Page Type:
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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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37.40570°N / 118.733°W |
Route Type:
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hike/scramble |
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Time Required:
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Most of a day |
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Difficulty:
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Class 2 |
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Approach
As noted on the main page, head west from 395 at Rock Creek Road/Tom's Place. Drive to the Tamarack Trailhead at Rock Creek Lake at about 9,700'.
Route Description
From the trailhead follow the trail towards Dorothy lake and Francis lake. This trail is pretty dry compaired to the Little Lakes Valley trail but sees far fewer people. Go to Francis lake where the trail ends.
At Franis Lake, Mount Morgan looms straight in front of you. From here. head towards the obvious ridge on your right. Once you reach this ridge there are some gorgeous views looking down on the little lakes valley. Follow the ridge up until you come to a flat area at the top of the ridge, and you can see the peak, head for it and scramble up to the top. While there is no trail, the route is easy to follow.
The total hiking distance to the summit is just over 5 miles, and requires about 4,100' of elevation gain.
A Bit - Aug 7, 2008 9:46 pm - Voted 10/10
Trail signs updateTo reach Francis Lake follow the trail signs towards Dorothy Lake, then toward Kenneth Lake and finally Francis Lake.
Langenbacher - Sep 13, 2010 5:23 pm - Hasn't voted
Helpful AdviceFrom Francis Lake, follow the drainage to the last water in a marshy area. Go right (west) and climb 300 ft. of gain up the ridge with the tiny trees on the right side of the boulder-filled drainage. On the ridge top (11580') at the last trees, hang a left (SW) and follow that ridge up another 300-400 ft of altitude then sort of contour up to the saddle on the final ridge on the right (W) just south of point 12352. Fortunately some campers at Francis lake told us this way to avoid much of the boulder hopping we would have done if we continued straight on up the drainage.
Treeline395 - Sep 13, 2023 6:47 pm - Hasn't voted
More AdviceDO’NT go straight up to the ridge from Francis Lake!! If you don’t go up the drainage, (we didn’t even try so I don’t know it’s better or worse), head up to the right of Francis lake. There is a series of sandy benches which will take you towards the ridge and then perpendicular to it. Follow these until you can gain the last saddle in the ridge and head up. Ridge to the summit.