This is part 8 of the “Why We Hike” Series
Intent on getting back to Bear Diversion so we could hike along Bear Creek, we loaded up the rig once again. This time we were joined by our friend Neven, who would be our hiking buddy/photo journalist during the trip. We are typically terrible at shooting enough photos so having a shutterbug along was a plus.
Once we got to Huntington Lake we put the top down and started the “back roads” part of the trip. Traveling the Kaiser Pass road is a slow endeavor, so we took our time and enjoyed the crisp mountain air and beautiful scenery.
About an hour and a half later we pulled up onto the big rock slab above Bear Diversion, I negotiated some small ledges to get the trailer to a nice flat spot next to a tree.
Dinner was delicious as always, although some of us were more hungry than others…
After eating, Zach just wanted everyone to settle down so he could sleep.
Early the next morning we got up and moving so we could take advantage of the cool temperatures on the trail. We did almost 8 miles round trip on the Bear Creel trail, the trail followed the river the entire time and was more beautiful than these photos can express.
The hike was over all too quickly and we settled into camp for a while. Just after lunch, a couple of guys who were fishing up the river came by and said hello on their way out. I decided to give them a ride back down the 2 mile OHV road to their car. They were so appreciative. No more than 15 minutes after Neven and I returned, 2 bedraggled hikers came down from the trailhead over to our camp. It ended up that they were PCT thru hikers who made a wrong turn on their way to VVR on Edison Lake. They were so disappointed when I explained what it would take for them to get them to VVR by hiking either road or trail. Normally thru hikers don’t want rides that shortcut the trail but in this case Melissa’s husband was waiting for her and she offered $100 for a ride. Trooper was looking gaunt so I convinced them to sit down and take some cold drink and brownie therapy. We then loaded them up and got them over to VVR, and no, we didn’t accept their money.
All in all, this was a very good day.
The next morning I tried my luck fishing in Bear Diversion. I was able to pull in 2 nice Brown trout at 15 and 17 inches.
After breakfast I considered hiking back up the trail a couple of miles up Bear Creek with my fly fishing gear, maybe talking Kelly into coming with me; but as I was sorting through my gear the wind started to really pick up. The concern was the possibility that we would be on this exposed plateau during a seriously windy night. I conferred with Kelly and Neven explaining that we should either retreat to Florence Lake or head home early. The consensus was to head home, which was fine. We had all had a really good time.
On the way out we stopped on Kaiser Pass to let Zach play in the snow. He learned quickly that if he ran downhill and flopped on his belly that he could “sled” down the snowbank. We called it dog sledding and my job was to catch him as he passed by me so he would not end up in the road.
Continued here: East Lake