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JEEP ROAD

Keen eyes will spy a primitive jeep road beyond the southeast end of the lake. Muir Trail Ranch, 2.5 miles upstream, uses an old Army personnel carrier to transport guests along this road, which parallels and occasionally coincides with the route of the hiking trail. Such activity would seem incompatible with the idea of wilderness, but the family-owned operation has been in business for more than 50 years and was grandfathered into the 1964 Wilderness Act.

From the ferry junction, turn right (east) and climb over granite slabs and up dry gullies for a mile to the edge of pastoral Double Meadow. There is an ancient, fallen Jeffrey pine next to the trail here, and a cross-section of the tree is labeled with a chronology of human events. After skirting the meadow, the trail crosses a seasonal stream lined with grasses and wildflowers and then makes a gradual descent to a crossing of Alder Creek, where sheltered campsites are found on the far bank. A short distance past the creek is a lateral to better campsites near the river at Lower Blayney Campground. Past this junction, the broad expanse of Blayney Meadows momentarily springs into view, but the path quickly veers away in favor of a forested route that bypasses the meadows.