Onion Valley-Golden Trout Lake day hike - Aug 9
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:38 pm
We woke up early Saturday morning and made the 3.5 hr drive to Atlanta for our 12 o'clock flight which went off without a hitch. Even had some time to throw down a few cold ones in anticipation of our 4 hr flight! We landed in LA around 2 pm and headed straight to pick up our rental van which would serve as our home base for the trip. These guys were awesome to rent from and this van came equipped with just about everything we would need aside from food (propane stove, cookware, 5 gal water tank, refrigerator, and a bed)!
20150810_100651 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
After stocking up at Trader Joe's we hit the road to Gray's Meadow campground where a very good friend whom I've not seen in years was waiting to greet us. The drive was beautiful as we headed up 395 with views of the sunset over Mt Whitney and surrounding peaks.
20150808_194627 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150808_192222 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
After diligently reading the fire reports, smoke maps, etc., we weren't really sure what to expect as we arrived. But much to our delight there was no evidence of any smoke! Our original intention was to meet up in Sequoia Nat'l Forest, however the Cabin Fire (and potential smoke from the Rough Fire) were just too close for comfort. Following the advice from HST members, we decided to head east first, which was a great choice for many reasons. We made it to the campground around 8 pm where our friend and his girlfriend were waiting with a Black Butte Porter in hand!!! And so our vacation began.....
After staying up a little late catching up over a few (many) beers and attempted night shots of the Milky Way, we got off to a slow start on Sunday morning. Probably wasn't a bad thing to hang at 6000 ft as we were able to acclimatize a little
. Filled up on coconut pancakes and bacon we made our way up to the Onion Valley TH. I was amazed at how many cars were there..had to park along the road well below the parking lot. We had no plan on which hike we were going to to so decided to just decide once we hit the trailhead. After talking with the trail maintenance fella cleaning the pit toilet, we decided to head up to Golden Trout Lakes. I believe his advice went something like this: "That trail is like a highway" (referring to Kearsarge Pass trail).."I'd go up that way...not as many people do and you'll see why". So off to Golden Trout Lake we go..to see why! Being our first hike, and not sure how we'd all react to the elevation we figure we'd just take it easy...so here we were starting at 9000 and heading to over 11000 ft. :retard:
20150809_113605 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_114113 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_162903 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
With the "you'll see why" comment, we expected a slow scrambling climb up to the lakes. While the trail was easy to lose in many places(and that we did (even stumbled upon some cool old mine's? along a cliff) it wasn't as bad as anticipated. We definitely did a stretch of unnecessary scrambling over what appeared to be a rock slide over the old trail.
20150809_155203 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_155756 by bahuffma1, on Flickr pointing towards the way we went and the way we should have went!
My buddy and I didn't mind this at all...our significant others though..well let's just say they were troopers!
In the meadow just below the split we were trying to decide whether to go the lake to the left, or the lakes to the right.
20150809_153911 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
That's when a local from Independence (the only person we saw on this hike) came cruising down the trail with rod in hand. HIs advice was to go to the right two lakes.." the trail is a little hairy, but you can't really mess it up..and the golden's were hitting like crazy".. so that's where we went. After the scramble across the rock fall we had just done, this last little "hairy" part seemed like a breeze! So after our ~3.5 mile (2400 ft gain) we arrived at the first of the two lakes! WOW were we blown away!! We had the entire place to ourselves and decided to just take it all in for a few hours..even caught my first golden on the first cast!! As well as a quick dip in the lake.
20150809_133734 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
The hike down was much easier as the trail markers were easier to identify..even cut off about a half mile without all the accidental scrambling. Was also gorgeous as the lighting was phenomenal.
20150809_162522 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_153101 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
We were thrilled that there were so many wildflowers out as we expected everything to be dried up due to the drought.
20150809_164112 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_100904 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_153847 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_153129 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_153112 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
This was the first of several stops on our 2 week trip around the southern Sierra, and couldn't think of a better way to start it out.
20150810_104414 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_173140 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150809_160940 by bahuffma1, on Flickr
20150810_100651 by bahuffma1, on FlickrAfter stocking up at Trader Joe's we hit the road to Gray's Meadow campground where a very good friend whom I've not seen in years was waiting to greet us. The drive was beautiful as we headed up 395 with views of the sunset over Mt Whitney and surrounding peaks.
20150808_194627 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150808_192222 by bahuffma1, on FlickrAfter diligently reading the fire reports, smoke maps, etc., we weren't really sure what to expect as we arrived. But much to our delight there was no evidence of any smoke! Our original intention was to meet up in Sequoia Nat'l Forest, however the Cabin Fire (and potential smoke from the Rough Fire) were just too close for comfort. Following the advice from HST members, we decided to head east first, which was a great choice for many reasons. We made it to the campground around 8 pm where our friend and his girlfriend were waiting with a Black Butte Porter in hand!!! And so our vacation began.....
After staying up a little late catching up over a few (many) beers and attempted night shots of the Milky Way, we got off to a slow start on Sunday morning. Probably wasn't a bad thing to hang at 6000 ft as we were able to acclimatize a little
. Filled up on coconut pancakes and bacon we made our way up to the Onion Valley TH. I was amazed at how many cars were there..had to park along the road well below the parking lot. We had no plan on which hike we were going to to so decided to just decide once we hit the trailhead. After talking with the trail maintenance fella cleaning the pit toilet, we decided to head up to Golden Trout Lakes. I believe his advice went something like this: "That trail is like a highway" (referring to Kearsarge Pass trail).."I'd go up that way...not as many people do and you'll see why". So off to Golden Trout Lake we go..to see why! Being our first hike, and not sure how we'd all react to the elevation we figure we'd just take it easy...so here we were starting at 9000 and heading to over 11000 ft. :retard: 20150809_113605 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_114113 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_162903 by bahuffma1, on FlickrWith the "you'll see why" comment, we expected a slow scrambling climb up to the lakes. While the trail was easy to lose in many places(and that we did (even stumbled upon some cool old mine's? along a cliff) it wasn't as bad as anticipated. We definitely did a stretch of unnecessary scrambling over what appeared to be a rock slide over the old trail.
20150809_155203 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_155756 by bahuffma1, on Flickr pointing towards the way we went and the way we should have went!My buddy and I didn't mind this at all...our significant others though..well let's just say they were troopers!
In the meadow just below the split we were trying to decide whether to go the lake to the left, or the lakes to the right.
20150809_153911 by bahuffma1, on FlickrThat's when a local from Independence (the only person we saw on this hike) came cruising down the trail with rod in hand. HIs advice was to go to the right two lakes.." the trail is a little hairy, but you can't really mess it up..and the golden's were hitting like crazy".. so that's where we went. After the scramble across the rock fall we had just done, this last little "hairy" part seemed like a breeze! So after our ~3.5 mile (2400 ft gain) we arrived at the first of the two lakes! WOW were we blown away!! We had the entire place to ourselves and decided to just take it all in for a few hours..even caught my first golden on the first cast!! As well as a quick dip in the lake.
20150809_133734 by bahuffma1, on FlickrThe hike down was much easier as the trail markers were easier to identify..even cut off about a half mile without all the accidental scrambling. Was also gorgeous as the lighting was phenomenal.
20150809_162522 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_153101 by bahuffma1, on FlickrWe were thrilled that there were so many wildflowers out as we expected everything to be dried up due to the drought.
20150809_164112 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_100904 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_153847 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_153129 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_153112 by bahuffma1, on FlickrThis was the first of several stops on our 2 week trip around the southern Sierra, and couldn't think of a better way to start it out.
20150810_104414 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_173140 by bahuffma1, on Flickr20150809_160940 by bahuffma1, on Flickr