King's Castle, Marble Mountain Wilderness, California

[jointhedance]

My cousin's husband said, "I'm down!" So Roger and I headed south from Ashland, through Fort Jones west of Yreka and up to the edge of the Marble Mountain Wilderness, north of Trinity Alps.

Paradise Lake is on the PCT. Locals refer to the area as "The Marbles." I found no maps of the Marbles at Medford USFS office OR at Medford REI. I got lucky at the little outdoor store in Ashland where they had the U.S.F.S. map. We followed road directions in "100 Hikes in Southern Oregon" and found road signs to Lover's Camp and to Paradise Lake Trailhead. The plan was to hike 1.8 miles to the PCT just above Paradise Lake at 6,130', and then scramble 7,405' King's Castle a mile to the west of the lake. We traversed a slope covered with two feet or more of snow from the preceding three days. We had not brought snow shoes, and had to head up a trackless, steep, windswept talus slope below a rock prominence.

We got up to the ridgetop and into gusty 30-knot winds and temperature of about 32 degrees.

Cloud cover clenched the summit.

There would be no panorama views, which made it a little easier to turn back, as it was late in the day, and we had to get back to an evening with family. On my next visit to my cousin and family, I hope to get onto the 13.6 mile Sky High Lakes loop through Marble Valley, beneath the mountain of white marble for which the wilderness is named.

[greenjello85]

Wow thats some spectacular country down there! Thanks for sharing,
~Dan

[VanMarmot]

That is a great hike. Unfortunately, it seems you came during one of the few times we had any snow down here. It was so not snowy that folks were doing the 15 mi loop hike from Lovers Camp TH to Little Marble Valley in March on sunny, clear trails! One of these even got written up in the local paper because access this early was so unusual. Come back when it's warmer & sunnier and you'll be amazed.

Wendy Lautner's Day & Section Hikes, Pacific Crest Trail, Northern California lists three hikes in this area, with decent sketch maps and TH driving directions.

[jointhedance]

Ah, the snow was great to see! I was happy it hardly rained on us, considering the heavy cloud action. Yeh, I must get back there when SKIES are clear, and make that loop through Marble Valley, and scramble some summit. are there rattle snakes in Marble Mountain Wilderness? I was there last around 1986, thought I heard a hiss off the trail I was on. Same hike, ran into a bear on the trail too.