High Sierra Topix

Wow, fabulous. The Sierra secrets are un-ending, never-ending; there aren't enough life times to see them. West side, east side, tops of ridges...

The volcanic landscape picture is unbelievable. I love the volcanic areas.

Thank you all for this thread.

Carne_DelMuerto wrote:Not on the same scale at granite domes or groves of trees, but I know there are many, many archeological sites that are known but not advertised. While there are some up in the high country, others are within feet of major roads, left undisturbed so as not to attract crowds (and more importantly, thieves and vandals).

I've always liked coming across those spots where you can tell humans from a drastically different culture went about their business 100's or 1000's of years ago.

Yup. Was hiking once through mostly viewless forest, on the first day of a 2-day hike into a spectacular location, and at one point it looked like there might be enough thinning of the forest over to the right so I could see into the big canyon to my south. So I cut off trail a few yards to take a look. No view...but there was a rock with at least a dozen mortar holes. Very cool discovery.

I think all who have done a fair bit of hiking have those secret spots. Like GB, most of what I will call my secret spots are close to the road, but either lightly visited or lightly fished. Some I found by pure curiosity (hey, lets check out this lake) and others through word of mouth from other anglers. There is little creek on the west side loaded with Cutts. An aquatance told me about it, but I thought he was full of it. Cutts near Fresno? But he mentioned it was a special reg stream, so I looked it up on the DFG web and sure enough, there it was. I go there often with my daughter. The fish are small (9" is max for me), but such a novelty for me that I cant pass em up. Another little lake sits just off the "Hwy" and Ive only seen folks there once. You can tell it gets fished, but I typically find it empty. Like anything else though, things can change. The lake off the Hwy hasnt held fish for several years now. Showed up after a fairly heavy snow year to find the water off colored like tea. Havent seen a fish in it since. Doesnt really mean theres no fish, but certainly not in the numbers of the past. And last year I had the opposite expeirence. I had been to this small lake once before about 10 years ago and it seemed totally lifeless. I tried everything (flies, lures, even bait) without even seeing a fish and the abundance of tad poles had me thinking it was barren. Last summer, my friend says its a good brookie lake and that he caught fisg there the summer before. Sure enough, we hike into it and nail little brookies for most of the afternoon.

I say, "Altiora petimus - we seek higher things."

Great pics! I have one spot that I've only been to once. It's right next to a PG&E back road. That's all I'm sayin'

Here is one I've given out on this board before, though I'd bet no one has taken me up on it because there are no lakes. There are many backpackers that would be hard pressed to ever hike into the backcountry to a non-lake destination unless it was enroute to a lake.

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Little George Lake is an easy hike from the Sabrina Trailhead. From east of Little George Lake leave the trail where it crosses the 10560 elevation. A small unnamed stream coming down from the northwest corner of Table Mountain intersects the George Lake stream at 10520. Climb up steeply though without issues throughthe white non-forest area at 10600 moving towards the stream and follow that up until 11000 then head southeast and finally north again to reach 11000. That whole route is gruss sand which is abundant atop Table Mountain. The top of the plateau in that zone is like a giant Peabody Boulder field (Buttermilk Road climbing area) with all manner of fascinating smooth granite boulders and rock piles. And the views west are unblocked to many famous crest peaks like Mount Darwin. Absolutely neglected though only a day's hike from the trailhead because...no trail...no lakes...no fishing.

So could be yer:............ SECRET PLACE.

I love the pictures of you below the tree. When I was scrolling down it felt like I was looking up at the top of the tree and lowering my head down to you guys. Great pictures!

I love the pictures of you below the tree. When I was scrolling down it felt like I was looking up at the top of the tree and lowering my head down to you guys. Great pictures!

Thank you nickyman. That is a stitched together photo -- at least three photos stitched into one -- taken in 2004, I think. It was really hard to get a decent exposure with my P&S camera. This tree is at one edge of the grove, allowing an open perspective. There are bigger trees in the grove, but I couldn't find a decent shooting angle.

After checking out this site I realize that all the places I thought were my secret spots are actually known by many people who have fortunately treaded light. Here's a photo taken from one of my favorites. If you've been here, you can probably tell where it's taken, but not the exact spot. A steep ridge of white smooth granite, burnished by centuries of running water. Up on this ridge I found several natural bathtubs--deep pools of warm water bigger than a hot tub. I took this photo in the morning, but the previous day I soaked in a tub on the edge of this ridge while enjoying this view.

Wow, another fabulous thread!
I guess its OK to reveal my secret places, 'cause of how I found 'em. And I don't mind sharing them, either. The 2 summers I worked in the high country (alas, years ago) involved off-trail hiking almost every day. Got us into some pretty remote and special locations. Examples. . .
--Pincushion Peak from Deer Meadow: domes galore and a steeplechase on our horses;
--eastside of what is now Kaiser Wilderness: the most gentle, intimate silence of evening;
--Quall's Camp: discovering some real Sierra history, with the mules Barney and Midge;
--Arch Rock on the Silver Divide: achingly beautiful setting for the Ritter Range in the distance;
--LIttle Kern: just superb!;
--Chinquapin Basin: only water was where the basin stream emerged for about 300 ft before it disappeared underground again;
--Windy Ridge: it was hard to concentrate on extinguishing the burning lodgepole snag when surrounded by such great scenery;
--Barrett Lakes: the most spectacular alpengow I'd ever seen.
My secret places may not be so hidden, but they all have their stories which I've written about since. Aren't the memories a big part of what makes your own secret place so special?