We answered the call of our 5:00 am alarms and were soon eating scrambled eggs and toasted bagels. Packs had their finishing touches added and we rolled out of our campsite at 6:10 am, leaving our offensive neighbors behind.
The trailhead is only a few miles up the valley; we arrived in just a few minutes. With the five hikers anxious to get some miles covered before the hot sun crested the ridge and Sally and Barb eager to slay the 5 hours of driving to Yosemite Valley for the same reason, we quickly took a group picture, said our goodbyes, and parted company. We watched the two vans leave the parking lot from the first switchback of the trail.
Although this will be one of the few days in the next 28 that we will not cross over a pass, it is the biggest elevation gain of the route, 5,500 feet.
On the west side of the Sierra, roads penetrate nearly 100 miles from the Central Valley into the Sierra, yet, due to the nature of the terrain, they end up at the bottom of deep river valleys with surrounding ridges and peaks towing 5000 to 7000' above. This is the case with highway 80, the highway we followed to Roads End in Sequoia National Park. It ends at 5000' as it climbs alongside the Kings River. The ridge that begins our route, in particular our first night's destination, Grouse Lake, resides at 10,500'. The excellent trail from Road's End to the ridge top takes 7.5 miles to gain the 5500'. This makes for a tough day in that each of us is carrying eight days of food along with our other gear. But, with the emphasis on lightweight gear in the past decade, each of us is carrying less than 40 pounds.
We settled into a 1.6 mile per hour pace, stopping every hour to rest, eat a little and drink water. The GPS app on my phone sings out average speed, distance covered and elevation every ten minutes. We found we climbed 200' for every ten minutes elapsed. Without breaks, this means it would take us four and one half hours of continuous climbing to gain the ridge. With stops, it took us six.
Where the trail crests the ridge, we turned right, leaving the trail for our first cross country run, a traverse of about a mile into Grouse Lake. We arrived about 3:15 pm. We dropped out packs after settling on a camping spot, then Craig and I quickly extended our fishing poles and headed for the lake to checkout the fishing.
It took a few minutes to discover where they were hiding, but I soon caught three. Craig had return to camp during our testing of the waters to fix some gear, but soon returned and landed three more. We cleaned them right there on the lake shore, then hauled them back to camp. In terms of size, they might have all been clones, each about nine and a half inches in length.
Back in camp, Noah was fast asleep, his 15 year old body quickly rejuvenating itself after the tiring ascent. The "adults" on the trip were also relaxing. When I reported that the lake water was exceedingly warm, we each took a swim.
We fried the fish in my new frypan, using lots of olive oil. I cooked them over my alcohol stove. I found I could cook a pan full of fish (three) with one filling of my stove. Once the fish were cooked, we added them to our individual meals, upping the protein content and flavor.
The above description of the days events recount the facts, but fail to describe the surroundings in which they occurred. Grouse Lake sits right at tree line in a glacier carved bowl, a cirque, that opens to the southwest. It is perched on the side of Grouse Mountain, airily suspended 5500' above the Kings River below. From this cirque, magnificent views of the Great Western Divide, a spur mountain range of the main Sierra, 20 miles away, are had. Small trees dot the area surrounding the lake while heather and grasses cover the rest of the ground. All is drenched in glorious sunshine and canopied under radiant blue skies. A little slice of heaven.
After dinner, we were glad to settle into our sleeping bags, let our bodies rest and enjoy the gathering darkness and watch the nearly full moon rise. After last nights near sleeplessness and today's long climb, we were happy to relax, banter and drift off to sleep in our little slice of heaven on earth.
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