Skipping sunrise, we woke up and lay in bed for quite a while just relaxing. Sarah still felt sick, however, her soar throat had lessened quite a bit.
We had a slow morning and packed up camp. We left Wright’s Lake and explored some more Forest Service Roads on our way to Hwy 50. From there we stopped for Gas & ice cream in Silverfork and then from Kyburz we headed up Silver Fork Rd. for some scenic driving.
The road climbs steeply toward Hwy 88 and we soon had views looking over the Silver Fork of the American River. And what a gorgeous river it was! We passed by the China Flat campground which has good day use access to the river. All along Silver Fork Road there are some good dispersed camping spots with river access.
While driving I started to notice a tickle in my throat which would eventually turn into a full blown cold by evening.
We reached the top of Silver Fork Road and continued on the Mormon Emigrant Trail back towards Highway 50 and Sly Park/ Lake Jenkinson. Once at the lake we were disappointed as we were both now sick and thought better of going swimming.
We detoured to Safeway in Pollock Pines where we re-upped on food and medicine then drove back down to our cabin rental near Sly Park where we would spend our last three nights.
By the time we got to the cabin my energy was at a low and we were now both feeling pretty crappy. We ended up just relaxing the rest of the evening in the cabin reading books.
CRYSTAL BASIN TRIP – FRI – DAY 8
And on the seventh day – we rested!
After sleeping in quite a bit, we just relaxed as best we could and read all day long. We did not even leave the cabin. It was disappointing that neither of us could go swimming. Our health forced us to relax which isn’t always a bad thing. After an uneventful day of reading we had a mellow evening then fell into our Nyquil induced comas.
CRYSTAL BASIN TRIP – SAT – DAY 9
We woke up feeling a little better, but still in no shape for swimming or enjoying the lake. Cabin fever had set in and we wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine albeit we couldn’t hike.
We packed a picnic and decided to take a drive to Hope Valley, one of our favorite places.
(Click
HERE to read about our trip to Hope Valley and the West Fork Carson River)
West Fork Carson River in Hope Valley After leaving Hope Valley on Highway 88 we approached Caples Lake and made a detour up towards Schneider Cow Camp to check up on the wildflowers and do some hiking with the car. This area is known to have one of the most prolific displays of wildflowers and today was no exception. It was almost a tease as we weren’t doing any actual hiking and only got a small taste of the magic. I went on a hike here last year and have been yearning to get out and do it again. It will have to wait for another day…..or year!
We made our way slowly down the ruff dirt road back to Hwy 88 and then continued to the Mormon Emigrant Trail. We got back to the cabin and relaxed for the evening. Again, there was some shared disappointment that we didn’t even get to go swimming once and hiking wasn’t really an option either. We rolled with the punches and took it as a sign from our bodies that we needed to rest.
The next day, as opposed to spending time on the lake, we ended up driving home about midday.
Despite us both falling ill, the trip was still a blessing and offered us a lot of insight and inspiration for future trips!
