Day 3:
Purple Lake (9935') to Cascade Valley at Fish Creek Ford - 3.1 mi.
Fish Creek Ford (8345') to Jackson Meadow - 2 mi.
Jackson Meadow (9310') to Grassy Lake (9530') - 1.1 mi.
Totals: 6.2 mi & 1300' climb.
Campfire at Grassy Lake
Photos titles ending in "b" are by Bill;in "r" by Roger; and, in "a" by Allison.
Troop 24 Kickass Trekkers: "The High Adventure Troop" Alumni Backpacking Trip -Cascade Bill Mooseker
Date(s): September, 2004. Album by Cascade Bill. Photos by Bill & Roger. 1 - 41 of 41 Total. 2819 Visits.
enlarge 202KB, 708x800 1 sierra04d3 001ab Map Day 3: Camp 2 at Purple Lake to Camp 3 at Grassy Lake. Note: Map is best viewed at "Original Size".
enlarge 116KB, 800x568 2 sierra04d3 001b Purple Lake in the morning - Other than the Pasayten Wilderness, some of the wierdest hikers you'll meet are in the Sierras. In 1999 we met "Super Fly" and "the Green Lantern" (self applied names not mine) at Selden Pass, a through hiker we called "Forest Gump" . Well at Purple Lake we met another one, whom I'll call "Glen Livit". Old Glen looked like he had been in the wilderness all summer long. He had an old pack (1960's era - just like Greg Phillips - see 2001 Crazyman Trip) but didn't have a sleeping bag attached. In fact his pack looked empty. I asked him where he was headed and he paused for a long time, and finally answered- "West.......Westerly". He told me I was packing "kind of heavy" then added, "nice sleeping bag" which made me a little nervous. He looked at Rogers tee shirt which had "Lynnwood Soccer" on the front and exclaimed "Glenlivit Scotch, goooood stuff!". Just then Allison came up and his jaw dr...
enlarge 157KB, 568x800 3 sierra04d3 002b Allison at Purple Lake.
enlarge 137KB, 606x800 4 sierra04d3 003b Fred on way down to Cascade Valley from Purple Lake.
enlarge 112KB, 800x533 5 sierra04d3 004r Roger - The bench across the valley is our destination. We dropped about 1700 feet from Purple Lake and then had to climb back up about 1300 feet.
enlarge 151KB, 533x800 6 sierra04d3 005r Roger got this shot of a Sequoia next to the trail near the bottom of the valley.
enlarge 107KB, 533x800 7 sierra04d3 006r A shot of the trunk of the Sequoia.
enlarge 144KB, 800x533 8 sierra04d3 007r These branches are bigger than some trees.
enlarge 161KB, 589x800 9 sierra04d3 010b Eric, Danny, & Brian.- After going down the Fish Creek Trail a short ways you meet the Minnow Creek trail which leads to the ford of Fish Creek which isn't bad (especially after a trip on the Escalante (2003 Hiking trips).
enlarge 136KB, 800x533 10 sierra04d3 008r Brian, Danny and Shelby fording Fish Creek - from here its a long climb up.
enlarge 134KB, 800x533 11 sierra04d3 009rBrian, Danny, and Shelby at Fish Creek Ford.
enlarge 154KB, 800x568 12 sierra04d3 011b Brian and Danny.
enlarge 149KB, 800x568 13 sierra04d3 013b About half way up the Minnow Creek Trail, we got this shot across the valley back towards Purple Lake which lies in the gap across the valley.
enlarge 142KB, 613x800 14 sierra04d3 014b Looking up Cascade Valley.
enlarge 88KB, 800x533 15 sierra04d3 015r A view across the valley to the gap that holds Purple Lake - This shot is from the bench near where the trail is close to Minnow Creek.
enlarge 116KB, 800x533 16 sierra04d3 016r This gap is where Duck Lake lies as seen from across the valley on the Minnow Creek Trail.
enlarge 153KB, 533x800 17 sierra04d3 017r Looking down Minnow Creek as it plunges from the bench down to Cascade Valley. This was a couple of hundred feet from the trail.
enlarge 138KB, 800x533 18 sierra04d3 018r Close up of the Minnow Creek.
enlarge 89KB, 533x800 19 sierra04d3 019r Large boulders in Minnow Creek.
enlarge 97KB, 800x533 20 sierra04d3 020r Large boulders in Minnow Creek.
enlarge 128KB, 800x533 21 sierra04d3 021r Looking down Minnow Creek.
enlarge 117KB, 800x533 22 sierra04d3 022r A quiet pool in Minnow Creek - There were some good sized fish in these pools.
enlarge 93KB, 533x800 23 sierra04d3 023r Waterfall in Minnow Creek.
enlarge 168KB, 800x611 24 sierra04d3 024b After a long climb with many switchbacks, the trail breaks out onto a bench. This was near Marsh Lake which was on the map, but we couldn't see it from the trail. The trail still climbs but the grade is moderate from here to Grassy Lake.
enlarge 137KB, 622x800 25 sierra04d3 025b Picture is taken from the northern end of Jackson Meadow, looking south.
enlarge 101KB, 800x533 26 sierra04d3 026r Jackson Meadow again - but a telephoto shot. Goodale Pass trail goes over the bench just to the rignt of the leftmost peak. Wilber May Lake lies at the foot ot the peak on the right.
enlarge 97KB, 800x533 27 sierra04d3 027r Looking back across Jackson Meadow to the gap that contains Purple Lake.
enlarge 135KB, 800x533 28 sierra04d3 028r Taking a break at Jackson Meadow.
enlarge 134KB, 800x568 29 sierra04d3 029b Getting close to Grassy Lake - this granite slab is just beyond the trail to Olive Lake. Picture is looking back towards Duck Lake (gap to left) and Purple Lake (gap to right).
enlarge 106KB, 800x568 30 sierra04d3 030b Grassy Lake - The view from our camp at the north end of the lake. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice Grassy Lake was. I had hoped to get to Wilber May Lake but it would have taken another hour or so, and we would have lost our relaxing time for fishing/swimming that we enjoyed at Grassy Lake.
enlarge 103KB, 800x533 31 sierra04d3 031r Bill and Fred enjoying the view across Grassy Lake.
enlarge 109KB, 800x568 32 sierra04d3 032b Fred at Grassy Lake.
enlarge 96KB, 800x568 33 sierra04d3 033b Bill at Grassy Lake.
enlarge 97KB, 800x533 34 sierra04d3 034r Bill cleaning fish for our fish fry - the lake was chock full of small rainbow trout. It took a lot of fish to get enough for everyone to have a bite. Our ubiquitous Bear Cannister beyond.
enlarge 107KB, 800x533 35 sierra04d3 035r Another shot of Bill cleaning fish - How come I always get stuck with this job.
enlarge 86KB, 800x533 36 sierra04d3 036r Campfires are not allowed above 10000 feet, but at a little over 9500 at Grassy Lake, fires are O.K.
enlarge 119KB, 800x533 37 sierra04d3 037r Enjoying the fire - Evening at Grassy Lake: Peter, Shelby, Brian.
enlarge 50KB, 800x533 38 sierra04d3 038r Fred.
enlarge 122KB, 800x533 39 sierra04d3 039r Allison, Eric, Shelby, Peter, & Brian at campfire at Grassy Lake. Terrain is typical of Sierra.
enlarge 108KB, 800x533 40 sierra04d3 040r The fish were jumping at dusk - not very big but there was a bunch of them.
enlarge 103KB, 800x533 41 sierra04d3 041r More ripples of feeding fish at Grassy Lake.
