We got lucky the weekend before Labor Day weekend by snagging a first-come-first-serve site at Hope Valley campground. Five years ago, we tired to camp here but found the campground full.
This time we left earlier to arrive in time to claim a wonderful site away from the main campers.
Nobody was at the double site on one side of us, and the other side was forest. Each campsite was very well maintained!
We wondered if the picnic table was sitting low due to heavy snows sinking the table down into the ground.
Across the street from the campground is Hope Valley. It's a gorgeous valley!! After lunch and a short nap, we headed across Blue Lakes Road to explore the area.
The west fork of the Carson River runs through the valley.
The short trail just takes one to the river, which was very low. After exploring this area, we headed to Faith Valley to do a short hike.
Five years ago, we didn't know the name of this valley that we had dispersed camped. I thought is was all part of Hope Valley, but this year we learned that there are two separate valleys.
I did remember a short hike that starts at the Faith Valley parking lot. This trail runs parallel to Blue Lakes Road with a slight incline and ends at the road. We did this hike to get acclimated to the 7,000 + ft before our more strenuous hike the next day, Sunday.
Returning back to the car, we noticed some other hikers coming from the valley on another trail, which is difficult to see and has no trail marker.
Folks with horses use this trail, a known horse trail. After talking to the hikers, they told us it is about a 7 mile round trip hike that follows the river. We hiked a small portion of the trail through this huge meadow before heading back to camp for the evening.
Five years ago, we had hiked on the PCT heading south due to the heat and wanting to be under the canopy of pines. This year, we headed north on the PCT in the direction of the Nipple.
Yes, that is the name of the mountain next to Blue Lakes. The PCT doesn't go to the top at 9342 ft, thank God!
This hike started at the parking lot. We hiked about .45 miles before crossing Blue Lakes Rd and then heading up through the pines.
After a mile or so climb on the PCT, the trees disperse...
and spectacular views to the south are our first reward.
Overall this section of the PCT isn't very steep.
We came across numerous patches of a California native, Wooly Mule's Ears.
And to our delight, we saw hummingbird moths feasting on the coyote mint.
We found some rocks to sit at while eating lunch and taking in the view of Lower Blue Lakes.
There were patches of snow with some pink snow. This is caused from algae that turns the snow pink and speeds up the melting of the snow.
I found this patch of pink penstemon to be prettier than the pink snow.
Before packing up and leaving on Monday, we took the trail from the campground and followed it about 1.5 miles before turning back. It was getting hot. We did chat with someone on his bike exploring the trails. He had ridden from Faith Valley disperse campground over to Hope Valley campground without a map or knowing where the trails would go. I found this Topozone's map after returning home. Wish we had had it before heading out on the trail from the campground.
Hope Valley and Faith Valley will be calling us back to explore the trails that we discovered on this trip and to enjoy the peaceful and beautiful campground again.
