East Sierra Trip - Twin Lakes - September 2022

Walk Three - Buckeye Creek

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On the third day out we drove only a short distance, to look at a steep downhill trail to Buckeye Creek hot springs, before we drove to the trailhead at about 7,200 ft. We did this because Barb wanted to have a look and she came here later in the day.

The walk was mostly level, on sandy soil, sometimes heavy, as we passed through a mixed forest. Scenic vistas opened up with distance.

Eventually the hikers wanted to find the creek and a well-used side trail appeared that lead us to the shady banks of Buckeye Creek, where we had lunch. 

	Barb's car		start of the hike		sandy road through the woods
				way out west
	ancient aspen				all of us
		the walk continues
	mixed fir & aspen forest		looking for the creek
		looking upstream		a fast-moving, shallow creek w/occasional deep pools

After a water-side lunch, most of the group meandered downstream, following the creek, and then improvised for awhile before climbing uphill and re-joining the sandy trail.

The walk was ~ five miles with a few hundred feet of gain, a good recovery day for me and sitting by a fast-moving creek for awhile was the highlight.    

Back at the cabins there were sufficient leftovers for Rich's group to have dinner around 6 pm, while I had a private meal of leftovers at my cabin. 

I had chopped some wood earlier in preparation for an evening fire at my cabin, but winds at dusk never slowed down, and around 7 pm we called it a night.

Later I heard that Rich & his dinner party gave a spare pizza (from a Resort kitchen order) to a recently arrived cabin neighbor. Similarly, I gave the next occupant of my cabin a completely built fire, with a newspaper & stick structure, only needing a single match to start it. There were enough support pieces to keep a modest fire going for at least an hour. 

Thus, our last night there involved giving gifts to unknown recipients, not a bad ending.  

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Photos from other hikers -

Diane
Rich
Barb
		after the 3rd hike Barb, Kathy & John visited Buckeye Creek hot springs

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Aspen trees & their fall colors - we were told by the resort staff - were only a few weeks away, and here are two web photos taken in the general area:  

Postscript - it was a another great trip to the eastern Sierra, another scenic drive down Hwy 395 and back, and two trips over Monitor Pass were also worth it, for pure driving pleasure. I was humming along on my 21-year old Honda Accord V6 with only 140k miles on it.  

The carpool drives from the cabins to Mine Creek & Virginia Lakes trailheads & back involved exceptional California scenery !       

Everything associated with hiking for three days flowed like water, and I had many good conversations out on the trail. 

My appreciation goes out to everyone who attended & contributed !      

photo note - images were taken by a Canon G16.