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Jim Herson
climber
Emerald Hills, CA
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Jul 29, 2015 - 01:23pm PT
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A wonderful adventure that just keeps on getting more awesome with every mile. Tricia's spunk and tenacity inspire us all. Having Katie join the next leg will be the best. Savor the moment.
-Jim
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 8, 2015 - 06:30pm PT
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I've been taking Jim's advice to savor the moment. I've also been savoring the good fortune that put us in a place where we could have this adventure, along with the good health to enjoy it (we went to a funeral today - of a man I went to high school with - so I'm really feeling lucky about these things right now).
We had a good trip, now finished.
I posted to Mudn'Crud about the first two days:
DAY ONE:
We had fun at a wedding in Eureka before heading east, through Redding to the trail. Vicki, Tricia and I spent Sunday night at tiny Mud Lake Campground at the south end of Hat Creek Rim (where we'd spent the last three nights of our last trip).
Vicki would pick up Katie in Redding late on Monday afternoon, so Tricia and I used part of Monday to almost finish this rim, starting right where we finished off last time:
We got moving quickly and started right into nice views (here's most of the Hat Creek Rim looking back south/toward Lassen Peak):
Although we should have been able to see Mount Shasta quite well, smokey conditions made the great mountain invisible:
We met Vic at Forest Road 22 (a good gravel road parallels the PCT about half a mile to the east along most of this rim; Road 22 crosses the road and the trail, and so meeting us was easy):
Easy, open and warm hiking continued from there:
Our dogs join us on these hikes and we let them run free. Normally they stay pretty close to us. But this particular afternoon they ran ahead at one point. By the time I missed them, it was too late; we came around a corner to see them in this (yuk!):
Although they loved the "water," we were less than impressed (we had to laugh though - we love these darn girls so much that there was nothing else we could do):
Soon we were done hiking for the day. Vicki dropped us off in camp to spend the afternoon while she went to pick up Katie. They arrived back in the evening. We spent time catching up, eating, and visiting with through-hikers (the last of the season were coming through next to our camp). We laughed a bit (a lost roll of paper towels was worth a few laughs in itself):
And then we went to bed, looking forward to tomorrow, the end of the Hat Creek Rim and a day with three of us on the trail again.
DAY TWO:
We had the clearest skies of our trip on Tuesday (which meant that Katie got to see the view from the rim, including getting a good view of Shasta). And we finished the Hat Creek Rim, passed mile 1,400, and started across the flats toward Burney Falls on this day too. Finally, today we had a dog "incident" that left us laughing, crying and wondering how, how, our pets can be so crazy at times.
Of course we started the day where we'd finished the last:
A short walk led us back to the rim:
And then, in two miles, we finally started dropping down off the rim:
It started getting hot in the flats. We had some shade, and we definitely had some views:
We passed yet another "hundred mile" marker (third one this summer!):
After ten miles of hiking we closed in on two small reservoirs (and a small town a mile away, a power plant, and a trout hatchery; all the trappings of civilization and near-civilization):
And then, just as we neared actual water, we crossed a seep that created a flow of mud across the trail. Hallie, our younger dog just dropped. It was hot, but it wasn't all that bad. It was dry, but we'd given the dogs plenty of drinking water. But Hallie must have had enough - she was hot and she wasn't going to take it any more ("Hurricane Hallie" is one of her nicknames):
Unfortunately, once a dog gets "wet" that dog shakes off (we should have known better than to stand and watch). Katie got the worst of this and I got a good load of mud too. Tricia was behind. But only she thought to take a photo:
Fortunately we were coming up on Hat Creek. And it was deep. And dogs, even brown dogs that were previously red, are fairly "rinsable:"
We continued now, actually between two reservoirs, closing in on Highway 299 and the end of the hike:
We were surprised to see pelicans here:
We came across a water cache (fresh and icy water):
Tricia took some time here, looking over the register (she's gotten to know the "trail names" of many of this years through-hikers - hell, we've actually met many of them too - and she likes to see who's gone past already). She also signed us in:
And then shortly we saw the road, our truck, and our own trail angel waiting on the Highway (who, come to think of it, has gotten to know even more through-hikers than us):
It was short drive from there to McArthur/Burney Falls State Park where Vicki had us set up in a campsite (we'd hike to and then through the park in the next two days).
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MikeMc
Social climber
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Wow! I stumbled upon this last night at about 9pm; at 2am I realized I should probably finish it later.
Now that I have finished, all I want is more. Such an awesome drawn out adventure for all of you!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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I just love this thread. It was especially fun to see the comparative photos of what the girls looked like when you started the adventure and how much they've grown in the meantime.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Excellent thread. Keep it coming.
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Norton
Social climber
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I have loved this thread from the beginning, just wonderful.
Thanks so much for all the time and effort you put into sharing this with us!
And what a wonderful wife, daughters, and dogs too.
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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*
Brad..
Good to see your eldest daughter got to join back in on the trail.....
Your doggie pictures made me laugh out loud, great captures ...That area is a notoriously Hot section of the trail .Thanks goodness for mucky ponds, mud and clear cold water...
Cheers..and thanks again for the adventures.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 9, 2015 - 03:24pm PT
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... and how much they've grown in the meantime.
Jan: We feed them. A lot :)
We attended our second funeral today in as many days (this time one of our high school teachers who taught both me and daughter Katie in high school). That's enough funerals for quite some time to come please; we like weddings better (although both seem to have a way of making one focus on the good times and the good luck).
I've finished days three and four now (maybe the last of this thread for some time to come):
DAY THREE:
On day three we moved quickly to Burney State Park and Britton Reservoir. What easy hiking:
This hike was about as level as PCT hiking can get. Tricia found one higher spot on the trail from which to take a good representative picture:
The trail crosses Burney Creek only about a mile upstream from Burney Falls itself. And the creek here - one mile above the falls - is bone dry:
Here's Burney Falls (photo taken the same day!). We later walked from the bone dry PCT bridge area to the falls, along the creek; all of this water emerges from the ground as a creek slowly over the course of less than a mile (from tiny puddles to some water to a little water flowing to a full on flow). It's amazing:
We ran into one "problem" today though. Once we approached Britton Dam we faced a narrow section of trail onto the dam itself and we didn't have hard hats. We snuck past anyway (and note in the second photo a through-hiker - "One Step" - he'd been hiking with us for a while this day):
And then we wrapped it up for the day at a dirt road north of the dam (returning to camp for that evening):
DAY FOUR:
We only had four days to spend this trip. Between Vicki's family's wedding in Eureka, Katie's job in Santa Barbara, and Tricia having to be at a Girl Scout backpacking camp, we were only on the trail from Monday through Thursday.
Thursday we started north from Britton Lake, approaching Mount Shasta (we'll traverse almost due west to I-5 and Castle Crags now, skirting about 15 miles south of Shasta):
We were back in mostly forest this day, with the occasional vista (especially down to the Pit River):
Vicki's drive out to our end point intersected the PCT near Rock Creek. So she hiked out to meet us there:
We continued to the car, had lunch, and then pressed on (for the rest of the day in deep forest):
Conditions this afternoon were unfortunate too. Fires, especially a big one north of Clear Lake, resulted in very smokey skies. This was slightly irritating to the eyes and throat; it also meant that any views we might have had were just blurry when we saw them:
And that brought this trip to an end. Katie is back in Santa Barbara now, Tricia is at the Girl Scout backpacking camp "Two Sentinels" (they put her in an advanced group, the "Rovers," even though she's never been there before).
It might be it too for this year's PCT hiking. We'll see. Tricia's got school starting in two weeks, and so long trips certainly won't be possible. But the terrain we'll be in for the next 70 trail miles varies in elevation from only 3,500 feet to a little over 5,000 feet. It's also not all that far from paved highways. So we could conceivably do a three day trip there in October (and we've talked with our friends the Dawsons about doing just that). We'll cross that bridge in the next several weeks.
Meanwhile, I really ought to resume my climbing career. I haven't climbed that much this summer (yet - there's plenty left), and I think some of my climbing partners might be thinking of me as an "ex" climber by now (Roger, Joel and Brian?).
But more PCT this year or not, we're pretty darn happy. We've done over 270 miles of trail in 2015, averaging about 13 miles per day. The line on our living room map of the PCT is way, way farther north than it was just a few months ago:
And we've had a lot of fun.
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10b4me
Social climber
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Aug 10, 2015 - 07:53am PT
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That picture of Hallie, in the mud pit, is great.
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johnboy
Trad climber
Can't get here from there
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Aug 10, 2015 - 09:47am PT
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Bump for the best thread ever.
Ive enjoyed each leg of your hike.
Thanks so much.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 1, 2015 - 01:41pm PT
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Alright, we're outahere for the last PCT trip of 2015!
We'll meet the Dawsons in Burney and stay there tonight. Then three days on the trail. If all goes as planned we'll make 40 miles, putting us about one mile south of McCloud Reservoir and two day's hike from I-5. That would be the perfect place to resume next June.
The weather looks good (up there, starting tomorrow). Hoping for smooth hiking.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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Thanks for a great thread. & the best to you & your's.
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susu
Trad climber
East Bay, CA
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First time seeing this thread it's wonderful!
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 5, 2015 - 10:15am PT
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We finished a great PCT trip yesterday afternoon. I started a trip report on Mudn'Crud under the title:
"The PCT Volume 29: Crisp and Cool, a Gutsy Girl, and Mount Shasta"
DAY ONE:
Our end-of-the-year trip was great fun and a great success. We had cool, crisp temperatures that were perfect for hiking. We got close up, amazing views of Mount Shasta (man that thing is huge). We traveled 38 more miles of the trail in three days, bringing our total mileage for 2015 to just under 310. And we reached a low elevation on our way west to I-5 which should set us up perfectly for an early (May or June) start to next year's season.
But first the "oh crap, I don't believe it" part of the story.
A week before we started, Tricia was at her class's eighth grade outdoor camp for three days. On the last day there her best friend didn't feel well. And of course, a few days later, by the Sunday before this PCT trip, Tricia didn't feel well either.
She had a fever that day, which persisted into Monday. She also commented a few times on Sunday that her feet hurt. This last comment seemed strange, but as experienced parents we chalked it up to good old "oh well." We did keep Tricia home from school on Monday though; usually a fever indicates that one is contagious. It was only when Vicki called the school to tell them that Tricia wouldn't be at school that day, that it all fell into place: apparently several of the Twain Harte Elementary school kids had "Hand, Foot and Mouth disease."
Yeah, we hadn't ever heard of it either. Apparently this virus afflicts only kids. It results in fever and in blisters on the hands, the feet and in the mouth. That evening Tricia's hands hurt. And she showed us some blisters on her feet. But by then her fever was also gone.
Fever-less for nearly 24 hours, "T" went to school on Tuesday. She definitely felt better. On Wednesday she insisted that, blistered feet or not, she was going to run in her cross country race (and she did). We stopped worrying and checking at that point; these events, up through Wednesday afternoon, led Vicki and I to assume that her small bout with what I'd jokingly called "Hoof and Mouth disease" (which I have heard of) was over.
Um, not quite.
We'd given this tough little girl the option of bailing out on this PCT trip because of her feet. She scoffed at us. I'd suggested that we could possibly start hiking on Saturday instead of Friday to give her feet anther day of rest. She told me that she'd be "fine." So we went as scheduled, hiking nearly 15 miles on our first day alone.
Call it Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, or call it Hoof and Mouth disease. Call it any funny name or call it a mildly amusing little sickness. Call it only painful and annoying. Call it free range parenting. Call it what you want. Just please don't call Child Protective Services. Here's what Tricia's feet looked like two hours before we started hiking:
We'd driven up to the town of Burney the night before so we could start hiking early on Friday. We met our friends the Dawsons there. In the morning we found one of those "all American," small town diners and had a hearty breakfast:
And then it was out the dirt roads to where we'd ended our last trip, near Peavine Creek:
The first miles of hiking on this day were mostly in forest:
The PCT isn't in wilderness here. And just like it crosses roads, the trail must also cross other accoutrements of civilization (at least we got a good long-distance view):
And then, about three miles into the hike, we got our first view of Mount Shasta from the trail (wow!):
After this first view, the trail opened up nicely for most of the rest of the day:
We got a view of Castle Crags (it's on the other side of I-5 from this view-point, about 50 miles away):
Tricia had time for a few selfies (one of which Steve got to photobomb):
Alex tried to hold up Mount Shasta with a single finger (as a hiking crew, we know all the modern photo-taking tricks):
After just over 13 miles of hiking we reached a dirt road at Bartle Gap. We knew that Vicki would be waiting for us a mile down this road (she couldn't drive that mile because of a locked gate). During this mile we saw these (the first of very, very many we would see, especially on our second day):
We were happier to see her:
This last bit of road ended a wonderful day of hiking and views. One with extraordinarily clear skies and brisk Autumn temperatures that made the movement a pure joy. We then finished by piling into our cars and driving to Ash Campground over near McCloud Reservoir (we intended to finish our hike right at this campground after two more days).
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 6, 2015 - 09:07am PT
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Alright, I finally got the day two photos uploaded.
DAY TWO:
Temperatures on day two were noticeably cooler. Our first mile-plus on the road back up to the trail at Bartle Gap required us to wear all the clothes we'd brought with us:
We hiked the first third of the day mostly on the north side of a long, east/west ridge system. The lack of sun and a cold wind kept us wrapped up and moving:
We took a break at one nice, sunny, open area:
A second open spot on this side of the ridge gave us the day's first views of this great feature:
Although Steve's back was acting up today, he seemed to have a great hike anyway (and the movement helped with the stiffness). At times he and Alex hiked ahead:
Eventually we crossed to the south side of the east/west ridge. Temperatures jumped and the views multiplied. We stopped for lunch:
Beautiful hiking, west on a ridge-line followed (this shot shows the rest of the day's hike, including Grizzly Peak):
Views alternated to the south, the west, and the north. Here's the town of McCloud from 40 miles away:
And the Castle Crags again (right of center):
And that gorgeous mountain:
At one point we could see much of what we'd hiked on the the PCT behind us (all the way to the steep dirt and rubble escarpment that we'd hiked the edge of yesterday; it's in the far background, right of center):
Finally we started traversing under the south side of Grizzly Peak, toward our end point for the day. Here the amounts of bear poop became just crazy. Yes, we'd seen their tracks since late yesterday. And we'd seen many, many huge piles of their poop too (mostly filled with the remains of dark berries):
But here, on the south side of Grizzly Peak (how appropriate) it got to the point where the kids counted more than 100 plops of bear poop in a third of a mile! Here are two example photos; these were taken about 100 yards from each other. Each shows, on the trail itself, six or seven separate poops:
Here's what they appear to have been eating:
Now, I'm not obsessed with poop and I'm not even obsessed with bears (although it was a big disappointment for us that we didn't see even one live bear). But holy wow, I've never seen anything even close to this. Alright already; the clear answer to the age old question is "yes." And they do it in vast quantities.
Eventually we made it around to the west side of the peak and found our "always there" chaperone:
We got a view today of Lassen Peak (in the deepest background of this shot):
And that wrapped another great hike (and set us up for a very, very easy 10 miles tomorrow - just enough to make some progress and still get home on a school night):
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 6, 2015 - 08:19pm PT
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DAY THREE:
Our last day was as cruiser as a day on the PCT can get. We hiked 10.3 miles at a gradual downhill, ending right in Ash Campground were Vicki and the cars were waiting for us.
We started where we'd left off, again with clothes on for cold temperatures as we hiked down forested canyons:
The miles flew by. We took a break at a sharp bend where the trail cut into Butcherknife Canyon (another one of those names):
The kids were fascinated by a "sap waterfall" coming from a fir tree:
Fairly soon jackets were off:
Flora started to change (more oaks, fewer deciduous trees):
We came to Road 11 (which we'd driven to get up to our start point):
Tricia and Alex were in the lead at this point in our hike. They hoped to sneak into Ash Camp on the short section of trail from Road 11, so I got "shushed" by Tricia (it didn't' work - Vic was hanging out in a chair, looking right at the trail and saw them quickly):
And that wrapped it up for the trip and for the 2015 season. The trip home was long, but we've done longer. And we were all satisfied and comfortably tired (even the dogs):
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johnboy
Trad climber
Can't get here from there
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The thread that keeps on giving.
Looking forward to next springs startup,
Thanks.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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This is such a wonderful thread Brad. I really look forward to the updates. Fun to watch your kids grow up as well. Thanks,
Marty
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