked like a gentle slope that direction. This wasn't too bad. We had
to climb up some steep rocks, but this all wasn't too bad. We got to
College
Lake and then had to decide which way to go. I choose right again because I
knew we had to go up, and even though it was very rocky, it would be more
gradual than going to the left. Although this turned out to be pretty hard;
a lot of boulder hopping and climbing up some boulders. The left from College
Lake was more level and I think that now it would have met up with the trail
or even going left around George Lake might have met up with the trail. Either
way, we took the hard way. We reached the pass at 1:38 and saw Kaiser Loop
Trail. A few people were passing by as we got there. We looked back and saw the
other trail going down to George Lake, which would have been much easier to
come up than our way. So then we went on the short steep climb to Kaiser Peak.
Reached the peak at 2:45 and stopped for a bit of Top Ramen and many pictures.
We left the peak at 4:25 and headed down to our campsite at
Line Creek Lake. It
wasn't quite as impressive as I had remembered. We started to go down the trail
and then saw something tan and fairly big down by then lake. At first I thought
it was a dog, but there were no people, so then I wasn't sure what it was. The
next day we found some tracks, and now I'm pretty sure it was a Mountain Lion.
But it didn't bother us at all. So we got to camp at 4:45 and set up. Saw some
weird things in the lake, I think
Dragon Fly nymphs. After the sun went behind
the mountain it got really cold. We cooked dinner then started a fire. After the
sun set we could start to see the lights of Fresno and the rest of the valley,
9000 ft below. As it got darker we could see many stars. Then went to bed.
Day 3: Woke up to our
final day to some rain at 5:45AM. Wasn't very hard, but it was raining.
Thought that we should cover our
packs, but then decided not to, since it
looked like it would pass by pretty quickly. So we went back to sleep and it
continued to rain for a while. Finally got up at 7:15, it had stopped raining,
but nothing was really wet. So we had our hot chocolate, had breakfast and
started packing up. We fit everything in my bear container that night, so
there was no food hung in the trees. Started on the trail at 10:00 and started
back up to Kaiser Peak. Found some snow shortly before the peak, so we went
down to it. Got the peak at 10:35 and stopped for a break. It was clearer
today and we could see some peaks further south. We heard some thunder and
thought that we probably should go down. Although we never heard anymore
thunder the rest of the day. So we headed back down at 11:15, past the pass
where we came up and down to the Deer Creek trailhead. We found
College Rock
and stopped there at 12:15 and enjoyed a great overlook of Huntington Lake. We
left College Rock at 12:35 and continued down the steep trail. We descended
quite rapidly and ended up at the trailhead at 1:40. Stopped at Fosters Freeze
on the way down, and ironically they were out of ice cream.
