Pacific Crest Trail Adventures

Bucket list type stuff here, although I don’t think this is the last time I do anything like this….

Decades of dreaming, months of prep and now it’s actually happening.

Thursday morning, I’m up. It’s 3:10 AM.  Only a bit of anxiety at this time.  I get in the car at 3:30 and head to the airport.

I drop my bag with my pack and boots and assorted odds and ends at the ticket counter and head to the gate. I am now have my own known traveler number so I am priority at security now. I feel like royalty, skipping to the front, separate screening. No shoes off, no bags to unpack.  I breeze though like a boss.

Standard stuff to this point. I board the plane we push away to the runway and sit. And get pushed back to the gate? You’re kidding right? The pilot explains they have a maintenance light they can’t cycle off. Like a pesky ‘check engine’ on your car. Probably means you didn’t tighten the gas cap enough. Maintenance boards the plane and an hour later we are clear to fly. You know what this means? I am missing my connection. First bit of panic hits. I quickly check flights and see that there are numerous flights between Las Vegas and Oakland, cool.

The 3 hour plus flight to Vegas is uneventful, lots of plump white Wisconsinites looking to win (or lose) some money in Sin City.  They stand out from the non-Vegas travelers quite easily. 

We deplane, I check my new gate, get a boarding pass.  I only lose 90 minutes over my original flight. I can deal with that.

What to do while I wait for my flight? I look around there should be something for me to do…

I drop a 2 sawbucks in a ‘Wheel of Fortune” slot machine, cue up a five credit play and hit spin. Boom, “WHEEL OF FORTUNE” blares at me, and the wheel on the top starts spinning.  I win $50.00 on my first pull!  I play a few more until my balance is $51 and cash out.  Net $31 in 5 minutes. Suckers.

The flight to Oakland is again, uneventful, just the way I like ‘em.

Get my bag and off to my sweet rental, a sweet 2015 WV Jetta. I drive off to find that the 12v power port is not working (cigarette lighter). That’s an issue. The cruise control is super wonky and the driver info screen is impossible to navigate. Its overly complicated to switch between cruise and odometer and miles to empty and just little things that are nice to know on a 5 hour drive.  Oh well deal with it.

It’s now 12:30 and I am about 2 hours behind my original plan. No worries only about 320 miles to Mt Shasta City.

California is dry, we all know that. The grass is brown everywhere, but the ride out of the bay area into the valley is interesting none the less.

A few hours in and I hit the town of Redding, just before the mountains.  Probably the largest city in northern California.

As customary when I travel, I search out brewpubs. This trip would be no different. I stop at Wildcard brewing. For a Liars Dice IPA and Double Down Imperial Red.  The IPA was unremarkable but the red was decent.

I leave Wildcard and head to Target. Yea Target. Gets some water and M&M’s because road trip.  I leave Redding and drive past Mt. Shasta into the wonderful city of Weed. By this time my bladder is about to rupture and my kidneys ache. I had not used the restroom since I left the airport before noon. Throw in water and a pint of ale and man talk about uncomfortable.

I pull into Mt Shasta Brewing Company (a.k.a. Weed Ales) and run for some sweet relief.  With that out of the way I settle in for a pint and dinner.  The beer again was unremarkable but the panini was really good.

This place has a real Cali-Hippy vibe to it. Weed references everywhere, a band who is not employed by the establishment just starts playing and dogs wander around their owners outside and sometimes inside the place. So very laid back.

The sun is setting and I head back to Mt Shasta, well actually, into Mt. Shasta since I was never actually there yet.

I have not mentioned it but the scenery from Redding to Weed is nothing short of amazing. A stark comparison to the dry valley south of here.  Mountains, trees, rivers, lakes twisty roads. My kind of place.

I check into the Cold Creek Inn.  Nothing fancy, just convenient and they offer discounts for hikers.

I unpack, repack check and recheck my gar for tomorrow.

The next morning I am up early. Being that I am 2 hours ahead on my body clock.  It’s a long time until 9:00 AM rolls around so I wander outside, take a few pictures and see another person who looks like a hiker. We start talking and, yep, sure enough we are on the same trip.

Tom is from the Chicago area no less. He is here with his wife Cathy. I guess them to be a bit older than I. It’s a bit of relief as I know I won’t be the old guy on the trip. (I later find out Tom is 56 and Cathy 55).

We hit it off right away, I won’t be the solo outcast on this trip (another fear I had going into this).

Finally 9:00 rolls around, the guides show up. Katie (27) and Alyssa (23). Both veteran backpacking, mountaineering and back country skiing guides. I feel a bit unaccomplished now.

We line up in the parking lot and review gear. Unpacking and packing stuff that you need and more like what you don’t.  I of course have exactly what I need. I mean after doing this in my head 10’s of times and for real on the trail, I have a pretty good idea what is and what isn’t needed.

That said, I do have this large camera that weighs almost 3 pounds. I have carried it all season and I am sure not going to leave it behind now. Besides Tom is also carrying a similar set up. We even have the same shoulder strap clip (nerds gonna nerd). If he can do it I certainly can.

At this time I also get introduced to the rest of the group, a family from Santa Clara CA. Miguel who is 51, Louise (about the same age) and their daughters; Isabella and Rosa. The girls are 25 and 19 respectively.  I never expected to be the third youngest of the group. Actually not sure how I expected that dynamic to play out.

We all get in a van that will be taking us to the trail head.

It’s almost 11:30 when we start. My pack is about 30-35 pounds with water, shared food and gear. Not heavy by any means. The trail is well worn, no worries about missing this one. Apparently the trail has seen much higher traffic since the book and movie Wild was released last year.  We start and scenery is nothing short of breathtaking. Views of Mt Shasta from every turn.

This segment will take us to Porcupine Lake a little over 6 miles for the day. Should be easy, I’ve done this before with longer treks and heavier packs. The elevation and altitude are the only wildcards for me.

Our pace is about 2 miles per hour. This is a bit slower than what I am used to. It causes me a bit of hip discomfort as I am shuffling more than striding. So I hang back, enjoy the view, take pictures and then catch up with my more comfortable pace. No one seems to mind and it makes it much more enjoyable for me.

About 90 minutes in we stop for lunch. Croissants with ham, turkey, salami and a bag of chips. Feels like a school field trip lunch.

Back on the trail we make for our next stop. A mountain spring. Yep, perfect drinking water from inside the mountain. No filtration needed. It’s very cold and tastes clean. We fill all our water bottles from here. While stopped here we run into 3 people from Oklahoma, 2 males and one female, all in their twenties. They are through hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. North to South. A through hiker is just that. They are doing the whole 2800 plus mile trail at one time. They started near the Washington/Canada border and won’t stop until the make Mexico. That’s the plan anyway. Most through hikers go South to North.

That would be an interesting trip and requires lots of advanced planning, quite a bit of money and over 3 months of free time. The three we were talking with were ‘funemployed’ and I envied them just a little bit.

Our thirsts slated, our bellies full we bid good luck to the Oklahoma 3 and head to the campsite about an hour away.

We finally make it. Porcupine Lake is an alpine lake, crystal clear and cold. We get our sites, unpack our gear, put up tents and now have the rest of the evening to ourselves.

Did someone say swimming? Sounds good. It’s about 70° out. The water? Much colder. Isabella, Tom, Miguel, Alyssa, Katie and I all dive in. I liken it to Lake Michigan, early season Michigan. It’s not quite paralyzing but it does steal your breath. Invigorating. It’s that ice bath after a hard workout. I last about 5 minutes and that’s enough. Another first for me. We dry off get dressed and get ready for some dinner.

Just because we are roughing it doesn’t mean you eat crappy dehydrated stuff all the time. Especially on these shorted expeditions with groups where the load can be shared. First course tonight is a tomato bisque. Followed by a mix of pasta, fresh sautéed zucchini, garlic and jalapeno pepper. Add in some fresh chicken sausage for protein. Quite tasty. Dessert in Pepperidge Farms cookies and coffee, hot chocolate or tea. Mix a hot chocolate with a mint tea bag for a hot grasshopper!

The last few weeks leading up to this trip I had been watching the local weather. 4 weeks of 90° temps and no rain. This week 70’s and rain. Seriously.  The good news is the change in weather took all the forest fire smoke out of the area. This gave us clear skies and no persistent campfire smell. So far today was perfect, not too hot, and not too sunny. Tonight the clouds rolled in and the temps dropped pretty quickly. Good thing we got the swimming dine while the sun was out.

No campfires due to restrictions, so it’s time to read, hang out and talk or explore. Everyone is in bed by 8. Then it comes. The winds pick up and sounds like a train coming down the mountains. Roaring through trees and bending my tent walls around.  It was not a great night of sleep because once the winds finally died down the rain started.

I lay in my sleeping bag with a full bladder, I check the time. 5:38. Not good. I get dressed and pack as much gear as I can waiting the rain out.  The rain stops about an hour later and that’s good because I can’t hold out much longer.

People are stirring, Katie and Alyssa have set up a tarp to make breakfast under. I talk to Tom and find out his tent has mesh sides under the rain fly. The wind whipped up all the dust and dirt around their tent and deposited it inside their tent. It was as if a bag of hot chocolate powder exploded. All their stuff had a nice brown coating on it.

Tom has some experience with this sort of trip. For Cathy its her first time, in a sleeping bag, In a tent, using the outdoors as a bathroom.  She must really love him. That’s what he tells me anyway.

We all gather for a warm breakfast of oatmeal with all the fixings. Nuts, dried fruit, sugars. Hot coffee and cocoa to warm up even more.

The plan today is to hang out and see if it will clear up before we leave.  No matter the weather, we will be on the trail at about 10:30.

I take this opportunity to circumnavigate the lake. It’s fun, gets me moving and therefore also warms me up. It’s also a different look at the lake than I have had for the last 12 hours. By the time I get back the sun is creeping out and starting to dry off the tents. Not enough though so we end up packing them wet for now.

Today is another 6 or so miles to the next campsite at Deadfall Lake.

Todays seems like we are walking along the ridges and hillsides much more that forest.  The trail is pretty narrow in spots. We stop for lunch in a small valley out of the wind. Lunch is tortillas with hummus, cucumbers, tomato and fresh basil. I am hungry and these are tasty, the basil really does the trick.

After lunch its another mile or so to our next stop, another mountain spring. Same as the last; cold and unfiltered. Such a small thing yet such a treat.

The terrain is always changing. Now we are looking at completely different granite in color and texture than we saw before. Now I really wish I knew more about geology.

Like yesterday, the pace is a bit slow for me. Katie can tell it’s bothering me. She tells me to go off ahead on my own and stop near the next campsite.  I will know it when I see it.

This gives me a second wind. Off I went, getting out, opening up my legs again. Taking pictures at every turn. Any discomfort I had is now gone again. Amazing how that works.

I get to the trail split and think this must be the place. I take my pack off, take some long cool drinks of water, take a few more pictures. I even take my boots off. The rest of the crew shows up about 20 minutes later.

There are two campsites to choose from: Upper Deadfall or Lower Deadfall. Upper Deadfall is more like a real lake, Lower is more of a drainage lake from upper.

We decide to camp at Lower Deadfall. The wind is just too much at upper, so much so the lake has whitecaps on the waves. This way we will stay warmer and more protected.

Camp is set up and we are on our own again. Some people nap, some explore. I was the latter and walked around the whole lake again. Amazing to see the high-water levels versus where the water levels are now. The lake must be 25 feet below its high level marks.

I get back and relax a bit. Dinner will be ready soon. Tonight it consists of corn chowder, couscous with tomatoes, chicken and some other seasoning. It tastes like chicken gumbo! There are no leftovers on this one. After dinner drinks again and chocolate chip cookies. Not much food left, which is good. Less for us to carry tomorrow.

The sun takes a longs time to set here. We are in the Pacific Time Zone and seemingly a bit west of in the time zone. It is a nice clear night but it seemed to take forever to get dark and the stars to show themselves. Factor in a full moon and the sky seems like it will never get dark. Miguel and I try to stay out as long as we can but it’s a waiting game we are going to lose. At 9:15 it’s still very light out and we can only begin to make out some stars and constellations. A few more minutes and we call it quits. Most everyone is sleeping already and tomorrow it’s a big day.

It’s a crisp night for sleeping temps fall to the low 40’s but the winds are low. It will be a much better nigh than last night.

This leads me into a description of my accommodations. My tent. A great little one man job.  Super lightweight and easy to set up. The problem I have is that it’s not made for anyone over 6 foot tall. If I lay flat, my head and feet touch the walls of the tent. That makes for a cold head and feet. So most of the night I am curled up a bit but on occasion I wake up pressing against the wall of it somewhere.  Had I known I would be solo I could have brought my hammock set up instead.

I wake up at 5:00 AM and stumble out to take a pee. I have about an hour let of sack time. Today will be an early one. Sunday is summit day. Going to church if you will.

Breakfast comes early at 6:30 and consists of warm granola cereal, powdered milk and all the fixins from the oatmeal yesterday. We quickly eat and get our gear ready. No backpacks if you don’t need them. I have a small daypack which I put some warm clothes and my hydration bladder for water.  We also grab food for lunch.

From where we are it’s a little over 2 miles to summit Mount Eddy. Our friend wind has decided to make a comeback this morning too.  As we hike the mountain trail the temps drop the winds really pick up and the sun plays peek-a-boo with the clouds. My GPS registered 40° as the low temp on this trek. Add in the winds and we were probably seeing sub 30 temperatures with the wind-chill.

What seems like more than 2 miles we finally reach the summit. Over 2000’ of elevation gain and we now stand at over 9000’ above sea level.

Today we are up in the clouds. So much so the low misty webs obscure much of our view. Fortune shines on us though and about 20 minutes of hoping the skies clear up for us.

Everyone is in good spirits and the end truly justifies the means in this case. We can see so much up hear its inspiring.

Another 15 minutes or so and as Mr. Cliché would say, all good things must come to an end. So we begin the decent back down and into camp.

The way down seems harder than the ascent to me. Loose rocks, different leans and increased stress on the ankles and knees. 

We get to a nice clearing at the base of Mt Eddy and break out for our final trail meal together. A Salami, Tuna, pitas, tortillas, mayo, cream cheese and cookies buffet.  Take what you want make what you want. Make a sammach or eat ala cart, no one cares.

We get back to base camp. Pack up the tents, the gear back in the backpacks and head back out on the Pacific Crest Trail. The end is only another 2 miles to go.

Again the trees and vegetation is so diverse. Wild sage fields, creeks to cross, pine and fir forest, grass meadows with wildflowers. Now I also wish I was more schooled in botany as well.

The trees on this trip are another story in themselves. The way they grow. Some straight some actually growing in a twisted spiral, some pushed by heavy snow so they all look bent at the bottom. Each one is different. Then there is the size. Some trees are just mammoth with pine cones as big as softballs and shiny with sap. That’s to say nothing of the smell when walking through the forest.

We hit the trail end and it’s bittersweet. We did it, yet it’s over. The culmination of all my planning training and is over.

The van ride back to Cold Creek Inn as about an hour and these is no lack of chatter. Everyone in the group is staying in town tonight.

We all clean up and meet later that evening at a restaurant recommended by the guides. The $11 burger fries and beer sounds like a winner to me. After I have my massage that I had scheduled the week prior.

It’s funny, at dinner, it feels like I have known these people much longer than 72 hrs. I guess that comes from living that close together for that 72 hours. I did have a laugh at myself. I was looking to see who was the strangest person in the group was. I couldn’t find one in this group, which means I am probably the weirdo…

Monday morning comes with our warning, or so I have heard. I grab some food at Mt Shasta Pastry. Cappuccino, a fresh blackberry bowtie and huevos rancheros, a breakfast for a mountain man for sure.

I gas up the Jetta, buy a fuse for the broken cigarette lighter port (you’re welcome Hertz). And hit the road. Four hours later I am back in Oakland. A few hours after that Las Vegas and finally its almost 1:30 Tuesday morning when I finally get home.  It’s good to be home.

The seeds for more adventure have been sown. Like an addict coming down off the last high and looking for that next fix. Where will the next one come from?  Who knows but you can bet I am already thinking about it….

               

 The entire photo album his here please enjoy and if you have any questions let me know! Love to get some feedback.