TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop (edited)

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ucangler
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TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop (edited)

Post by ucangler »

cottonwood.gif

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Brief Summary:
Cottonwood Lakes Loop July 3-6
Horseshoe Meadows via Cottonwood Lakes Trail ---> Cottonwood Lakes 1,2 and 3 ----> South Fork Lakes ---> Horseshoe Meadows via South Fork Trail

Trail was very easy, if conditioned properly. Weather was good 75 during the day, 40s in the nights.
As usual, the Sierra's, for me, always brings some rain. On Sunday morning, the weather gave us a nice shower from 7am to 9am as we where packing out. Rain is nice when you bring appropriate gear.
Total Fish C&R was about 36 for myself. Flies used adams, hairs ear, caddis pupa, buggers
GoldenC.jpg
IMPORTANT:
I brought Steve Ojai's map (the one you see above) and one you get from REI. I was confused because the trails did not match up. What I found was that Steve Ojai's map is wrong in 1 section. For the Flyguys like me, who use that as a source, we should note the error. Ojai's trail from the trailhead (middle hiker icon) crosses the South Fork Creek and shows it swinging hard east and crossing Cottonwood Creek. It does not do that. It actually stays on the west side of Cottonwood creek all the way up to the C lakes. In addition, on the way back using South Fork Creek trail, that trail doesn not swing hard North near the end where the 2 trails meet. I have corrected the map using red.
The only reason I had to bring Ojai's map is because the one Harrison's map cuts off the Cottonwood Lakes section and I did not want to buy 2 maps.

Edit: I forgot to mention the trip to the upper South Fork Lake. There is no trail that goes from the first lake to the last one. The terrain is very rough and dangerous. My buddy and I wanted to go check the lake out and we were stuck going through 200 yards of Talus rocks sometimes piled high. It was very tiring and a drain on morale. We reached the lake but realized that the water was low and the skeeters ridiculous due to all the standing water from the receding water line. We decided to go back to Lake 1 and camp there. However, we did not take the same route back. If you want to go to that lake, the best way to do that is to follow the tree line on the South Side which is on a hill and littered with rocks and bolders, but at least they are grounded on dirt. The Talus shore is something you want to avoid. There were times I had know idea how many feet of voided space were under the rocks I was standing on.
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Last edited by ucangler on Thu Jul 10, 2014 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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socalclimber
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Re: TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop

Post by socalclimber »

Nice TR and pics! How were the mosquitos? I'm heading to Cottonwood Lakes area tomorrow for 2 days.

Thanks,
Brent
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ucangler
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Re: TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop

Post by ucangler »

Brent,

I hope all is well. The mosquitos where in force. i was dressed in long sleeves and was tagged many times on the ears and started wearing my headnet on day 3. Cottonwood lakes i rate 7 out of 10 in nuisance. South fork Lake i rate 9!

Let me know if you have any other questions. good luck!
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maverick
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Re: TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop

Post by maverick »

Could you please write up a mosquito report for the area. Thanks
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: TR Cottonwood Lakes/ South Fork Lakes Loop (edited)

Post by ucangler »

Yes, Mav. Done!
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