As with previous Memorial Days, unseasonably cool weather was forecast, but Saturday started nice and warm. Unfortunately, I soon encountered the first "glitch" of the trip--my main camera refused to take a picture, claiming "Camera error". Worse, the backup camera (because stuff like that happens) was plagued by a large dust blob on its small sensor. Not slowed down by picture-taking, I passed several groups along the Kibbie Ridge trail, many that were hauling in kayaks.
At Lookout Point were several other kayakers and the dynamic duo I'd be hiking with. Since the crowds were continuing toward Lord Meadow, we of course decided instead to drop directly into Cherry Creek Canyon. Besides some nice stuff...
...we of course encountered steep, loose terrain...
..."delicious" brush...
...and that Cherry hallmark, granite slabs:
With the help of OD, the primary camera started working again, and the blob on the backup found some other surface to stick to, so photo-stops became more common.
Eventually, we were greeted with somewhat familiar views into the heart of Cherry: the Flintstone area and Cherry Bomb Gorge:
Once at Flintstone, we set up camp. OD ( "Billy" ) decided to rest and the pink bird ( "Billy" ) chose to check out a few nearby domes. After checking out some extreme Cherry rafting action:
...I decided to take a long soak in the solar-heated hot tub...
...which I returned to for another soak after checking out the Cherry Bomb Gorge Observation Deck.
A cool breeze, which would keep the bloodsuckers away for the entire trip, greeted us at camp, where we enjoyed dinner until the sun sat behind the canyon wall. Not long thereafter, we all retired for the night.
The next day, unlike previous trips, we headed up-canyon with our full kit, taking in the scenery...
...and an occasional snack.
Where the "normal" route returns to the creek after the gorge bypass we saw several of the kayakers we'd seen the previous day:
The low water made upstream travel straightforward:
Soon, we were at the point where the creek turns south, where we had lunch. A few day hikers across the creek were the last people we'd see until the trailhead. Looking towards the southwest, we decided to climb to Mercur Lake by circling around the peak northwest of this lake (7900T) instead of continuing to Lord Meadow. The canyon wall in this section was mostly low-angle granite slabs:
The cool breeze grew stronger and colder as we ascended. At the top, we were greeted with excellent views of the Cherry Creek area as well as several high points in the Emigrant Wilderness and Yosemite.
After a straightforward ridge walk, we reached Mercur Lake, where we settled in for our second night's camp.
The two birds decided to check out the views from Mercur Peak and nearby points.
The pink bird decided to return via the aquatic route while the parrot chose the north shore of the lake. It had been a long, wonderful day, and we were still preparing and enjoying dinner at sunset.
The night had been chilly, but the morning started clear. It looked like we might dodge the Cherry-Memorial Day weather curse.
Of course, simply returning via the Kibbie Ridge trail would not do, so we found, then lost, an old, well-constructed trail.
We rejoined the maintained trail at Sachse Spring, but there was a 1905 boundary marker that had to be located, which we did:
We returned to Lookout Point and enjoyed a snack as the weather threatened to take a turn for the worse... just like it had a few weekends ago. After lunch, darker clouds looming, we took few stops on the return to the trailhead. After only a few minutes of driving down the Shingle Springs road, rain drops hit the windshield.
All in all, a great trip with good weather, excellent company, and wonderful granite.
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