We had a hiking party of 12 for our yearly hike to Mt. Eddy; an 8:00 AM start for the ride down into California. It was a blue sky day with Fall weather in the 50s and 60s starting at the 6,500' TH.
We were hiking on the new improved Deadfall Meadows Trail which has its own parking area about 1+ miles further down the 17 road from the big lot. The Meadows is in a marshy area with a raised trail and three new bridges to cross creeks. After the third bridge, the trail bears left and goes up a long draw through forests and out on exposed rocks. A runoff creek in one spot flows over the trail and an upper bypass trail through high grass and Cobra Lilies takes you back to the dry trail.
The thinning air made breathing difficult and led to dizziness for me so I had to blow out at 7,100' where three trails come together. Gary accompanied me as we scouted along the PCT to find Lower Deadfall Lake, the smallest of the three Deadfall Lakes. The Lower Lake looks like a small crater about 100 yards across surrounded by black rocks.
The remaining ten headed up the trail led by Jerry coming to Middle Lake then Upper Deadfall Lake at the base of Mt Eddy. There were opportunities to test the water in the Alpine lakes but only one or two went in after the mountain was summited.
From Upper Lake, it's about 600' up to the saddle and another 600' up the 15 switchbacks to the 9,026' summit. Nine in the group are pictured on top with Mt Shasta in the background.
Gary and I got back to the parking two hours before the rest so besides chatting about our work lives, we took a drive north on the 17 road looking for a path up to Bull Lake. We found an old BLM road that might do the job. We had hiked 4.3 miles with 700' of gain to Lower Deadfall Lake. While the Eddy climbers hiked 8.5 miles with 2,800' of gain!
Orange chocolate was passed out to them as they returned from their hiking adventure.
Happy Trails
Rich