). Unfortunately, I lost most of the photos from this trip.On Friday, September 18, 2015, I tried to get up early and failed, resulting in my typical late departure, this time for a hike in the Salmon Mountains area of the Trinity Alps. The hike would include lakes, creeks, bare mountain peaks, and mining relics, and for the first night, solitude. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost most of the pictures from this trip.
I arrived at the Union Lake Trailhead around 11:00 AM. The drive to the trailhead was easy enough for a passenger vehicle although a bit time consuming at just about 2 hours from Redding. The hike started off on an old logging and mining road that more or less paralleled Union Creek, albeit well above the creek for most of the way before eventually meeting the creek and crossing it on a well-constructed footbridge where the old road bed essentially ended and the trail narrowed. The trail continued along the west side of the creek crossing two small tributaries before reaching a junction where you have the choice of heading west up to Bullards Basin and the Dorleska Mine or taking the more popular trail southeast to Union Lake, Foster Lake, and Lion Lake. I chose the path less traveled.
After a short climb from the open meadow at 5,200 feet up to a creek crossing at just over 5,900 feet, the trail continued climbing. This creek was my last truly flowing water for several miles, so I guess it was a good thing that I topped off my water there. You’ll know that you have reached the Dorleska Mine by the piles of rock and sand on the hillside to the south (left). There was an old steam engine for a stamping mill and various gears and other rusting parts scattered in the immediate area around the mine shaft, to think that all of this was brought to the site by mules and men in the 1910’s. As you continue up the trail past the mine, you will reach a saddle point next to Prospect Peak with decent views of the surrounding drainages and peaks. It is a short decent from the saddle point to the trail leading south from the Big Flat Trailhead. Evidently, the Yellow Rose Mine is located just northwest of the trail junction, but given my late start, I chose to head directly south on the trail where I came across some other mine remnants that were not shown on my map as the trail began climbing once again towards Red Rock Mountain. Red Rock Mountain is well named as the red volcanic rock that makes it up really stands out among the predominantly granite Trinity Alps. The trail started to fade in and out, but it was a simple matter of heading south along the west side of the mountain then turning west through a low point to the south of Red Rock Mountain. There were some cairns to help in finding the way as well.
Descending from the saddle point, the trail became obvious again until it entered the tall grass along Sunrise Creek which was not much of a creek, at least not during September 2015. The USGS maps will show the trail crossing back and forth over the creek, but all I found were a few seeps and some damp ground. Out of water, I came across a little trickle of water into a small pool where I was able to collect and filter some water. It was getting late and when I came to a large open meadow with a solitary tree rising up alongside the dry creek bed, I decided it was time to stop for the night. I set up my tent, made dinner, and called it a night.
Day 2
The next morning, I checked out the weather station (snow measuring station specifically) just east of where I had camped, then packed camp to continue southeast to the confluence of the trail and Sunrise Creek with Landers Creek and the trail running north and south along Landers Creek. At the edge of the meadow, there was an established camp site among the trees – of course there was – but, I had enjoyed my night sky views without any trees filtering out the moon and stars anyway. I lost the trail once again, and rather than try to find it, I headed generally east towards Landers Creek. There was some brush but nothing too terrible. The flow in Landers Creek was also very low, but enough for me to top off my water again before heading north on the trail and upstream to Landers Lake. At first, I walked by the fork in the trail to Landers Lake, but I realized my error and back tracked until I saw the trail sign hidden in the shadows of a tree. Landers Lake was low (surprise, surprise). But, there were a few camp sites, and I decided to stop for an early lunch or second breakfast. I was now seeing Red Rock Mountain’s eastern face as it rose above Landers Lake. I thought that I might return some time and try to climb it.
After a long rest or short lunch, I headed back down the side trail to get back to the main trail and my goal of Foster Lake. Except, I walked right by the fork in the trail and headed south. At least this time, I quickly realized my mistake and got headed in the right direction before I wasted too much time. The trial headed up briefly before crossing a saddle point and turning east while descending down to the headwaters of Union Creek. For some reason, I decided to turn south (right) at the trail junction in the meadow and climb towards the saddle point between the Union Creek and Parker Creek drainages. The view was nice anyway, too bad I lost the photo. I turned myself around at the top and began hiking north towards the trail that would take me up to Foster Lake where I planned to camp for the night. I actually saw this trail junction (for once) and turned right (east) towards Foster Lake.
After turning right, the trail soon crosses Union Creek before heading uphill in earnest. While the USGS maps don’t show it, there is a nice little creek that crosses the trail uphill from Union Creek, which I would recommend for water rather than Union Creek. One reason for this is the animal activity along this trail, specifically human and horse. I always look to get my water above such activity if at all possible, even when I’m filtering it. It was at this stream crossing, just having finished filtering some more water that a train of eight horses and five riders passed me along with two children on foot and a German Shepherd. Apparently, they were headed to Foster Lake as well. I stood aside to let them pass rather than try to get ahead of them, figuring horses would probably be able to make better time up the trail than me anyway. The last horse in the train did not want to cross the little creek, and unfortunately for me decided it would back up the hillside next to the creek, the hillside that I was standing on. I grabbed my new backpack off the ground and scrambled back as fast as I could, just avoiding its hooves. I may have let a four letter word escape my lips, but I still don’t think that was any reason for the glare that the lady on the horse’s back shot at me. I think my reaction was quite in keeping with the situation, me narrowly avoiding serious injury to my foot or leg and/or my backpacking equipment when I was about seven miles from my car.
I soon caught up to the slow moving horses, and as they stopped for whatever reason, I spied the trail above me and did the unthinkable, cut a switchback, to get in front of them without crossing either the horses or the German Shepherd. I increased the separation as the trail switchbacked up the mountainside, eventually arriving at Foster Lake well ahead of them and having my pick of the campsites. I chose one separated from the lake by a dried up tarn and a small ridge. After setting up camp, I went to the lake to check it out, and it was beautiful. After topping off my water, I went back to camp for dinner and relaxation. While I couldn’t see the large group with horses, I could hear them. Specifically, I could hear what sounded like a leaf blower. I sat next to my tent, making dinner, trying to figure out what the noise was and what the h*** they had brought out into the wilderness. Then it finally dawned on me, it was a small compressor to inflate air mattresses, glamping; it was glamping that I was hearing. I headed back over to the lake to enjoy sundown and top off my water for the night and the next morning. A couple of the glampers were fishing and doing a pretty good job of it. We’re not talking high sierra, fight to keep fish of the hook action, but the guy nearest me was getting strikes on most casts and reeled in a few small ones while I was there. The unnamed peaks rising above the lake to the east made a fine backdrop for the setting sun that evening. After returning to camp, I left the tarp open and enjoyed a celestial light show after the sun had finished painting those peaks with alpenglow.
Day 3
After packing camp and having breakfast, I headed back to the trail and headed east towards the saddle point between Foster Lake and Lion Lake. I needed to go west to get back to where my car was parked, but in this case, I intentionally headed the “wrong” direction. The view of Lion Lake and the Boulder Creek drainage stretching to the northeast was wonderful, and I decided to see if I could climb up the ridge to the unnamed peak to the north for a glimpse of Sugar Pine Lake as well. I started off with my pack and then ditched it at a flat open spot a hundred feet above and due north of the trail. From there, I boulder hopped, scrambled and occasionally pulled my way up along the eastern side of the southern ridge. Near the top, I got to some stuff that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with and decided to turn around after one last scramble to the top edge of the ridge. While I never got to the top and the northern view towards Sugar Pine Lake, the views to the south and east of Foster, Lion, and Conway Lakes were mighty good anyway.
I scrambled back down, picking up my pack on the way back to the trail, and descended once again past Foster Lake back to the meadow at the head of Union Creek. I headed back towards the trailhead, except that I didn’t. Which was fine, once again, because I did head towards Union Lake. I had originally planned to visit Union Lake, but had been waffling the whole trip on whether or not to bother. I ended up going there, and it was no bother. It was a shallow lake, and though the water was clear, it had some interesting color owing to the plants growing in it. I left Union Lake for the trail head, for real this time with no side trips (intentional or unintentional), and made it back to my car by noon.
Despite the glampers, who were also hunters…”scouting” the area…with guns…one week before the opening of deer season, I had an overall good time. The evening in the meadow next to Sunrise Creek below the south face of Red Rock Mountain and the time spent examining the relics of the Dorleska Mine were the highlights of the trip. I definitely plan to return to the area to either explore additional trails and mines in the area, climb Red Rock Mountain, cross over the ridge to Sugar Pine Lake (off trail), or maybe to do some fishing at Foster and Lion Lakes. There are many more miles of trails in the Trinity Alps left for me to explore and many sites to see for the first time.
