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Catch your breath for breathtaking views By Lee Juillerat Jul 08, 2022 12:45 AM A A 5 View all photos Granite Lake is a highlight of the Trinity Alps Wilderness [Photo by Dan Hawkes] Trinity Alps’ glacier-carved landscape boasts serious elevation gains The Swift Creek Bridge is at a junction with the Granite Creek Trail. [Photo by Lee Juillerat] Hikers follow a zigzag trail into the Trinity Alps’ Black Basin. [Photo by Lee Juillerat] The Trininty Alps’ glacier-carved landscape is a refuge for wildflowers, including Western azaleas. [Photo by Lee Juillerat] The view from Seven Up Peak peers over Black Basin [Photo by Lee Juillerat] Sometimes when hiking or backpacking, it’s good to stop and rest, especially when you’re winded and need to catch your breath. On many trails in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area, there’s an even more compelling reason to pause — to appreciate the breathtaking scenery. Pauses were frequent, especially on our second day of backpacking trip in the Trinities. We were slogging along the trail from Granite Lake up to and around Seven Up Peak, an elevation gain of about 1,660 feet in a little more than two miles. Toting full backpacks on the narrow, watch-your-step rocky trail, one that relentlessly trudges up and up, we — Steve Underwood, Dan Hawkes, Allan Weigman and I – were repeatedly dazzled by the colorful array of wildflowers and, even more, by the expansive views of the Trinities’ ruggedly daunting landscape. We had left our camp near Granite Lake that morning to beat the heat, something we hadn’t done a day earlier. Danny and I met up with Allan and Steve for a late lunch at the tiny community of Coffee Creek — it’s not even on many maps — before leaving a car in Trinity Center. From there the four of us packed in Steve’s car for the seven-mile drive to the trailhead. After last-minute repacking we headed up the trail later than planned, about 3:30. The hike along Swift Creek, a waterway that lives up to its name, was a steady uphill walk in a deep, narrow gorge. At a junction we crossed a steel-truss bridge to the Granite Creek Trail. The rocky, often semi-overgrown trail follows along and up Granite Creek past lush Gibson Meadow to Granite Lake. By day’s end, our elevation gain from the trailhead to the lake was nearly 2,000 feet in five-plus miles. An abundance of wildflowers, including multicolored pussypaws, provided good reasons to pause. Both the Swift and Granite trails pass alongside outcrops and meadows blooming with an eye-popping array of varieties: Applegate’s Indian paintbrush, California pitcher plans, Western azaleas, Mount Eddy lupines, leopard lilies, dwarf larkspur, ferns and more. Along the way, too, were towering stands of sugar pines, Douglas and white firs and, especially near Granite Lake, broad-bellied incense cedars. Our late start meant a late dinner and exhaustingly late 10:30 p.m. tumble into our tents and sleeping bags. But it also gave us time to marvel at the shimmering night sky, its starry array of constellations our consolation. The trail to the saddle below Seven Up Peak was flower-filled with lupines, angelica, corn lilies, asters and more. And far steeper. As we gained elevation to nearly 7,600 feet, the rewards included an expansive panorama of the Trinities’ majestic, erratically contorted, glacier-carved landscape along with occasional stands of foxtail and whitebark pines. While we rested at the saddle — Steve unfolded his mat and napped — other backpackers eventually merged. Some were headed up or down the dauntingly steep switchback trail to the Black Basin and Four Lakes Loop; others were coming from the Bear Basin, our day’s destination. Later, after continuing farther up the trail around the flanks of Seven Up Peak, we followed another stumbly, steep, zigzag trail into Bear Basin, stepping over, around and through flower-filled springs, streamlets and marshy areas. Whipped, we made camp above a meadow alongside Bear Creek. But before we finished setting up our tents, the sky, which had been steadily darkening through the afternoon, dampened us with light rain that quickly chilled into pellets of hail. We weren’t totally surprised. Whenever Steve and I go backpacking, wet — often soaking wet — follows us. But with the weather forecast predicting thunderstorms and heavier rain predicted the following afternoon, as a group we revised our plans. Instead of a spending the next night at near Foster Meadow and after visiting the Foster Cabin, we agreed to hike out the next day. The next day began with clear, blue skies — skies that again gradually clouded over and blackened as we followed Bear Creek to the Swift Creek Trail junction. Along the way, at an opening, Mount Shasta appeared in the skyline, its slopes surprisingly only lightly snow-covered on the usual south side climbing route. The Swift Creek Trail to the Granite Creek junction is known for a series of California license plates nailed 15 or more feet above the trail. The plates were reportedly hammered onto tree trunks to help rangers locate snow-survey markers during winter months. Back at Trinity Center, we rewarded ourselves with milkshakes before heading home — Steve and Allan to Hydesville, a far northern California town south of Eureka, and Dan and I to Klamath Falls. For another couple of weeks we’ll rest up, catch our breaths and, unless wildfires force a change in plans, head to the Sierras for more take-your-breath-away sights. Reach freelance writer Lee Juillerat at [email protected] or 541-880-4139.