*** Official Backpacking Thread ***

afoaf

Duke status
Jun 25, 2008
49,204
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Mount Dana?

Hey did Afoaf get lost on the Backbone? Or arrested for illegal camping?
I finished it!

took me a while to recover after that one...

day one, met my friend at La Jolla Canyon start...easy hike in the morning...made it to Sycamore Canyon and started up towards Sandstone from there. it got hot and exposed and the gain is just nonstop for like 5 miles or so...TONS of water. we were gassed by the time we got to the top.

on the way down, my god...I ran in to the same guy at the same trailhead at Mishe Mokwa that I did on last year's attempt after getting water out of the seep just below the lot, we weren't even going to go back up that way but I thought it would be a better cutoff to get us back on trail and voila! there's the man...he gave us his bologna sandwich and his pepsi. when we resumed hiking, my mp3 player randomly pulled up Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies...total magic.

found a good sleep spot on first night on the etz motorway whatever, lots of wind, and a raccoon being eaten alive by a chupacabra woke me up screaming at like 3 am! next day, up and off before sunrise, misty morning hiking through to kanan road.... latigo canyon to corral canyon and down Piuma.

ordered Uber Eats McDonalds at Piuma trailhead and have never had a better cup of Coca Cola...started to go up the trail to Saddle Peak for the night, accidentally plonked my foot right in to the water crossing Malibu Creek, shoes got wet and all my blisters popped...DISASTER. I was wrecked.

it was dark and we were BUSTED after the descent to Piuma trailhead, the pitch is STEEP... so we decided to call an Uber to hitch a ride up to the top of Saddle Peak (don't judge me...)....we couldn't get cell reception so we had to road walk back down to the lot to get signal and book a lift....we probably walked as far doubling back as we would have to get up the next peak, but it was downhill...I'm still counting those fkn miles.

poor dude barely spoke english and so we couldn't explain why we looked so stupid and why we were asking to be dropped off at the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere in the pitch dark, but that homie got us there and got a big tip.

I had pre-cached beer and fresh water at the target destination for night two near Saddle Peak earlier in the week so we hiked in to it from the drop off, had a couple beers, peed in the bushes, and crashed the fk out with a kingly view south across santa monica bay.

up before sunrise the next morning and started down towards Topanga on some busted ass feet.

got to Old Topanga Rd and decided to walk in to town to get hot human food....decided to hitch, put our thumbs out and in less than a minute someone beep beeped us and picked our sorry asses up. cute older couple coming out of their driveway the same moment we decided to thumb it...on their way to church. more magic.

smashed a bagel with lox and a quiche and a juice and a cigarette and started walking...the rest of the day was brutal hot, all exposed, tons of fkn wankers on the trail behaving badly. hit "The Hub" and caught some shade...did the math on the map and realized while I thought we had 10 left to the car, we really only had 6

FKN PUMPED

it was all downhill from there...knees beat, ankles beat, feet all open sores and leaking puss in to my crusted over socks and shoes...didn't fkn matter, just ground it out, singing along...no one on the trail on that section until right up you get outside Will Rogers

It should be a 4 day hike, not 3. 3 is way too fkn much struggle. you should see the vertical gain and loss....each day you climb and descend two pretty legit peaks...sea level to like 9-12,000 feet....PUDS...pointless ups and downs

have a hankering to get back out, but all the good stuff is still closed due to storm damage...might still be able to squeeze a Joshua Tree run in

check this sh!t out!

 

r32

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Apr 1, 2005
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Day hiking again. Kaiser Pass / China Peak area at Indian Pools. Short 5 mile hike to a Ferta Falls.

Shaver Lake was max capacity with water at the top of the dam. Also max capacity with boaters and lake go-ers. Both boat dock parking lots were full and the road was lined with cars and more boat trailers. No parking spots anywhere.

Huntington Lake, same thing. Max capacity water and people. 20+ sail boats on the water. Lots of people camping. Very crowded. Boat trailers everywhere.

Trailheads were also packed. Almost full parking lot at Indian Pools. Good grief. :roflmao:

Half way to the falls, cumulous clouds started to form to the east. Thunder cracking but no rain. We were on the edge of the storm. Then we got the falls and there were only two other couples. After 30m, clouds started getting dark again and thunder louder. The other two couples left and we were the last ones out.

In 5 minutes of packing our stuff and walking to find the trail again, sky went from partially blue to "ok we're going to get drenched or hit by lightning, let's gtfo." Started raining and haling on us before we got 100' from the falls and we're hiking on big slippery granite boulders. No rain gear so we were both soaked instantly.:roflmao:Stopped under the smallest tree I could find and tried to wait out the storm. 10m later, still hailing and downpouring I said fuck it, let's go. :monkey:

Half way back to the car, stopped raining and in 5 minutes, clear blue sky again. Classic summer storm.

Got back to the car around 6 and only car in the parking lot. On the way down the hill, we could see towards Yosemite big dark clouds forming. And then as night fell, big cracks of lightning up there. It was dramatic and awesome.

Truly an all-time summer for waterfalls.


Huntington Lake before we got to trailhead.

1691948071278.png


One of the Indian Pools along the creek.

1691947984429.png


Dark clouds moving in over the falls. But yah, let's just stay here with no cover, on these soon to be wet slippery granite fields. :roflmao:


Another pool
1691948360667.png



When we first got to the falls vs when we decided to leave.

1691948505945.png
 

Joshua2415

Tom Curren status
Jul 18, 2005
12,709
11,475
113
San Clemente
Day hiking again. Kaiser Pass / China Peak area at Indian Pools. Short 5 mile hike to a Ferta Falls.

Shaver Lake was max capacity with water at the top of the dam. Also max capacity with boaters and lake go-ers. Both boat dock parking lots were full and the road was lined with cars and more boat trailers. No parking spots anywhere.

Huntington Lake, same thing. Max capacity water and people. 20+ sail boats on the water. Lots of people camping. Very crowded. Boat trailers everywhere.

Trailheads were also packed. Almost full parking lot at Indian Pools. Good grief. :roflmao:

Half way to the falls, cumulous clouds started to form to the east. Thunder cracking but no rain. We were on the edge of the storm. Then we got the falls and there were only two other couples. After 30m, clouds started getting dark again and thunder louder. The other two couples left and we were the last ones out.

In 5 minutes of packing our stuff and walking to find the trail again, sky went from partially blue to "ok we're going to get drenched or hit by lightning, let's gtfo." Started raining and haling on us before we got 100' from the falls and we're hiking on big slippery granite boulders. No rain gear so we were both soaked thoroughly instantly.:roflmao:We stopped under the smallest tree I could find and tried to wait out the storm. 10m later, still hailing and downpouring I said fuck it, let's go. :monkey:

Half way back to the car, stopped raining and in 5 minutes, clear blue sky again. Classic summer storm.

Got back to the car around 6 and only car in the parking lot. On the way down the hill, we could see towards Yosemite big dark clouds forming. And then as night fell, big cracks of lightning up there. It was dramatic and awesome.

Truly an all-time summer for waterfalls.


Huntington Lake before we got to trailhead.

View attachment 160417


One of the Indian Pools along the creek.

View attachment 160416


Dark clouds moving in over the falls. But yah, let's just stay here with no cover, on these soon to be wet slippery granite fields. :roflmao:


Another pool
View attachment 160418



When we first got to the falls vs when we decided to leave.

View attachment 160419
I love that area. Last time my family and I camped at Huntington lake was 2012 and it was not crowded at all. We hiked the Indian pools trail and saw maybe 3 or 4 people out there. Then drove up to Kaiser pass (sketchy drive with those really narrow sections) and explored around a bit.













 

manbearpig

Duke status
May 11, 2009
29,772
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in the bathroom
Got a project in Fort Collins I need to follow up with. Thinking I’m going to extend my time and do 2-3 days in the back country fly fishing. Anyone have any experience with the Rockies in that area? Have one plan roughly laid out to start at Grand Lake, fish North Inlet and then follow Ptarmagin creek up to Ptarmagin lake.
 

r32

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 1, 2005
17,937
9,463
113
Cambria
Got a project in Fort Collins I need to follow up with. Thinking I’m going to extend my time and do 2-3 days in the back country fly fishing. Anyone have any experience with the Rockies in that area? Have one plan roughly laid out to start at Grand Lake, fish North Inlet and then follow Ptarmagin creek up to Ptarmagin lake.
Take bear spray. Bigger chance of seeing bears there than the Sierras.

My best friend lives in Fort Collins area. They get crazier thunderstorms much worse than what we see in the Sierras typically. Big storms that last all day and plenty of lightning too. Larger hail, etc. Be prepared for that and alert if those cumulous clouds start forming. Holding/carrying a fishing pole when one of those big storms role in is a bit nerve racking. Feels like you're holding a lightning rod.
 
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manbearpig

Duke status
May 11, 2009
29,772
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in the bathroom
Take bear spray. Bigger chance of seeing bears there than the Sierras.

My best friend lives in Fort Collins area. They get crazier thunderstorms much worse than what we see in the Sierras typically. Big storms that last all day and plenty of lightning too. Larger hail, etc. Be prepared for that and alert if those cumulous clouds start forming. Holding/carrying a fishing pole when one of those big storms role in is a bit nerve racking. Feels like you're holding a lightning rod.
Yea experienced one of those thunder and hail storms last weekend hiking to a popular alpine lake. Figured about the bear spray.

IMG_1349.jpegIMG_1345.jpegIMG_1321.jpeg
 

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r32

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 1, 2005
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Cambria
I miss going to Florence and Courtwright.
Shaver / Huntington
Wishon / Courtright
Cliff / Bullfrog / Rock / Island (Dinkey Wilderness)
Edison / Florence

Bass / Mammoth Pool

Grant / Silver / Gull / June
Gem / Ruby / Thousand Island / Garnet

Eleanor / Cherry / Hetch Hetchy
Utica / Union / Spicer Meadow

Endless lakes and trails to explore. Been going to central Sierras my entire life and still haven't come close to seeing every lake, every trail, and summiting every peak. Sucks we only have so much time in life to explore and adventure.