Author: JFR

Hiker, Backpacker, Poet, Fool
Pacific Crest Trail

PCT 2023 Desert Section

After aborting my Pacific Crest Trail thru hike in May 2023, I made the bold decision to restart it in the Fall, to visit the mountain ranges I skipped due to snow in SoCal, after learning that late-Summer rains had replenished many of the water sources in this normally bone dry region.  I decided to do it via a series of three week-long backpacking treks.  I desperately wanted to complete the Desert Section of the PCT!

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San Gorgonio Mtns

Deep Creek Hot Springs 2023

I did an overnight backpacking trip to the fabled hot springs as a way of testing my body and gear for restarting my PCT Desert Section hikes after abundant late-Summer rains in SoCal, but I didn’t camp at the springs (to avoid crowds) and I didn’t go in the water, or get naked, so don’t expect a salacious report.

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Sierra Nevada

Twin Lakes

We backpacked for two nights along the Twin Lakes Trail, on the western side of the Desolation Wilderness, spending one day hiking to Twin Lakes, then a lazy day walking around the high glaciated granite basin below the Crystal Range while checking out Island Lake and fishing for Brook Trout, and a final day heading cross-country to visit the Enchanted Pool.

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Sierra Nevada

Meeks Creek Trail

As our first overnight hike in the Desolation Wilderness this trip, we hiked on the Meeks Creek Trail from Lake Tahoe, climbing up to Lake Genevieve, then went a bit further to set up camp at Crag Lake, plus a side visit to Hidden Lake.

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Sierra Nevada

McLoud Lake

After backpacking through Devils Postpile, I left the monument and headed into the town of Mammoth Lakes, then drove up the long grade to the Mammoth Pass Trail, where I dayhiked to check out McLeod Lake, one of the few places where you can supposedly catch a Piute Trout, but I never got a bite.  The lake was pretty, so it was all good.

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Sierra Nevada

King Creek Loop

I did a solo backpacking trek out of Devils Postpile National Monument, heading southwest up and around the King Creek basin, and visited several snow-rimmed high lakes plus a bonus sighting of Minaret Falls when it was flowing strong during the big melt of 2023.

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Sierra Nevada

Rainbow Falls

I visited Mammoth Lakes and car-camped at Devils Postpile, then took an easy day hike on the Rainbow Falls Trail, which was flowing strong in the Summer of 2023, and, as a treat, I got to see it with a Rainbow that afternoon!

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