White Rock Lake

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rrivera
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White Rock Lake

Post by rrivera »

Has anyone been to White Rock Lake? Is it a good overnight backpacking trip? I know there is a 4WD road to the lake but I'm hoping not many folks go up there. I am thinking of heading there mid/late July.
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Re: White Rock Lake

Post by giantbrookie »

Hopefully there will be some other N. Sierran folks who have more experience than I who will chime in. I've been there briefly but didn't stay. You will certainly not be alone at White Rock, but it probably won't be a zoo either. The road is not that difficult to drive (at least it wasn't in 1995 when I was up there). I think that on the average weekend camping there is a bit like camping at a moderately popular hike-to place in terms of numbers of people. This is true of much of this part of the Sierra. I don't think White Rock will see as many folks as, say Lower Lindsay, at Grouse Ridge, owing to the fact that Lindsay is more accessible (very short section of what is basically 2wd rough road just below the lake, plus it's much close to I80). In spite of this, even Lower Lindsay isn't exactly overflowing with people.

I wouldn't recommend it as a hike-to destination, though. Hiking along a 4wd road to a place with cars that are camped is not as fun as going to a hiking only destination, in my book, even if the number of folks at the lake isn't too large. Let's just say you can carry in a lot of stuff in your vehicle that you won't bring in on your back. In fact, I've done a lot of 4wd camping, and although I and many others doing this try to practice minimal impact camping as best we can, the potential to bring in just about anything in your vehicle can lead to abuse by some. If you hike the entire dirt road to White Rock you will put in more mileage than you would if you hiked to other destinations in that area that are hike only: places such as Penner lake (and other lakes) in the Grouse Ridge area, Beyers Lakes, Five Lakes basin, etc.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: White Rock Lake

Post by rrivera »

thanks good to know...sounds like I should go with a backup....like Paradise which I've been to before...I'm not a huge fan of Grouse Ridge and that area simply because their is too much foot traffic
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Re: White Rock Lake

Post by hikerduane »

As far back in as White Rock is, I've seen it packed to the gills with the usual crowd, smoke, campers etc. Might as well been camping at Lake Tahoe. Grouse Ridge can get folks like you said. Last year, four of us got together for a minimalist type trip and for something to do Saturday afternoon, we did a loop from Island Lake around to Crooked Lakes area, picked up the Glacier Lake trail and back, surprised that we came across a few camps way back around there, but a nice spot by a creek, people were surprised to see us. Don't hit these areas on a holiday.
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Re: White Rock Lake

Post by tightline »

You can also drive to Faucherrie (sp?), which is between White Rock & the Grouse Ridge area. This lake is one of the prettier places you can drive to that I can think of(I also caught an 18" brown trout there FYI). You can bring a canoe to this lake as I did and if it is a nice day it's very enjoyable and scenic paddling around. From there you can easily hike up to French Lake, which is very large and if you wanted to overnight it you just head around the shore somewhere for solitude, but I have never seen many people there in any event. It's actually a reservoir though if that matters to you..The public is not allowed to drive into it however..It is a beautiful place. If you study your maps you will see that there is an easy approach from the top of the ridge where a maintenance road drops in as well, but I think you would enjoy the Faucherrie approach more. My son and I stayed the night there once and did some cliff diving one day. The water was great and you could stay in but the 4th might be a little early yet. From there you can dayhike up to Beyer Lakes...they did not seem overly "overrun" when we were there....Also, between French and Beyer are some of the most interesting stunted and windformed pine trees I've ever seen in the Sierras. As far as White Rock goes yeah there were a few campers there when I was there year before last.
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Re: White Rock Lake

Post by hikerduane »

Faucherie is a dusty, bumpy drive in, even on a dirtbike. Some local fisherman fanatics like to hit that early, hauling there small boat in for the weekend. Pretty lake though.
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Re: White Rock Lake

Post by giantbrookie »

French Lake can also be reached (shorter) by hiking down to it on the gated off Nev. Irr. Distr. access road: less than a mile from the Jackson Mdws Res-Meadow Lake road (passenger car drivable). French is huge and sees remarkably few people. It has nice rainbows and some browns. It's shoreline is so extensive that you can almost certainly hike around it to get a big part of this lake to yourself.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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