small backpacking gets smaller
I went out backpacking last Thursday, setting out for 4 days from Chorro Grande on the south side of Pine Mountain. I started up the trail, brushing ticks off my pants every few steps on some sections. I stopped by one picturesque tree and tried painting it in my watercolor Moleskine.
That was in the middle of the largest climb along the way, so a nice rest. Then I continued up to the spring. There was still light to use after I finished setting up and getting my tummy full of dinner, so I made the spring my subject.
Well... the blotchy colored rocks and the lichens and mosses on them and the random large, round holes, aren't really distinguishable... but that is the spring. It is full of textures and funny shaped trees. Oaks shouldn't have their feet wet in the summer, but these do since the water is reliable, as far as I know. It does sink back into the ground fairly quickly, so does not give reliable water to the lower camp.
The next morning, I took off further up to Pine Mountain Ridge Road, which is currently closed for the season, and walked along it to Reyes Peak Trail. There, I turned up the use trail that actually goes to the peak instead of the proper trail. At the top of the peak, I first tried to look through the register but found it waterlogged. I added instructions to the two coffee can system that is supposed to keep it dry, then I painted the view of Lockwood Valley that I have painted before.
The trail along the backside of the mountain had looked narrow on a steep slope and had patches of snow on it. I'd seen patches of snow since the spring, but they weren't bad as long as I was toward the south side of the mountain. On going down, I decided to try the use trail going east down the mountain. It is much smaller, but the map indicates a gentle slope in that direction. It was a good trail and joined up with the Reyes Peak Trail as desired. It couldn't do much else, after all. From there, I trudged through snow drift after snow drift, eventually getting smart enough to put on my gaiters, but my shoes were already wet. I looked for the high point of Haddock, but didn't find the marker. I did find the highest point except for some tall rocks, judging by the map. Another peak holds the sign for the peak. After the sign, the trial turned into little more than a game trail with cairns. On the up side, I didn't get lost on this section, just twice on the section between the peaks.
The trail dropped like a stone down the mountainside. It turned down between bushes with heavy thorns leaving little doubt that it was a trail since the bushes had to be cut to have the route. Snow drifted between the bushes and it didn't seem like a good thing to come up. I got down to Haddock Camp on Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca National Recreation Trail as it got dark. The camp was just across a stream crossing with no rocks to help. I wondered how much worse it could be if I just plunged through with my wet boots and found out. It did get a little worse. I went to get dinner together, found out telling myself not to forget the lamp in the tent pocket hadn't been sufficient and set up the tent instead. I also decided not to go back up the way I'd come.
In the morning, it took me a while to get started. I had nice dry socks on, but if I put them into the wet shoes, I wouldn't have any dry socks anymore. I took down the wet socks hanging to dry. There had been a heavy dew in the night and the socks were even wetter than when I put them out. It also explained how the tent was able to catch so much condensation even without the fly on. I got the tent in the sun where things were drying quickly and noticed I had pumped very yellow water in the evening. Ew. I tried again, but it was yellow. It wasn't yellow out of the spring. This was quite odd, but upon inspection, the creek was a very strong golden color in the light. Swollen with snowmelt, it was flowing over much grass and maybe picking up a lot of chlorophyll and other things from the brown grasses. Hopefully.
Packed up, I went down to Pine Mountain Lodge Campsite, where I had planned to turn around. This meant increasingly difficult crossings with little or no rocks to help. The last crossing, I chose the shallowest spots I could find to step and went over my knees. At a spot where the maps indicated I was leaving the stream, so no more crossings, I wrung out my socks and tried to let my feet dry a bit, then continued on. I tried to get things dried again at the old lodge location over lunch. The first person I'd seen the whole time came up from lower down.
A little further down, there was a well indicated but not actually identified trail to a second camp. This one is popular for the rocks in the area. Not for climbing, but they do have caves. I hadn't quite gotten determined to get a lot of walking done in the day yet, and decided to look around there a bit. After an hour or so, I continued on. There were lots of people now. Starting down the hillside, I started to wonder if I had enough water. It was getting hot. I did end up having to get water as soon as the trail got back down to water, which is a spot where the creek gushes out from an underground section. I pumped beautiful clear water from there. Continuing on, I started to see poison oak, mosquitoes for the first time on the trip, and even had to flick another tick. At Twin Fork, it was very tempting to stop, but I was sure I wanted to get a couple miles down Sespe Trail before stopping to have not too much to do the next day. I continued on.
Someone had brought a lot of horses up to Piedra Blanca camp while it was muddy and the trail was a dried up in the churned up state from their hooves making it difficult to walk. The trail went up over the Piedra Blanca formation. I'd forgotten that it did that. As it got dark, I got to the intersection with the Sespe River trail and bumped into some day hikers who were willing to take me to my car, so hiked out of Lion (which is just a parking lot now) and so got home late Saturday.
That was in the middle of the largest climb along the way, so a nice rest. Then I continued up to the spring. There was still light to use after I finished setting up and getting my tummy full of dinner, so I made the spring my subject.
Well... the blotchy colored rocks and the lichens and mosses on them and the random large, round holes, aren't really distinguishable... but that is the spring. It is full of textures and funny shaped trees. Oaks shouldn't have their feet wet in the summer, but these do since the water is reliable, as far as I know. It does sink back into the ground fairly quickly, so does not give reliable water to the lower camp.
The next morning, I took off further up to Pine Mountain Ridge Road, which is currently closed for the season, and walked along it to Reyes Peak Trail. There, I turned up the use trail that actually goes to the peak instead of the proper trail. At the top of the peak, I first tried to look through the register but found it waterlogged. I added instructions to the two coffee can system that is supposed to keep it dry, then I painted the view of Lockwood Valley that I have painted before.
The trail along the backside of the mountain had looked narrow on a steep slope and had patches of snow on it. I'd seen patches of snow since the spring, but they weren't bad as long as I was toward the south side of the mountain. On going down, I decided to try the use trail going east down the mountain. It is much smaller, but the map indicates a gentle slope in that direction. It was a good trail and joined up with the Reyes Peak Trail as desired. It couldn't do much else, after all. From there, I trudged through snow drift after snow drift, eventually getting smart enough to put on my gaiters, but my shoes were already wet. I looked for the high point of Haddock, but didn't find the marker. I did find the highest point except for some tall rocks, judging by the map. Another peak holds the sign for the peak. After the sign, the trial turned into little more than a game trail with cairns. On the up side, I didn't get lost on this section, just twice on the section between the peaks.
The trail dropped like a stone down the mountainside. It turned down between bushes with heavy thorns leaving little doubt that it was a trail since the bushes had to be cut to have the route. Snow drifted between the bushes and it didn't seem like a good thing to come up. I got down to Haddock Camp on Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca National Recreation Trail as it got dark. The camp was just across a stream crossing with no rocks to help. I wondered how much worse it could be if I just plunged through with my wet boots and found out. It did get a little worse. I went to get dinner together, found out telling myself not to forget the lamp in the tent pocket hadn't been sufficient and set up the tent instead. I also decided not to go back up the way I'd come.
In the morning, it took me a while to get started. I had nice dry socks on, but if I put them into the wet shoes, I wouldn't have any dry socks anymore. I took down the wet socks hanging to dry. There had been a heavy dew in the night and the socks were even wetter than when I put them out. It also explained how the tent was able to catch so much condensation even without the fly on. I got the tent in the sun where things were drying quickly and noticed I had pumped very yellow water in the evening. Ew. I tried again, but it was yellow. It wasn't yellow out of the spring. This was quite odd, but upon inspection, the creek was a very strong golden color in the light. Swollen with snowmelt, it was flowing over much grass and maybe picking up a lot of chlorophyll and other things from the brown grasses. Hopefully.
Packed up, I went down to Pine Mountain Lodge Campsite, where I had planned to turn around. This meant increasingly difficult crossings with little or no rocks to help. The last crossing, I chose the shallowest spots I could find to step and went over my knees. At a spot where the maps indicated I was leaving the stream, so no more crossings, I wrung out my socks and tried to let my feet dry a bit, then continued on. I tried to get things dried again at the old lodge location over lunch. The first person I'd seen the whole time came up from lower down.
A little further down, there was a well indicated but not actually identified trail to a second camp. This one is popular for the rocks in the area. Not for climbing, but they do have caves. I hadn't quite gotten determined to get a lot of walking done in the day yet, and decided to look around there a bit. After an hour or so, I continued on. There were lots of people now. Starting down the hillside, I started to wonder if I had enough water. It was getting hot. I did end up having to get water as soon as the trail got back down to water, which is a spot where the creek gushes out from an underground section. I pumped beautiful clear water from there. Continuing on, I started to see poison oak, mosquitoes for the first time on the trip, and even had to flick another tick. At Twin Fork, it was very tempting to stop, but I was sure I wanted to get a couple miles down Sespe Trail before stopping to have not too much to do the next day. I continued on.
Someone had brought a lot of horses up to Piedra Blanca camp while it was muddy and the trail was a dried up in the churned up state from their hooves making it difficult to walk. The trail went up over the Piedra Blanca formation. I'd forgotten that it did that. As it got dark, I got to the intersection with the Sespe River trail and bumped into some day hikers who were willing to take me to my car, so hiked out of Lion (which is just a parking lot now) and so got home late Saturday.