High Sierra Topix

oldranger wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 4:39 pm Where I said "Shortly after the trail turns n. look for a jeffery pine" I meant to say shortly after the trail turns east! By waiting until the trail turned north you were way past the Jeffrey Pine that looks like an oak. Consequently you would totally miss the route to the old cowboy trail. So sorry! Also KT5519 did you spot the carving right about where the trail turned north? Was it on a fallen tree? Your description of dense trees at that location fits my memory, and I certainly didn't ride my horse through that jumble. Not convinced that T is actually a blaze. Is the drainage between the granite slope behind the dense trees Brewer creek? If so it could possibly be a blaze. If so there should be some indication through a slight depression (even though overgrown) indicating past trail use

Ah, I see. The first year that I went up that way, I did cross Moraine Creek shortly after the trail turned east (didn't see remnants of an old trail along my route though, but I certainly could have been off of it slightly). I did spot that carving in the area where the trail turned north to head towards Avalanche Pass; it is a tree that is still standing and it was along a small use trail and in a bit, not right at the turn from the main trail (for whatever reason, sometimes when I load pictures into Topix they like to go sideways.....). There was a small duck to the right of the Avalanche Pass trail there, when I turned off of it, I was on that faint trail, and after walking about 20 feet on it there was also a small cut stump, definitely had been sawed and was not fresh, that was not far above ground level - a small tree that had been standing there at one time. Very shortly after that, I crossed Moraine Creek and was then confronted with the very thick trees. I did actually set waypoints where I left the trail near Moraine Creek each of the 2 trips: the attached photo shows both of them - one as the trail turns east and the other as it turns north.

The "maybe but probably not" blazed tree is well above the little lake just below 9800 feet, and well on the way towards Little Brewer Lake, and it is on a slope not far above Brewer Creek; yes, behind that thicker treed area in the photo. There WAS a pile of very old horse or mule manure not far behind it - I had walked over to get a closer look at the mark on the tree when I saw it. I actually took a picture of it but probably no one wants to see that :-)

Ok that "blaze" was right on the route I would take as I rode up toward Brewer Lakes. At this point due to the slabs there was no distinct trail though it should have been distinct as you passed to the south of the frog pond and again above that point. I aways stopped riding and tied the horses below little Brewer when heading up for the day. Also I would head up that broad valley just s of the magenta line on your map.

oldranger wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 5:21 pm Ok that "blaze" was right on the route I would take as I rode up toward Brewer Lakes. At this point due to the slabs there was no distinct trail though it should have been distinct as you passed to the south of the frog pond and again above that point. I aways stopped riding and tied the horses below little Brewer when heading up for the day. Also I would head up that broad valley just s of the magenta line on your map.

Thanks for that, next time I’m up there I’ll look for the pine that you described in the Moraine Meadow area. Maybe the short side spur where the trail turns north to head towards Avalanche Pass was an original part of that trail (where I saw the tree carving). It seemed very intentional.

- Kris

My guess is that side trail probably led up to an old sheepherders camp I found up the hill a ways. Probably couldn't find it again!

Ah, that makes sense. Still on a future trip list of mine is just to base camp in the Cloud Canyon area and explore around to see some of the sheepherder carvings around Cement Table Meadow and such. It would be a fun add to look for that old camp up in the Moraine Meadow area as well. If I ever manage to find it, I'll be sure to let you know!