TR: Hoover Wilderness/NE Yosemite July 27-31, 2016
Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 9:39 am
Route: Green Creek TH > West Lake > Par Value Lakes > Virginia Pass > Return Lake > Soldier Lake > Summit Pass > Nutter Lake > Green Creek TH
After waiting too long this spring to secure a permit to a more in-demand east side trail head, we took a chance and were able to get a permit in the Hoover Wilderness departing from the Green Creek trail head.
Four of us arrived at the Bridgeport Ranger Station just after 11 am on Wednesday. We grabbed our permit, our fifth member arrived shortly later, and we decided to skip lunch in Bridgeport and head to the trail head. This would turn out later to be a mistake, at least for me.
At the trail head, we prepped gear and ate from our plentiful supplies of trail mix, jerky, and crackers. Excited to get on the trail, I barely ate. We started hiking by 1pm, with the heat of the day building. Halfway to West Lake, I started to bonk. My companions were gracious enough to wait while I rested and offered me food, but it was too late. By the time we finished the climb to West Lake I was jittery and spent. After some miso soup and rest, I regained some energy and we enjoyed the evening at the established campsites on the east side of the lake. Fish rose, but I was too tired to give it a try. A slight rain came and passed quickly.
Later that evening, after we had gone to bed, I noticed a flashing light. I poked my head up from my bivy expecting to see one of my companions with a headlamp. Instead, I saw a huge fireball as it streaked eastward. It had twin tails and flashed in bursts as it slowly moved across the sky. I thought I was witnessing an extinction level event and quickly did the calculus: Will we survive the shockwave? How fast could we get out of here? How long to get back to our families? I did hear an explosion or sonic boom about 5 minutes later, but nothing that warranted bailing on the trip. Turns out I had witnessed the reentry of a Chinese rocket launched in June. (A quick YouTube search will yield a few videos of the event.)
The next morning, after relaying what I had witnessed, we packed up and started the day’s hike. We hiked overland up to Par Value Lakes, then followed the drainage down to Glines Valley and hooked up with the use trail that goes up to Virginia Pass. Most of this was pretty straight forward, just following the obvious contour lines with some bush whacking and modest route finding as we descended into Glines Canyon. The largest Par Value Lake was a beautiful spot with fish rising in the morning sun. The descent offered great views of the valley and upon reaching the use trail we stopped at the creek crossing and refilled our water. Everything was beautiful.
The climb to Virginia Pass is steady, but the trail is in good shape, making for relatively easy climbing. Upon reaching the pass, we were afforded a wonderful view of Virginia Canyon, Shepherd Crest, and our target, Return Lake. I choose a route from the pass that followed the contour lines and avoided losing as much elevation as possible. I was told that I’d “step over my own mother” to avoid losing elevation. The walk around the canyon was a bit taxing on our feet, and we hiked from the loose rock on the edges of the canyon down to the percolating water in the marshy bottom. We reached Return Lake easily.
We camped near the outlet, not finding many established or good spots anywhere else around the lake. As the evening progressed, the thunderheads grew to the east of us. The wind shifted many times, but rain never came. The clouds did shine in the evening light—a show to be sure.
(continued)
After waiting too long this spring to secure a permit to a more in-demand east side trail head, we took a chance and were able to get a permit in the Hoover Wilderness departing from the Green Creek trail head.
Four of us arrived at the Bridgeport Ranger Station just after 11 am on Wednesday. We grabbed our permit, our fifth member arrived shortly later, and we decided to skip lunch in Bridgeport and head to the trail head. This would turn out later to be a mistake, at least for me.
At the trail head, we prepped gear and ate from our plentiful supplies of trail mix, jerky, and crackers. Excited to get on the trail, I barely ate. We started hiking by 1pm, with the heat of the day building. Halfway to West Lake, I started to bonk. My companions were gracious enough to wait while I rested and offered me food, but it was too late. By the time we finished the climb to West Lake I was jittery and spent. After some miso soup and rest, I regained some energy and we enjoyed the evening at the established campsites on the east side of the lake. Fish rose, but I was too tired to give it a try. A slight rain came and passed quickly.
Later that evening, after we had gone to bed, I noticed a flashing light. I poked my head up from my bivy expecting to see one of my companions with a headlamp. Instead, I saw a huge fireball as it streaked eastward. It had twin tails and flashed in bursts as it slowly moved across the sky. I thought I was witnessing an extinction level event and quickly did the calculus: Will we survive the shockwave? How fast could we get out of here? How long to get back to our families? I did hear an explosion or sonic boom about 5 minutes later, but nothing that warranted bailing on the trip. Turns out I had witnessed the reentry of a Chinese rocket launched in June. (A quick YouTube search will yield a few videos of the event.)
The next morning, after relaying what I had witnessed, we packed up and started the day’s hike. We hiked overland up to Par Value Lakes, then followed the drainage down to Glines Valley and hooked up with the use trail that goes up to Virginia Pass. Most of this was pretty straight forward, just following the obvious contour lines with some bush whacking and modest route finding as we descended into Glines Canyon. The largest Par Value Lake was a beautiful spot with fish rising in the morning sun. The descent offered great views of the valley and upon reaching the use trail we stopped at the creek crossing and refilled our water. Everything was beautiful.
The climb to Virginia Pass is steady, but the trail is in good shape, making for relatively easy climbing. Upon reaching the pass, we were afforded a wonderful view of Virginia Canyon, Shepherd Crest, and our target, Return Lake. I choose a route from the pass that followed the contour lines and avoided losing as much elevation as possible. I was told that I’d “step over my own mother” to avoid losing elevation. The walk around the canyon was a bit taxing on our feet, and we hiked from the loose rock on the edges of the canyon down to the percolating water in the marshy bottom. We reached Return Lake easily.
We camped near the outlet, not finding many established or good spots anywhere else around the lake. As the evening progressed, the thunderheads grew to the east of us. The wind shifted many times, but rain never came. The clouds did shine in the evening light—a show to be sure.
(continued)