It's been a chaotic two days.
Wednesday night (was that really only two days ago?) I made it south as far as Walker Ridge road east of Clear lake where I overnighted. Woke up at dawn to drive the rest of the way to check my PO box in Santa Rosa. Just a few items in the box and a note saying box was full. Would have to come back to fetch it all and also renew the box for another year. Used the wifi from the parking lot in front of the (not yet open) Coddingtown Library for a while, and made a few phone calls leaving messages. Remembered I had wanted to do a few laps at the Finley Swim Center but got there with only half hour left in the morning session, so thought I'd try the Ridgeway Pool but it looked crowded, by which time the PO was open so took care of my mail, used the main library (finally figuring out my new phone services voicemail setup) then returned to the Finley pool for the mid-day session, had my few laps.
Back to the library, intending to spend a good deal of time verifying the success of my disc crash recovery steps of a few days ago. My new Mybook disk drive was not in my "laptop bag" (big Walmart backpack.) Must have left it in the car, trying to remember where I might have hid it this time (I often separate my drives from the laptop, hiding them at the bottom of my food coolers, for example, before I "abandon" my car for a few days of hiking - this way, a vandal would be "satisfied" with taking my "replaceable" laptops leaving my irreplaceable data alone - is the rationale.) A cursory search couldn't find the Mybook. Decided to to a more thorough "cleaning", went to my storage unit and "sorted" a few nonessentials back into storage, meanwhile racking my brain when I last used the thing, it was at Callahan's the evening after my Seiad to Mt Ashland hike. I remembered I had rushed out of there shortly after the place had "closed", finishing up just in the nick of time copying my recent Camera Card contents to the Mybook. I must have left it on the table. Called them, sure enough, they had it. "I'll be back in a few weeks, could you hold it that long?" "No problem." I left my contact info with them.
Back to the library. Decided I could re-recover the data from the crashed drive (which, after doing all the CF-card recoveries first, I thought I had managed to successfully recover directly from the drive once I learned how to use the recovery utility properly.) Again, that recover process finished just in the nick of time as the library was closing (had to point to the dialog box saying "2 more minutes left, to convince the library "bouncer" to let it finish.) Trouble is, this second look at the data recovered, I'm missing a few days of images. I assume that's the same on the Mybook in Oregon. Not sure how much of that I may have recovered from the CF cards. I've since written over some of those cards again, but I may still go through the motions again of recovering data off of the individual CF cards, to see what I might be able to scrounge up.
Bummer. I may just have to re-hike those sections for which I have no picts, because, you know me: "if I didn't take (-er, don't have) pictures, I wasn't there." Anyone wan't to hike the Scott & Marble Mts with me?
Library closed, made a few more phone calls, got permission to park my car overnight at Bud's. Talked to him for a few minutes that evening, tried to troubleshoot a computer issue for him, decided to postpone it for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning he would be meeting "the group" (Mike and Steve and Dana Mae) for brunch at a new-to-me meeting location, the Croissant place on Chanate. I offered to pick up Mike, after going for another swim in the morning.
Managed to get up in time for my own breakfast, a swim, and pick him up. A bit of comedy trying to find the place (confusing the street that goes past the Admin Center with the street that goes past the JC as the one that turns into Chanate.
Meanwhile, got a few of my earlier calls returned, and found myself "booked up" with visits with family, all weekend beginning Friday afternoon. That's where I am now, at the Library on University Ave. in Berkeley, waiting for Stephen to get off work. We'll have dinner tonight, tomorrow we plan to take a good long hike, Sunday I'll visit Becca in Davis, Monday Laura & Ali in Pleasanton. I had planned to spend another day in Sonoma County, but now I think I'll just head east to the Sierra, set myself up properly for a 60 mile hike from Sonora Pass to Carson Pass, visit the CNPS "Phyto-Fan" group at Woods Lake there for the weekend, then just another 15 miles to Echo Pass, then take the bike ride down to S. Lk Tahoe, the 4 busses to Tuolumne Meadows, pick up my bear canister at the PO there and walk the 75 miles back to my car at Sonora Pass.
Then I'll go fetch my MyBook back in Oregon.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
"Done" with CA! Oh, except for Tuolumne to Hwy 50 - so guess what's next...
Yep, gonna burn a bunch more gas and head south to finish up that loose end (oh, and a third attempt to finish up that little 10 mile bit of lint just north of hwy 80 Donner Pass.)
Turns out the timing will be nearly perfect to also meet up with my CNPS happy camper friends heading for Woods Lake just west of Carson Pass the weekend of July 12-13, with just enough slack time to take care of some business back in Santa Rosa, and visit with family at various points in the Bay Area, before heading to the Sierra.
This morning I sent off my bear canister filled with maybe 7 days or so of food to myself General Delivery at Tuolumne Meadows. (I'll be picking that up after hiking from Sonora Pass north to Echo Summit at hwy 50, then bicycling down to South Lake Tahoe, catching four busses: two east through S.LkTahoe ultimately to Hwy 395, a 3rd to Lee Vining, and the fourth up to Tuolumne Meadows. From there I'll hike 75 miles is it? back to my car at Sonora Pass. (If this sounds familiar, it was the same plan I was going to do last year, but it was first smoked by the Hunters Fire, then at the end of the season when the YARTS bus to Tuolumne stopped running.)
So then I'll head back up here to Oregon to resume my trudge to Canada.
Also this morning still in Oregon I did a little scouting drive up Hwy 140 via Medford to Fish Lake (had a brief chat at the resort there about their PCT hiker services (cheap shower and laundry, whohoo!) and possible transit between Medford and Fish Lake (none, though I did get a phone# for a "shuttle" that runs between Medford and Klamath Falls along hwy 140 but which doesn't stop at Fish Lake. FWIW, the number is 541-883-2609 - just for my own future reference.)
A bicycle ride down Hwy 140 to Medford is feasible (insignificant intervening climbs westward) but would be very boring. Would still need to research bus connections from the "most-eastward" outskirts of Medford to Ashland, and then there are some expensive options or a hitch to get to Callahan's or the nearby trail at I5/Old Hwy99/Mt. Ashland.
From Fish Lake I then drove south on paved FS Road 37 past Howard Prairie Lake and Hyatt Reservoir to Hwy 66 at the Green Springs Inn (also near the PCT.) This turns out to be a quite feasible bicycle ride, lots of mild ups and downs but no major climbs and virtually no traffic in mostly wooded but varied landscapes. However, a bicycle ride on the steep, twisting, narrow, no-shoulder high-traffic Hwy 66 from there to Ashland would be a stressful ordeal despite it being mostly downhill.
But, there is an alternative! I can avoid having to bicycle to Ashland: I could split the piece of PCT between I5 and Hwy 66 into a few shorter day-hike loops with the bicycle (albeit on gravel roads) and probably some out&back day-hike bits. Divide & conquer! So the loops from I5 to Hwy 140 would just involve my feet, my bicycle & my car (no hitches or buses.).
The next stretch, from Hwy 140 to Crater Lake, might yet include that boring bicycle ride on 140 toward Medford, but I've yet to flesh that out.
Again, I will leave the "history" of my completed hike from Seiad to Mt Ashland to other "post-dated" posts, later. Still need to inform my CNPS camper friends I plan to drop in on them...
Turns out the timing will be nearly perfect to also meet up with my CNPS happy camper friends heading for Woods Lake just west of Carson Pass the weekend of July 12-13, with just enough slack time to take care of some business back in Santa Rosa, and visit with family at various points in the Bay Area, before heading to the Sierra.
This morning I sent off my bear canister filled with maybe 7 days or so of food to myself General Delivery at Tuolumne Meadows. (I'll be picking that up after hiking from Sonora Pass north to Echo Summit at hwy 50, then bicycling down to South Lake Tahoe, catching four busses: two east through S.LkTahoe ultimately to Hwy 395, a 3rd to Lee Vining, and the fourth up to Tuolumne Meadows. From there I'll hike 75 miles is it? back to my car at Sonora Pass. (If this sounds familiar, it was the same plan I was going to do last year, but it was first smoked by the Hunters Fire, then at the end of the season when the YARTS bus to Tuolumne stopped running.)
So then I'll head back up here to Oregon to resume my trudge to Canada.
Also this morning still in Oregon I did a little scouting drive up Hwy 140 via Medford to Fish Lake (had a brief chat at the resort there about their PCT hiker services (cheap shower and laundry, whohoo!) and possible transit between Medford and Fish Lake (none, though I did get a phone# for a "shuttle" that runs between Medford and Klamath Falls along hwy 140 but which doesn't stop at Fish Lake. FWIW, the number is 541-883-2609 - just for my own future reference.)
A bicycle ride down Hwy 140 to Medford is feasible (insignificant intervening climbs westward) but would be very boring. Would still need to research bus connections from the "most-eastward" outskirts of Medford to Ashland, and then there are some expensive options or a hitch to get to Callahan's or the nearby trail at I5/Old Hwy99/Mt. Ashland.
From Fish Lake I then drove south on paved FS Road 37 past Howard Prairie Lake and Hyatt Reservoir to Hwy 66 at the Green Springs Inn (also near the PCT.) This turns out to be a quite feasible bicycle ride, lots of mild ups and downs but no major climbs and virtually no traffic in mostly wooded but varied landscapes. However, a bicycle ride on the steep, twisting, narrow, no-shoulder high-traffic Hwy 66 from there to Ashland would be a stressful ordeal despite it being mostly downhill.
But, there is an alternative! I can avoid having to bicycle to Ashland: I could split the piece of PCT between I5 and Hwy 66 into a few shorter day-hike loops with the bicycle (albeit on gravel roads) and probably some out&back day-hike bits. Divide & conquer! So the loops from I5 to Hwy 140 would just involve my feet, my bicycle & my car (no hitches or buses.).
The next stretch, from Hwy 140 to Crater Lake, might yet include that boring bicycle ride on 140 toward Medford, but I've yet to flesh that out.
Again, I will leave the "history" of my completed hike from Seiad to Mt Ashland to other "post-dated" posts, later. Still need to inform my CNPS camper friends I plan to drop in on them...
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Day Hike PCT SOBO from I-5 back up to Mt Ashland Canpground after bicycling down from CG
The Mt Ashland Campground has become my "base camp" in this area. Spectacular view of Mt Shasta and the entire Shasta Valley/Siskiyou summit area, just a few hundred yards of gravel road away from the top of the paved road from I5 to the Mt Ashland Ski area, and two "well maintained" pit toilets to boot. No piped water, though there are nearby springs. There seemed to be two other semi-resident campers using the facility as well. I camped here when I first scouted out the area a few weeks back, again the night before I left my car there to bicycle back down into California to Seiad, and then yesterday evening after four days of hiking back to my car, and tonight after again bicycling down to I5 to finish off this section of PCT with a day-hike back up the hill (though it felt like the purpose of the hike back up the hill was for the thrill of doing that bicycle coast down that smooth road for a second time.)
Left my car in the morning about 9am, a half hour bicycle ride, made it back up the hill by 3PM, just a pleasant morning walk, it felt like.
Promptly drove back down to fetch my bicycle, headed on to Ashland, intending to do one or more of: grocery shopping to fill up my bear canister to send off to Tuolumne, scout out a possible overnight layover along the bottom end of the "alternative PCT route" from Mt Ashland directly into the town of Ashland along some gravel roads, locate the Ashland library and hostel described in Yogi's PCT guide, and maybe then take a drive north to scout out bicyclie-loop-back feasibility to/from the PCT trailhead in the Fish Lake area along Hwy 140 NE of Medford. This would be the north end of my next logical PCT segment. North of there would be Mt Mcloughlin and Crater lake. the trail past Mt Mcloughlin was still "snowed in" last I heard about two weeks ago, but south of there is low-elevation.
Ended up doing the grocery shopping, then driving up the alternative PCT route, having to drive longer than hoped to find a spot to overnight, by which time it was late enough to call it a day. Decided to try out my new cell phone plan: Net10 $50/mo ATT option. (I had already activated that a week or so ago but hadn't had an occasion to use it yet. But I guess I was in a radio "hole", so I decided to try for better reception further up the hill, and ended up back at my "base" camp.
I did manage to make some calls from there, announcing to some family members my decision to come back to the Bay Area by this weekend, hoping to arrange some times to visit.
So, I guess that solidified my plans, which I'd considered fluid until then - not sure whetehr I would try to squeeze in another PCT section first before "meeting up" with my CNPS friends camping at Woods Lake the second weekend of July, before finishing off my Tuolumne to Hwy50 "gap", or maybe just "abandoning" all that (for now) and continuing on north.
Left my car in the morning about 9am, a half hour bicycle ride, made it back up the hill by 3PM, just a pleasant morning walk, it felt like.
Promptly drove back down to fetch my bicycle, headed on to Ashland, intending to do one or more of: grocery shopping to fill up my bear canister to send off to Tuolumne, scout out a possible overnight layover along the bottom end of the "alternative PCT route" from Mt Ashland directly into the town of Ashland along some gravel roads, locate the Ashland library and hostel described in Yogi's PCT guide, and maybe then take a drive north to scout out bicyclie-loop-back feasibility to/from the PCT trailhead in the Fish Lake area along Hwy 140 NE of Medford. This would be the north end of my next logical PCT segment. North of there would be Mt Mcloughlin and Crater lake. the trail past Mt Mcloughlin was still "snowed in" last I heard about two weeks ago, but south of there is low-elevation.
Ended up doing the grocery shopping, then driving up the alternative PCT route, having to drive longer than hoped to find a spot to overnight, by which time it was late enough to call it a day. Decided to try out my new cell phone plan: Net10 $50/mo ATT option. (I had already activated that a week or so ago but hadn't had an occasion to use it yet. But I guess I was in a radio "hole", so I decided to try for better reception further up the hill, and ended up back at my "base" camp.
I did manage to make some calls from there, announcing to some family members my decision to come back to the Bay Area by this weekend, hoping to arrange some times to visit.
So, I guess that solidified my plans, which I'd considered fluid until then - not sure whetehr I would try to squeeze in another PCT section first before "meeting up" with my CNPS friends camping at Woods Lake the second weekend of July, before finishing off my Tuolumne to Hwy50 "gap", or maybe just "abandoning" all that (for now) and continuing on north.
Monday, June 23, 2014
PCT Seiad to Mt Ashland day 4 of 4
...title-ony - was an abandoned draft - tobe fleshed out from photos ...
Friday, June 20, 2014
Breakfast at the Seiad Cafe, then northwards
Leaving my bicycle here again, expect to take four days for the 55 miles back to car at Mt Ashland.
Yesterday's bike ride from there started off as smoothly as hoped, with probably even a slight tailwind speeding me up on the few level to slightly uphill bits on I5, and for about the first hour along the Klamath River. I was actually thinking I might have time to begin hiking that afternoon.
But I did get started at 9am, about an hour later than hoped, and a southwest wind started ramping up, and soon I found myself having to pedal downhill fully crunched down. In the third-lowest gear at best.
I found myself having to take breaks along the river due to exhaustion, on one of these I took a long snooze, pleasant enough in the warm breeze. I had brought along almost 4 liters water, and food, and used all of it. Finally got to Seiad about 6pm.
Retrieved my pack, took a shower, sorted myself out a bit and had a long political conversation with the campground owner. Went to sleep befor sundown. Woke up late. Hash browns and eggs in front of me. Better gulp them down and get on the trail. Will again regret my late start.
Will be hiking in my Teva sandals rather than hiking boots, which have forced me to take frequent breaks to cool off my feet. I'm gambling the trail won't be too cobbly.
Yesterday's bike ride from there started off as smoothly as hoped, with probably even a slight tailwind speeding me up on the few level to slightly uphill bits on I5, and for about the first hour along the Klamath River. I was actually thinking I might have time to begin hiking that afternoon.
But I did get started at 9am, about an hour later than hoped, and a southwest wind started ramping up, and soon I found myself having to pedal downhill fully crunched down. In the third-lowest gear at best.
I found myself having to take breaks along the river due to exhaustion, on one of these I took a long snooze, pleasant enough in the warm breeze. I had brought along almost 4 liters water, and food, and used all of it. Finally got to Seiad about 6pm.
Retrieved my pack, took a shower, sorted myself out a bit and had a long political conversation with the campground owner. Went to sleep befor sundown. Woke up late. Hash browns and eggs in front of me. Better gulp them down and get on the trail. Will again regret my late start.
Will be hiking in my Teva sandals rather than hiking boots, which have forced me to take frequent breaks to cool off my feet. I'm gambling the trail won't be too cobbly.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Apparent Success recovering Disk drive with half hour to spare
So with the recovery program on my crashed drive says it has 25 minutes to go (started three hours ago) and I took a good look at what it's putting on my new MyBook driver, and it does indeed look like my original file structure is back and my tracklogs and picture files seem to be in place!
I suppose in retrospect I could have applied the recovery program ("Recuva") to the crashed drive earlier today and been on my way a lot sooner, but I thought I had unsuccessfully tried that last night. A few circumstances have changed in the mean time: I downloaded a new version of the utility (probably irrelevant.) And, after "practicing" and "learning:" how it realy worked (and changed a few settings as a result...) while recovering the CF cards that I had decided was a priority to allow myself at least to get back on the trail able to continue taking picts, I now managed to apply it properly to the crashed drive.
The amazing thing is that I squezed by doing this just in the nic of time. And got a few other things done while the process crawled along in the background.
Alas there are still things to do that could continue to keep me off the trail, but I'll put those off, and do hope to be on my bicycle on I5 coasting down back into CA tomorrow. Question still remains where exactly I want to park my car. I'm inclined to choose the Mt Ashland Campground, which is just a short way after Road 20 turns from pavement to gravel (which happens right after the ski area.) This would reduce the risk of damaging my bicycle tires before hitting I5 etc., and also minimizes the amt of uphill. It's still about a 60 mile bicycle ride overall, but about 90% downhill, with 16 miles of it at a 4% to 6% grade on I5! It should be a thrill!
I suppose in retrospect I could have applied the recovery program ("Recuva") to the crashed drive earlier today and been on my way a lot sooner, but I thought I had unsuccessfully tried that last night. A few circumstances have changed in the mean time: I downloaded a new version of the utility (probably irrelevant.) And, after "practicing" and "learning:" how it realy worked (and changed a few settings as a result...) while recovering the CF cards that I had decided was a priority to allow myself at least to get back on the trail able to continue taking picts, I now managed to apply it properly to the crashed drive.
The amazing thing is that I squezed by doing this just in the nic of time. And got a few other things done while the process crawled along in the background.
Alas there are still things to do that could continue to keep me off the trail, but I'll put those off, and do hope to be on my bicycle on I5 coasting down back into CA tomorrow. Question still remains where exactly I want to park my car. I'm inclined to choose the Mt Ashland Campground, which is just a short way after Road 20 turns from pavement to gravel (which happens right after the ski area.) This would reduce the risk of damaging my bicycle tires before hitting I5 etc., and also minimizes the amt of uphill. It's still about a 60 mile bicycle ride overall, but about 90% downhill, with 16 miles of it at a 4% to 6% grade on I5! It should be a thrill!
Sessile full day at Callahan's Restaurant recovering my files
It's a welcoming, pleasant place, Callahan's Lodge & Restaurant near Mt Ashland, where I showed up early this morning, greeted by Brandon at the front desk, again (he gave me a very enthusiastic spiel about what services they offered PCT hikers the other day when I first scouted out the place.) This time, I asked whether there might be a table with power outlet I might be able to use with my laptop for a few hours, explaining my crashed disk situation. "Why of course, and stay as long as you need" was his response, and it turned out that every single table had a power outlet. The cook and waitress hadn't showed up yet, as I had arrived a half hour before it opened. But he provided me coffee, and when the waitress arrived, I had the "hiker's special" breakfast of eggs and bacon and all-you-can eat pancakes. It took me two hours to finish the first three 10inch pancakes provided. With all the coffee I could drink. Another few hours later, the crew changed and I had a late afternoon lunch of a very tasty smoked salmon BLT. Later still, I had a peppermint tea, while the classical guitar pieces playing in the background was replaced with a live singer-guitarist. A few other PCT hikers had come and gone in the morning, and midday the outside porch filled with families and other small groups. Now a bit of mild chatter is coming from a few tables inside.
All this time I've been backing up and "recovering" every possible scrap of data from my CF cards and now, finally, working on the USB hard drive in question. This all is going to my new MyBook 4TB backup drive. While waiting for this copy& recovery to crawl along in the background, I've also been able to do a bit of other housekeeping on my smartphone, in particular solving the problem that caused a half-day delay in my ability to have access to my phone's sd-card while android scanned the card for errors, confirming that the cause was the thousands of map tiles I my main app, BCNav (Back Country Navigator) had stored on the "raw" file system in the card. The BCNav developer had pretty much acknowledged the problem and had provided an alternative way to download map tiles into "packages". After I had deleted the entire "raw" filesystem map tile hierarchy for the old maps I had already passed through, and then downloaded new maps for my upcoming sections into named packages", I am now able to shut off my phone to change batteries etc, and have the app up and running quickly after rebooting my phone. Yay!
I won't have time today to review exactly what I've recovered off my CF cards (and still working on the USB drive that crashed,) but I'm fairly sure I've now done everything I could possibly do, given that it's still just sealing the barn door shut after the escape has happened. Very grateful to the folk at Callahans for allowing me to accomplish this.
"More hot water?" I've been asked. "yeah sure!" I'm making the best of it.
All this time I've been backing up and "recovering" every possible scrap of data from my CF cards and now, finally, working on the USB hard drive in question. This all is going to my new MyBook 4TB backup drive. While waiting for this copy& recovery to crawl along in the background, I've also been able to do a bit of other housekeeping on my smartphone, in particular solving the problem that caused a half-day delay in my ability to have access to my phone's sd-card while android scanned the card for errors, confirming that the cause was the thousands of map tiles I my main app, BCNav (Back Country Navigator) had stored on the "raw" file system in the card. The BCNav developer had pretty much acknowledged the problem and had provided an alternative way to download map tiles into "packages". After I had deleted the entire "raw" filesystem map tile hierarchy for the old maps I had already passed through, and then downloaded new maps for my upcoming sections into named packages", I am now able to shut off my phone to change batteries etc, and have the app up and running quickly after rebooting my phone. Yay!
I won't have time today to review exactly what I've recovered off my CF cards (and still working on the USB drive that crashed,) but I'm fairly sure I've now done everything I could possibly do, given that it's still just sealing the barn door shut after the escape has happened. Very grateful to the folk at Callahans for allowing me to accomplish this.
"More hot water?" I've been asked. "yeah sure!" I'm making the best of it.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Burning the midnight oil recovering files at a truck stop
As the cafe at Target closed, I asked someone if they could suggest a place with wifi where I might be able to work late into the night with my power-hungry laptop that had power plugs for customer use (noting that the McDonalds I'd tried didn't have power plugs.) The person mentioned there was a Pilot trucker's stop one exit north on I5. Sure enough, the "travel center" there had an area set up for laptop use. Unfortunately, the wifi you have to pay for. (not much - $2 per hour, but I'm "passing" on that option at the moment - I did buy a 6" subway sandwich.)
So I started copying another CF card: 2 down, at least 3 more to go to ensure I can hike for about 5 more days - but I'd have to constrain my shooting - fewer pano's and "focus-stacked" sets, and delete my duds on the spot. Each 32gb seems to take me about 40 minutes to copy. I'll be here til midnight.
Then I'll probably head back to where I thought I would be, at Mt Ashland, which is NF land where I hope to find a spot fairly "close-in" whee I can park to sleep in my car and not be bothered if I sleep past sunrise.
But I'll be a bit wasted tomorrow, so doubt I'll do the bicycle ride then. Unfortunate, because it is forecast to start warming up and I wanted to be bicycling and climbing out of Seiad Valley before it started getting oppressive at lower elevations. So, maybe if I don't feel too tired I'll just push it, though it would be later in the day, thus hotter, more exhausting.
I could also do some of the shorter day-hike relay-loops that I'm planning to work my way down from the Mt Ashland area to I5 and a bit beyond. This is the section where the trail and road 20 weave back & forth across each other. I'm planning a series of short generally downhill bike rides and hike back to my car. Just an even more fragmented version of what I'm doing overall.
But more likely, I'll finish some other loose off-trail ends such as downloading my track logs, finish activating my new phone plan, and maybe finish backing up everything I have along (closing the barn door now that the horses are out of the barn!)
Ironically, I had been worrying about something similar happening while I was on the trail last, one reason I was so eager to make it back that I did a bit of a night-hike: it revolved around some second-guessing for having chosen not to leave my car with the people from the Seiad Cafe, instead choosing to leave my car at the Grider Creek FS campground a few miles south up the hill, which would save me a long road-walk. But, I was worried that I thereby chose to risk my "unattended" car being vandalized, my laptop and disk drives gone. How ironic that I now find myself with the worsed part of that scenario's consequence, via a different scenario.
I also need to start planning which of two options I take in July. After making it to Oregon, do I just keep going, or do I now "finish up" California by coming back and finishing up the Tuolumne to hwy 50 section I skipped last year due to the fire/smoke. The timing would seem to be coincidentally optimal for coming back, since I could also meet up with the little CNPS group, spearheaded this year by Betsy L) planning again this year the weekend around July 11th what they planned last year before being chased north by the Hunter's fire as well: a campout at Woods Lake just below Carson Pass, which for me would be "on the way" from Sonora Pass to Hwy 50. If I time it right. I would need to send my full bear canister to the Tuolumne PO some time fairly soon. But main trick is to accurately predict how many days the hike from Sonora Pass to Woods lake will take, so I make it there about when they arrive there. I'd maybe want to arrange for one of them to become "trail angels" to me: "supply me" some extra food for the few days I'm with them (I'd want to pay them for that of course.)
So now I'm almost done backing up four of my 32gb CF cards, and it's almost midnight. I'll call that good enough for today. I'll probably take the "short bicycle loop" option tomorrow. and finish off the evening again cleaning up loose off-trail ends, including posting this.
[edit: as I'm post-date posting this the following evening, here's an update: I did end up overnighting at the "Grouse Gap" PCT trailhead on Road 20 just south of Mt Ashland. Woke up to frost on everything in the morning, deciding I probably wouldn't be warming myself up soon enough to do some productive bicycling/hiking early morning, so decided to see whether I breakfast at Callahan's might provide me an opportunity to use my laptop, if they had power plugs conveniently available. Ah the power of rationalization.]
So I started copying another CF card: 2 down, at least 3 more to go to ensure I can hike for about 5 more days - but I'd have to constrain my shooting - fewer pano's and "focus-stacked" sets, and delete my duds on the spot. Each 32gb seems to take me about 40 minutes to copy. I'll be here til midnight.
Then I'll probably head back to where I thought I would be, at Mt Ashland, which is NF land where I hope to find a spot fairly "close-in" whee I can park to sleep in my car and not be bothered if I sleep past sunrise.
But I'll be a bit wasted tomorrow, so doubt I'll do the bicycle ride then. Unfortunate, because it is forecast to start warming up and I wanted to be bicycling and climbing out of Seiad Valley before it started getting oppressive at lower elevations. So, maybe if I don't feel too tired I'll just push it, though it would be later in the day, thus hotter, more exhausting.
I could also do some of the shorter day-hike relay-loops that I'm planning to work my way down from the Mt Ashland area to I5 and a bit beyond. This is the section where the trail and road 20 weave back & forth across each other. I'm planning a series of short generally downhill bike rides and hike back to my car. Just an even more fragmented version of what I'm doing overall.
But more likely, I'll finish some other loose off-trail ends such as downloading my track logs, finish activating my new phone plan, and maybe finish backing up everything I have along (closing the barn door now that the horses are out of the barn!)
Ironically, I had been worrying about something similar happening while I was on the trail last, one reason I was so eager to make it back that I did a bit of a night-hike: it revolved around some second-guessing for having chosen not to leave my car with the people from the Seiad Cafe, instead choosing to leave my car at the Grider Creek FS campground a few miles south up the hill, which would save me a long road-walk. But, I was worried that I thereby chose to risk my "unattended" car being vandalized, my laptop and disk drives gone. How ironic that I now find myself with the worsed part of that scenario's consequence, via a different scenario.
I also need to start planning which of two options I take in July. After making it to Oregon, do I just keep going, or do I now "finish up" California by coming back and finishing up the Tuolumne to hwy 50 section I skipped last year due to the fire/smoke. The timing would seem to be coincidentally optimal for coming back, since I could also meet up with the little CNPS group, spearheaded this year by Betsy L) planning again this year the weekend around July 11th what they planned last year before being chased north by the Hunter's fire as well: a campout at Woods Lake just below Carson Pass, which for me would be "on the way" from Sonora Pass to Hwy 50. If I time it right. I would need to send my full bear canister to the Tuolumne PO some time fairly soon. But main trick is to accurately predict how many days the hike from Sonora Pass to Woods lake will take, so I make it there about when they arrive there. I'd maybe want to arrange for one of them to become "trail angels" to me: "supply me" some extra food for the few days I'm with them (I'd want to pay them for that of course.)
So now I'm almost done backing up four of my 32gb CF cards, and it's almost midnight. I'll call that good enough for today. I'll probably take the "short bicycle loop" option tomorrow. and finish off the evening again cleaning up loose off-trail ends, including posting this.
[edit: as I'm post-date posting this the following evening, here's an update: I did end up overnighting at the "Grouse Gap" PCT trailhead on Road 20 just south of Mt Ashland. Woke up to frost on everything in the morning, deciding I probably wouldn't be warming myself up soon enough to do some productive bicycling/hiking early morning, so decided to see whether I breakfast at Callahan's might provide me an opportunity to use my laptop, if they had power plugs conveniently available. Ah the power of rationalization.]
Setback due to apparent disk drive crash disaster
My plan to bicycle from Ashland summit to Seiad tomorrow morning is delayed at least a day, til I can re-backup my CF cards before I take more picts over them. May have lost picts I took on last few hikes that I overwrote my CF cards for. The Toshiba 1gb usb drive I was offloading them onto seems to have crashed. I hope I can recover, but initial simple-minded recovery attempt has failed. Any suggestions welcomed.
five times 32 GB (about 5,000 picts) in 3.5 days - a measure of the awesomeness
Was eager to get back on the trail after a morning bus ride, a wait at the Yreka STAGE office: a bench in the sun - fortunately it was overcast that morning, no restroom - a gas station a few blocks of residential neighborhood away; a dumb transfer point for the driver to recommend when I could have waited at the shopping center south of town and had things to do: wifi, dining, shopping. Then another bus "back" to Etna. Got to Etna about 1pm, had a hearty salad then swapped my daypack for backpack again at the Alderbrook Hostel, decided to try to hitch up to the pass since the Alderbrooks "designated driver" wasn't available, got a ride almost immediately, from a military contractor (about to head for the Phillipines: "a lot happening there" he says, who owns one of those "white" square-mile tiles on the Forest service checkerboard maps just the otehr side of Etna Summit, which he has "done nothing" with, though he thinks he should log some of it. On the way up the hill to Etna Summit, if you look at the FS maps, you'll see two white parcels covering nearly the whole road up. the south-facing slopes of the upper square have recently been clearcut. This was a surprise to my driver, who hadn't been up there in a few months, and was also discussed by Dave of the Alderbrook, who drove me up the first time a week ago. Dave mentioned that a lot of people in the area thought this was a bit of an outrage. He talked a bit about what the Spotted Owl "did to" the logging industry a few years back, though he allowed that the industry had brought it on to themselves to some extent.
Finally back on the trail, a look around confirmed my eagerness to do so this afternoon: the clouds had broken up into one of those crisply fresh partly cloudy days, and along the trail, the wildflowers seemed to have all burst into bloom. Rested, I seemed to manage to take lots of picts and make good time, about 10 miles that first afternoon. 2nd day, even more stunning skies, horizons and rock-garden displays. Was feeling good, wanted to hike, but found myself stopping every few steps to take pano's and low-angle closeups with background context. Only made 5 miles that day! Next day I struggled to catch up but still only made about 10 miles. Last day, determined to make up some distance, despite the continued photo-op hangups and a few "side-trips" to off-trail lakes and peaks, including one "accidental" wrong turn down 700 ft to o a lake I hadn't intended to visit due to some bad sighnage... I ended up trying to make it back to the car hiking by flashlight after dark, but still didn't quite make it (not sure how much furtehr, so I settled for a nice camping spot, then in the morning, it was a five minute walk to the car.
Now this Seiad restaurant is closing, and I'm leaving my backpack here, heading to Oregon to leave my car at around Mt Ashland (the mt not the town, bicycling back to Seidad tomorrow, overeninght for $10 at the next door RV place (that expects 1000 through-hikers starting later this month.) Then it's up a tall hill next morning early before it gets too warm.
Finally back on the trail, a look around confirmed my eagerness to do so this afternoon: the clouds had broken up into one of those crisply fresh partly cloudy days, and along the trail, the wildflowers seemed to have all burst into bloom. Rested, I seemed to manage to take lots of picts and make good time, about 10 miles that first afternoon. 2nd day, even more stunning skies, horizons and rock-garden displays. Was feeling good, wanted to hike, but found myself stopping every few steps to take pano's and low-angle closeups with background context. Only made 5 miles that day! Next day I struggled to catch up but still only made about 10 miles. Last day, determined to make up some distance, despite the continued photo-op hangups and a few "side-trips" to off-trail lakes and peaks, including one "accidental" wrong turn down 700 ft to o a lake I hadn't intended to visit due to some bad sighnage... I ended up trying to make it back to the car hiking by flashlight after dark, but still didn't quite make it (not sure how much furtehr, so I settled for a nice camping spot, then in the morning, it was a five minute walk to the car.
Now this Seiad restaurant is closing, and I'm leaving my backpack here, heading to Oregon to leave my car at around Mt Ashland (the mt not the town, bicycling back to Seidad tomorrow, overeninght for $10 at the next door RV place (that expects 1000 through-hikers starting later this month.) Then it's up a tall hill next morning early before it gets too warm.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
No bicycling today - instead, burned more gas all day scouting logistics between Seiad & Ashland Or.
The Scott River Road route from Seiad back to Etna would have been too mucvh for my weak lungs though it would have made an exhilarating bicycle ride northbound. But the southbound climb on the PCT from the Klamath River valley at Seiad back up to 7000ft did not appeal to me when a much less energetic option was available: waiting a day for the STAGE bus that leaves Seiad at 8:20am MWF for Yreka, then the daily midday STAGE bus from Yreka to Etna. Wouldn't even bother bringing my bicycle along.
So, I had today to kill. (Overnighted at the Grider Ridge FS Campground a few miles south of town up the ridge where the PCT joins the (dirt) road for those few miles into Seiad. My sleep was interrupted a bit by several Coyotes singing (got me a bit tense for a while, ready to dash from my "bug-tent" to my car...)
Stopped at the Seiad General Store for a too-filling breakfast of eggs & hash browns & coffee, arranged to leave my bicycle tomorrow morning with the store proprietor couple living behind the store, then off to check out the next traditional "0-day" destination on the trail: the Callahan's Lodge at Mt Ashland, Oregon. Driving the steady uphill eastward along the Klamath River towards I-5 as the mountains tapered off into the Yreka/Shasta "valley" to the east was a bit disorienting, but suggested to me that a bicycle return route from Ashland was possible. (There does not seem to be a very feasible public transit option - the only option I found involves a $28 shuttle from Ashland to the Amtrak station in Klamath Falls, then the same Coast Starlighter midnight train run to Dunsmuir that I was considering to get to Redding a month ago (but declined for the bike ride directly from McCloud to Burney Falls.)
Was greeted at Callahan's by a very practiced spiel of how they catered to PCT hikers, with various package or a la carte deals involving a shower, laundry, a free first beer, an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, a tent site on the lawn overlooked by the porch of their restaurant (I guess it must also be billed as a destination for their more cultured guests to gawk at the summer horde of thru-hikers.) $60 for the whole package, or somewhat steep but not totally ridiculous a la carte prices. They gave me a card for a shuttle service that I haven't yet investigated the pricing for, but only other option they mentioned was the Amtrak one.
So I drove south up NF-20 that the PCT weaves back & forth with between the border and I-5, to investigate a third option, sort of an "out&back" to the border from each end, and a series of short day-hike-bike-loops along the road. This is a paved road up to the Mt Ashland Ski area, then gravel south of there. I took the spur up to the top of Mt Ashland, for some plane's eye views in all directions, topped by a huge white soccer-ball-patterned sphere (radio telescope?) and the usual microwave transcievers.
Continued south on NF20 which gradually became a rougher cobbly road still well short of the border. I decided to retreat instead of abusing my shocks unnecessarily. The out&back might be an overnight from the north side.
With plenty of afternoon left, I drove north then east along route 66 to where the trail crosses that road, and took a gravel road south from there signed "Siskiyou Munument" which piqued my interest because in the Deiad area there were a lot of signs that said "No Monument". The Seiad Store owner had becun explaining what that meant to another customer bu t I was heading out and didn't hear the story, so I'll need to google what the issue is. Looking at the map, the trail in southern Oregon does pass through some areas labeled "Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument", and I think there's a movement afoot to extend that into California, but that's all I know at the moment. (And I don't want to take the time now to look it up.)
Drove on 66 back west to Ashland just to verify that it might be a future bike route from trail to a yet to be researched bus from Ashland and points north. I got gas just before the I-5 interchange - odd to have someone pump my gas for me - noticed another customer give a tip, so I did too (especially after having to ask him to make a second trip to the store to go fetch me a receipt.) Not realizing I was already in Ashland, I continued west on I-5, but decided I didn't want to drive further on I-5 today, so turned around at the next exit, and only then realized I had already passed Ashland. Drove south all the way to Yreka, just to use this McD's to blog this.
OK, done. heading back to Seiad, be back in Yreka tomorrow probably with some dead time mid-day waiting for the bus to Etna, might peck a few lines from my cell phone then.
So, I had today to kill. (Overnighted at the Grider Ridge FS Campground a few miles south of town up the ridge where the PCT joins the (dirt) road for those few miles into Seiad. My sleep was interrupted a bit by several Coyotes singing (got me a bit tense for a while, ready to dash from my "bug-tent" to my car...)
Stopped at the Seiad General Store for a too-filling breakfast of eggs & hash browns & coffee, arranged to leave my bicycle tomorrow morning with the store proprietor couple living behind the store, then off to check out the next traditional "0-day" destination on the trail: the Callahan's Lodge at Mt Ashland, Oregon. Driving the steady uphill eastward along the Klamath River towards I-5 as the mountains tapered off into the Yreka/Shasta "valley" to the east was a bit disorienting, but suggested to me that a bicycle return route from Ashland was possible. (There does not seem to be a very feasible public transit option - the only option I found involves a $28 shuttle from Ashland to the Amtrak station in Klamath Falls, then the same Coast Starlighter midnight train run to Dunsmuir that I was considering to get to Redding a month ago (but declined for the bike ride directly from McCloud to Burney Falls.)
Was greeted at Callahan's by a very practiced spiel of how they catered to PCT hikers, with various package or a la carte deals involving a shower, laundry, a free first beer, an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, a tent site on the lawn overlooked by the porch of their restaurant (I guess it must also be billed as a destination for their more cultured guests to gawk at the summer horde of thru-hikers.) $60 for the whole package, or somewhat steep but not totally ridiculous a la carte prices. They gave me a card for a shuttle service that I haven't yet investigated the pricing for, but only other option they mentioned was the Amtrak one.
So I drove south up NF-20 that the PCT weaves back & forth with between the border and I-5, to investigate a third option, sort of an "out&back" to the border from each end, and a series of short day-hike-bike-loops along the road. This is a paved road up to the Mt Ashland Ski area, then gravel south of there. I took the spur up to the top of Mt Ashland, for some plane's eye views in all directions, topped by a huge white soccer-ball-patterned sphere (radio telescope?) and the usual microwave transcievers.
Continued south on NF20 which gradually became a rougher cobbly road still well short of the border. I decided to retreat instead of abusing my shocks unnecessarily. The out&back might be an overnight from the north side.
With plenty of afternoon left, I drove north then east along route 66 to where the trail crosses that road, and took a gravel road south from there signed "Siskiyou Munument" which piqued my interest because in the Deiad area there were a lot of signs that said "No Monument". The Seiad Store owner had becun explaining what that meant to another customer bu t I was heading out and didn't hear the story, so I'll need to google what the issue is. Looking at the map, the trail in southern Oregon does pass through some areas labeled "Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument", and I think there's a movement afoot to extend that into California, but that's all I know at the moment. (And I don't want to take the time now to look it up.)
Drove on 66 back west to Ashland just to verify that it might be a future bike route from trail to a yet to be researched bus from Ashland and points north. I got gas just before the I-5 interchange - odd to have someone pump my gas for me - noticed another customer give a tip, so I did too (especially after having to ask him to make a second trip to the store to go fetch me a receipt.) Not realizing I was already in Ashland, I continued west on I-5, but decided I didn't want to drive further on I-5 today, so turned around at the next exit, and only then realized I had already passed Ashland. Drove south all the way to Yreka, just to use this McD's to blog this.
OK, done. heading back to Seiad, be back in Yreka tomorrow probably with some dead time mid-day waiting for the bus to Etna, might peck a few lines from my cell phone then.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
done offloading picts & off to Seiad
Sorry, only got to post-date one entry covering that last day of four day hike. falling further & further behind... ...but, more scouting, then more hiking to do...
Back at the Etna Library after nice hike to Kangaroo Lake
Processing Picts again, of course, reluctantly waiting for that long process offloading another 100GB of images from the last four days hiking. Otherwise all washed (self & clothes) caches fetched from the two road-summits, bike & daypack fetched from the Alderbrook Hiker Hut, backpack re-packed and dropped off again at the hiker hut, and eager to head off for Seiad, checking out the Scott River Road from here to there, to see if I will be able (and willing) to bicycle this road, upriver, back to Etna.
Also plan to check out a potential "midpoint food cache" at the Paradise Lake Trailhead, off of Scott River Road apparently near a Ranger Station there - this would be about a 1.5 mile spur trail off of the PCT which would just be an "option" if I ate more than anticipated. But this section from Etna Summit to Seiad is only 50-55 miles depending, and I've already backed that much food in the pack I left. But then, I did enjoy cherry-picking the additional food options I gave myself with the caches I left this last time, and probably saved myself a half hour of water filtering by leaving water there as well. So let's see, saved a half hour of water pumping at idyllic fens that I probably stopped at anyway for picts, added extra food I didn't eat to my pack, and burnt 1-2 gallons extra gas and 1-2 hours extra with my car driving to the two road summits, finding good hiding spots, and picking up the trash and dirty socks afterwards. Not very environmentally responsible. Shame. But then, this whole PCT hiking activity during these summer months is trading rent for gas.
One 32GB CF card done, 2 & a bit of a third more to go.
So I'll try to recall some things about my last hike in additional post-dated posts.
Also plan to check out a potential "midpoint food cache" at the Paradise Lake Trailhead, off of Scott River Road apparently near a Ranger Station there - this would be about a 1.5 mile spur trail off of the PCT which would just be an "option" if I ate more than anticipated. But this section from Etna Summit to Seiad is only 50-55 miles depending, and I've already backed that much food in the pack I left. But then, I did enjoy cherry-picking the additional food options I gave myself with the caches I left this last time, and probably saved myself a half hour of water filtering by leaving water there as well. So let's see, saved a half hour of water pumping at idyllic fens that I probably stopped at anyway for picts, added extra food I didn't eat to my pack, and burnt 1-2 gallons extra gas and 1-2 hours extra with my car driving to the two road summits, finding good hiding spots, and picking up the trash and dirty socks afterwards. Not very environmentally responsible. Shame. But then, this whole PCT hiking activity during these summer months is trading rent for gas.
One 32GB CF card done, 2 & a bit of a third more to go.
So I'll try to recall some things about my last hike in additional post-dated posts.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Last day: Scott Summit to Kangaroo Lake
Finally got myself out of my bag about 6:30 after the sun lit up the squat manzanitas surrounding me and the pine branches I was sleeping under, pleased that I had selected my location so well the night before. With just two miles to my cache at the Scott Road Summit, and no granola bars left, I just packed up after finishing off most of my water, fbut occasiguring I'd have breakfast at my cache, and hoping to make the remaining, I estimated 10 miles to Kangaroo Lake, by mid-afternoon today.
Slowed mainly be some enticing Bear Grass photoops, I passed 3 camper vehicles at the campground, crossed the highway and set down my pack near where I hid my cache on road 40N08 that paralleled the trail, found it and proceeded to have my breakfast, then swapped contents of the can with some garbage and dirty socks, filled my empty liter bottle and drank the rest of the water in the Apple-juice container that I cached. Moving on, looked back to a view that included the road just as a truck with a horse-trailer drove by, took the picture then waved back to their wave. They may have been a trail maintenence crew. I'd been seeing lots of recent hoof prints etc. and evidence of recent trail work - cleared tree falls and re-worked trail through fields of furniture-sized boulders, often, in this area, a mix of reddinsh and whitish and blackish rocks, which I understand to be various types of mafic and ultramafic rocks.
Wish I had a better knowledge of the amazingly diverse geology and geography of this area. [Maybe when I'm done catching up this blog I'll take some more time in this library to browse the geology section here. Jeffrey Schaffer's guide to the PCT through Wilderness Press does give significant mention to the geological features encountered along the trail in his detailed account of the trail, which I have been making a point of reading before I hike those sections and tear out the relevant sections and bring them along and sometimes refer to them during my breaks, but still I find myself puzzling over the actual particulars in front of me.]
Much of the trail today was wooded and thus fairly viewless - the views of ridge-tops filtered through trees, except when the trail passed through more recent clear-cuts or along serpentine and ultramafic slopes or outcrops. The tip of Mt Shasta would appear to the east, and to the west whole distinct mountain ranges of differing morphologies and rock types. I guessed them to be the Trinities and the Marble Mts, but none of them are named or within the range of the narrow PCT-corridor maps that I had with me, and even now not clear or also not named on the DeLorme NorCar Atlas & Gazetteer Road map book that is my in-car reference. (I was thinking of this as I drove back later this evening, looking at the "ridge-tops" from the valley floor that I could not correlate with what I was seeing as I was hiking, probably because from the valley all I could see as lower arms and shoulders of out of sight mountains, and conversely, from the crest-line, the lower shoulders were obscured by trees or insignificant, and the actual range that I was in, presumably the Scott Mountains, could not be "seen" or recognized from within its component ridges and valleys.
In general, from what I know of the geological history of the area, I could easily imagine how these "mountain ranges" could be accreted island arcs, smashed up against the growing greater-Klamath Range as the Farallon Plate collided with the North American Plate, viewed now after some additional alteration by erosion, some polishing, and vegetative cover. But I'm a little surprised how vague the geographic info available to me online now (after an admittedly cursory search.) I'm beginning to think that the photo's I've been taking could serve that additional purpose, providing images of ranges as viewed from the PCT, with compass direction, angles, etc. noted. Lots more work ahead for me, I guess.
In addition to these landscape-scale experiences when I was looking "up", I would also suddenly, as I grunted along viewing the trail in front of me to place my boot next, a creeklet that, when I looked around, would form a fen either up or down-trail, blooming with Shooting Stars, Cobra Lilies, ...others whose names I fail to retain or recall... which would cause me to drop my pack and spend several minutes photographing. Other times, it would be an ultramafic rock garden that I encountered, that likewise would cause me to drop my pack. Often though, it would be just a single outstanding specimen of onion, calochortus, daisy, narrow-leafed mules ear, that would cause me to drop to my knees, pack still on, then, still on my knees, oterh enticing subjects would be revealed to me, and I'd find myself crawling around, rolling around, too engrossed in the photography to releive myself of my extra burden or be deterred by sharp rocks digging into my shins, or mosquitos & flies flying into my eyes & ears.
I began to see it would be late afternoon before I made it to Kangaroo Lake. I had hoped to have time to take a swim in the lake, as I had done with some other CNPSers a few years back on an outing where we visited the lake after taking the Fen trail at the lake. It looked like I would just be refilling my gallon jugs with water there, before rushing off to my other "cleanup tasks", fetching my cashes, that might be about it this day, I'd probably overnight at the Carter Meadows pass after retrieving that cache.
So I did finally get to the ridgetop overlooking Kangaroo Lake. it was 5pm. starting "down" what I presumed to be the top end of the Fen trail, I was a little surprised to have it lead me up to a small knoll. But greeting me there at a higher saddle was an "interpretive sign" that was clearly one of a series that I would encounter on my way down the Fen trail. This one pointed out the ultramafic rock outcrop I was looking at. I also recognized the saddle as the one a group of us CNPSers ad reached a few years back, at that time with much of the trail and area covered in snow, at that time much later in the season. This time, no snow in sight. Instead, one of those amazing rock garden displays that caused me to drop my pack, and roll around among the wildflowers like a bumblebee. I also climbed the little outcrop, getting a nice view of the lake, and of a newly started wildfire, it looked like, to the northeast.
Frankly, I hate careless campfire campers! This was not some lightning caused event! It's been a completely cloudless four days. It had been hazy/smokey from fires on day two and three of this hike, and had only finally cleared up a bit today. The haze of the last two days was from a small fire near Weed, and from another larger fire in Oregon, according to fellow PCT hiker "Iceax" who I met yesterday on the trail, who had heard that from a ranger.
I finally started down the trail, now about 6:30 getting to my ar by about 7pm. Got my water jugs refilled, drove on down through the Scott Valley that I had last bicycled through fie days ago. There was a biker with full saddlebags pushing his bike up the one significant up-hill section between Kangaroo Lake and Etna. I felt good that I had managed (with a lighter load) pedal up that stretch, knowing that there was a much longer downhill on the other side.
Drove up Scott summit, retrieved my cache, back down and on to Callahan (stores were closed) and up Carter Meadows summit, retrieved that cache. It was 8:30. I had left the cache near the little heliport at the parking area on the south side of the road. I knew there was a dirt road going up the north side because I had crossed that road on the trail. I headed part way up that, to the first turnout, and overnighted there.
Slowed mainly be some enticing Bear Grass photoops, I passed 3 camper vehicles at the campground, crossed the highway and set down my pack near where I hid my cache on road 40N08 that paralleled the trail, found it and proceeded to have my breakfast, then swapped contents of the can with some garbage and dirty socks, filled my empty liter bottle and drank the rest of the water in the Apple-juice container that I cached. Moving on, looked back to a view that included the road just as a truck with a horse-trailer drove by, took the picture then waved back to their wave. They may have been a trail maintenence crew. I'd been seeing lots of recent hoof prints etc. and evidence of recent trail work - cleared tree falls and re-worked trail through fields of furniture-sized boulders, often, in this area, a mix of reddinsh and whitish and blackish rocks, which I understand to be various types of mafic and ultramafic rocks.
Wish I had a better knowledge of the amazingly diverse geology and geography of this area. [Maybe when I'm done catching up this blog I'll take some more time in this library to browse the geology section here. Jeffrey Schaffer's guide to the PCT through Wilderness Press does give significant mention to the geological features encountered along the trail in his detailed account of the trail, which I have been making a point of reading before I hike those sections and tear out the relevant sections and bring them along and sometimes refer to them during my breaks, but still I find myself puzzling over the actual particulars in front of me.]
Much of the trail today was wooded and thus fairly viewless - the views of ridge-tops filtered through trees, except when the trail passed through more recent clear-cuts or along serpentine and ultramafic slopes or outcrops. The tip of Mt Shasta would appear to the east, and to the west whole distinct mountain ranges of differing morphologies and rock types. I guessed them to be the Trinities and the Marble Mts, but none of them are named or within the range of the narrow PCT-corridor maps that I had with me, and even now not clear or also not named on the DeLorme NorCar Atlas & Gazetteer Road map book that is my in-car reference. (I was thinking of this as I drove back later this evening, looking at the "ridge-tops" from the valley floor that I could not correlate with what I was seeing as I was hiking, probably because from the valley all I could see as lower arms and shoulders of out of sight mountains, and conversely, from the crest-line, the lower shoulders were obscured by trees or insignificant, and the actual range that I was in, presumably the Scott Mountains, could not be "seen" or recognized from within its component ridges and valleys.
In general, from what I know of the geological history of the area, I could easily imagine how these "mountain ranges" could be accreted island arcs, smashed up against the growing greater-Klamath Range as the Farallon Plate collided with the North American Plate, viewed now after some additional alteration by erosion, some polishing, and vegetative cover. But I'm a little surprised how vague the geographic info available to me online now (after an admittedly cursory search.) I'm beginning to think that the photo's I've been taking could serve that additional purpose, providing images of ranges as viewed from the PCT, with compass direction, angles, etc. noted. Lots more work ahead for me, I guess.
In addition to these landscape-scale experiences when I was looking "up", I would also suddenly, as I grunted along viewing the trail in front of me to place my boot next, a creeklet that, when I looked around, would form a fen either up or down-trail, blooming with Shooting Stars, Cobra Lilies, ...others whose names I fail to retain or recall... which would cause me to drop my pack and spend several minutes photographing. Other times, it would be an ultramafic rock garden that I encountered, that likewise would cause me to drop my pack. Often though, it would be just a single outstanding specimen of onion, calochortus, daisy, narrow-leafed mules ear, that would cause me to drop to my knees, pack still on, then, still on my knees, oterh enticing subjects would be revealed to me, and I'd find myself crawling around, rolling around, too engrossed in the photography to releive myself of my extra burden or be deterred by sharp rocks digging into my shins, or mosquitos & flies flying into my eyes & ears.
I began to see it would be late afternoon before I made it to Kangaroo Lake. I had hoped to have time to take a swim in the lake, as I had done with some other CNPSers a few years back on an outing where we visited the lake after taking the Fen trail at the lake. It looked like I would just be refilling my gallon jugs with water there, before rushing off to my other "cleanup tasks", fetching my cashes, that might be about it this day, I'd probably overnight at the Carter Meadows pass after retrieving that cache.
So I did finally get to the ridgetop overlooking Kangaroo Lake. it was 5pm. starting "down" what I presumed to be the top end of the Fen trail, I was a little surprised to have it lead me up to a small knoll. But greeting me there at a higher saddle was an "interpretive sign" that was clearly one of a series that I would encounter on my way down the Fen trail. This one pointed out the ultramafic rock outcrop I was looking at. I also recognized the saddle as the one a group of us CNPSers ad reached a few years back, at that time with much of the trail and area covered in snow, at that time much later in the season. This time, no snow in sight. Instead, one of those amazing rock garden displays that caused me to drop my pack, and roll around among the wildflowers like a bumblebee. I also climbed the little outcrop, getting a nice view of the lake, and of a newly started wildfire, it looked like, to the northeast.
Frankly, I hate careless campfire campers! This was not some lightning caused event! It's been a completely cloudless four days. It had been hazy/smokey from fires on day two and three of this hike, and had only finally cleared up a bit today. The haze of the last two days was from a small fire near Weed, and from another larger fire in Oregon, according to fellow PCT hiker "Iceax" who I met yesterday on the trail, who had heard that from a ranger.
I finally started down the trail, now about 6:30 getting to my ar by about 7pm. Got my water jugs refilled, drove on down through the Scott Valley that I had last bicycled through fie days ago. There was a biker with full saddlebags pushing his bike up the one significant up-hill section between Kangaroo Lake and Etna. I felt good that I had managed (with a lighter load) pedal up that stretch, knowing that there was a much longer downhill on the other side.
Drove up Scott summit, retrieved my cache, back down and on to Callahan (stores were closed) and up Carter Meadows summit, retrieved that cache. It was 8:30. I had left the cache near the little heliport at the parking area on the south side of the road. I knew there was a dirt road going up the north side because I had crossed that road on the trail. I headed part way up that, to the first turnout, and overnighted there.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Stll trying to get out of town, held back my the internet access here...
Delaying way too long trying to finish up blog posts for last few days after breakfast with Kim & Ron (Petunia & Treehugger) at Bob's Ranch House, whee we all bicycled to - them using "loaner bikes" from the Hiker Hut) Now stuffed and dosed with coffee. But let me now get myself completely packed, change my shoes...
Friday, June 6, 2014
Relaxing in Etna at the Alderbrook Inn Hiker Hut
Got here around noon today after bicycling about 40 miles down from Kangaroo lake and through the pleasantly agricultural Scott Valley. Me and my clothes are washed, I'm fed, have been talking towith another hiking couple from Georgia who've done the AT but were just starting their PCT through hike rather arbitrarily from Oregon just a few weeks ago, running into too much snow northbound near Crater Lake so changed their minds heading south, to no snow. This tells me by the time I get up there in a few weeks, I should be fine snow-wise.
I'm set to get a ride to Scot Summit tomorrow morning along with the other couple, and we'll all be heading south togetehr briefly, probably for the first few minutes before I start taking picts, as they are trying to make abt 18 miles per day, to my 15 or so.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Overnighting with my car at Kangaroo Lake after a morning hike up Mt Eddy
It's been a busy day driving around an unjustifyable amount for questionable reasons
Woke up with the sun hitting my site at Scott Summit early as I had hoped. Got myself ready to go and decided pretty much as I drove onto the road, to head south again back to Parks Creek Summit, to climb Mt Eddy instead of heading north toward Etna as had been my plan.
This simply because I felt good and felt like hiking, and staying at cooler elevations during this heat wave, rather than sitting in the car getting to Etna just a bit sooner than necessary for a possible Friday evening hitch up to Etna Summit, without an overnight stay at the Alderbrook Hiker Hut.
So down Scott Summit then up Parks Creek Summit Road again - feeling like it's becoming a commute going to Parks Creek Summit for yet again. Packed my day pack with some snacks and water filter, and my microspikes and ski poles and snow pants just in case. Another "commute" heading south to the Deadfall Lakes for the 2nd time, it would be third time back, including my "real" PCT hike from Castle Crags to here. Got to the first lake in about 40 minutes (using the ski poles do lengthen my stride) and continued up off the PCT to the upper lakes, now slowing down a bit to take picts, and to refill my emptied liter bottle filtered from one of the higher lakes, but pushing on up the slopes of Mt Eddy, with my usual stops to photodocument the changing vegetation and some of the rocks, and a few hazed over pano's of the changing horizon including distant Castle Crags and the ridge the PCT traversed to the Deadfall Lakes. Got to the summit, a broad gravelly ridge with some remains of two former huts and twisted lengths of cables that used to hold the huts from being blown away by the wind. Today there was virtually no wind, reminiscent of my balmy afternoon on Mt Whitney last year. No snow on the trail, just a few patches around - one long remnant of a drift in the north-east side, making for a fair foreground to Mt Shasta looming to the east. Didn't take a break at the tup, took a break back at the topmost deadfall lake, finally drinking the water I'd filtered earlier and carried up & back unused. Decided to walk around that lake, very interesting boggy meadows around the north side, with a profusion of shooting starts and buttercups, but most strikingly, clouds of mayflies, rafts of mayfly larvae casings on the water, and mayfy larvae covering the lake bottom. Hundreds of mayflies hitching a ride on me. I eventually found my way back to the trail and commuted back to my car, by about 4pm. It was worthwhile for the opportunity to visit the upper Deadfall Lakes.
A bit later than planned, I headed straight for the Alderbrook Manor in Etna, talked (again) with Vicky and Dave Harrison about leaving my backpack, explained my intention to be back tomorrow noonish with my bike, not sure if I would stay the night if it was easier to hitch a ride upFriday evening than Saturday morning, he informed my he offered rides to the summit for $5, sounded good to me, would probably stay the night then.
Off then to Callahan where I again decided, at about 8pm that I had time to leave myself a food & water cache there (sort of had that possibility in the back of my mind though there was only a 20 mile distance on the trail between the two road crossings, and a total of only about 55 miles from Etna Summit to the ridge above Kangaroo Lake, Did so, FWIF. Back down to Callahan, then on to Kangaroo lake, got there just at dusk, parked at the Parking area for the Fenn Trail, which I assumed would be the trail coming off the ridge from the PCT above. It said no camping, but I wasn't building a fire or anything... I had bought a rotisserie chicken in Etna on my way out, and stuffed that down, with some other fresh fruits etc I'd bought.
Next morning it did take me a bit longer getting myself and my bike sorted bike packed than planned, so didn't get bicycling til about 9:30 am.the Alderbrook Hiker Hut the evening of 6/6, with some drousiness from being past my normal bedtime, and distraction from fellow hikers, at 10pm now. got to stop now.]
Woke up with the sun hitting my site at Scott Summit early as I had hoped. Got myself ready to go and decided pretty much as I drove onto the road, to head south again back to Parks Creek Summit, to climb Mt Eddy instead of heading north toward Etna as had been my plan.
This simply because I felt good and felt like hiking, and staying at cooler elevations during this heat wave, rather than sitting in the car getting to Etna just a bit sooner than necessary for a possible Friday evening hitch up to Etna Summit, without an overnight stay at the Alderbrook Hiker Hut.
So down Scott Summit then up Parks Creek Summit Road again - feeling like it's becoming a commute going to Parks Creek Summit for yet again. Packed my day pack with some snacks and water filter, and my microspikes and ski poles and snow pants just in case. Another "commute" heading south to the Deadfall Lakes for the 2nd time, it would be third time back, including my "real" PCT hike from Castle Crags to here. Got to the first lake in about 40 minutes (using the ski poles do lengthen my stride) and continued up off the PCT to the upper lakes, now slowing down a bit to take picts, and to refill my emptied liter bottle filtered from one of the higher lakes, but pushing on up the slopes of Mt Eddy, with my usual stops to photodocument the changing vegetation and some of the rocks, and a few hazed over pano's of the changing horizon including distant Castle Crags and the ridge the PCT traversed to the Deadfall Lakes. Got to the summit, a broad gravelly ridge with some remains of two former huts and twisted lengths of cables that used to hold the huts from being blown away by the wind. Today there was virtually no wind, reminiscent of my balmy afternoon on Mt Whitney last year. No snow on the trail, just a few patches around - one long remnant of a drift in the north-east side, making for a fair foreground to Mt Shasta looming to the east. Didn't take a break at the tup, took a break back at the topmost deadfall lake, finally drinking the water I'd filtered earlier and carried up & back unused. Decided to walk around that lake, very interesting boggy meadows around the north side, with a profusion of shooting starts and buttercups, but most strikingly, clouds of mayflies, rafts of mayfly larvae casings on the water, and mayfy larvae covering the lake bottom. Hundreds of mayflies hitching a ride on me. I eventually found my way back to the trail and commuted back to my car, by about 4pm. It was worthwhile for the opportunity to visit the upper Deadfall Lakes.
A bit later than planned, I headed straight for the Alderbrook Manor in Etna, talked (again) with Vicky and Dave Harrison about leaving my backpack, explained my intention to be back tomorrow noonish with my bike, not sure if I would stay the night if it was easier to hitch a ride upFriday evening than Saturday morning, he informed my he offered rides to the summit for $5, sounded good to me, would probably stay the night then.
Off then to Callahan where I again decided, at about 8pm that I had time to leave myself a food & water cache there (sort of had that possibility in the back of my mind though there was only a 20 mile distance on the trail between the two road crossings, and a total of only about 55 miles from Etna Summit to the ridge above Kangaroo Lake, Did so, FWIF. Back down to Callahan, then on to Kangaroo lake, got there just at dusk, parked at the Parking area for the Fenn Trail, which I assumed would be the trail coming off the ridge from the PCT above. It said no camping, but I wasn't building a fire or anything... I had bought a rotisserie chicken in Etna on my way out, and stuffed that down, with some other fresh fruits etc I'd bought.
Next morning it did take me a bit longer getting myself and my bike sorted bike packed than planned, so didn't get bicycling til about 9:30 am.the Alderbrook Hiker Hut the evening of 6/6, with some drousiness from being past my normal bedtime, and distraction from fellow hikers, at 10pm now. got to stop now.]
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Short bike, short overnight hike between Parks Cr Summit
Had overnighted at Parks Creek Summit intending to do Mt Eddy summit in the morning.but it was very hazy and I ditehred about most of the morning not too enthusiastic about the prospects and investigating the alternative overningt out&back to Kangaroo Lake I had planned to whittle off a piece of the Etna to Parks section which would allow me to eliminate a bus component of the loopback.
Looking at the maps, I thought I might turn that out&back into a partial loop, by bicycling down the west side for a ways and taking one of several possible trails climbing up to the trail closer to Kangaroo lake, turning a 3 mile loop that the PCT took around a large valley into a one-way walk. Drove down to locate some of those trails, all three were very faint, not recently used, but there was a dirt road that paarlelled one of those trails, the lowest one, heading to Bull lake, which would eliminate the largest amount of out&back on trail.
So that's what I did, stashed my bike at the bottom of that dirt road, hiked up the road then went cross country along what turned out to be a wonderful series of wet meadows and Darlingtonia bogs (pitcher Plants) except conditions were very dry. Meanwhile a thunderstorm was building up, and by the time I got to Bull lake, I had to find cover from lightning and some fits of rain/small hail. Found a small pine that I could wrap my plastic paint-drop-cloth around for rain protection, crawled underneath that (after removing all the deadwood there was enough room for me on a soft bed of needles. Saw a couple of bicyclists come up the same valley I had and camp on the other side of the lake (this was off-trail and the PCT coincided with another trail in that area.)
Next morning I couldn't find my phone, and wasted an hour looking all over for it, trying to remember where I saw it last, thinking it may ave been at a rest stop I'd taken just before leaving the dirt road, when the phone's battery had died and I was about to put in another, but then got distracted... Gave up trying to remember, and going through my pack and my camp site area, I decided to continue on with the plan, hiked my pack up to the trail at ridgetop, left my pack there, hiked on to above Kangaroo Lake with just camera and bottle of water, took picts, came back to my pack, saw the bunch of bikers resting at the trail there, chatted with them a bit asking if they'd seen a cellphone, then proceeded to check one more time in my backpack, and found it. Yay! Saved me a half day later retracing my steps. Made the long loop around the valley rim back to my car, by midafternoon, enough time to still make it to Etna to verify at the Hiker Hut that I could leave my pack there for my next section, and possibly leave a food-cache at Scott Mt Pass (not that I needed to leave a food cache, but it would be on the way to Etna anyway, so why not? Um, because I'd need to spend more gas retrieving my cache-can, maybe?)
Anyway, did leave a cache, decided to stay at Scott Summit for the night since it was getting late, planned to get to Etna tomorrow morning and maybe to the bike shuttle from Kangaroo Lake same day though that would have me bicycling in hot afternoon down in the valley. Oh well.
{Note, this post was written morning of june 7 just before hitching up to Etna Summit. A bit rushed -should doublecheck this post when get a chance later for factual and technical goofs, distracted because also "visiting" with my the other hiking couple, Petunia & Treehugger (Kim & Ron.) ]
Looking at the maps, I thought I might turn that out&back into a partial loop, by bicycling down the west side for a ways and taking one of several possible trails climbing up to the trail closer to Kangaroo lake, turning a 3 mile loop that the PCT took around a large valley into a one-way walk. Drove down to locate some of those trails, all three were very faint, not recently used, but there was a dirt road that paarlelled one of those trails, the lowest one, heading to Bull lake, which would eliminate the largest amount of out&back on trail.
So that's what I did, stashed my bike at the bottom of that dirt road, hiked up the road then went cross country along what turned out to be a wonderful series of wet meadows and Darlingtonia bogs (pitcher Plants) except conditions were very dry. Meanwhile a thunderstorm was building up, and by the time I got to Bull lake, I had to find cover from lightning and some fits of rain/small hail. Found a small pine that I could wrap my plastic paint-drop-cloth around for rain protection, crawled underneath that (after removing all the deadwood there was enough room for me on a soft bed of needles. Saw a couple of bicyclists come up the same valley I had and camp on the other side of the lake (this was off-trail and the PCT coincided with another trail in that area.)
Next morning I couldn't find my phone, and wasted an hour looking all over for it, trying to remember where I saw it last, thinking it may ave been at a rest stop I'd taken just before leaving the dirt road, when the phone's battery had died and I was about to put in another, but then got distracted... Gave up trying to remember, and going through my pack and my camp site area, I decided to continue on with the plan, hiked my pack up to the trail at ridgetop, left my pack there, hiked on to above Kangaroo Lake with just camera and bottle of water, took picts, came back to my pack, saw the bunch of bikers resting at the trail there, chatted with them a bit asking if they'd seen a cellphone, then proceeded to check one more time in my backpack, and found it. Yay! Saved me a half day later retracing my steps. Made the long loop around the valley rim back to my car, by midafternoon, enough time to still make it to Etna to verify at the Hiker Hut that I could leave my pack there for my next section, and possibly leave a food-cache at Scott Mt Pass (not that I needed to leave a food cache, but it would be on the way to Etna anyway, so why not? Um, because I'd need to spend more gas retrieving my cache-can, maybe?)
Anyway, did leave a cache, decided to stay at Scott Summit for the night since it was getting late, planned to get to Etna tomorrow morning and maybe to the bike shuttle from Kangaroo Lake same day though that would have me bicycling in hot afternoon down in the valley. Oh well.
{Note, this post was written morning of june 7 just before hitching up to Etna Summit. A bit rushed -should doublecheck this post when get a chance later for factual and technical goofs, distracted because also "visiting" with my the other hiking couple, Petunia & Treehugger (Kim & Ron.) ]
Monday, June 2, 2014
Another "wasted" day in the Shasta Library and McD's in Weed.
Offloading picts, of course, from my last few days from Castle Crags to Parks Creek summit.
Taking extra long for technical reasons as usual - which is why I say "wasted": feeding the needs of the technology. This time around, I filled up the 1tb Toshiba hard drive, and have been "inventorying" the other three drives I have along. Deciding to clear out my Toshiba "A" drive that held photos from 2012 Jan thru July. I've got those backed up on several different larger drives in various places around the country (thanks Liz & Becca!)
Have also been catching up on news, some "good", actually, like this:
http://www.pcta.org/2014/pct-tejon-ranch-step-closer-19979/
This reinforces my justification for leaving that one last SoCal PCT section undone "indefinitely": namely the "aquaduct-walk" between the "hiker Town" Hostel on hwy 138 at Lancaster's 269th street, where I left off, and hwy 58 at ___ road, where I resumed. When I was at Hikertown, I talked to the owner who said he had purchased a new house on 300th street to be ready to relocate his Hikertown when the trail moved there. This still has the trail going down all the way to the valley level, though the route coming off of Liebre Mt diverges just before reaching Pine Canyon Road, heading essentially directly north to cross hwy 138 at 300th Ave instead of eastward to align with 269th street at hwy 138.
It then will head northeast into the "foothills", I call them, of the Tehachapi range. I guess the newsworthy milestone reported in the above link is the assurance that the viewshed from those foothills into the Tehachapi Ranch lands will be protected by easements procured by the Tehachapi Ranch Conservancy. Of course, due to these foothills being Condor habitat etc., there are additional hoops to negotiate before an actual trail can be constructed. Years away, still, they say. Ah well, maybe this new years eve., I'll hike or maybe "poach-bike" this quasi-roadwalk.
Note: the term "poaching the trail" refers to bicycling a trail closed to bicyclists. So I learned from Bodfish, the bicycling enthusiast who owns a bike shop in Chester, CA on Lake Almano SE of Lassen Park, that I visited while "passing through" there last fall. I bought a very brightly yellow-orange-green-colored t-shirt from him, that I sometimes wear while bicycling, and a self-published biker guide - I actually bpought that at a bookstore also in town, then made sure to stop at his store to ask him about his experience publishing that, because it seemed similar in "style" to what I envisioned my book-to-be, tentatively entitled "Section-Hiking the PCT with your road-bike and the bus". He said it was a lot of work, for little gain, essentially. Oh well.
And now I've totally side-tracked myself, forgetting how much time it takes to write up even this wee bit. It's way past my bedtime, and still have miles to go before I can sleep: I started at the Shasta Library as I said. meantime, somewhere between these lines, that library closed, I went outside to looming thunderclouds, took some snaps I hope to share eventually, moved on to buy a rotisserie chicken at Ray's Market (ubiquitous grocery chain in this area) wolfed it down with a bag of salad mix, moved on, filled my water bottles at the downtown town water faucet (by the police station across from the Fifth Season Store where I bought my new hiking pants the other day) moved on through a bit of rain and lightning to Weed where I entered the McD's just as their power went out, briefly. Here I've been.
Plan to be back at Parks Creek summit tonight, will probably do an overnight out& back hike tomorrow to above Kangaroo Lake. This is a potential Car-drop-off for me as it's a bike-coast down to Callahan and from there to Etna, which will be my starting point for the next section that I'll do north to south, from Etna Summit back to Kangaroo Lake. We'll see. I may also, after that overnight O&B north of Parks Creek Summit, go south for a day-hike up Mt Eddy. We'll see.
As usual, hope to post-date accounts of my actual hikes...
Taking extra long for technical reasons as usual - which is why I say "wasted": feeding the needs of the technology. This time around, I filled up the 1tb Toshiba hard drive, and have been "inventorying" the other three drives I have along. Deciding to clear out my Toshiba "A" drive that held photos from 2012 Jan thru July. I've got those backed up on several different larger drives in various places around the country (thanks Liz & Becca!)
Have also been catching up on news, some "good", actually, like this:
http://www.pcta.org/2014/pct-tejon-ranch-step-closer-19979/
This reinforces my justification for leaving that one last SoCal PCT section undone "indefinitely": namely the "aquaduct-walk" between the "hiker Town" Hostel on hwy 138 at Lancaster's 269th street, where I left off, and hwy 58 at ___ road, where I resumed. When I was at Hikertown, I talked to the owner who said he had purchased a new house on 300th street to be ready to relocate his Hikertown when the trail moved there. This still has the trail going down all the way to the valley level, though the route coming off of Liebre Mt diverges just before reaching Pine Canyon Road, heading essentially directly north to cross hwy 138 at 300th Ave instead of eastward to align with 269th street at hwy 138.
It then will head northeast into the "foothills", I call them, of the Tehachapi range. I guess the newsworthy milestone reported in the above link is the assurance that the viewshed from those foothills into the Tehachapi Ranch lands will be protected by easements procured by the Tehachapi Ranch Conservancy. Of course, due to these foothills being Condor habitat etc., there are additional hoops to negotiate before an actual trail can be constructed. Years away, still, they say. Ah well, maybe this new years eve., I'll hike or maybe "poach-bike" this quasi-roadwalk.
Note: the term "poaching the trail" refers to bicycling a trail closed to bicyclists. So I learned from Bodfish, the bicycling enthusiast who owns a bike shop in Chester, CA on Lake Almano SE of Lassen Park, that I visited while "passing through" there last fall. I bought a very brightly yellow-orange-green-colored t-shirt from him, that I sometimes wear while bicycling, and a self-published biker guide - I actually bpought that at a bookstore also in town, then made sure to stop at his store to ask him about his experience publishing that, because it seemed similar in "style" to what I envisioned my book-to-be, tentatively entitled "Section-Hiking the PCT with your road-bike and the bus". He said it was a lot of work, for little gain, essentially. Oh well.
And now I've totally side-tracked myself, forgetting how much time it takes to write up even this wee bit. It's way past my bedtime, and still have miles to go before I can sleep: I started at the Shasta Library as I said. meantime, somewhere between these lines, that library closed, I went outside to looming thunderclouds, took some snaps I hope to share eventually, moved on to buy a rotisserie chicken at Ray's Market (ubiquitous grocery chain in this area) wolfed it down with a bag of salad mix, moved on, filled my water bottles at the downtown town water faucet (by the police station across from the Fifth Season Store where I bought my new hiking pants the other day) moved on through a bit of rain and lightning to Weed where I entered the McD's just as their power went out, briefly. Here I've been.
Plan to be back at Parks Creek summit tonight, will probably do an overnight out& back hike tomorrow to above Kangaroo Lake. This is a potential Car-drop-off for me as it's a bike-coast down to Callahan and from there to Etna, which will be my starting point for the next section that I'll do north to south, from Etna Summit back to Kangaroo Lake. We'll see. I may also, after that overnight O&B north of Parks Creek Summit, go south for a day-hike up Mt Eddy. We'll see.
As usual, hope to post-date accounts of my actual hikes...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)