A loop hike to McCall's prettiest lake basin.
- July 5, 2014
- Team: Julie, Marilyn, Patty & George, Art & Carol
- 6.5 miles RT, 9.5 hours c-to-c, 2800' gain
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Considering the size of this group, we did a reasonably good job of getting going early in the morning. Based on our trip in here in 2012, we skipped trying to find the trail down low and did a more directed shortcut through the initial bushwack. |
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Soon, we were getting outstanding views. I call this peak 'Humdinger', which happily annoys Art. From here, you can pick up the trail on this bench somewhere. |
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The bench ends and you traverse a steep, north-facing hillside. There was a bit of snow, even in what has been a warm July. |
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| This is looking up past Duck Lake and down the 20-Mile drainage. I think there is a really cool traverse in here somewhere. |  |
This is looking at Burnside Peak (which name makes sense because it sits above Burnside Lake). |
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Back to our trail. We have to cross this valley and climb the other side. That's McCabe Peak in the background (I didn't make that name up- Cody did). |
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| Many sections of this hike have trail. It's just more obvious in some spots. |  |
The upper Cly Lakes are in a hanging valley, terminating in a waterfall. Here's the falls from below. In the panorama below, the outlet is on the far right. |
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This is looking 'upstream' from the outlet. |
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It truly is a beautiful spot. We had a leisurely lunch while we soaked it in. This is a pretty eclectic group, so you can expect some interesting conversations during breaks. This one didn't disappoint. |
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Then it was time to head home. Art decided that we should loop it. However, our group found three different ways to start the return.
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| Eventually we all ended up on the ridge just west of the lake. |  |
| That led to one of those wonderful ridge walks you find in the mountains around McCall, where you never know if it will really work.... |  |
| ...and the accompanying views. |  |
| Art had remembered some stuff about this ridge that I had forgotten. On the other hand, he had forgotten the 4th class descent, which I remembered. |  |
| Our group once again found several solutions to the problem. |  |
And then it was simply a matter of closing the loop back to the yurt. |
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