TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop (edited)
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:00 am
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Brief Summary:
Cottonwood Lakes Loop July 3-6
Horseshoe Meadows via Cottonwood Lakes Trail ---> Cottonwood Lakes 1,2 and 3 ----> South Fork Lakes ---> Horseshoe Meadows via South Fork Trail
Trail was very easy, if conditioned properly. Weather was good 75 during the day, 40s in the nights.
As usual, the Sierra's, for me, always brings some rain. On Sunday morning, the weather gave us a nice shower from 7am to 9am as we where packing out. Rain is nice when you bring appropriate gear.
Total Fish C&R was about 36 for myself. Flies used adams, hairs ear, caddis pupa, buggers IMPORTANT:
I brought Steve Ojai's map (the one you see above) and one you get from REI. I was confused because the trails did not match up. What I found was that Steve Ojai's map is wrong in 1 section. For the Flyguys like me, who use that as a source, we should note the error. Ojai's trail from the trailhead (middle hiker icon) crosses the South Fork Creek and shows it swinging hard east and crossing Cottonwood Creek. It does not do that. It actually stays on the west side of Cottonwood creek all the way up to the C lakes. In addition, on the way back using South Fork Creek trail, that trail doesn not swing hard North near the end where the 2 trails meet. I have corrected the map using red.
The only reason I had to bring Ojai's map is because the one Harrison's map cuts off the Cottonwood Lakes section and I did not want to buy 2 maps.
Edit: I forgot to mention the trip to the upper South Fork Lake. There is no trail that goes from the first lake to the last one. The terrain is very rough and dangerous. My buddy and I wanted to go check the lake out and we were stuck going through 200 yards of Talus rocks sometimes piled high. It was very tiring and a drain on morale. We reached the lake but realized that the water was low and the skeeters ridiculous due to all the standing water from the receding water line. We decided to go back to Lake 1 and camp there. However, we did not take the same route back. If you want to go to that lake, the best way to do that is to follow the tree line on the South Side which is on a hill and littered with rocks and bolders, but at least they are grounded on dirt. The Talus shore is something you want to avoid. There were times I had know idea how many feet of voided space were under the rocks I was standing on.