TR: 1st lake at Chain Lakes
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 4:38 pm
So after months of research/planning my gf and I decided to take advantage of the 3 day 4th of July weekend (also my birthday) and go on our first backpacking trip to Chain Lakes.
We picked up our permits and bear canister in Oakhurst then drove to Quartz Mountain Trailhead (which took 2 hours to go 16 miles on that crazy unpaved road in her Scion iQ haha)
Due to some confusion and not so greatly detailed map, we ended up at the end of the road thinking we were at the trailhead so we started from there at around 12:30pm.
There was a poorly visible trail that led down to that first marshy lake (doesn't have a name on the map) and once there we ran into an older couple that told us we went past the turnout to the trailhead and suggested on our way back, we hike to the trailhead, hide our packs, walk to where we left the car and then come back for them (which we did)
At the beginning of our hike I told my gf it wasnt worth it for us to get injured, burnt out, or sick from the high altitude so if anything felt off or she was tired to just let me know so we can stop and not risk anything. Because of many breaks, and mostly uphill hike, it took us a little over 5hrs to backpack the 6 miles. Once we laid our eyes on the first lake, the whole hike before that was just a faint memory as we were awestruck by the beauty of the lake and its glow in the sunset. We quickly set up camp between the trail and the lake and started cooking our spaghetti dinner (elbow noodles, and meat sauce) called it a night around 8pm and woke up the next morning with our bodies aching from the hike and cold night so we decided we would just save our energy and stay at the first lake for the day, since we would hike out the next day.
Man oh man, Im sure the other 2 lakes were even more beautiful, but nothing beat having a whole lake to yourself with your girlfriend. We hiked around to the east side of the lake and found a nice rocky area that went into the water and hung out there for the day, enjoying the sun and the cool breeze. Had horrible luck with the fishing pole I brought for the trip, reel kept getting stuck and my line would rip when I would cast it, sending my fly and weights into the lake but I did end up catching a small 6inch trout, too small for dinner so I let him go but it was still a fun experience.
Went back to camp around 4pm and hung out til dinner time then called it at night so we could get as much rest for our hike out. 3rd day we got up around 7, ate breakfast and packed up then hit the trail... this time it only took us 3 hours.
Words cannot explain how amazing of an experience that was, we really pushed ourselves during the hike it but the juice was sooooooo worth the squeeze even though we just seen the first lake. Ive never even been camping, skipped that whole experience and went for backpacking haha.
P.s. no water taste as delicious as fresh, cold, filtered mountain water.
Here are some photos
Some panorama action
We picked up our permits and bear canister in Oakhurst then drove to Quartz Mountain Trailhead (which took 2 hours to go 16 miles on that crazy unpaved road in her Scion iQ haha)
Due to some confusion and not so greatly detailed map, we ended up at the end of the road thinking we were at the trailhead so we started from there at around 12:30pm.
There was a poorly visible trail that led down to that first marshy lake (doesn't have a name on the map) and once there we ran into an older couple that told us we went past the turnout to the trailhead and suggested on our way back, we hike to the trailhead, hide our packs, walk to where we left the car and then come back for them (which we did)
At the beginning of our hike I told my gf it wasnt worth it for us to get injured, burnt out, or sick from the high altitude so if anything felt off or she was tired to just let me know so we can stop and not risk anything. Because of many breaks, and mostly uphill hike, it took us a little over 5hrs to backpack the 6 miles. Once we laid our eyes on the first lake, the whole hike before that was just a faint memory as we were awestruck by the beauty of the lake and its glow in the sunset. We quickly set up camp between the trail and the lake and started cooking our spaghetti dinner (elbow noodles, and meat sauce) called it a night around 8pm and woke up the next morning with our bodies aching from the hike and cold night so we decided we would just save our energy and stay at the first lake for the day, since we would hike out the next day.
Man oh man, Im sure the other 2 lakes were even more beautiful, but nothing beat having a whole lake to yourself with your girlfriend. We hiked around to the east side of the lake and found a nice rocky area that went into the water and hung out there for the day, enjoying the sun and the cool breeze. Had horrible luck with the fishing pole I brought for the trip, reel kept getting stuck and my line would rip when I would cast it, sending my fly and weights into the lake but I did end up catching a small 6inch trout, too small for dinner so I let him go but it was still a fun experience.
Went back to camp around 4pm and hung out til dinner time then called it at night so we could get as much rest for our hike out. 3rd day we got up around 7, ate breakfast and packed up then hit the trail... this time it only took us 3 hours.
Words cannot explain how amazing of an experience that was, we really pushed ourselves during the hike it but the juice was sooooooo worth the squeeze even though we just seen the first lake. Ive never even been camping, skipped that whole experience and went for backpacking haha.
P.s. no water taste as delicious as fresh, cold, filtered mountain water.
Here are some photos
Some panorama action