Trip Report: Sabrina Basin 9/16-9/18/16

[Midnight Sun]

I had intended to post this trip report in a timelier fashion, but alas. Now that backpacking season is upon us, it occurred to me again.

I had a great 2-nighter in the Sabrina Basin with the wife in September, 2016. Beautiful fall colors and surprising solitude made this trip special. It was my wife’s first time backpacking, and this ended up being just the right amount of trail.

We headed out from Santa Barbara early Saturday Morning, and arrived at Lake Sabrina (pronounced suh-BRY-nuh) around 1pm. When we finally found parking (which turned out to be the wrong parking), we hit the trail. The setting was immediately beautiful. Sabrina Lake was full and a splendid deep blue. This in itself was heartening, as my prior visit in 2015 yielded a nearly empty lake. Trailing up from the lake on all sides were golden colors of fall. The colors caught in the sparkling reflection of the lake made for a truly spectacular beginning of our hike.

DSC_0013.jpg

The trail switchbacks on and off for a few miles until you gain egress from the Sabrina Lake area, where the landscape becomes slightly more alpine. This area is a bit of a small bowl, with a nice trail leading from bottom to top. Once we passed through this portion, we arrived at Blue Lake. Our planned first night’s camp was Dingleberry Lake, but Blue Lake was beautiful and inviting. No one else was there. It ended up being a perfect camping spot for the first night.

DSC_0054.jpg

IMG_6705.jpg

We hiked south along the west side of the lake, moving beyond the next day’s trail heading west and further up into the Sabrina Basin. After setting up camp near the lake, we enjoyed some rye whiskey and dehydrated meals before turning in.

DSC_0079.jpg

After beginning the next morning with snacks and coffee, we retraced our steps back to the trail and headed further west up away from Blue Lake. The trail at this point, if I remember correctly, flattened out relative to the climb up from Sabrina. Our planned destination today was Hungry Packer lake. I’d read good things about this spot, and the views of the surrounding mountains and Picture Peak are supposedly spectacular.

After a short while, we passed Dingleberry Lake. A very pretty lake, but we were quite pleased with our decision to enjoy Blue Lake the night before. The surroundings beyond Dingleberry are less treed and more granite. Colorful alpine flora paint a very pretty picture.

DSC_0118.jpg

DSC_0126.jpg

Just before reaching the junction where we planned to veer left to head toward Hungry Packer, we ran into some a couple on their way out after 11 days in the basin. They endorsed the beauty of Hungry Packer Lake, but advised us that there were other people there. They suggested instead heading to Midnight Lake, which was also supposedly beautiful but with fewer people. We took their advice and headed West at the junction toward Midnight Lake. We couldn't have been more happy with our second night's destination. Midnight Lake was stunningly beautiful, with high granite walls dripping dramatically into the lake. The lake itself is was picturesque deep (midnight?) blue. The solitude we were told about was real. No one else was in sight. We had this beautiful lake to ourselves for the evening.

IMG_6769.jpg

DSC_0163.jpg

We found a nice spot on the northwest side of the lake, with a nice granite porch about 75 feet above the water's surface. After filling our waters, we explored a bit, ate dinner, took some Milky Way pictures, and called it a night.

The hike out is all downhill and pretty easy. When we arrived back at our car we learned that we had accidentally parked in an area where no overnight parking was allowed. Someone had let the air out of one of our tires (but otherwise did no damage to the tire), which was kind of weird. Anyway, you have to park a bit further down the road from the Lake Sabrina parking lot (where the trailhead is located). Just make sure to pay more attention to the signs than I did.

All in all it was a great trip. We are planning on visiting again this September, when we'll check out some of the other lakes in the Basin.

[gary c.]

Very nice report and beautiful pictures. You can't go wrong with a return trip to the Sabrina Basin. You have just scratched the surface on that beautiful area. I plan on going back again in the next year or two also.

[mschnaidt]

Great report Midnight Sun. Thanks for posting it.

I'd like to take a trip into that area later this Summer or Fall. Was your trip in early or late September?

[Midnight Sun]

I'd like to take a trip into that area later this Summer or Fall. Was your trip in early or late September?

It was around Sept 16. Couldn't have asked for better conditions. High 60/Low 70s during the day, around 40 at night.

[Luckydrew]

I came out of the basin the day before you went in.
However, rather than go to Hungry Packer I went towards the Baboons. Unfortunately a cold front moved in the same time as I did and left along with me. Overnight lows were in the 20's and frost and surface ice around the edges of the lakes in the morning kept everything a little chilly and I got a light dusting twice. I went for a full 48 hours without seeing another person. The hike up to Sunset lake is very nice and is actually more beautiful coming down.
Below is my amateur attempt at a slide show for the area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNrjH3kh6do