TR: Kibbie Ridge to Boundary Lake Area June 9-11
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:20 am
TR: Kibbie Ridge to Boundary Lake Area
June 9-11
Getting to the Trailhead
Picked up my permit at the Groveland Ranger Station when it opened at 8am (not really located in Groveland, but down the highway closer to Buck Meadows.) No quotas are in effect, hence no reservations are required for the Kibbie Ridge trail (they are for Kibbie Lake!) From there it took about 45 minutes of driving on paved but twisty mountain backroads to get to Cherry Dam. Crossed the dam and headed up the gravel road to the Shingle Springs trailhead. The last couple of miles of that gravel road are very rough and demanded very slow driving and strategic placement of the wheels of my passenger car to avoid scraping bottom. The worst dip from last year had been filled with fresh gravel, but otherwise the road is unchanged.
From the trailhead to Sachse Springs
The trail is excellent up to the juncture where the Kibbie Ridge trail departs from the trail to Kibbie Lake. Then I departed north onto the Kibbe Ridge trail in a burn zone. Based on reports posted here, last year the Kibbie Ridge trail was cleared of deadfall. I did see evidence of that, with cuts that were not weathered and piles of sawdust still on the ground. However, last year’s storms did quite a number. I lost count over 50 on deadfall. I met a couple of groups of kayakers who were porting their 80 pound kayaks all the way to Cherry Creek, and I can’t imagine they were thrilled about the trail condition. Interestingly, not all the deadfall were “dead.” A lot of green trees were down, and not just the hulks left over from the fire–probably a sign of the ferocity of the wind storms. Nevertheless, I had no problems following this boring, uninteresting, at times ugly trail. It was less bad on the way in than on the way out, since psychologically I had something to look forward to. There was one little stream in this stretch that was welcome on the way out.
From Sachse Springs to Styx Pass
There is an open saddle just before Sachse Springs where things opened up a bit, and from this point on the trail became more interesting to me. There was less burn zone, a sprinkling of grassy tarns here and there, and open slabs of granite. Sachse Springs was wet, but I did not leave the trail to find the actual water pipe or cabin that I read is in the vicinity. The main trail goes into the sedge. Later on, numerous reports warned that the trail gets sketchy as you near Styx Pass. It is true that it is easy to lose it as it crosses granite slabs, but they were mostly ducked and it was easy enough to return to the trail. The last of the trail out of the granite up to Styx Pass was fine. Styx Pass is a interesting place–the trail follows a long, relatively low and forested notch.
Many Island Lake
I went all the way to Styx Pass (marked only by the Yosemite Park boundary signs) and then contoured SSW until I got to an overlook with a magnificent view of the lake. There was also a delightful campsite with this view. At the same point there was a long friction slab at the bottom of a bluff leading down (see photo). I thought about camping but headed down to the lake. There I found one woodsy fire ring and camp on the northernmost shore, but it was rather brushy and uninteresting to me. I moved to one of the granite peninsulas in the middle of the north shore and found a magnificent camp with a view and a breeze. There had also been an hatching and from 6 to 7 in the evening the air filled with the drone of billowing clouds of flying insects. Fortunately, none of them were mosquitoes.
The lake itself I found lovely, although I only explored its northern shore. It would have been a blast to hang out there with a raft and explore the labyrinth of islands.
June 9-11
Getting to the Trailhead
Picked up my permit at the Groveland Ranger Station when it opened at 8am (not really located in Groveland, but down the highway closer to Buck Meadows.) No quotas are in effect, hence no reservations are required for the Kibbie Ridge trail (they are for Kibbie Lake!) From there it took about 45 minutes of driving on paved but twisty mountain backroads to get to Cherry Dam. Crossed the dam and headed up the gravel road to the Shingle Springs trailhead. The last couple of miles of that gravel road are very rough and demanded very slow driving and strategic placement of the wheels of my passenger car to avoid scraping bottom. The worst dip from last year had been filled with fresh gravel, but otherwise the road is unchanged.
From the trailhead to Sachse Springs
The trail is excellent up to the juncture where the Kibbie Ridge trail departs from the trail to Kibbie Lake. Then I departed north onto the Kibbe Ridge trail in a burn zone. Based on reports posted here, last year the Kibbie Ridge trail was cleared of deadfall. I did see evidence of that, with cuts that were not weathered and piles of sawdust still on the ground. However, last year’s storms did quite a number. I lost count over 50 on deadfall. I met a couple of groups of kayakers who were porting their 80 pound kayaks all the way to Cherry Creek, and I can’t imagine they were thrilled about the trail condition. Interestingly, not all the deadfall were “dead.” A lot of green trees were down, and not just the hulks left over from the fire–probably a sign of the ferocity of the wind storms. Nevertheless, I had no problems following this boring, uninteresting, at times ugly trail. It was less bad on the way in than on the way out, since psychologically I had something to look forward to. There was one little stream in this stretch that was welcome on the way out.
From Sachse Springs to Styx Pass
There is an open saddle just before Sachse Springs where things opened up a bit, and from this point on the trail became more interesting to me. There was less burn zone, a sprinkling of grassy tarns here and there, and open slabs of granite. Sachse Springs was wet, but I did not leave the trail to find the actual water pipe or cabin that I read is in the vicinity. The main trail goes into the sedge. Later on, numerous reports warned that the trail gets sketchy as you near Styx Pass. It is true that it is easy to lose it as it crosses granite slabs, but they were mostly ducked and it was easy enough to return to the trail. The last of the trail out of the granite up to Styx Pass was fine. Styx Pass is a interesting place–the trail follows a long, relatively low and forested notch.
Many Island Lake
I went all the way to Styx Pass (marked only by the Yosemite Park boundary signs) and then contoured SSW until I got to an overlook with a magnificent view of the lake. There was also a delightful campsite with this view. At the same point there was a long friction slab at the bottom of a bluff leading down (see photo). I thought about camping but headed down to the lake. There I found one woodsy fire ring and camp on the northernmost shore, but it was rather brushy and uninteresting to me. I moved to one of the granite peninsulas in the middle of the north shore and found a magnificent camp with a view and a breeze. There had also been an hatching and from 6 to 7 in the evening the air filled with the drone of billowing clouds of flying insects. Fortunately, none of them were mosquitoes.
The lake itself I found lovely, although I only explored its northern shore. It would have been a blast to hang out there with a raft and explore the labyrinth of islands.