Herman Gulch trail #98

Distance one way: 3.5 miles
Elevation: Trailhead: 10,400' ; Herman Gulch Lake 12,000'

This trail has a couple of great "stair-master" hills. The trail starts off on the moderate side for about a quarter mile until the first split. The sign here says Watrous Gulch and Bard Creek trails to the right. Herman Lake and Jones Pass to the left. The sign says it's 3.75 miles to the lake from the trail split. I think the sign is old, because the Forest Service Web page said the entire hike to Herman Gulch is 3.5 miles each way. We turn to the left, the trail turns into an old sawmill road and it's steep. Let's just say when the road gets close to a stream with several cascades, I had no problem stopping to take an pictures and water breaks.

After the steady climb on the road, the trail enters a meadow with the stream on the left and a thick forest on the right. The trail "levels" out for a while now. just smaller hills. There are lots of rocks and tree roots. We have to be careful not to twist any ankles. There are some early spring wild flowers coming up. A hiking book I have says there is a riot of colors in July. I'm thinging we'll be back.

We take our lunch break at about the third meadow. Enjoying the views and pointing out different mountains. T was standing up and had a piece of granola bar in his hand; pointing at one of the mountains... When a bird flys down and tried to take the granola from his hand! He's standing right next to me, so I screamed. The bird flew away empty beaked. lol, I'm so jumpy! well, he came back and brought reenforcements. some other hikers passed by at this point. One guy stated that his friend was here last week and these birds landed on his backpack as he fed them pistacios. Looks like they are used to getting fed. He called them Camp robbers. They are a grey bird about the size of a blue jay. Same family I'd say! After they left P put a few Cherrios and peanuts in her hand to see if it would come to her. They did and even landed on her hand and ate. I have pictures...some of the best on this hike; if I don't say so myself! lol! After our lunch we found some sticks to use for walking, looks steep after this point. We continue on.

It's not so much steep, as there is still a lot of snow drifted up back here. The snow pack is getting soft in spots. You can see the footprints were people fall in! We try to stay on the hard pack trail. Some places the many springs are leaking from the ground and melting snow on the way to the creek. it's pretty muddy. already our boots are looking wet, and pant legs are wet. This continues on until the mountain range gets close and the trail starts to go up more. The snow trail starts to go more or less straight up at one point. I know this is not the real trail. In summer there will be more switchbacks. I think it would be easier. I love my walking stick now. We reach a level area and can see the summits ahead. looks like a couple more rises up and maybe there will be the lake. T encourages us to continue. P & I want to call it quits. But we go on. 15 minutes later we are at the lake. It is pretty. But snow covered. there is one small spot that is thawing. It's soo quiet up here. we stay for about twenty minutes before we notice grey clouds are starting to come over the mountains. Time to go. On our way back down, we notice a trail sign a little farther east of where we came up the hill... The real trail doesn't look as steep. But, Alas, it has a lot of snow on it and we don't want to get lost. We're careful on the way down. the snow is getting slushier. We do pretty good and my knees don't really hurt until that last steep part that is the old sawmill road by the waterfalls. A couple of tylenol and a few rest stops later - we're back at the jeep. I really like this trail. We'll do it again. and hey, it's also part of the Continental Divide Trail!