In the far and remote reaches of northern California lies a hidden gem, filled with glacial cirques, hundreds of waterfalls, alpine meadows and rushing streams.  The Trinity Alps were the destination of this year's big backpack trip for Upper Schoolers from Catlin Gabel and other schools in Portland.

We all boarded a small yellow school bus that travelled at impressively slow speeds down interstate five to Redding in California.  In the crushing hundred degree heat we turned west and began our ascent into the cool mountains.  It might have been 4:00 pm when we parked our trusty vehicle at the Canyon Creek Lakes trailhead and began our hike in.  With none of us having been there before we played it by ear, looking for interesting sites and settling on a campsite not far from the river after a three mile hike.  During the second day we loaded up our packs and continued north toward our lakes- but wait - we decided that too many other hikers were heading toward those lakes.  We instead took a left turn up a steep trail and by early afternoon found ourselves in the beautiful alpine wonderland surrounding Boulder Lakes.  We spent the afternoon exploring and playing games among the huge granite and heather wonderland.  We tried to count all the waterfalls in view from our camp, but failed.  They were uncountable.WE had the huge basin all to ourselves.

On Wednesday we loaded up our summit packs and set off for a climb of nearby Mt. Hilton, one of the highest peaks in the range.  It was a long effort, requiring ropes at one point and some careful travel in the snow.  The summit was ours alone, except for 50,000 lady bugs.  Heading back down to camp was a joy, punctuated by whoops and screams as the students learned the joy of glissading.

We visited Forbidden Lakes the next day (despite the name there were no punitive actions taken against us).  About half the group plunged into the icy waters and the other half considered and rejected the idea.  The lake was partially covered by ice and snow and lays in a deep chasm in the mountains, perhaps reminiscent of the Nanda Devi sanctuary.  The heat eventually got the best of us and we packed up camp and headed down the hill to the firest sanctuaries along Canoyn Creek.  The hike out on Friday was quick and painless.