Paradise Lake Nevada County

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Vaca Russ
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Paradise Lake Nevada County

Post by Vaca Russ »

My old friend "Ax Man" had planned a trip to take a couple of teenagers up to Paradise Lake.
He shared his plan with me and asked my thoughts so I recommended we make the hike.

We parked at the gate to Castle Pass road. The gate is still currently locked. This added a couple of miles
to our hike. The weather was also less than ideal. It was raining on the drive up and went from steady to light
all day long.
1 John Snow.JPG
There is also still a lot of snow covering the trail. The snow was particularly deep on the north slope of Basin
Peak.
2 Basin North Slope.JPG
3 Basin North Slope.JPG
The rain went from sleet to snow and back to heavy rain. It was particularly heavy by the time we reached
Paradise Valley. The trail was now a steady stream.
4 Stream Trail.JPG
In fact there were streams everywhere. The dogs were soaked and shivering but we all pressed on toward the lake.

We got to the lake, set up camp and then the rain (as predicted) began to stop. We watched a bald eagle fly from
one tree to another and wait for risers.
5 Eagle Perch.JPG
We cooked dinner and called it a night. That night the rains returned. The wind was also causing quite a commotion.

The weather did improve the next morning and the sun even made an appearance.
6 Lake.JPG
We bush whacked and rock climbed our way around the lake.
7 Lake.JPG
We did toss some flies and lures but never were able to bring a fish to hand. Late Sunday morning we packed up our
camp and headed back to the truck. We lucked out and didn't get rain on the trip back.
8 Paradise Bridge.JPG
9 Snow Fields.JPG
There was a work crew gathering fire wood at the Peter Grubb Hut in Round Valley. The new roof on the hut looks great!
10 Grubb Hut.JPG
Thanks for reading my report!

-Russ
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Ax Man
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Re: Paradise Lake Nevada County

Post by Ax Man »

Nice recap on the trip Russ, I must say it was a great idea you had for us to take this trip now in advance of the trek in June. Thanks for sharing your experance and wisdom with me and helping to ensure the kids and I will have fun and be completely prepared for whatever comes our way...hopefully less weather next month.
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maverick
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Re: Paradise Lake Nevada County

Post by maverick »

Thanks Russ for another enjoyable TR and fun pictures, love the dogs.

Welcome to HST Ax Man! Hope you write up a TR of your upcoming June trip. :)
If you have the time, please write up an intro here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9329
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

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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