A Backpack Cross-Country Traverse of the Minarets

Looking up Snow Canyon towards The Minarets, which are finally in view. We are jazzed. Note the trail.

Trail Junction and Fern Lake

A Cross-Country Traverse of the Minarets, August 2006

I finally turned the corner and headed southwest and thought, "Yes! The climbing is over!". Wrong. I soon discovered there was another 185 feet to climb over the next 1/4 mile. It is not something you notice looking at the map. The trail turns the corner, climbs sharply, levels a bit, climbs sharply again, loses about 40 feet and then begins an energy sapping slow unrelenting climb towards the trail junction. After the climb up the ridge, this moderate climb feels harder than it really is. On the plus side, this section is well shaded (but we were not over-heated). I was not exactly enjoying this section: I was feeling the effects of the long fast walk and the altitude that was nearing 9000 feet. I was grumbling to myself when I suddenly leveled out in a startling flower-garden area and hit the trail junction. I said out loud something to the effect of "Oh hell yeah!" when I nearly ran into Dave. It was finally time for a rest stop.

Dave bemused by my picture-taking. Just behind him is the trail junction. As you can see, we unexpectedly came apon a beautiful garden spot with a large amount of different flowers.

Life was good. The hike, the views, the beautiful flower garden where we were resting while looking at the views to the east: already the trip was worth it. This was a good hiking day. We sat down for a snack and a look at the map. After leaving the San Joaquine River, we had not seen another person, but we knew they were nearby. We could smell wood smoke. We wondered if we would find a decent camp. We really did not want to be near people and fires because for one reason, we think fires attract bears. Not that we were too worried about bears. We knew they were around because we had seen scat in the garden and would see more later. We were more concerned by having to deal with smoke and a lack of decent camping. It would turn out to not be an issue.

After putting on a light layer in the cooling late afternoon, we hit the trail to Fern Lake. The garden continued to be an ever-changing flower show. There was some real ups and downs (almost 300 feet of loss and gain over less than a mile), but they were nothing after a good rest and felt almost level. Somewhere after about .6 miles I either did not see (or forgot about) a trail junction before Fern Lake. It may have been moved because I thought I saw a trail near the lake later. In any case, it would be easy enough to find with a good map. There certainly was not a junction sign.

Just before arriving at the lake, we found the source of the fire: a large family complete with some young hardy kids that were able to make the tough climb. We chatted with the parents for a while ("Please don't say fires attract bears" the father whispered, rolling his eyes towards his wife) and moved on to the now fully shaded Fern Lake.

Fern Lake (8786 feet) is a typical Sierra lake, with the requisite granite and rock wall that was used by the glacier that dug out the lake. We followed the trail as it edged the lake and found a suitable camp on the north shore. The trail seemed to continue on up the canyon, so that was a good bit of information. The camp was a bit beat out and dusty, but passable. At least I found a good level spot. There were some nice logs to set up on and a good place for a kitchen. Not a bad camp, but the least best camp of the trip. We did not have a lot of time so we set up quickly, ate and got comfortable. We did not have the time or energy to explore much, and we thought of this a camp as just a stopover before the real hike began. Soon enough, the chores were done and it was time to hit our sacks. The next day would be a tremendous day in the Sierra.