From Pear Lake to Lassen

People day hike to Pear Lake all the time, I mean 12 miles really isn't that far. But most likely that means missing the sunset or sunrise, and with backpacking you get to experience both!

But there are cons to backpacking...like having your brand new tent break as you set it up.

We did get it up with the help of some tape (see it to your left?)

Or having to worry about marmots chewing up your packs.

See our packs?

Though these are small prices to pay, in my opinion, and I'm glad my husband is pretty much in agreement. Pretty much...but not totally.  

So I am extremely grateful he lets me throw a backpack in our vacation schedule here and there, even though it's not exactly his thing. If we can make this road tripping/hiking/backpacking thing work, then retirement maybe won't be so bad. If we can ever get there - fingers crossed. 

For now, vacation time was up, and I had to drop off Ken at the Fresno airport and start the long drive home. Except this time I had three days instead of two because of the Juneteenth holiday. A slight diversion to Lasson National Park did not add that much driving time, and I had read you could car camp in the parking lot of the Kohm-Ya-Ma-Nee visitor center for free. I'd get there at 9:30pm if I didn't take any breaks. Ugh. But I had to go for it. 

Fortunately there are several campgrounds on that last stretch before the park entrance because I really needed to stop. I guess hiking for 4 hours and then driving for 8 is kind of my limit. 

Luckily I put an extra tent in the car since the other broke

Thanks to AllTrails (with all my free advertising, I wish they would sponsor me) I already knew that lingering snow was going to put the kibosh on any major hiking aspirations. Oh well, at least I could still put a sticker on my bottle.

Once back on I-5 after several sketchy farmland road connections (how did we ever survive without Google Maps?) I was feeling...I feel stupid to even say it...like I needed to hike. Seriously - what is wrong with me? And so (here comes another AllTrails commercial) I quickly put in "epic view hikes near me" and bam! Next exit, simple 4.6 mile up and back with great view of Mt Shasta just 10 minutes away. Heck yes!

What I didn't know was that I was driving through the second hottest city in California. But Lee filled me in at the top. I hope he finds this blog. 

When I got back to the car, I was...how do I put this...not right in the head. All I wanted was to grab the gallon of water in the back of the car and dump it all over me. But Reba (yes I name my cars) had other plans. Sometimes she decides not to open the hatchback - I think she was mad at me for leaving her in the hot sun. I tried to make her obey, but instead I just broke her. If you want to be entertained by the hysterical video I sent my husband, I included it on my YouTube. (I'm pretty much past being embarrassed by anything at this point in my life.) 

And no, the tape I used to put Reba back together did not hold. It got sorted out though, and I made it home alive. I hope you've enjoyed the long tale. Last "things to know" and trail deets below. Happy "sometimes one more is one too many" trails!

 Things To Know About Lassen National Park:

1) There are no bathrooms anywhere around the Kohm-Ya-Ma-Nee visitor center, but if you get there before they open, don't panic. The front doors into the vestibule are open 24/7, and that is where you will find bathrooms. There is also cell service inside, and that is the only place you will get it. 

2) The road going up into the park is AMAZING and so hiking to see views is really not necessary. I was pretty sad it was closed at the Bumpass Hell trailhead parking, but also grateful to have at least got to go that far. 

3) Once again, if windy roads with drops offs are not your thing, don't bother going. It's a proper road though - not like the forest road to Harts Pass or anything. (Washingtonians will know, haha) 

Hikes: 

1) Ridge Lakes Trail is found right at the Sulfur Works parking lot and is a 2 mile up and back with 987 feet elevation. I think I was just a few tenths of a mile away from the lake before I turned around. I felt bad for the backpackers that were hiking out that didn't make it to the lake either, though they did say they found a spot to put up their tent. 

2) Chamise Peak is found in the VERY hot city of Redding, California. At 4.6 miles with 698 feet gain it would make a very nice hike if it wasn't over 90 degrees.  

It does have some nice shade though

 

 

Pear Lake via Lakes Trail, Over the Hump and Out the Watchtower Trail

We left early from Princess Campground for one reason - we wanted to get a permit for Pear Lake for the following night. In all my research about this very coveted backpacking spot, I wasn't exactly sure at what time they would issue it; so we wanted to get to the Lodgepole Visitor Center as early as possible.

You see, the Lakes Trail is so popular and well known that you cannot reserve ahead of time; you can only do it if you are willing to risk getting a walk-up the day before. We had a reservation to camp at the Lodgepole Campground that night (which I only got because I put in an alert for a cancellation months ago and was lucky enough to get one) and then we planned to backpack at Pear Lake the following night. No plan B in place - we needed that permit. 

Ken gazing up at the Watchtower

After my experience trying to get a walk-up for part of the Wonderland Trail, I was fully expecting we may need to wait in line for an hour to insure we had first dibs. I was pretty certain I had read you could get the permit at 10am, so we arrived at 9am after the hour long drive to Sequoia National Park. And wouldn't you know it - somebody was already in line! But turns out he was just picking up his already issued permit for another trail, so when it was my turn the Ranger informed me they give out next day permits at 1pm...10am is for same day. Those are ones they release because somebody was a no show. 

Thankfully we didn't need to worry about trying to get a same day, because the "quota chart" looked to have plenty of spots open - so we just needed to think of what to do until 1pm. Time to be tourists again!

General Grant was a big tree, but General Sherman is the BIGGEST tree. We were skeptical and expecting a mad house; I mean how many people can they fit around a tree, even if it is largest in the world? Though I must say, the experience turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable. It's a half mile of beautifully paved trail down to the tree, so everyone gets nicely dispersed.  Plus a bear sighting on our drive out was a fun surprise. (Again, all the videos are stuck together on my YouTube) 

Perspective

So once we had permit in hand and camp set up, we decided to check out Tokopah Falls Hike (four miles long and just 600 ft gain) which was only a 5 minute walk from our site. This is where we figure we must have lost Sammy, because we haven't seen him since.

Did he just decide he liked California better? Was he mad at me because I almost got him killed? (That video is also included in the YouTube mash up.)  Did our camping neighbors abduct him to be a pet for their dolls? I guess we'll never know. I'm pretty bummed of course, but I have to believe he's living his best life and hasn't been disemboweled by a sloth hungry dog.

Hopefully he is making the dolls happy, and they got him his own tent

Next day we were all packed up and ready to go at 9:30am. It's only a 10 minute drive to the Wolverton parking lot where you begin, so we were getting a pretty early start for a mere 6 mile day. Except I knew almost all the 3K gain for this hike would happen going in, so it was not going to be easy. 

Top of the Hump

I'm glad we saved the Watchtower for the next day, but in hindsight I understand that that way in is not as hard. Turns out the "hump" is named that for a reason. I know it's bad when I have to start counting my steps to keep moving; though totally worth it for this... 

Heather Lake

Aster Lake

Emerald Lake

And the grand finale: Pear Lake!!

No wonder these permits are so desirable! How lucky are we? I'll try to finish this whole thing up next post. Until then, happy "some places are worth waiting in line for" trails! 

Pinnacles to Kings Canyon

The travel time between these two parks is roughly 4 hours, so after jumping in the freshly opened pool after our second night's stay at Pinnacles, we headed off to the in between city of Fresno with a "break from camping" night in mind. 

I stopped numbering my "hiking lessons" after #55 right before I headed to the AT back in 2018, but maybe I should start again with lesson #56: "you get what you pay for." Although it really is the same idea as my long ago lesson #2: "go ahead and buy the more expensive piece of equipment you really want, because you will only be ending up buying it later anyway."

Not being a cheap ass is a lesson I don't think I'll ever fully learn. This has nothing to do with hiking; it's just who I am. Reserving the cheapest hotel possible is part of my nature; and especially in this instance because all we needed was a decent bed and a pool. Especially a pool, because as I mentioned in the last post, our car's AC had gone out - and it was hot.

Below is the picture of the so called pool at my "what a deal" $70 hotel room. When we pulled in and my husband saw someone cleaning their crack pipe next to us, he turned to me and said, "I think we need to spend a little more on a hotel."

Zoom in to see the bottom...yuck

So yes, we splurged and found a place with a much nicer pool and it was 100% worth it. Anyhow, Kings Canyon is up around 6,000 ft, so a swimming pool was not required as it is a much more comfortable temperature at that elevation.  

In my happy place

I had booked one night at Princess Campground months earlier (all the campgrounds fill up quickly, FYI) and knew that with travel and set up, hiking was not going to be in the cards for this day. Instead we were touristy and stopped to see the General Grant Tree, which was much more fun than expected. Then after setting up camp in record time and not knowing what else to do I turned to Ken to suggest, "How about we just walk around Hume Lake up the road."

This is what you call a "tourist pose" ;)

His eyes light up like a little kid. "You have got to be kidding me!" he responds, dumbfounded. "That's the lake I grew up going to summer camp at! SO many memories...that will be awesome!" 

But here's the thing about going somewhere that holds 40+ year old remembrances...it will be changed. And most likely, drastically. It's hard to prepare yourself to face the passing of time in this way. But nevertheless, fond memories are still fond memories and are always sweet; even when taken with a little dose of bitter. I wish you all happy trails, even when they are mixed with a little melancholy. 
"Things to know" list below for those interested. 

He looks mostly happy :)

Things to Know about Kings Canyon:

1) If you don't like windy roads that have severe drop offs with no guard rail, don't even think about going to this park. 

2) Best to have a full tank of gas and everything downloaded that you need on your phone beforehand, though you can get Wi-Fi at Grant Grove Village if you really need it.

3) Use the damn turn outs if you're super slow...what is wrong with some people? Also, remain calm when people drive like idiots. It's really not worth getting worked up over.  

4) If you end up camping next to a rowdy group playing loud music, wait it out a little before letting it get to you. Chances are they will reign it in, and they may even give you their extra ranch dressing if you forgot and you ask nice. 

5) There's a little trail right in the Princess Campground called "Indian Basin Grove Loop Trail" that makes a lovely golden hour walk.

 

National Parks - My New Obsession

While I am still going to continue chipping away on my 500 mile goal on the Arizona Trail (my fourth out of a 500 on 5 National Trails goal) I am also now enthralled with National Parks. This all started when my friend, Heidi, gave me a water bottle that had all the parks on it, along with colorful stickers to apply from each that you've visited. 

I'm sure this is connected to the deep psychological childhood need to get all the gold stars on your chart; whoever came up with that master manipulative tool was a genius. Though I am super grateful for this side goal, because it really is such an interesting and educational ambition...as well as something you can continue to work on as you get older and maybe are not as inspired to do difficult backpacks.

Since getting my "gold star park chart" I have put on a Glacier sticker, a Crater Lake sticker, and a Saguaro sticker. (Besides the ones I initially put on from previous years - like the Grand Canyon.) And now with my latest birthday/father's day California road trip, I'll be putting FOUR more stickers on!!  I'll do these posts separately, starting with our first stop at Pinnacles National Park. 

This park is only an hour and half drive from Monterey Regional Airport, so that is where I arranged Ken to fly in. Because renting a car is so expensive, I decided to drive the 16 hours there over two days. I kind of like driving...though having the AC break on me did make this adventure a bit more challenging than I expected. 

My car sleeping game needs improving

By the time we rolled into the park at around 8 pm, my brain was pretty fried. So don't blame me for forgetting to close the bear locker all the way. Thankfully I had only put the snacks for the car ride in there; but those two midnight raiding raccoons were INTO that bag of chips and M&M's!! 

A quick stop at the beach in Monterey after pick up

I'm certain I'm not the only one to fail to secure their food properly, because those beasts had to be 70 pounds each. They were honestly terrifying. And though I did finally get them to saunter off by throwing my shoes at them, I had nightmares about them ganging up on us all night.

I'm not going to go into great detail about our stay here; I will instead just give my "things to know" list below, along with a breakdown of the hikes we did here. Hopefully you'll find the info helpful if you want to start your own gold star chart. Happy "make new goals, but keep the old" trails!

Things to Know About Pinnacles National Park:

1) The pool doesn't open until 11 am on June 13th. (The day we were checking out of course.) And they won't open it early, even if it is your birthday and you beg. 

We did jump in right before we left...first ones in!!

2) There are many camping spots that are totally exposed and look like they would be miserable if you were tent camping, but we loved our 19A spot which was very private and well shaded.

3) There is a filtered water dispenser on the outside of the bathrooms which is not obvious. 

4) Showers are free! But they do ask you do keep them to 5 minutes. 

5) Last but not least - obviously, be sure to secure your food properly. Those raccoons are no joke.  

Hikes:

1) I stopped at the Shasta-Trinity National Forest on the drive down (not a National Park, wah) to do an easy 4 mile hike called McCloud Waterfalls. You could pretty much drive to each of the three falls, but the hike is really enjoyable with only about 300 ft of elevation gain.

The middle one is the best

 

2) Condor Gulch Trail to High Peaks Trail Loop is just a few minutes drive from the campground and is a combo of Condor Gulch/High Peaks/Bear Gulch. Alltrails has this at 5.3 miles and 1.6 K elevation, but it has to be longer - it definitely felt closer to 6 miles at least. Lots of intersecting trails; I highly recommend having a good map or navigational app or you could end up at the West Entrance of the park, which would really be a pain as there is no through road between the two entrances and it would be a long hitch to get back to camp. Also HIGHLY recommend doing this CW, unless you love an endless slog up instead of a gentle grade down. Super fun trail overall, though I was really glad I had my hiking umbrella to help with the heat.

3) Moses Spring Rim Trail Loop is actually just a smaller version of the other loop, which we didn't realize until we got to the parking lot. Though there is a short section that was new to us, and because we did it CCW, it felt different. Plus it was nice to visit the Bear Gulch Reservoir a second time because it is so beautiful and we didn't explore very long there the first time. This lollipop loop is only 2 miles with about 400 feet in gain.

4) Just looking for something to kill the time, we did a "trail" from the visitor center to the Bacon Ranch, which is really just a service road. If you are wondering where the information about the history of the ranch is, you'll find it posted on the side of the visitor center. At less than a mile, this is more like a little stroll, but you will find the world's largest tree burl at the end.  

Okay not literally the world's biggest...but it's big! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you want to watch a full video compilation of the whole trip, you can find it on my YouTube.