Backpacking Central California | Week 1

Day 0 | Diaz Lake
(7/2/16)

I wanted to add an entry for the night before, because it was a pretty stellar sendoff.

We camped out at a really nice campground off the main highway outside of Lone Pine, called Diaz Lake. The lake was quite big and really nice for being out in the high desert, and there were lots of folks out there ripping around on Sea-Doos and enjoying the grounds. We happened to set up camp next to this dude, Jim, which proved to be a stellar bit of luck. Jim had a glamping setup for the books – huge, plush RV, outdoor bar, and toys I don’t even remember. He owns an off-road racing company and a tequila company. Such a rad guy – he invited us to his fire, made us some drinks with his tequila, and we all shared stories. He was really stoked for our adventure to kick off the next day that he gave us 4 mini bottles of tequila to take with us! You’ll see those bad boys later on 🙂

Two dudes, stoked for adventure

Sunset on the night before we head in

Thomas wouldn’t get on the trail until he was 110% sure of my bear hang skills.

Day 1 | Cottonwood Pass to Chicken Springs Lake
(7/3/16)

Distance Hiked: 4.2 miles
Final Elevation: 11,200 ft. (1,000 ft. gain)

It begins! Twenty straight days in the wilderness. This is going to be wild. A few days ahead of departure I got to thinking, “I’m literally going to be doing the exact same thing for 3 straight weeks – walking, setting up a tent, eating, sleeping, tearing down a tent, walking……multiplied by twenty. days.”

It’s a little dramatic, I know. People do this for many more weeks and months than we did, but still.

So it was a little gnarly of a start! We were beginning around 10,000 ft. (the highest elevation I’d been to by then), we climbed 1000 ft., and my pack was way off fit and quite heavier than I anticipated. So through the day I worked on adjusting the pack and things got better once getting to Chicken Springs Lake, rested, reorganized our packs, and soaked in the beauty.

The 5,000ft. climb to get up to Cottonwood Pass Trailhead

So. Much. Stuff.

Finally got it whittled down…now to make it fit in that pack…

Here we go!

Gorgeous views right from the start.

A peak of the adventure we’re in for!

Chicken Springs Lake

Settled for the day

Day 2 | Chicken Springs Lake to near Rock Creek Ranger Station
(7/4/16) ? ??

Distance Hiked: 8.9 miles
Final Elevation: 10,000 ft. (1,200 ft. loss)

Super stoked that we doubled our mileage from Day 1! With the weight of the pack combined with the miles and elevation changes, my body is definitely feeling it. Great day though!

Leaving Chicken Springs Lake – served us well.

Peace out Inyo. Welcome to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Doing work. What up PCT!

Hundreds of thousands of these tiny yellow flowers made for a beautiful spread of color through the rocky fields here.

Time for a chill break by the babbling brook for a water refuel.

Always fun to find notes from backpackers who’ve come before you, like the one on this bear box – sometimes to their quicker or slower buddies.

Dakota! Get your mail!

Rad lake (I’ll remember the name later). We camped here on the way back.

DEER! There was a fawn running around like a frantic toddler who escaped his living room. Here’s momma trying to track him down. Damn kids.

Night 2’s camp – taking a load off, waiting for our gourmet dinners to ‘cook’.

Sick twisted trees! There were a handful of these throughout the hike.

Boiling water for the next day while watching the fire die down. Common pre-bedtime activities.

Day 3 | near Rock Creek Ranger Station to Wallace Creek
(7/5/16)

Distance Hiked: 10.8 miles
Final Elevation: 10,500 ft. (500 ft. gain)

Cute hiker chick. SO. MANY. MOSQUITOS.

Feelin dumb. Constantly taking photos instead of videos and videos instead of photos….

It was a common and gorgeous theme of dichotomy seeing such raw, rocky ground, surrounded by lush greenery, back to gnarly rocky mountain backdrops.

Once a towering beast, now a fallen twisted tree becoming part of the ground.

This was a pretty gnarly, rocky climb.

Looks a little too much like a grave….

Got a laugh out of these uber-secure gates….

We really enjoyed these signs asking hikers to keep the gates closed…..

One of over 42 creek/river crossings on the journey.

200 miles in on the PCT (not for us, haha).

Another common theme – hundreds or thousands of tiny, brightly colored flowers dotting the landscape.

Day 4 | Wallace Creek to base of Forester Pass
(7/6/16)

Distance Hiked: 9.3 miles
Final Elevation: 12,490 ft. (1,990 ft. gain)

No video for today, kids. Today was one of those brutal, gnarly days where you don’t quite have the enthusiasm for a video. Just gotta keep your feet moving.

Last night we got pretty swarmed by mosquitos and my dehydrated dinner wouldn’t hydrate. Patriot Pantry Traveler’s Stew – don’t get that shit. So I was tired, pissed, bite-ridden, and hangry.

This is not a good way to start the next day, which was already slated to be intense – our second longest distance so far, and mostly all uphill with our largest elevation gain yet. However, the result was undeniably beautiful. There’s a lesson there, I’m sure.

I made sure to have a super feast for dinner too.

Stunning views

It never ceased to amaze us how much the landscape would change, even just throughout one day.

Hittin that JMT hard!

First snow of the trip!

All these little streams just running everywhere.

Camp for the night. I was beat, but this was beautiful.

Day 5 | base of Forester Pass to Kearsarge Lake #3
(7/7/16)

Distance Hiked: 10.2 miles
Final Elevation: 10,800 ft. (1,690 ft. loss)

Stellar day today!! Seriously amazing – gorged on dinner last night, slept quite well, good breakfast and lots of water. We must’ve been through five different types of terrain – raw mountains, snow, lush greenery flanking the clearest streams, and so much more.

Immediately climbing an 800 ft. pass right after breakfast was a challenging and wildly rewarding way to start the day – getting the immediate gratification set the tone for the day, not to mention it was crazy gorgeous. We tramped through lots of snow, lots of edge-of-cliff hiking, and the weather was chilly, but warming up.

A quick break at the top of Forester Pass (highest point on the PCT!) brought us to a couple of groups of guys chilling, telling stories. A good 20 minutes of stories were passed around, all of which were about one man. Steve Butcher. Steve is apparently some bear of an older dude who lives in the wilderness out here and there’s so many stories, that I’m just going to summarize some of my favorite highlights in the bullet points below:

• he always has not one, but two loaded bear canisters draped around his neck – this fact awarded him some stellar nicknames – 2Pac and 2 Canz were among my favorites
• he claims to have invented the bear canister out of 5-gallon buckets and a park ranger stole his idea
• he “doesn’t do fires” because he apparently accidentally started California’s 7th largest wildfire (at the time)
• because of the wildfire, he got a bill from the USDA for over a million dollars, which he can’t pay, and that’s why he lives in the wilderness
• he makes very little money because he lives in the wilderness 3/4 of the year, but gets his wages garnished because of the wildfire….but then gets $600/year from the government for disability

We saw so much beauty today and the Kearsarge Lake area was an absolutely stellar place to camp to end the week on.

We got in pretty late the night before, so here’s some shots of our stellar spot in the morning.

These guys were relentless! Cute, but relentless, and not very afraid of us.

Good morning! Wake up, eat, now climb 800 ft. immediately.

Over 12,000ft. in elevation, surrounded by nothing but rock and snow, flowers still bloom.

Dirty ass hiker legs. Looking at our progress.

Almost there!

Boom. Forester Pass, completed. Highest point of the PCT/JMT!!

The other side, now hiking toward glistening lakes.

Sometimes trickier than it looks. Especially with no trekking poles.

Stoke.

These pools are insane! Emerald and so clear. Check the video for more.

Pretty flowers!

There’s where we came from – Forester Pass – earlier that day. Probably 8 miles back at this point!

Mother effing mosquitos. At this stage, ya just smash and keep walking.

Huzzah!! Surprise treats from a cute older couple who were leaving that day and didn’t need them. Sold!!

Top 3 sickest camps we set.

Sun setting against the mountains, turning them a blazing orange.

Day 6 | Kearsarge Lake #3 to Onion Valley Campground
(7/8/17) Resupply Day #1!!

Distance Hiked: 5.2 miles
Final Elevation: 9,280 ft. (1,520 ft. loss)

We were bummed to have to leave such a sick spot so early, but it’s safe to say we were stoked to get to our resupply!

A much lighter day mileage-wise, since we had to find a ride into town (Independence) to get our resupply, score a fresh meal, and find a ride back to the camp.

At the top of Kearsarge Pass, we met this 75 year old dude who we stopped and chatted with for a bit. He was a straight up boss. He had a full backpack on, had come up the pass (2,500 ft.) down the other side, camped for a night or two, and was on his way back home. He offered us a ride into town so we didn’t even have to hitchhike, and then we got to hear even more of his stories. He’d come up there to the exact spot with his dad when he was about 10 years old so he was stoked to check it out again and see how much it’d changed over the years. I’m going to have to remember to do something like that at his age.

A long trek down 2,500 ft., a 20 minute car ride down another 5,000 ft., and finally – a fresh real meal!! We walked around Independence for a bit, looking for a few supplies, enjoying civilization, and waiting for a trail angel to bring us back up to the campground.

Back at the campground we divvied up all the new supplies, got much more rest than usual, and I even got some yoga in!

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – John Muir

A quick look back at some of what we went through over the previous couple days before continuing over the other side of the pass for our first resupply. Relish in your accomplishments.

Beginning the 2500 ft. descent into the campground.

“All that sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild.” – John Muir

We made it! There’s a big gap in photos from the hike to the town – at the foot of the 2500 ft. descent is the campground, then we hitchhiked the 10 miles into the little town of Independence to get our resupply pack that Thomas mailed to our future selves at this little post office.

Fresh, warm, real food!! FEAST!

Little walk through town after getting some supplies and looking for a trail angel to take us back up.

Back at the campground sorting through our ridiculous amount of food for the next week haha!

Deer just chillin all over the place.

We may have had some tequila.

Booze and journaling.

I like making fun of Thomas’ handwriting, ha