Swamp Lake Trail XJ run July 19-21.....details and direction
Here's a full run down on the trip:
Well, the date is getting closer for this years XJ run on the Swamp Lake Trail. The trip will be on Friday to Sunday, July 19-21. The Swamp Lake Trail is in the Sierra's about an hour east of Fresno, near Shaver Lake, and close to the famous Dusy Trail, in fact, Swamp is kind of like a mini-Dusy. The scenery on the trail is spectacular, and we'll camp at a beautiful lake at 9200' elevation. Here's a link to a pic of the lake: http://xjzone.designermeat.com/Trails/swamp_lake/sl_r.jpg The Swamp Lake Trail is a moderate rock crawling trail about 14 miles long, tops out at 9900', and we camp about halfway through the trail. Minimum equipment for this run should be 31's, a locker or good limited slip, and rock rails.
This year, we're going to camp Thursday night at Dinkey Creek, like always, and start the trail Friday morning. We'll camp at Grouse Lake on Friday night, take it easy, and head out mid-day on Saturday to finish the trail and come back to our camping spot at Dinkey Creek for that night. Sunday we'll run the Bald Mtn Trail like we did two years ago. This is a fun trail that takes us to the top of Bald Mtn, which is a huge granite dome with an abandoned fire lookout at the top and some great views. Here's a link to a pic of us at the top: http://xjzone.designermeat.com/Trails/swamp_lake/sl_ff.jpg The trail is a half day run and the trailhead is only ten minutes from camp, so everyone can easily head for home by mid Sunday afternoon.
We've always had a great time on this run, the wheeling is fun, the scenery is very good, and we can swim and fish in the lake where we camp on Friday night. Here's a link to a write up of our trip from two years ago with some good pics: http://xjzone.designermeat.com/Trails/swamp_lake/swamplake.html This year we will have both folks from the
Sierra chapter and the SoCal XJ list, plus whoever else would like to go. With rigs coming from both northern and southern CA, it should be a great opportunity meet and wheel with other XJ'ers.
Here are directions to where we'll camp Thursday night. From the north, go south on Hwy 99 and just as you come to Fresno take the Herndon exit, going east. Keep on Herndon all the way across town, then turn left onto Hwy 168 heading to Shaver Lake. From the south, take Hwy 99 to Kingsburg and exit on Mendocino Ave, going north. Continue north through Kingsburg and Sanger until the road dead ends at Hwy 168, then make a right towards Shaver Lake. Stay on Hwy 168, through Prather, then up a very long and steep grade until you come into the town of Shaver Lake. Make a right turn on Dinkey Creek Rd, with signs to Dinkey Creek and Wishon and Courtright Lakes. Stay on Dinkey Creek Rd until you get near the Dinkey Creek Campground, then look closely for a right turn with signs to Wishon and Courtright. This right turn can be easy to miss, especially in the dark, so if you come to the Dinkey ranger station or Dinkey Creek store, or end up in the Dinkey Creek Campground, turn around because you just missed the turn. Immediately after making the right turn, you'll cross the Dinkey Creek bridge, then continue about a 1/4 mile to an intersection with a sign that says Camp Fresno. This is a three way intersection, and there are two roads that go to the left, the first road goes to Camp Fresno and the second road is marked 10S36. Turn left on 10S36 and immediately turn right into the trees, where we'll be camping. The campsite is a large area in the tress at the far side of the intersection of the hwy and road 10S36.
There are outhouses close by at the fisherman's picnic area next to Dinkey Creek, at the ranger station, and at the store. There are also showers at the store, plus food, ice and even gas. I always gas up at the station in Prather, but there is also a Texaco at the top of the steep climb, but it doesn't stay open very late. There is gas in Shaver Lake, but again, I don't know how late they stay open. I wouldn't count on the gas at Dinkey, it's very expensive but would work in an emergency. We will head to the Dinkey Creek store on Friday morning to top off any ice chests that need it, then group together at the ranger station. We'll leave for the trail from the ranger station at 8:30 am.
Post any questions you might have, e-mail me directly, or call me at 661-706-1600. Hope to see you there.
Who's planning to make the trip?
Richard G
[email protected]
