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My wife, Sharon, had Friday the 18th off and wanted to go somewhere. We loaded up the Jeep and headed to the Shaver Lake area to explore and relax. Sergio (50yj) joined us and we decided to explore the Swamp Lake Trail first. We also went to Coyote Lake, but that is a different story.
Over a year ago, we ran the Dusy/Ershim trail. Since then I have been wanting to get back to the area to explore other trails. Swamp Lake has a reputation for being a tough trail with great sites along the way. Well, it definitely lived up to it's rep!
The trail is a fair distance from Shaver Lake. Lot's of easy roads to get there. The trail itself starts out pretty easy and only slowly gets more technical. The trail climbs to the top of a 9300 foot ridge without much of a challenge:
Of course, I find the only sharp root on the trail to puncture a sidewall:
After many tire plugs, we finally made it to the top. Going down the other side of the ridge, the views were excellent:
As we hit the first valley floor, the trail quickly changed to a more technical challenge:
Unfortunately, Sergio followed my earlier lead on carnage and had the welds on his rear track bar fail:
Since we didn't have a welder, he removed the bar and he was extra careful not to get too heavy on the skinny petal for the rest of the weekend. Which was not too hard to do for the next few miles:
But then we came to Rooster Rock. This is when the game got interesting. Rooster Rock is a steep granite rock face that is probably about 150 feet long, but it feels like a quarter of a mile of staring at the sky and hoping all the tires stay on the ground! This is the view from about two thirds of the way up:
Here a vid of Sergio climbing Rooster Rock:
Mr. Green followed him up:
Although the climb was spooky, it didn't really require a modified vehicle. The rest of the hill on the other hand is a different story. I have to admit, there was a bypass for the next obstacle, but why use it? The fun stuff was here:
At the very top of the hill, there are two ways to choose from: A Squeeze and a V-Notch on a cliff. We took on the Squeeze first:
After we both made it up, we went back down to try the V-Notch:
Here is Sergio on the notch:
And then my first attempt... This is a lesson in why you should actually listen to your spotter. Feel free to berate me for putting my arm out, but that rock was trying to hurt me!:
I made it up without issue the second time because I followed my spotters intructions EXACTLY. I now need to stitch up the divit in the driver's seat.
After Rooster Rock, the trail never let up. It was easily as technical as the Dusy (but much shorter), but had the hills of the Rubicon (without the extra difficulty). By the time we got to Grouse Lake, I was ready for a break. And what a nice place to stop:
Next, we climbed to a ridge at 9600' that had a wonderful overlook of Swamp Lake 500 feet below:
The descent to the lake was steep, but not too technical until you reach the camping area. In hindsight, I wish that we had stopped and camped at Swamp Lake. The area is very pretty:
But the real reason that I wish that we had camped at the lake is that the last leg of the Swamp Lake trail is the toughest. It seemed like a short distance on the map, and I had planned on getting to Brewer Lake to camp for the evening. Take it from me, this is a BAD plan!
So even though the sun was sinking quickly, we pushed on. The dust on the trail was especially thick on this trip. The technical nature of the trail, and the low sun made following Sergio tough at times:
This hill climb and obstacle at the top was especilly challenging:
When we tried it, we almost rolled. A lucky break put Mr. Green balanced precariously and Sergio grabbing the bumper allowed me to back off the rocks without issue. I'm not ashamed to say that I stacked rocks until the path was like a paved road after that. Even so, it still took two lockers and some spotting to make it to the top.
The trail didn't let up until the gate at the end:
We pushed on to Brewer Lake and found a camp spot in the dark, but I would never recommend this kind of a run to anyone. My advice is to slow down and the enjoy the run. Camp at either Grouse or Swamp Lake. Make a two day run of it.
If you get the chance to stop by Brewer Lake, I recommend it. The lake is very pretty and seems to be full of fish. I didn't catch any, but I can assure you that it was related to the fisherman, not the fish.
I hit the lake early the next morning, and even though I didn't catch any fish, I did catch some nice pics:
I love to travel and see new places, but this is an area that I am willing to travel back to again and again. Before you die, you need to visit the High Sierras in this area.
I'll post the Coyote Lake Trail in another tread. If you would like to see a selection of pics from this trail, visit this link:
http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...18-09/?start=0
Over a year ago, we ran the Dusy/Ershim trail. Since then I have been wanting to get back to the area to explore other trails. Swamp Lake has a reputation for being a tough trail with great sites along the way. Well, it definitely lived up to it's rep!
The trail is a fair distance from Shaver Lake. Lot's of easy roads to get there. The trail itself starts out pretty easy and only slowly gets more technical. The trail climbs to the top of a 9300 foot ridge without much of a challenge:
Of course, I find the only sharp root on the trail to puncture a sidewall:
After many tire plugs, we finally made it to the top. Going down the other side of the ridge, the views were excellent:
As we hit the first valley floor, the trail quickly changed to a more technical challenge:
Unfortunately, Sergio followed my earlier lead on carnage and had the welds on his rear track bar fail:
Since we didn't have a welder, he removed the bar and he was extra careful not to get too heavy on the skinny petal for the rest of the weekend. Which was not too hard to do for the next few miles:
But then we came to Rooster Rock. This is when the game got interesting. Rooster Rock is a steep granite rock face that is probably about 150 feet long, but it feels like a quarter of a mile of staring at the sky and hoping all the tires stay on the ground! This is the view from about two thirds of the way up:
Here a vid of Sergio climbing Rooster Rock:
Mr. Green followed him up:
Although the climb was spooky, it didn't really require a modified vehicle. The rest of the hill on the other hand is a different story. I have to admit, there was a bypass for the next obstacle, but why use it? The fun stuff was here:
At the very top of the hill, there are two ways to choose from: A Squeeze and a V-Notch on a cliff. We took on the Squeeze first:
After we both made it up, we went back down to try the V-Notch:
Here is Sergio on the notch:
And then my first attempt... This is a lesson in why you should actually listen to your spotter. Feel free to berate me for putting my arm out, but that rock was trying to hurt me!:
I made it up without issue the second time because I followed my spotters intructions EXACTLY. I now need to stitch up the divit in the driver's seat.
After Rooster Rock, the trail never let up. It was easily as technical as the Dusy (but much shorter), but had the hills of the Rubicon (without the extra difficulty). By the time we got to Grouse Lake, I was ready for a break. And what a nice place to stop:
Next, we climbed to a ridge at 9600' that had a wonderful overlook of Swamp Lake 500 feet below:
The descent to the lake was steep, but not too technical until you reach the camping area. In hindsight, I wish that we had stopped and camped at Swamp Lake. The area is very pretty:
But the real reason that I wish that we had camped at the lake is that the last leg of the Swamp Lake trail is the toughest. It seemed like a short distance on the map, and I had planned on getting to Brewer Lake to camp for the evening. Take it from me, this is a BAD plan!
So even though the sun was sinking quickly, we pushed on. The dust on the trail was especially thick on this trip. The technical nature of the trail, and the low sun made following Sergio tough at times:
This hill climb and obstacle at the top was especilly challenging:
When we tried it, we almost rolled. A lucky break put Mr. Green balanced precariously and Sergio grabbing the bumper allowed me to back off the rocks without issue. I'm not ashamed to say that I stacked rocks until the path was like a paved road after that. Even so, it still took two lockers and some spotting to make it to the top.
The trail didn't let up until the gate at the end:
We pushed on to Brewer Lake and found a camp spot in the dark, but I would never recommend this kind of a run to anyone. My advice is to slow down and the enjoy the run. Camp at either Grouse or Swamp Lake. Make a two day run of it.
If you get the chance to stop by Brewer Lake, I recommend it. The lake is very pretty and seems to be full of fish. I didn't catch any, but I can assure you that it was related to the fisherman, not the fish.
I hit the lake early the next morning, and even though I didn't catch any fish, I did catch some nice pics:
I love to travel and see new places, but this is an area that I am willing to travel back to again and again. Before you die, you need to visit the High Sierras in this area.
I'll post the Coyote Lake Trail in another tread. If you would like to see a selection of pics from this trail, visit this link:
http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...18-09/?start=0
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