The Ottoway Lakes Loop

The headwalls of the Triple Peak Fork canyon.

Triple Peak Fork Camp

The Ottoway Lakes Loop, September 2004

Finally the canyon bottom rolled into view and deposited me into a large open granite slab area studded with trees and entwined with streams that really put meaning to "park-like area" (See the next days pictures).

In a beautiful shaded grassy area where the young Triple Peak Fork stream was crossed by one of the trails, the iron Yosemite trail signs of the triple trail junction showed up. I understand that early season, the stream crossing would be a knee-deep wade (easy), but that was not the case at all late season: it was merely a step-across. I dropped my pack for a look-see.

You would think that at a major intersection and a natural stopping point from any direction would have plenty of campsites, but I looked all over and found nothing in my initial search. Later I found one poor but secluded site far off the trail, and the next morning another temporary one some ways from where I finally did camp. My suspicion is that the Rangers have been merrily destroying all the established camp they can find in the area. If it were not the fact it was so easy to create a do-it-yourself camp in many places, I would think that policy irresponsible.

A view of the Triple Divide Peak in  alpine glow from the bottom of the Triple Peak Fork canyon.

Eventually, not too far from the trail junction and water, I found a level spot in a very pretty area for some no-impact camping and decided to forgo any thought of a fire. The day was fairly warm and the warmth would linger into the evening and an almost full moon would keep me company.

The area was fairly unique. There were just enough trees to call the area shady, yet sparse enough to be called open forest, providing a canopy over small meadows, grassy lawns, large slabs of granite decorated with glacier erratics, all entwined with the creek or tributary channels. Back up canyon I could just make out the peaks of Clark Range and Triple Divide Peak, providing I had the energy and interest to find a clear spot through the trees to take a look. The afternoon was late and I had spent a lot of time looking for a camp, so when I finally did camp, I had just enough time to set up, clean up, fetch water and sit down to dinner. I was now in a canyon, so the later afternoon sun was quickly lost behind the western ridges, and I was entertained by the deepening gold's of sunlight crawling up the eastern slopes of the canyon.

As I suspected, the evening was mild, and as darkness fell the nearly full moon rose to paint my surroundings in bright shades of neon blue. I sat out in my chair for a moon-tan, and I probably could have read my book by moonlight.

Eventually it did get cold (how cold I would find out the next morning) so I headed for the sack. It had been a long hard day and the highlight of the trip (lots of miles and lots of altitude), so I was well tired and ready for a lay-down. I had long dreamed of doing that trail section, and I had finally done it, and alone to boot. Once settled in my bivy-tent, I struggled to stay awake reading till about 9:30 PM, gave up the fight and fell asleep shortly after lights out.