canyon creek trail

From my previous posts it’s probably obvious that I like the Trinity Alps Wilderness. I think it’s truly a special place. It’s one of the few places that I’ve come to backpack more than once, partly because the scenery’s nice, and partly because it’s a great place to introduce people to backpacking.

Flo and Iris owned all the gear for backpacking, but this was actually their first real backpacking trip. It was also Grace’s first trip, she ended up borrowing all her gear from Geo.

The itinerary was the same as all my previous trips into the Trinity Alps. We would hike the Canyon Creek Trail, setting up camp somewhere along the creek between the Sinks and Lower Canyon Creek Lake, then we would day hike to Lower Canyon Creek lake.

Part of the reason why I think this is such a good hike for first time backpackers is the variety of scenery. The trail starts out in a deeply forested area.

Then it meanders through a valley between tall granite peaks.

Then the trail follows a creek, which has several nice waterfalls. The first major one is known as ‘The Sinks.’ This is the earliest in the year I’ve been to The Sinks, so the waterfall had a much bigger flow than in years past.

We setup camp along the creek. The girls shared my trust old backpacking tent, while I slept in my hammock right next to the water.

Continuing past the area where we camped there are a couple more waterfalls. This is the last one before the lake.

The last part of the hike up to the lake climbs up on smooth granite.

The beautiful lower Canyon Creek Lake. A few months back I took a swimming class, so I decided to try swimming across the lake. Apparently both Flo and Iris were strong swimmers, both had taken lifeguard classes, so I was in good hands if I started to struggle.

Nowadays I don’t usually bring hot food for dinner (I’m too lazy to carry a stove), but since it was the first time backpacking for the girls I brought the stove along for the full backpacking experience. Swimming had made me hungry. The dehydrated food was really tasty after a long day of hiking and swimming.

The stove allows for luxuries like tea and coffee.

One last picture before leaving camp.

There were many dogs on the trail. Someday (I guess when I settle down) I’m hoping to have a dog that I can go hiking with. I always get a kick out of seeing dogs with packs on happily trotting down a trail.