went on my first backpacking trip last weekend, it was rad. me, co, clay, and their roommate mark. supposed to be 12 miles each way, ended up being 17. five extra miles in one day is a big difference with packs on your back!
clay pretty much planned the whole thing so all we had to do was show up be tough enough to carry our gear. sounds easy enough, but the day before i had a fever and missed work, sore throat, difficulty breathing. this could be tough, they might be leaving me in the valley somewhere and picking me up on the way back. after a dharma's dinner we took off from santa cruz on wedensday night. drove four hours out to a funny little motel just outside the park. the rooms were so small they wouldn't fit us, so we stayed in a trailer next to the motel...interesting.
got up early thursday morning and drove two more hours to the road's end trail head. literally as far as you can drive into king's canyon, then parking in the lot and hiking. the trail started out easy, a sandy path in the morning sun with some trees and pretty views ahead. then all of the sudden there were killer switchbacks. that lasted almost forEVER. when we reached the end of the switchbacks, we were rewarded with a bit of a heart-stopping rattlesnake encounter. don't think he wanted to attack, but he was definitely annoyed that we interrupted his sunbathing. kept trucking along...and came across a baby bear, looking at us with crazy curiosity. mom must have been close, but her visible absence was seriously unsettling. mark stopped. "what do we do?" well, i'm pretty sure we don't just stand here! move it along buddy. "6" miles in we made it to junction meadow (turned out we'd gone 11 miles). clay and co were a bit behind, so we rested on some logs in the sun and waited for them to catch up. when they caught up, it was getting late and folks were pooped, so rather than go all the way to lake reflection as planned, we set up camp for the night, took baths in the freezing river, and ate some dinner. mmmmm camping food. watched the stars for a while, meteor shower time, saw some ufos (or maybe just some routine military exercises).
woke up friday morning to dewy wet cold tents, dear in the meadow, birds chirping and the sounds of the river. took our sweet time getting ready, hit the trail around 10:30 or so, crossed a cold swift-moving river, climbed some killer hills and more switchbacks, saw another bear, this one was huge, and finally (3 miles later) arrived at east lake. i tried to go in, it was too cold, mark and clay jumped in for a photo op. had a little lunch picnic and rested next to the lake. mark's cheese floated away, he ripped his clothes off and jumped in to save it, triumphantly, and gave us all a good laugh on a hard day. we continued on our way to lake reflection, two miles of crawling over rocks and along the hills we got to the lake, we went around the west side since it looked like more people took the east route, our efforts were rewarded, we had the best camp spot out there for sure. a marmot sighting, another bath in a freezing cold lake, some warming on the rocks in the sun, and then another tasty dinner. it was pretty cold up there, and no fires were allowed over 10,000 feet, so we hung out in the tent and played hearts for as long as we could stand it. the rest of the kids watched stars again, but i was too cold so i climbed in my sleeping bag and hit the hay.
got up saturday and the boys went on a hike. it was too cold to be out of the tent, so co and i climbed in our sleeping bags in her tent and read until the sun was hitting the rocks. sat in the sun for a while, reading and snacking, the boys got back and we packed up camp. i started heading back down to the meadow while everyone else hung out and rested a bit longer. figured since i lead most of the way up to the lake, i should be able to figure my way back ok. the hike back down was super creepy by myself. i kept hearing things, bugs that sounded like rattlesnakes, bears and weird mountain men creeping up behind me, so i started singing to kill the silence. that might have been even creepier. i was pretty nervous about running into that big bear again when i was all alone, luckily he/she wasn't around when i passed through. had to cross the river solo, but it was easier the second time. my feet were killing me, i had a blisters on the heel of one foot and the ball of my other foot so my walk was all sorts of awkward compensation, i was super happy to arrive back in the meadow. took another freezing cold river bath, the lied in the sun and waited for the rest of my group to come down....
and waited....
the sun was going behind the trees, it was getting cold, i was ready for dinner....
i gathered up my things and started backtracking a bit, then decided i should stay put since they knew where they were supposed to meet me. about five minutes after i started worrying, they showed up. we set up camp, watched another bear walk right on through with no regard for our personal space comfort zone, ate some more perfect delicious camping food, started a fire, and stood around warming ourselves until it burned out.
woke up to dear in the meadow again, packed up quick and started our 11 mile hike out. passed a lot of people and donkey's heading up as we were heading down. a guy with a golf club for bear protection, a girl wearing demin shorts (why would you do that?), people just looking pooped going up the switchbacks, as we fly down, smiling and coated in 4 days of hiking grime. reached the end of the trail, high-tenned, and then got on our way. took our last river bath next to a happy fisherman, and high-tailed it out of kings canyon.
fresno in-n-out for lunch was perfect.
finding the train station in san jose was tricky. the ride home was long, but i was back in my apartment by 8:30 pm sunday to find a chatty affectionate miss claire ready for some cuddling and guilt food.
notes:
my pack was packed pretty perfect, the only thing i'd do differently is bring some warmer layers.
and more lotion, it's dry at high elevation.
i'm off trail mix for a while. seriously. gross.
i'm also off oatmeal.
sleeping under the stars seems like a good idea, but use the rain fly, it's no fun waking up with your mesh-top tent dripping on you.
totally excited to go backpacking again next year, now that i know i'm tough enough for it.
photos here
