We didn't have packs on our backs, or a tent in our pack....but we did get out this weekend for as day hike, just to make sure that we hadn't forgotten how to hike. Plus, we wanted to see one of the local attractions of the Stanislaus National Forest near our new cabin: The Gargoyles trail.

Six miles off Highway 108, on Herring Creek Road, the parking area overlooks a huge volcanic cirque over the Stanislaus River.



Lava formations = Gargoyles©http://backpackthesierra.com



And from there we hiked the South Rim Trail with some nice volcanic Gargoyles



And then to its end--flowers were out in force!




And then we hiked the North Rim Trail, with even better Gargoyles.



But that wasn't enough for us, so we went off trail straight up the side of the mountain to get to the top of the ridge, with the best views of all, from Bull Run Rock



Looking North towards Tahoe



It was a great day on the trail---and in the Sierra.



Click on the photos for a Picasa photo file of the whole hike.

Good report, thanks!

Probably headed to Emigrant in June for a 4-dayer, and am wondering whether anybody has been to Gianelli trailhead and can comment on the road condition. We'd be taking a passenger car and don't want any oil-sump bashing. Also don't want to go via Crabtree and the horse freeway.

Cheers,

I can't comment on current road condition, but I did drive my Honda Civic out there several years back and was nervous the whole way. I only recall one really tricky spot with a very deep and wide pothole/bump, but you definitely needed to be alert the whole time and maneuver around potholes.

Thanks, that helps.

Don't know if it's budgets or the proliferation of consumer high-clearance vee-hickles, but FS trailhead access roads are in horrible condition. Ones I once navigated in passenger cars will rattle bolts off a Jeep now.

I've seen a bunch of those here in the Pacific NW. Roads I easily navigated in the 1980's with a Toyota Tercel are now more than my current Toyota Matrix can handle. In fact, a road that was still pretty navigable in 2006 was almost undriveable in 2012!