On our vacation last week at the U.C. Berkeley
Lair of the Golden Bear family camp, we spent a day at Cleo’s Baths
above
Pinecrest Lake. Pinecrest is at an elevation of 5,600 feet in the Sierra Mountains. The lake has a dam and is surrounded by rustic family cabins.
Camp Blue of the Lair is only about a mile from the lake (walking
through Camp Gold) but at 8 a.m. last Monday, eight of us drove part way round the lake
so that we could start walking closer to the trail head. We took lunches, snacks, swimsuits, water shoes, towels, hats, and water bottles plus a
CamelBak water backpack and a
Katadyne water filter for refills.
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There are a variety of trail markers to Cleo’s Baths: some steel signs, some arrows
painted on rocks but mostly there are graduated piles of small stones to mark the
best trail. Here is my son sitting by the marker at the trail head:
The trail goes along the edge of the lake, then through fields of granite
boulders, alpine meadows, along the stream, and up granite walls edged with manzanita,
pine, and scrub oak. The walk is long and tiring on a hot day but the swim at the
end makes all worthwhile. Here is the view from Cleo’s Baths toward Pinecrest Lake:
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Most of the trail has no view other than rocks, water, and plants but the details
are delightful:
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Cleo’s Baths itself is a series of deep cold pools and waterfalls. When we hiked there
last year, we only found two of the pools but this year, we found three more above
the main swimming area. Jumping off of a cliff into deep green water or sliding down a
mossy waterfall into a rock basin is a delight. One pool ends in a small cave with a
waterfall at the back; the falls are warm from the water going over hot stones above.
It is hard to leave.
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Images by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson (Copyright 2006)
