Rambler Hikes 2026 Page 3

Photos          Related Links          More Travel Reports

Rambler Hikes 2017          Rambler Hikes 2018         Rambler Hikes 2019          Rambler Hikes 2020

Rambler Hikes 2021          Rambler Hikes 2022          Rambler Hikes 2023          Rambler Hikes 2024

Rambler Hikes 2025         2026 Page 1         2026 Page 2

Indian Basin          Courtright Reservoir

Indian Basin
(Photos by Wes and Dick)

This hike brought together six Ramblers, all boys. Temperatures at home have been warming up, with a string of  triple digits in store, so we were glad to get up above 5,000 feet. Even so, it was noticeably warm in the sun.

Indian Basin is a sequoia grove a few miles outside of the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park, near Highway180 by Princess Campground and the turn-off to Hume Lake. Don't look for ancient giant trees here - all were cut down around the start of the 20th Century. Instead you will see a number of huge stumps, and dozens of young sequoias, a hundred feet tall or so, and maybe three to four feet in diameter at chest height. Come back in a thousand years and this will be a very impressive grove of big trees.

The trail is paved with asphalt, and has a few uphill sections, none very steep. The first stretch runs along a huge meadow, with views of high mountains beyond. There is an unpaved spur trail that goes along one end of the meadow for maybe a half mile. It's an out and back, not a loop, and we all went at least part way on that trail.

Back on the paved route, we walked past cedars, ponderosa and sugar pines, many small shrubs, and of course, young sequoias. The meadow had a big patch of lupines, and there were other flowers along the trail. Once the trail moved away from the meadow, we were surrounded by massive numbers of ferns.

When we returned to the parking area, we occupied a picnic table that was mostly in the shade, and enjoyed the lunch we had each brought. Our friend Julie, who no longer hikes, used to bring Snickers for everyone, so Dick provided a container of fun-size Snickers and Butterfingers for dessert. The Ramblers this day were Wes Thiessen, Don McClellan, Don Bandoni, Bruce Nieman, Keith Sohm, and Dick Estel.

Everyone agreed this was a delightful location, and hopefully hiking here will be an annual event for the Ramblers.

--Dick Estel, July 2026

More Photos

The Ramblers last went to Courtright Reservoir in August of 2022, so it was definitely time for a return visit.

This mountain lake is formed by a dam on Helms Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Kings River. The water that used to flow down the creek to the North Fork now goes through an underground power house downstream from the dam, and through a tunnel to Wishon Reservoir on the Kings. At night when power use is lowest, water is pumped back up hill to Courtright, and the process is repeated, the whole thing being the Helms Pumped Storage Project.

We had a group of five - Wes Thiessen, Don McClellan, Vickie Klassen, Patrice White and Dick Estel. All but Don gathered at Wes's house and rode in his Subaru, meeting Don at Prather, where some of us picked up our lunch at Subway.

It's a long drive to the trailhead, about 75 miles, and a trip of two hours. A narrow road, sometimes one-lane, takes you across the dam and to a large parking lot about a mile in. This is the start of the Dusy-Ershim Trail, a four-wheel drive route said to be one of the most difficult in the U.S. It goes about 33 miles to the opposite trailhead above Kaiser Pass, and recommended travel time is about three days. By foot, as far as we usually go, it's mostly level, fairly easy, and a delightful scenic hike, a two to three mile round trip.

The area around the lake is a land of domes, twisted old juniper trees, and bedrock granite slabs covered with boulders large and small that were carried by glaciers and deposited in their present location when the ice melted. After a steep descent of a hundred yards or so, the trail becomes an easy, mostly level forest road that we could drive our cars on. But when you come to an area that requires 4-wheel drive, you can easily see how the route gets its reputation.

Wes and Vickie set a fast pace and were soon out of sight, while Patrice, Don and I lagged behind. To be accurate, I lagged behind and they slowed down to make sure I was not left hiking alone. I have done many solo hikes in this country, but those days are over. We went to my usual turnaround place, the huge granite slab covered with glacial erratics that I call the Giant Marble Game. Before you get there, the trail leaves the Jeep road and takes hikers into a shady stretch. Soon you are walking at the foot of the big slab, and here we started up across it. It was at this point that Wes and Vickie had continued on the 4-wheel route to where it reaches the back side of the lake. 

Our trio made our way up to the top of the slope and headed  back toward the trailhead. The 4-wheel drive road crosses the granite slab at this point, with blue reflective dots affixed to the rock to guide the way. Once off the rock this first part of the road is very steep and the most difficult in this first mile, although somewhat easier for walkers. We just had to be very careful, use our poles for balance, and avoid places where rocks and loose soil could slide under our feet. This section soon gets down to the level section and after that it's easy walking till the last 100 yards. While we were resting Don gave out a loud whistle, and we heard a reply coming from ahead of us. Wes soon appeared, having passed us going out when we were where he could not see us. He thought we would get  back to the trailhead ahead of him, so he was worried that someone had fallen. We don't do that.

With plenty of rest stops we made it back up the steep final 100 yards, just in time for lunch. The parking lot is just that - no picnic tables, and most of the people parked there were probably backpacking or traveling with a 4-wheel drive party. We found a place in the shade with a rock for each of us to sit on, but it became more and more uncomfortable as time went on, and we were soon ready to pack up and head down the hill.

With a temperature of 105 in the valley, we were glad to be in a somewhat cooler location. But even at 8,000 feet it was warm in the sun, with an expected high of 80 degrees. When we dropped Don off at Prather, elevation 1600 feet, we were hit hard by the hot air as we stepped out of the car. Wes turned the A/C to a cooler setting and delivered us safely back to Fresno. With a long drive, a slow hike, and four slow dump trucks in front of us going up, it was after 7 p.m., despite our 8 a.m. departure time.

Turning back the clock a bit, and accounting for some of our long day, on our way up we made a pit stop at McKinley Sequoia Grove, half-way between Dinkey Creek and the road fork that leads to Courtright or Wishon. The Garnet Fire of 2025 burned into the area, but it appears firefighters were able to save most or all of the large trees. There was one sequoia with blackened bark and brown foliage part way up but the top was still nice and green, so it will probably survive.

On our way home we were already looking forward to our September outing, and I promised to send some suggested dates before the weekend, while Wes would offer some suggestions on an appropriate destination 

--Dick Estel, August 2026

More photos