Hiking the PCT in Consecutive Pieces With Two Daughters

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mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 14, 2017 - 07:48pm PT

So as to help with your PCT-withdrawal...

Aaaaah... you made it worse. We're never even gonna get to Washington at this rate....

clinker

Trad climber

Santa Cruz, California

Aug 15, 2017 - 06:29am PT

You have the best bad news.

healyje

Trad climber

Portland, Oregon

Aug 15, 2017 - 07:18am PT

Our very own Homeric saga continues...

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 15, 2017 - 07:50am PT

Thanks for the nice comments.

I might mention too that daughter Katie wrote two blog entries for the Grand Canyon trip. I really like her writing style, although she's not very subtle sometimes :)

These are fairly long entries (each takes maybe ten minutes to read?), but, I think, very well done and entertaining (and no, as yet there's no "Katie's view" on our PCT shenanigans). I got her permission to post links here in case any of this post's readers want to read her perspective:

https://lifeofk2.wordpress.com/grand-canyon-2/grand-canyon-week-1/

https://lifeofk2.wordpress.com/grand-canyon-2/grand-canyon-week-2/

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2017 - 03:54pm PT

I’m about as happy as a pig in sh#t right now. My family loves me.

We’re on our way to Oregon. Yes it’s insane to go up for another 30 or 35 miles of PCT. But they’ve taken pity on me. We’re gonna get in two more days so that I can survive until next summer.

Jay S

Mountain climber

Silver Gate, Mt

Sep 1, 2017 - 07:04pm PT

Have a great trip!

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2017 - 09:55pm PT

Thanks Jay.

Both daughters are with. All four of us again. Almost to Oregon now.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 5, 2017 - 08:14pm PT

I opened a thread on Mudn'Crud under the title: "The PCT Volume 34: The Quick Fix."

We did it. We crammed all we could into a three day weekend and still made it home yesterday in time for Tricia to do her AP History homework. Here's how it went.

September 2, 2017

Tricia was thrilled in early August when she made the J.V. Volleyball team. But, of course, she had to be at team practices every day after that, and as a result we didn’t get an August week on the PCT. So, I proposed a crazy three day run to Oregon over Labor Day Weekend. To my pleasant surprise, all three girls - Katie included - agreed.

The long drive up to Klamath Falls seemed worth it once we’d reached Windigo Pass on Saturday morning. Although Klamath Falls is still an hour and a half drive from Windigo Pass, we were there and ready to start hiking by late morning:

The trail in this part of Oregon is odd in a way. There are so many lakes in Oregon’s portion of the Cascades and yet significant portions of the trail stay along the crest and are bone-dry from about mid-summer on. As a result, most PCT through-hikers are pretty thirsty by the time they reach Windigo Pass. Trail angels have stepped into the gap though. Here’s Tricia looking at the Windigo Pass water cache (trail angels had left more than 50 gallons of water here, most of it in bombproof five gallon bottles):

Conditions upon arrival are very different than they were in July. It’s a little hotter. The roads and the trail have been used a lot more since then and are very dusty. And the smoke is just terrible (there are something like 30 fires within 50 miles):

Still, we make progress. Vistas (or what would be vistas) open up:

Soon Cowhorn Mountain is visible:

Cowhorn is like much of this part of the Cascades; it emerges directly and abruptly from rolling forest and is very dramatic:

Naturally the smoke continued. Here is our first “view” of Summit Lake (look especially in the gap between trees, about a third of the way from left to right, and then also right of that):

And, in what otherwise would have been a spectacular sight, here’s Diamond Peak as we were able to see it this day (look for patches of snow on the peak, just right of dead center):

More forest hiking:

After just under 12 miles we reached the shore of Summit Lake:

This is a big lake. We traversed halfway around its west shore, expecting to find Vicki somewhere (it’s Labor Day and we expect crowds, and she intends to set up camp where and as availible). Sure enough, when we find her, she’s found a spot well away from crowds; she’s set up and watching the trail, waiting for us to show up:

Although the lakeshore is crowded, we’re off the road a way and (other than the occasional car passing by on the dirt road and the pleasant- sounding wedding ceremony across the lake) we’ve got quiet and peace:

Mighty Hiker

climber

Outside the Asylum

Sep 5, 2017 - 09:33pm PT

The north end, last Thursday, with Donald's family.

About 25 km round trip, plus about 700 m elevation.

The Diamond Creek fire about 20km to the east, which is apparently now threatening Mazama.

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

ne'er–do–well

Sep 5, 2017 - 11:16pm PT

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 6, 2017 - 07:12am PT

Way to go Anders. They look pretty happy to have made the hike.

I envy the blue skies shown in your photo (even if they don't look like they were going to last long).

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 6, 2017 - 07:30am PT

Here's the rest of the PCT part of this trip:

September 3, 2017

I wake Katie up this morning with a hot cup of coffee. I ask her “what were you doing 22 years ago today?” She smiles and then laughs. It’s her birthday and I’m pretty jazzed that she’s here on the PCT with us.

Our morning is slow, but nice:

We’re over to the trailhead and hiking by 9:00 a.m.:

The same conditions apply today; a little cooler, but still very, very smokey:

We can at least see Diamond Peak as we start around its east side:

Again, vistas open up but they're not vistas (but who's really complaining, I'm completely thrilled to be here with my girls, even without views):

Slowly uphill:

The east side of Diamond Peak has some open, alpine terrain (and a reliable creek for water and a break):

The four-leggers prefer larger bodies of water:

We started our slow descent to Odell Lake and Highway 58. Along the way we saw this fabulous fungus:

We reached PCT mile 1,900:

A little more forest hiking (we passed the lake without being able to see it):

By just over 17 miles for the day we were at the highway:

Another 100 yards brought us to a good stopping point (for the trip and the season):

And that was that, the quick fix.

We finished 17.2 miles before 4:00 in the afternoon. So we headed off. First to the town of Klamath Falls where we had birthday dinner for Katie at a fairly fancy restaurant. Then to spend the night in the Hat Creek area just north of Lassen National Park. The discerning reader may recognize Mud Lake Camp as a place we'd stayed for several nights two Augusts ago. The drive to this point got us halfway home and also set us up to do a California County highpoint before driving home on Monday (photos of that appear below).

The fix worked. I got just enough PCT to end the season happy. For those who worried (no-one), I'll be OK now until next summer.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 6, 2017 - 08:27am PT

September 4, 2017

Brokeoff Mountain is about five miles from Lassen Peak (both are in the national park). It's the highest point of Tehama County, California:

The hike to Brokeoff's summit is on a Park Service maintained trail. It's a seven mile round trip. Katie's feet really hurt after 30 miles in two days and she was worried about the effect that the steep descent would have on her knee. She skipped this hike, hanging out instead with Vicki and the dogs (she was right about the descent - I was definitely done for a few days after Tricia and I finished!).

Here are a few shots of Tricia and my ascent:

Summit shots with Lassen in the background (the smoke prevented views of Mount Shasta):

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but like I said above, it was just what I needed (and Vicki and the girls seemed pleased too).

Now I/we lay low for a while, becoming a climber again and maybe getting some backpacking in. We'll be back though; next summer our goal is to at least finish Oregon.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 1, 2018 - 09:49pm PT

Winter is done and my thoughts have slowly started turning to this coming summer and the PCT. We'll have more time than in 2017 (no two week Grand Canyon trip). I'm looking forward to it.

Meanwhile we did some non-PCT hiking for this year's spring break. We did a six day loop backpack in the San Rafael Wilderness, behind Santa Barbara.

I fell in love with the "San Raf" when I was a student at U.C.S.B. in the early '80s. It's some of the least traveled and wild wilderness in California (in my experience).

The trip report below is on Mudn'Crud under the name "Spring Break 2018: the Lower Sisquoc Loop." It references the fact that Vicki and I got engaged to be married while doing an eight day backpack in the San Rafael in 1992. it also references a different trip (and Mudn'Crud trip report) in which Vicki and I and both girls repeated most of our "engagement" backpacking trip 20 years later (in 2012). For anyone that likes this report, here's a link to the one from 2012:

http://www.mudncrud.com/forums/index.php?topic=1582.0

DAY ONE:

The Young family had a great time on our spring-break San Rafael Wilderness backpacking trip. We enjoyed perfect weather, just-right water flows, and great conditions.

The itinerary this year was the same as for our 2012 "twentieth anniversary of getting engaged" trip: the lower Sisquoc River loop. In 2012, the trip took five days. Six years have passed since then though. This means that on this trip Vicki and I are older. Vicki in particular is coming up on 60. Nowadays her first choice for vacation isn't backpacking; however much she loves the wilderness, the hard movement takes a physical toll. But Katie and Tricia have gotten bigger and tougher in six years. The combination of older, bigger and tougher means that, with careful planning and weight distribution (more on the girls, almost nothing on Vicki), we were able to do the loop again, this time in six days.

At Nira Trailhead parking:

Getting started (notice the girls' packs):

I started out this trip with a little less weight than in 2012 (big loads but relatively short distances so that that Vicki can join us - it's all so, so worth it):

The San Rafael Wilderness is one of the real gems of California's back country venues. It's relatively unknown (I've gone for literally days back there solo without seeing another person), and just gorgeous. It's lower reaches, along Manzana Creek look like this:

The first ten miles of this loop trip are on Manzana Creek. The first day ends at Manzana Schoolhouse Camp, where this creek joins the Sisquoc River. There's little elevation change in that ten miles, but the trail crosses the creek 33 times (!!). We wore river-type shoes the whole day:

This shot shows the last hundred yards of the trail into Schoolhouse Camp. Wheat Peak is in the background. On our 1992 "engagement" backpacking trip, Vicki and I continued a quarter mile past the campsite to a bivy on the south bank of the Sisquoc, under Wheat Peak. That's where we got engaged:

Manzana Schoolhouse is a wonderful springtime destination. We got there early enough for the girls to "chill" (to use the vernacular favored by our now 22 year old recent college graduate):

End of the day stretches:

Setting up camp:

DAY TWO:

Day two started with a pretty but chilly morning:

Then we were off, across Manzana Creek and up the Sisquoc:

In 1992 and 2012 the obvious trail out of Schoolhouse stayed on the river floodplain. This route gained no elevation, but required repeated river crossings. In early 2018 the Los Padres Forest Association Volunteers re-worked the old trail for three miles. The old trail takes a higher route on a bench above the river. The new trail requires some 150 feet of elevation gain, but overall is easier:

One advantage of hiking higher is that there are really great views of the river (the disadvantage was that, unlike on the 2012 trip, this year we did not pass the site where Vicki and I were camping when we got engaged):

As always the trail along the middle part of the lower river is sporadic. This is understandable though; the floodplain here is broad, and floods come every 10 or 20 years. Keeping a trail in existence along the floodplain is hard. So in part the trail moves up on benches and in part it just crosses the river a lot:

I realized on this trip that, after all these many years of hiking and backpacking, the two girls could easily, easily do a trip like this without me, just the two of them. Or either could go solo and be just fine. Continuing with the thought: in a way, this was a dream trip. Not only did I have all three (five) girls along, Katie and Tricia were both totally "on" all the "chores" involved in a trip like this. From finding the trail to finding and making a campsite (including set-up, clean-up and cooking, all of it), both girls did their "share" plus, plus.

Of course one "disadvantage" that arises from their skill and strength is that they did not always wait up for us (and sometimes got as far as three miles ahead before letting Vicki and I catch up). Here they are on a river bench, way, way ahead (squint for this shot, looking for two little blobs just up and left of center):

We lunched in Mormon Camp, on rock benches that others had left:

We're off up-river after lunch:

Not all river crossings are alike. Some are easy:

Some not so much:

We spent our second night at Miller Base Camp. Grass, oaks, and afternoon sun:

Oh, and removing sticker-burrs from thick retriever fur:

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2018 - 07:51am PT

DAY THREE:

Three beauties in the morning sun:

Food scraps to rule them both, food scraps to find them, food scraps to bring them both and in the morning bind them:

Day three started with a river crossing right out of camp (surprise). Here are Vicki and Tricia getting going again, after changing shoes:

And then the girls (four of them) were off, at their own pace:

We all tended to gather again when the river crossings got close together:

Recent rains left interesting drying mud:

Above Cliff Camp the pattern changed and we followed trails up on the canyon slope for almost three miles:

Sometimes though the side-of-the-canyon trails go way into side canyons. The distance is longer then, but the hiking is way easier:

Looking up-canyon at some of the least crowded large wilderness in California:

A perfect rest rock:

Parts of the Sisquoc were sparsely settled up to around 100 years ago. Ruins (and some non-ruins, like the 101 year old schoolhouse at Manzana Schoolhouse Camp) remain:

As with our 2012 trip, we spent night three in Sycamore Camp.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2018 - 07:53am PT

DAY FOUR:

Sycamore Camp was chilly on our fourth morning. We knew that the cold wouldn't last though:

We started the morning with a river crossing, regrouped afterward, and then two bad-ass daughters headed up the trail:

While me and my beloved moved out at our own pace:

The Sisquoc canyon narrows in this area, an area centered on the Forrester's Leap side-canyon. Cliffs make hiking on the river hard. Instead, the trail moves up the canyon wall and then down to a crossing. The pattern repeats about five times. We knew we'd see the human girls at the next crossing when we spotted this retrieving fanatic in the river, expecting a stick (NOW!):

And yep, there are the humans. And there goes a stick:

We do a lot of climbing and hiking with our friends the Dawsons. They've never been on the Sisquoc River with us though. But the oranges that they give us from their wonderful tree now have:

There were lots and lots of zenas (I think that's what these are) this year:

And then up and out of the river. Vicki is easy to see in this photo. Check out the background though for two monster hikers that she and I raised; they're already across the river again and heading up switchbacks:

Vic enjoys the trips at her own pace:

The afternoon heat got to Vicki this day. I wetted her bandana and hat when I could:

And used the river to cool myself down too:

We finally met up with the girls again near South Fork Camp:

Although Vic wasn't looking forward to it, we also decided to grind out the 2.5 miles of uphill to White Ledge Canyon now, after the heat of the day was done. But it was still warm. And exposed:

Of all the times I've been through and camped at White Ledge Camp, I've seen other people there (or nearby) on one occasion. This evening was different though. Nine people shared the camp (all were very pleasant neighbors). Is word getting out about this secluded and perfect "off-season" backpacking area?

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2018 - 03:57pm PT

DAY FIVE:

In 2012 we made it from Sycamore Camp out to the car in two days. The effort ground me to a pulp then, and all three girls were pretty tired too.

This year, the shorter hike from Sycamore to White Ledge Camp was a push, but we were all OK afterward. The next morning we were fresh and ready again:

Some morning reading (with friends):

Tricia got new hiking shoes just before the trip. Before that she'd gotten a new pack, one that fits her perfectly (thanks for the help Rosie). This trip she was very pleased with both:

She also thought my "hat hair" was pretty funny:

The morning was taken up by the hike up out of White Ledge Canyon:

Soon we were on the edge of Manzana Creek's canyon (it is a loop trip):

Switchbacks lead down into the canyon and then to Manzana Narrows Camp:

When Vicki and I were halfway between the bottom of the switchback and Narrows Camp, we heard the funniest and certainly strangest comment of the trip.

We'd come across four frenchmen hiking up-canyon. One spoke English well. Another, one who's English wasn't as good, started asking us what we knew of ticks and Lyme disease. He'd had a tick bite him and he was a little worried. Vicki and I explained that only certain ticks carry the disease and that it was unlikely to be passed on from a tick that hadn't been "in" for more than 24 hours.

Vicki carried on further, explaining how to clean and sterilize the wound. She advised using alcohol for sterilizing. "Do you have any alcohol?" Oh yes, they had some. However the fluent English speaker looked concerned. After a moment's thought he exclaimed, with alarm: "but that is for drinking!"

Oh well, I guess priorities are priorities. And partners may not always come first ;)

Narrows Camp is well-shaded and has nice, deep pools. I've never not at least stopped there for a break (and I've camped there many times):

We made Ray's Camp that afternoon, with extra time left over for relaxing:

Ray's is only five miles from Nira Trailhead, so this fifth day set us up for an early exit (and food - we were running a little short by this point).

DAY SIX:

Gear is an odd thing. Sometimes it lasts forever. And then it doesn't. This trip a plastic bowl and two small lighters that I've backpacked with since the 1980s all failed/broke on the same day. And a pair of reading glasses I've used for more than 10 years did too.

At least I was able to salvage the reading glasses for the rest of the trip (to, of course, serious eye-rolls from the daughters):

We’d had just enough food left for a light dinner last night. This morning we had enough for a light breakfast (but with coffee - Vicki always gets her coffee), and nothing more. We were literally out of food, not a morsel left after the last meal on a six day trip (in retrospect, another freeze dried dinner and about six bars would have been perfect). Luckily we only had five miles to hike to the car.

With a five mile hike, there aren't many photos of our last day. I took a few though of one tree.

I've been hiking through this part of the Manzana Canyon since 1980. I've been up and down it 25 times or so. And every time I've been there I've seen one "out of place" big cone spruce, right on the canyon floor. Big cone spruce usually grow up at higher elevation, and in cooler, north-facing draws. One can only imagine the flash flood 75 or 100 years ago that likely carried tons of rocks and debris and thousands and thousands of seeds down this far into the Manzana. And of all the seeds, one grew.

This is one of my favorite trees anywhere, this big cone spruce:

We drove home after finishing the trail. We cleaned up and got ready to enjoy Sunday, April 1 at home. Easter Sunday. And April Fools Day. But, more importantly, Tricia's 16th birthday. For her birthday we went to a matinee production of "Mama Mia" at our local (and excellent) Sierra Reparatory Theater. Here's proof that yes, my girls can clean up: