Well, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go back and make it to the top of Chambers Creek Trail and into the High Lakes. You might recall that my last attempt ended when I hit snow at about 5,300 feet. Well, that was over a month ago, and winter has ended and some snow has melted, so I decided to try again.

Just stepping onto the trail. Mud dog can’t help himself when he finds mud in the trail.

Quincy and I set out fairly early, but the sun was already warm. Our trail is a long, uninterrupted climb and we were ready.

Except sometimes, even when you’re ready, you’re not ready.

We made it to the bridge in good time, but I could already tell that my legs were a little sluggish this day. Not to worry, we were already half way there. Pretty soon I’d be resting by the fire making a dinner of dinner of tacos with refried beans – but that’s another story for another time.

At the top you can just see the high falls. The falls at Chambers Creek.

When we finally reached the 5,300 foot level, the point where we were forced to turn back the last time we tried this trail, we were feeling pretty good. The weather was good – strong sun, big clouds, and a nice breeze. It was just a couple hundred yards later when we reached the Chambers Creek Basin at the top of the ridge. We decided to stop for lunch and to review the map. That’s when we found it.

I’ve never seen anything like it before. All I can tell you is that I saw a collection of Bumble Bees appearing to have their lunch on a large pile of bear dung. I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I made sure to take a picture.

It was an omen, but I can only read omens in hindsight. The meaning of this particular omen is “the rest of the trail is a litter of fallen trees, overgrown brush, and mosquitoes” but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

I also found some beautiful mushrooms. Specifically, we found some great specimens of the so-called Orange Peel Cup mushroom.

Aleuria aurantia Orange Peel Cup mushroom

Other than the mushrooms, and the satisfaction of staying on “trail” through the overgrown, tree strewn forest at the top of the ridge, there was little good to say about this section of the hike. We slogged on for about a mile, but it was such hard work for me, and possibly more so for Quincy, that we decided to turn back. I actually thought about pitching camp near the creek where we found an old fire ring, but the lack of a tent site, and the overwhelming number of mosquitoes made me decide otherwise. So we started back. And once we started back there was no stopping us. Which was probably a bad mind set.

For almost the entire length of the return trail my right knee was in terrible pain. I resorted to a variety of silly walks, a la Monty Python, to avoid putting any more strain on my knee than necessary. I’m not sure why my knee hurt so much, but let’s talk about this trail profile.

At this point we had hike about 6 miles, with a total elevation gain of about 3,600 feet, and dropped back down another 1,000 feet. That left about 3 miles and 2,600 feet of downhill trail between me and my car. And my mind was made up – I wasn’t going to stop until I made it to the car. I’m stubborn to a fault at times…

On the bright side, the weather and the vistas were gorgeous, and the flowers were plentiful.

In the end, it was a long day: 9 miles, 7,200 feet of total elevation change. But I’m thankful that I made it to the top of the ridge because at least now I know that this trail is not an option for reaching the High Lakes – not unless someone goes through there with a chain saw and a pickaxe. My lasting memory of the trail will be my sweet Yellow Lab looking longingly down the last 1/2 mile of the trail, willing me to finish the day.

And my aching knee.

Woof!

Update 5/18: I wanted to add something here about my camera. I really liked my Canon G16, but I made a huge mistake: I left the camera on top of my car after finishing the hike. When I went back to see if I could find it, all I found were pieces. The only thing that survived was the memory card. sigh…