Granite Pools

On the Sunday afternoon of our Shaver Lake trip, we hiked to a beautiful little spot called the "Granite Pools". The hike is approximately 2-3 miles from a dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere to this beautiful little hideaway. It is one of those hikes that unless you already know where it is, you would never be able to find it. The trail is marked by stacks of stones every 50 feet or so, but most times you can just kind of blaze your way down. On the way there, we had a little dispute because some of our group (Joel and Matt Simmons) thought it would be easier to follow the river high and then cross, while a larger portion wanted to cross the river first and then stay high like we had last year. The majority prevailed.

Side Story: On the way back, Joel persuaded the entire group that his way was better, so we all followed him. Turns out we chose the long way along a trail that really didn't exist. A couple of dozen cuts later, the pack of whining and complaining kids refused to let Joel forget that he had chosen this "easier" trail and had been terribly wrong. As if that was not enough, when we reached the parking lot, a father and two boys who had left the pools just minutes before us said, "wow, you guys took the LONG way back... we stopped and swam in the pools for a while, took our time, and have been back at the car for ten minutes". It was pretty great.

Just as the name suggests, it is a stretch of Dinkey Creek where the water travels down a canyon made of granite. There are all sorts of fun things to do at the pools including: jumping off a small waterfall, sliding on your bum down the slick rock into pools, swimming, laying out on the warm granite after swimming in the freezing water, hiking up the canyon to a fun waterfall & a porthole in the rocks, and then back down for a picnic lunch by the waterfall. It's a beautiful little place. Hiking to the secret "porthole" and waterfall canyon.
Chad lowering Luke down into the porthole... it's kind of hard to see, but there is a perfect circle cut right through the middle of the rock. (in the shadows)

The secret canyon leading back to a waterfall that you can only reach by swimming.

A pretty little waterfall...

Cliff jumping into a large granite pool... this is Joel doing a flip.

After hiking around the pools, we came back down to a little grassy knoll at the bottom to relax and eat some lunch.