In September of 2013, I visited the Trinity Alps with the Gasporra Expedition, who is made up of some long time friends that are like family to me. A different location is picked every year.

The Trinity Alps are located just west of Redding, Ca. The five mile hike to base camp did involve a gain in elevation, but well worth it. We found a great camp site near a running creek with fresh water. There is no shortage of water with plenty places to take a cold dip. We didn’t see a lot of hikers, maybe no more than 25 in 4 days.

The nights were bug free and a perfect temperature. I was using a sleeping bag rated for 40 degrees, and I was quite comfortable.

Camp fires were allowed in some of the areas, but it’s always best to check first and permits are required.  We had a great fire each night and every morning to take off the chill. A lot of funny and memorable stories were shared, along with some new memories created each night.

We saw a lot of brook trout, nothing big. There was definitely a bear presence noticed on the trail. If you have never seen bear scat, you won’t forget it after you do. A bear did visit our camp while one of us was in camp, but it didn’t have a problem running off with some loud yelling.

We were able to take a different day hike each day to beautiful untouched lakes. The alpine like terrain made you think you were much higher than the approx. 6000-7000′ we visited. I would visit this location again.