I had a trail permit for the Rae Lakes loop, but the Rough Fire killed any thoughts of that. So, for the second time this season, me and my brother had to make do a "Plan B" hike due to fire and head to the Marbles. Accepting this predicament was made somewhat easier by the fact that our mother lives nearby in Southern Oregon, a short 45 minutes drive from the Lover's Camp TH. So we joined up at Mom's and did some chores for her before heading out on Saturday, September 26 for the Marble Mountains.
I knew it was the second week of hunting season and had my brother purchase several orange shirts just to be safe. When we arrived at the TH there was a family of hunters also unloading and getting ready to hit the trail. Unfortunately, they weren't the safe type, and proceeded to prop up three of their rifles on a tree next to my car and the trail. We quickly packed and got on the trail before one of the party could kick over all three of the guns and shoot me or my vehicle. We also noticed there were a number of big trucks and livestock trailers in the horse parking and assumed that there were lots of hunters in the area. This turned out to incorrect and we were treated to instead, another type of wilderness use.
We quickly climbed the Marble Valley and soon were in the meadows surrounding the Sky High Lakes. The six miles went quickly.
Things were crunchy dry and I began to pity the hunters. Then I noticed the herd of 20 cattle and realized that all the livestock hauling vehicles were for cattle, not horses. Cattle and deer don't get along, and that, combined with the fact that we had seen a small herd deer grazing down in the farmed alfalfa of the Scotts Valley, made me think that hunting in the Marbles at this time was pretty futile at this point. I chuckled to myself. We saw no other hunters for the rest of the trip.
We set up at Lower Sky High Lake......
.......caught some Brooks for dinner......
.....and were happy. Looked at the cabin just down the creek:
Things were good. However, earplugs were necessary to sleep, as it was a full moon, and the cows in the meadow were up all night. (Ding ding ding! Yes, they all had cowbells on!)
With the days so much shorter than summer, we go a lot of sleep.
Next morning we hiked over to Campbell Lake, passing Summit Lake on the way:
I had caught browns in Campbell in 2009 and the lake did not disappoint. My brother caught his first brown ever.
We also caught Brooks and a few Rainbows. This lake is quite productive. Cattle were absent.
This was a low stress hike, so the next day, we hiked all of one mile to Cliff Lake:
Brooks were the game here, though there were a few rainbows thrown in as well:
Next morning we decided to make the long trek over to the Wright Lakes. On the way, we passed the Reynolds Cabin:
When we finally climbed out of the Shackleford Drainage and into the Big Meadows area, we had a great view over the Scott Valley and Mt. Shasta in the distance.
This view of Shasta continued through Big Meadows.
After what appeared to be an unnecessary drop into Big Meadows, we climbed back over the ridge, and dropped into Upper Wright Lake. It was rather green and camping was limited, so we went down to Lower Wright Lake.
Lower Wright, though lacking in shade, was much more interesting and had reasonably good fishing.
In encountered the only deer on the trip, noisily chomping on grass just outside me tent! Its amazing how noisy deer are up close.
Next morning we continued on to Deep Lake and found another herd of our bovine friends in the meadow:
Here's Deep Lake with some interesting clouds floating over:
Brooks were found and consumed:
And a pretty sunset ensued:
Next morning we headed back to Lovers Camp TH, passing though the meadows of the Red Rock Valley.
We did about 39 miles over six days. Relaxed for us, but well worth it.
