Marble Wilderness

Marble Mountains: 13-16 July 2023

Five backpackers – Mary Cutler, Karen Grove, Margaret Milette, Barb Settles, and trip coordinator Esther Goldberg – headed up to the Marble Mountains for a four-day trip. Here’s a brief report; for more info, especially reagrding the geology of the area, and more photos, check out Karen Grove’s Marble Mountains post on her blog.

The timing of this trip was excellent as cows were let in the day we were leaving. We could hear the bells. Cows are typically allowed into this region after the 15th of July. The wildflowers were peaking, and there was plenty of water everywhere so it was easy to filter and fill up on our day hikes. However, trail conditions were dusty, as there are horses that use the trail to enter the Sky Lakes area. So some may wish to wear gaiters. Mosquitoes weren’t bad.

sky high lakes meadow

Day 1
9:30-12: drive to trailhead (about a 2 hour drive if taking no breaks). Hiked about 4.5-5 miles to campsite, just below the cabin.

cabin in the marble valley

Here’s a photo of the rock outcropping right next to our camp, now where we actually camped!

marble mountain campsite

There was room for 4-5 tents there. Good water for filtering found close to campsite.
Camp elevation: 5660’.
5:30-6:30: exploratory hike near camp (~2 miles).

Day 2
9-12: hike to Marble Gap between Marble Mtn. and Black Marble Mtn. (3 miles and ~1200 ft ascent)
lunch at camp.

marble mountain rim trail

top of the marble rim

1-5: Hike CCW loop to Sky High Lakes and back via PCT (~5.5 miles; lots of gradual up and down). Found a good spot to get into Upper Sky High lake and take a nice dip.

Day 3
9-4:30: hike to Paradise lake via PCT and return (11.5-12 miles; lots of gradual up and down). This lake is full but mucky and not good for swimming or filtering.
We had an evening visit from Dana York, author of “The plants of the Pacific Crest Trail”, who we met on the trail.

Day 4:
9-11:30: hike back to trailhead.
12:00: drive back to Ashland.

July 29, 2023 | Categories: 2023, Marble Wilderness, No. California | Leave a comment

Campbell, Cliff, and Summit Lakes; 26-28 June, 2021

Esther Goldberg, co-ordinator

Day 1: Four backpackers – Esther Goldberg, Barb Settles, Margie McKinsey, and Tony Davis – escaped the heatwave and headed up to Campbell Lake on 26 June. The drive was uneventful. It took almost 3 hours to backpack to Campbell Lake, via the Shackleford Trail, on a very hot, 90-degree day; we arrived around 1 pm. We took the shortcut (left fork, the Campbell Cutoff Trail) across Shackleford Creek rather than going towards Log Lake. In all, this is about 4.5 miles, and about 1400’ elevation gain.

It was the weekend, so we weren’t the only people there, but we were able to camp at a very large campsite, just on the other side of the dam. As that is the outflow, there was debris and a noxious smell the first day, which disappeared the second day. There are better campsites further down the trail on this lake. That afternoon we took a day hike of a little over a mile (one way) to Cliff Lake, about an hour each way and several hundred feet of elevation gain from Campbell. We noted a tiny bit of snow on the cliffs around the lake. The water was clear and pleasantly cool. There were some mosquitoes and a fair number of flies buzzing around – enough so that bug repellent was handy but not so many that sitting outside was a problem.

Day 2, We woke in the morning to discover that Tony’s Ursack had disappeared. An intense search revealed nothing; it’s possible that he didn’t secure it well enough to the tree it was tied around. The others generously shared their food and no one went hungry. We set out for Summit Lake around 10 am; it’s a little more than two miles from Campbell Lake and the trail passes through some pleasant meadows before climbing steadily to the lake basin. We spent a few hours there, on what was again a very hot day, swimming and observing the bright blue damselflies and the rough-skinned newts hunting them. On the way back we stopped at a different lovely swim spot on the other side of Campbell Lake for another swim, with perfect water temperatures and dappled shade.

Day 3: We took it easy this morning and around 12:30 began our return hike back to the car, which took a bit over 2 hours. Once again, it was a rather hot day. Driving out, we noticed that smoke had appeared in the valley below, and returned to discover that fires had developed elsewhere while we were in the Marble Wilderness. Given the conditions, we opted to return home without stopping for a snack or a drink.