Carson-Iceberg Wilderness - Heiser Lake / Bull Run Lake

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Mosquito Lakes Trail head to Bull Run Lake (visiting Heiser Lake)

Background

Since I wanted to try out a bunch of new gear, and a few of our friends (Chiu-Ki, François, James, and Janet) wanted to do a short overnight backpacking trip. We planned a short one night trip in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness area visiting Heiser Lake and Bull Run Lake. We found this trip partially in the Sierra North: Backcountry Trips in Californias Sierra Nevada book. We shortened that trip from three days to two.

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness is a less popular area for backpackers along Highway 4. Enroute we saw lots of day hikers, but at the lake we only saw three groups (including us) staying overnight. In my opinion, it's a great area. There are no trail head quotas, and it's easy to obtain a fire permit even in the summer! Plus there is an abundance of suitable campsites by Bull Run Lake. ehis is a great trip for a beginner backpacker or a quick weekend getaway.

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Mosquito Lakes trail head to Bull Run Lake

Entering Carson-Iceberg Wilderness!

We started out at the Mosquito Lakes trail head on the first day. It was slightly difficult to find parking on a Saturday at 11am, but we succeeded. The trail starts out at Mosquito Lake, which in August had less mosquitos than I expected. The trail starts out with a gradual climb up a ridge. After that, we formally enter Carson-Iceberg Wilderness!

We took a side trip of ~1 mile to have a late lunch at scenic Heiser Lake, where the guys promptly all went around the lake with their SLRs to take pictures.

Heiser Lake Panorama

After getting back on trail, we got to a few spots where the trail was a bit hard to follow. Thank goodness for the rock cairns other folks made to mark the trail. The trail climbs a bit steeply right before Bull Run Lake, but it makes the first view of the lake all that more worth it!

The girls looking like an REI commerical

In early August, the lake still had some mosquitos, but they weren't so bad. I didn't use any repellent at all this trip. We managed to secure a nice large campsite with a nice eating area and a fire ring already built. Wood was a bit hard to find in this area tho. Almost all the nice burnable logs were already foraged by groups before us.

Bull Run Lake Panorama

We did find a nice big log that all the guys had fun trying to break apart, but they failed until they burned the middle to break it that way. It was a nice, peaceful, uneventful night, where we all sat around the fire, laughed, and shared quite a bit of whisky. (Yum!)

Campfires make me warm

Bull Run Lake back to trail head

After all that whisky, we were all a bit lagged in the morning. After a long leisurely breakfast and packing up, we headed out the trail. Upon inspecting the map, we found that we could actually make a loop out of this trail. After walking back to the Hwy 4/Bull Run Lake junction, we headed out towards Hwy 4 towards the Stanislaus Meadow trail head. Once there we followed another trail that is south of Highway 4 that connected back to the Mosquito Lakes trail head (and the Sandy Meadow trail head) from Stanislaus Meadow.

Enroute to the Staniuslaus Meadow trailhead we saw some nice peaks, and then we came across to this fenced area. After getting home and reading about it, appranently this fenced area is to keep the cattle inside munching in the grass. We also heard a cowbell and this running cow, which was... interesting. There was also this odd-looking tower inside the meadow, which ended up being a weather station of sorts.

The trail here was also a bit hard to follow, due to a lot of meadow and grass growing over the trail. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and ended up exiting the trail at the Sandy Meadow trail head, which was a mile south of where we intended to exit. It left us a mile-long trek up Highway 4, which in hindsight wasn't too bad, although hiking along a highway isn't my most favorite activity in the whole world.

I would definitely recommend this trip to the beginner backpacker, just be a bit more careful selecting the right trail at the Staniuslaus Meadow/Sandy Meadow/Mosquito Lakes trail junction!

The End. :)

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