SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS,
CALIFORNIA
HOOVER
WILDERNESS
GREEN LAKE
JULY, 1991
INTRODUCTION
This was a quick one night hike in a
beautiful area. I didn't go very far in
Tuesday, 2 July, 9:00 a.m.
I'm at Green Lake in the Hoover Wilderness. It's very
peaceful here. I saw two other people here last night upon
arriving. I left the trailhead at 6:30 p.m. last night. I
had originally calculated that I would be climbing about
600 feet in elevation, which would have been very easy.
After following the trail up several drainages, it quickly
became obvious that it was going to be more than this. In
looking at the map, it's actually 960 feet. It was tiring
but only took me one and a half hours to go approximately
two and a half miles. I was here and looking for a campsite
by 8:05 p.m. I wore shorts and a tank top. The weather was
pleasant. After 10 minutes, the mosquitos weren't. I failed
to apply DEET before I left. A few mosquitos bothered me at
first, but I then ran into a swarm of them. It must have
been humorous to watch me de-pack and rummage through it
frantically trying to find the DEET. I quickly doused
myself with it and was immediately relieved. I packed up
and continued on. I guess the ranger at the Bridgeport
Ranger Station was serious when she inquired if I had any
mosquito repellant.
I found a nice previously used campsite and quickly made
camp, as it was getting dark. I made a delicious dinner of
brown rice followed by a dessert of a chewy granola bar and
a cup of hot chocolate with amaretto in it. I made a small
campfire before making dinner to ensure having some nice
warmth to eat by. After dinner I read the book about Wovoka
and the ghost dance that Linda had given me on Sunday. I
watched the fire for a while, stirred it to keep it going,
and retired.
It was very pleasant this morning, not a cloud to be seen.
I awoke at sunrise but didn't get out of my sleeping bag
until 8 a.m. I retrieved my food bags from the tree I hung
them in last night and made breakfast. Some Tang, Grape
Nuts, a cup of tea and a bagel made for a satisfying meal.
I have a banana awaiting me when I finish here. It's very
pleasant here. I have my shirt off now, trying to make up
for the lack of sun I've had this last week and a half. It
feels very good. I'm not sure what I'll be doing today or
where I'll be going. My camp will remain here regardless.
It is now 9:18 a.m.
Tuesday, 2 July, 12:45 p.m
I decided to hike the perimeter of Green lake today. I
started out heading clock-wise around the lake at 10:30. I
crossed Green creek just below the outlet of the lake. The
water was fairly fast here, but I found a nice size log to
walk across it with the help of my hiking stick. There are
many nice campsites on the south side of the creek and
lake. I came upon one camp with no one in it near where I
had seen someone fishing last night. There was a definite
trail following the shore of the lake, although in some
places it veered up the bank a ways to avoid thick brush. I
came upon a boulder field, coming down from where I think
East lake is. There seems to be a field like this in all of
these lakes here. I made my way through some brush with
some water draining down from above. I came upon a small
marshy area. I scared some small bird who gave me hell for
intruding in his area. I crossed another good size creek
which split of into several channels. This was in a
forested area and seemed out of place or unnatural, as if
this was not an old established water course. Perhaps a new
creek bed in the making, possibly recently diverted by
something further upstream. A few more nice campsites were
to be found in the trees. I came upon a good trail and
followed it around towards another drainage. I stopped for
a few minutes at a campsite reminiscent of the one Bob and
I had at either Waugh or Sullivan lake. It had some rocks
jutting out into the lake. This was a very nice but well
used campsite with a big fire ring in it. I continued on to
the drainage that comes from West lake in a beautiful
cascade that can be seen from across the lake. Just past
this was another nice campsite where I had seen someone
last night and this morning but was now vacant. The trail
then headed up to avoid the glacially carved inlets of
water that were filled with fallen timber and other lake
debris. I then came back to my campsite where it was time
for lunch. It took one and a half hours to complete this
hike.
Tuesday, 2 July, 7:00 p.m.
I decided to come down tonight. I was getting bored and
anxious to see something different. If I only had hiked to
East or West lake today. It took me one hour 18 minutes to
come down. I packed up and left at 5:25 p.m. The mosquitos
weren't as bad as yesterday when I hiked in.
The road up to Green Lake trailhead is very pretty once you
get out of the foothills from Bridgeport. It is a pretty
little valley with Green Creek meandering through it. Some
of it is privately held, but there appeared to be a few
nice spots to camp in outside of this private property.
The Green Creek campground was full when I arrived last
evening and appeared to be so tonight also. As campgrounds
go, this one is not overly desirable due to the proximity
of your neighbors. It seemed rather noisy also. When I was
hiking in last night I heard someone with a semi-loud car
radio playing. This sound carried up the trail for quite a
ways. Tonight when I was hiking out, I came across two boys
on new mountain bikes who were riding on the trail. I was
stopped at the trailhead sign (it was another quarter mile
hike to the parking area) and they asked me if there was
anyone else behind me on the trail. I suspect they were
intending to ride where it was posted no bicycles. I knew
they would be stopped by the steepness of the trail and
they soon came up behind me saying it was too much for
them. They seemed like nice enough boys, but just the idea
of a wilderness area being penetrated by uninformed kids on
bicycles didn't settle well with me.
I was amazed at the number of trailers and street vehicles
that were up here. The road up here is a rough one and I
thought for sure this would secure me some solitude. But
California seems so overrun by people. I noticed this
almost as soon as I crossed the border from Oregon. I spent
almost the entire previous week without seeing too many
people in one place and here I was faced with what seemed
like a throng of people invading this beautiful area.