Two weekends in the Trinity Alps

We spent each of the last two weekends backpacking in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, California's largest wilderness, located just to the Northeast of us. The first weekend, we backpacked up Canyon Creek to a couple of stunning, alpine lakes nestled beneath massive, jagged peaks. The land looks very similar to the Sierra Nevada with lots of smooth granite, rocky boulders and steep mountains.

The weather was so hot that we went swimming in one of the lakes and actually lounged in the water for awhile! The evening alpenglow was absolutely stunning. A half moon illuminated the rocky, alpine world in silver. After the moon set in the west, more stars than we could count filled the sky. We returned to civilization the following day, rejuvenated and content.

The next weekend, we backpacked up the Stuart Fork trail to a beautiful sub-alpine area called Morris Meadow. Two things were distinctly different about this trip. The first is that we had the place completely to ourselves (last weekend we shared the other with a handful of people). And second, the temperature was about 50 degrees cooler. We fell asleep to the sound of ice crystals hitting the rainfly, but we stayed cozy inside our sleeping bags. The next morning, we awoke to a dusting of snow on our tent, as well as on the high, jagged peaks surrounding our campsite. We backpacked out of the mountains, realizing that winter was just one step behind us.