Lost in the Trinity Alps

Just sit right back

And you'll hear a tale

A tale of a fateful trip

That started from a mountain camp

Aboard a tiny Jeep

The navigator had map and GPS

The driver brave and sure

The two Jeepers set out that day

For a 3 hour hike, just a 3 hour hike

The road started getting rough

The tiny Jeep was tossed

If not for the courage of the fearless crew

Dusty would be lost, Dusty would be lost

The Jeep went round and round on

Uncharted forest roads

They'll have to make the best of things

And turn the Jeep toward home

The maps and GPS were no help

The satellites were lost

The trailhead they couldn't find

Their day hike was a bust!

So join us here next week my friends

You'll sure to get a smile

As two wayward Jeepers try again

to find the elusive trail!

Here in the Trinity Alps!

(with apologies to "Gilligan's Island)

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Hi Blog!

You're never truly lost as long as you're still on the planet! 

We put that axiom to the test today as we drove up into the Trinity Alps in search of the trailhead for the Boulder Lake Trail. We had stopped at the Weaverville Ranger Station yesterday and picked up maps and suggestions for some nice day hikes in the area. The Boulder Lake Trail came highly recommended. While the drive to the trailhead would be a 12 mile Jeep drive, the hike itself was only five miles out and back with a chance to see two pretty little alpine lakes. We thought this would be a great re-introduction to the Trinity Alps. We had camped in this area back in 2013, but had to leave due to the government shut down. We are looking forward to do some more exploring during out time here.

On the way, we stopped at a scenic viewpoint overlooking Trinity Lake.

We saw a bridge over what we thought was Coffee Creek and decided to check out the creek before heading off into the woods. Legend has it that a pack train loaded with coffee for the gold fields was washed away in a torrential flood, hence the name "Coffee Creek." Just as we crossed the bridge we noticed a deer entering the brush below.

As we looked upstream we could see one of the granite peaks that gave the Trinity Mountains their Alps-like appearance.

We turned off the Highway 3 onto Forest Road 37N52.

Little did we know at the time that this was the WRONG end of Forest Road 37N52.  We had relied on Google Maps for directions to the trailhead, and Google Maps took us in from the wrong end.  Unfortunately, FR 37N52 is no longer a continuous road.  As a result, FR 37N52 did not connect through to the Boulder Lake Trailhead from this end.  Your hapless travelers were clueless on this score.

So up we drove FR 37N52.  So far so good, the road was well maintained.

We began to climb higher into the mountains with great views of Trinity Lake.

Dusty took a break as we savored the view.

We were really getting up in the world!

That mountain we saw from Coffee Creek was getting closer.

All seemed to go according to plan until we reached a section of forest that was criss-crossed with old logging roads. Several of these roads were not on our map; others were noted in the GPS, but didn't exist. Try as we might, we could not get ourselves over to the trailhead.  As you can see from our recorded track on the topo map below, we drove all over that territory:

We asked the GPS for help by putting in the GPS coordinates for the trailhead (we later learned that Google Maps gave us the wrong location for the trailhead, too -- even though it seemed to be consistent with our National Forest Topo Map). The GPS decided to direct us down an ATV trail with a very steep grade that we had no desire to go back up. We did the best we could and ended up circling back to the highway. Along the way, we stopped to check out some rock outcrops.

Once we decided to give up trying to find the trailhead, it was a beautiful day for a jeep drive in the woods.

We completed our circle and returned to Trinity Lake.

As soon as we got back to camp, we began our research to figure how not to get lost when we try again. We think we figured out how we ended up on the wrong end of Forest Road 37N52. We are going to try again in a couple days to complete our hike to Boulder Lake. Stay tuned.