Re: Rush Creek/Badger Lakes/Davis Lake Backpack

Just before hiking from Leavitt Meadow into northern Yosemite I took a two-night trip from the Rush Creek trailhead, hiking the first day up the Spooky Meadow trail, past the Clark Lakes, and down to Badger Lake. The second day I hiked past Thousand Island lake, over Island Pass, and over to lower Davis Lake. The third day I hiked back to the trailhead.

The final day was extremely hot - about 84 degrees when I got back to the trailhead which is around 7200 ft. Yuck.

Bugs: none.
Water: good flows in many but not all seasonal flows. Only the largest of the Badger "Lakes" had water, it was pretty much full but with no water flowing out.
Campfire rules: Campfires have been prohibited outside developed recreation areas of the Inyo National Forest since late July.
Swimming: Both lakes where I camped offer excellent swimming, though lower Davis Lake requires a taste for colder water w/ the snow melt flowing in.

View of Silver Lake from the trail:


View from above Spooky Meadow, looking towards Mono Lake:


Looking down towards my first campsite:


Mt. Banner and a trailside pond:


Thousand Island Lake and Mt. Banner:


Lower Davis Lake and Mt. Davis (the real one, not the ego-monument in Oakland...):




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2016 10:45AM by ttilley.

Great stuff. That's a long climb on the first day. Did you see anything spooky in the meadow? We've only done that trail downhill, not up!

Nice photos.

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It didn't look all that spooky...



I actually found the hike out to be a much longer day, starting from Davis Lake. There's a lot of steep up-and-down hiking around Gem Lake, and Monday (8/29) was very hot. That climb is about 2900 ft., but there's a lot of shade available in the morning to rest in and cool off.

Copy that!

basil, jkw, and I hiked and boat out from 1000 Isle last year...
and I guess the 8 mile hike out turned into 15 after we decided
to go over Island Pass... and past Waugh and Gem...
oopsie..!
I don't think we even started driving home to Bay Area til 8pm!

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?17,80665,80665#msg-80665

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2016 07:42AM by chick-on.