French Lake: Skye & I completed a quick overnight trip into French lake on Tuesday & Wednesday. I haven't been to French Lake in a couple decades and only had pictures from 1976, it has been on my priority list for a couple years. It is a 10 mile trip in with a substantial elevation climb in the last 3 miles to end the day. It was just a grueling climb with a full pack (1st backpacking trip of the year). The elevation gain (1,700 ft) from the North Fork Trail #103 is the same as the infamous climb over Chilcoot Pass from Straight Creek.
For a overnight trip like this I try to pack as light as possible. My list of some essentials are Sierra Designs Tent (3 lb), ThermaRest Pad (1 lb), Sierra Designs Bag (1 lb), GSI Soloist Pot with Pocket Rocket II Stove. Food is generally simple freeze dried with other snacks. I do carry a Bear Vault 450 that fits in my pack great and carries 3 days worth of food. I tend to carry more emergency related things that I might need, but I do most of these trips solo, so I am on my own. If I don't bring the bear vault, fishing gear or chair (Big Agnes Skyline Stool) then I can get my pack down to 30 lbs before water, but generally I am a bit over 40 lbs with fluids for anything 2-3 days. I try to watch the weight, but I do not have a "thru-hiker" mentality when comes to loading my pack.
The trail up the North Fork is in good shape; 6 miles to the Greenwood Cabins and another mile to the crossing at French Creek. Even though I felt I paced myself, I was starting to feel the day at French Creek. I gave some thought to staying at the cabins or at the campsite at the junction but I really wanted to make the lake. The 1st half mile up trail #143 is quite steep, but levels out some till you cross back over French Creek at the 1 mile mark.
From the crossing, the trail climbs almost continuously with little relief to the lake. I was pretty spent on this section and continued to get slower as I went. There seemed to be a threat of rain so I continued to push forward. Last year I got caught in 6 hours of solid rain on the West Fork trail; the forecast that day was for occasional mountain showers. I got to French Lake before I was totally spent, but I got busy getting the tent up in case it decided to rain as there were still storm clouds above, but it didn't rain.
The little island just offshore of the main campsite and the steep mountain (Lightning Peak) on the far side of the lake provides some great photo opportunities. About the time I was going to eat, a guy and gal came down to the lake. Blaine and Sara (I think) came in not long after I got there with horses and camped just above the lake; they were staying 3-4 days.
I got some good photos of the lake near sunset and sunrise. I caught a couple nice fish in the morning but didn't keep them. I had a couple bucks come down to camp in the morning, but my neighbors said some elk were down by their horses in the morning.
The trail out went fast for the first 4 or 5 miles and then the previous day caught up with me and it became a chore the last few miles. If I were to do this again, I might break it up and camp overnite at Greenwood. This is the first of 4-5 possible backpacking trips that I have planned for the summer. I had planned for a 3 day trip the following week but with the 100+ temps coming, I decided to forego the trip for a couple day hikes.
Diamond & Cliff Lakes: On Friday I did a long ride on the motorcycle and visited both Cliff and Diamond Lakes. Last year I sold my Kawasaki 250 and then purchased a Triumph 400 scrambler this spring. I have owned motorcycles since I was a teen and am hoping this one fits my needs better than the 250. I rode from Hayden, ID over to the Hiawatha Trail, then went toward the Roland Summit and picked up the stateline road. This road runs all the way to Dry Creek before it turns in the stateline trail #738, but is narrow and rocky. There were still some snow banks along the road at the higher elevations. I rode multiple bikes across this stretch over the years.
The bike worked great for the ride and I eventually made it to Diamond Lake. There were only about 15 vehicles parked at the lake or along the road. I hiked to Cliff Lake (1 mile) for some photos and get off the bike. I could sure feel the French Lake trip going to Cliff Lake, I was nowhere near close to recovering from that trip. The biting flies were terrible at Diamond Lake, I had a hard time keeping them at bay when changing out of the riding pants and jacket. The group camped at the outlet said they where bad the entire time they were there. French Lake in comparison was almost void of biting flies and mosquitos. Rode down Dry Creek and then hit the highway back to Hayden. It is about 250 miles for the loop.
