TR: Carson-Iceberg Wilderness 64th birthday dayhike 8-1-23

[giantbrookie]

For a pre-64th birthday celebration (one day before 64th birthday) I took a dayhike to a region I really hadn't done any hiking in before: northern Carson-Iceberg (C-I) Wilderness. In point of fact I hadn't been anywhere in that wilderness area ever, other than an ill-advised dayhike with my dad to climb Highland Peak in a thunderstorm in 1978 (I'm not sure it was a wilderness in 1978). One reason I have spent little time in C-I is the lack of fishing lakes. This is probably the region with the fewest cirque lakes of any part of the Sierran backbone. In addition, after changes in fisheries management policies, most of the few lakes have gone fishless because they were dependent on air dropping, leaving only two hike-to lakes in the wilderness with self-sustaining trout populations. Owing to "The Code of Silence" (y'all know the drill, the reasons are at the end of the post) I won't mention exactly where I was in this little report, so the main purpose of this account is simply to report on conditions and give folks an idea of what the area looks like because it is a different sort of landscape that has its own unique appeal.

My route started from a trailhead reached by a graded gravel road that had enough deep ruts and gouges, as well as some steep sections, that I was glad to have driven my 1992 Pathfinder. I didn't shift to 4WD, keeping it in 2WD the entire way, but I was mighty glad to have the high clearance. It was Tuesday and I found the lower part of the road lined with many dispersed campers, but I saw no one along the upper part of the road and I was the only vehicle at the trailhead parking. During the entire day I encountered only one other person, a solitary hiker southbound on the PCT. My destination was shown as trailless on all the maps I've looked at, including the Carson-Iceberg USFS map (I have two different editions of that) and the National Geographic topo, but there is a signed spur trail that heads there, which I found on my return route. I hiked a trail segment that linked me to the PCT, then followed the PCT northward for a bit, then veered eastward toward my destination. This hike actually involved crossing three passes (the only named pass would be a 4th, but my route doesn't really "cross" that pass). Owing to a bunch of jogs in the C-I wilderness boundary, the route I followed had the novelty of reentering the wilderness 4 times in one direction (ie walking by 4 different wilderness signs).

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The elevations traversed on the hike ranged from about 8400' to 9500'. Owing to a cooling down since the last heat wave and the much higher elevations than I spent the July 16-21 NW Yosemite trip with Dawn, high temperatures were much more pleasant (highs of high 60s vs 90+ on the trip with Dawn) with an occasional refreshing breeze, mainly at the higher passes. Some areas had lots of mosquitoes, with the worst being the trailhead at the start of the hike, and the hardest climb was plagued by swarms of flies. The higher portions of the PCT were covered by some steep snow patches and the same was true of the eastern trail I took. The runout on the snow slopes was such that a potential slip wouldn't be dangerous (ie minimal chance of an injury fall) but the condition and steepness of snow required kicking steps for traction in several places which burned a good amount of energy. My nasty heel blister from the N Yosemite trip had barely healed the day before I embarked on this hike, but my now totally broken-in boots and a new set of liner socks prevented a repeat. It felt good to hike with a light day pack compared to the 50+ lbs I packed up those Hetch Hetchy switchbacks, although my 60L daypack fully loaded for this trip was heavier than what many folks bring for an overnighter.

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There was one large down log over the PCT that required a climb-over. On heading to my destination I made the ill-advised move of trying a 1-mile descending traverse along an irregular cliff base. I had seen on the Google Imagery that there were some intimidating fields of large boulders, but I figured looking at the low-res Sentinel Hub images that I could avoid most of the boulders by walking on snow. I was wrong and the boulder hopping is some of the worst I've done and the most extended boulder hopping I can recall in 30 years or so. One issue was that these were volcanic rock boulders and they didn't have many flat surfaces, nor did they fit together as well as the usual granitic boulders, so there were many wobbly ones. The only major snowslope I crossed was steep enough to be borderline (ie potential of damaging fall) so I had to hike it cautiously before I got to a clean runout position to cut loose with a glissade. On my return I did the "conventional" route, finding a good spur trail leaving, but my climb to the hardest of the "three passes" was hard because the trail gets lost in soggy stuff and a maze of game trails and erosional ruts that are hard to distinguish from a real trail that has seen minimal traffic this year. I just looked at the topo and climbed straight up to the pass, but it was a harsh climb. Flies swarmed around my head in such numbers that I couldn't really open my mouth to breathe deeply because of the risk of inhaling one (only time I really opened up I did in fact inhale one, provoking a long coughing fit). The cloud of flies followed me for a mile-plus of hiking as if I was a giant walking dung hill.

So, Code of Silence.....? 13 miles of roundtrip hiking was rewarded with a nearly unprecedented two hours of fishing. Fish size and population density have an inverse relationship so rapid action of the sort I experienced is commonly associated with small fish. Most of the fish I caught were around 15" with a high of 16". Given that my family, especially Lee and I, like the eating qualities of Lahontan cutthroat trout more than any other trout or char, bringing home some nice ones (in my usual fish towel) was greeted with unusual enthusiasm when I got back to the eastern SF Bay area at about 840 pm. After hearing my story, Lee seems to be ready to increase his self-imposed limit on dayhike distance (he has ample hiking strength to do so). He filleted the fish immediately upon my return and half of the portion was the main course for my 64th birthday meal the next evening. I fried the fillets, unbreaded, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and fresh dill. Lee then broiled the heads so we could eat the various head portions and the collars. The final touch was Lee rolling rice in the LCT fat and the eating the fatty rice with nori. Yummy.

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[cgundersen]

Hi John,

A couple of coincidences: a buddy with whom I did many of my earliest backpacking trips (Sierra, Idaho and Montana) has an August 2 birth date and shares your first name. And some of the terrain you visited looks more reminiscent of areas I've been in the Sawtooths and Beartooths. Go figure? Regardless the trout look incredible and happy birthday! Cameron

[texan]

Another epic TR and fishing report. Those are some nice cutts, good eating size. I haven’t been to that area and your excellent write up puts it on my wish list of place I need to visit.Thanks for the TR and happy bday.

Texan

[balzaccom]

Nice report, Brookie! There are some creek's in CI that have cutties in them...pm me if you're interested...

[TahoeJeff]

Awesome harvest of succulent LCT meat!

[tweederjohnson]

Another great report from GB! Always learn a lot from your posts and appreciate the thoughtfulness and details.

Several years ago when I lived in the Bay Area and made more frequent trips to this region (and if memory serves), I recall that this lake had a reputation for a particularly pesky bear that harassed a lot of visitors to the area. I never saw it on any hikes but it stayed in the back of my mind whenever I was in that region.

[windknot]

Thanks for the report and happy belated birthday! Looks like a very scenic area, and of course the great fishing is just icing on the cake.

I've heard the same thing as tweederjohnson about the reputation for the bear in this area, but I can't remember where I heard/read about it.

[Fly Guy Dave]

A great TR and like others have said, a happy belated birthday!
I have been to the lake in your post and I backpacked in and spent the night there, and was indeed hassled all night by a persistent bruin that huffed at me when I tried to scare him/her away. I might have posted something on that here on HST in the past, I don't know for certain. I was impressed by the quality of the fishing in that lake as well, but I was there hoping to catch another specie of trout, but it was the lahontans instead.

[Harlen]

Congratulations on another fishing epic, and Happy Birthday John.
Thanks for the usual engaging and well written report. Tanoshinde kudasai!

[giantbrookie]

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and kind words.

I have been to the lake in your post and I backpacked in and spent the night there, and was indeed hassled all night by a persistent bruin that huffed at me when I tried to scare him/her away. I might have posted something on that here on HST in the past, I don't know for certain.

I did not run into a bear while at the lake but I certainly saw a lot of bear sign. The persistent bear is especially worrisome for me and Lee, now that Lee is interested in backpacking to this lake in the fall. The reason a bothersome bear complicates matters is that Lee and I usually like to store our day 1 catch to hike out. We've done this in the past by hanging the fish from a tree branch (fish keep well this way) but I sure wouldn't do it if there was an overly persistent bear.

I may put into the play what I did at Lake Vernon on the last night there with Dawn a month ago. We had been told by the ranger that there were multiple bears at Vernon that had been a bit bold--not aggressive, but bold. I noticed the bear sign in the camp and I had my penultimate day catch hanging from a tree in the late afternoon/early evening but wasn't going to leave them there overnight. So before going to bed, I removed the contents of the bear cannister which were mostly sealed food items anyway and put them in my old school (ie pre bear cannister era) stash as a shim for my pillow in my tent. The rationale for that style of food storage in the old days was that I smell more strongly than whatever I have (especially as it is stored in ziploc bags). The fish were wrapped in the usual fish towel and placed in the bear cannister.