Grizzly Lake, Trinity Alps
July 26 – July 28, 2015
Tucked away way, way north of the San Francisco Bay Area, is an oft-overlooked area known as the Trinity Alps. When we think of granite mountains and pristine lakes, we often think of Yosemite, Tahoe, or the Sierra Nevadas, but a visit to the Trinities will definitely add another indelible place in your mind. There are plenty of trails to explore and plenty of things to see, but since I only had an extended weekend, my friends and I decided to backpack the China Gulch trail to Grizzly Lake.
We took off around noon time on a Sunday, not quite sure exactly where the trailhead was, but through a combination of Google Maps, the Outback’s GPS and vague memories of directions from other blogs, we were able to make it to the trailhead by sunset. As we parked the car at the trailhead, the light began to fade away and the silhouettes of mountain tops formed a dark crown around us. We stuffed ourselves full of food, consolidated our gear, and walked into the mountains. With our headlights on, we weren’t quite sure how long we hiked up the steep incline before we reached Hunter’s Camp, but looking back now, that segment was better done in the dark.
At Hunter’s Camp, we pitched our tent and got ready to crash for the night. We didn’t really know what to expect of the surroundings because it was pitch black, but when we did wake up to the sunrise, we were unexpectedly greeted by an idyllic beauty.
Knowing that there was still six more miles to go, we quickly packed and got on our way. The trail started off meandering through prickly mountain bushes, fallen logs, and many wildflowers.
As we hiked closer and closer to our destination, the gushing sounds of streams and falls weaved in and out of our ears. The terrain varied between meadows, forested paths and granite climbs. We weren’t sure how far we would still have to go, but we knew we were close as Thompson Glacier loomed dauntingly ahead of us.
Finally, after nearly four hours of complaining about our shoulders, we reached the Grizzly Meadow at the base of Thompson Peak and found a nice campground next to a river teeming with trout.
We ate lunch at the campground and dropped off the heavy stuff in preparation for the most brutal part of our journey, the mile-long Grizzly Scramble up to the falls and the lake.
At the top of the scramble, we were greeted with …
It was certainly worth it. Although the waterfall was not as big as we thought it would be (probably due to us being there at the end of summer), the way it drained straight out of Grizzly Lake was definitely an eye-opener. After taking a couple of shots of the fall, I proceeded to the lake.
The water was three-shades of blue, pristine, and best of all, we had it all to ourselves. After spending quite some time at the lake wading in the waters, fishing, and chasing after tiger beetles, we scrambled back down to our campsite and called it a night.
The next day, we kept our heads down and trekked the gruesome path back to our car. The trailhead sign greeted us once again and we slowly merged ourselves back into the land of computers, smartphones and In-N-Out.
There were a lot of unknowns when we started this trip, but now we know exactly how to get there. Here are the directions:
- Wherever you are located, search for “Caribou Rd, Forks of Salmon” on Google Maps. That should give you directions all the way to where Caribou Road branches off of Cecilville Rd.
- While driving on Cecilville Rd, you will hit Caribou Road. Turn into Caribou Road and follow it until you see a sign that points to 37N07. That is the road you will want to be on.
- There will be more signs along the way guiding you on 37N07, keep following them until you see the China Gulch Trailhead. It should look like this:
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Copyright 2015. Photos taken by Kevin Yao. All rights reserved.
