Elevation Gain: Approximately 2500 ft.
Time: Sat. 10:50 am - Sun. 2:20 pm
Weather: Light rain, overcast with periods of heavy rain and periods of no rain.
There are days now where I know I need to be out in the woods; Saturday was that kind of day. A little over a week ago, I started thinking I was going to go somewhere overnight. I hopped onto my favorite site, www.wta.org, and there was a hike posted under their "Hike of the Week" section that sounded perfect for an overnighter. I sent an email out to the Outdoor Club from my school to see if there were any kids who wanted to come along. I got no response, except for a young man who works at my school, who has recently become an outdoor instructor for the school. Then at graduation last Saturday, I bumped into an alum from last year who had said he wanted to join me on a hike and when asked if he wanted to join he said yes.
The three of us met early on Saturday and took off for the trailhead. We made it there by 10:40 am, geared up, and hit the trail by 10:50. The trail took off along the East Fork of the Foss River, and about 5 miles in, the trail crosses the river and heads west, up into the Necklace Valley. There is a camp right before the river crossing, and this was our destination. We were there around 12:45 pm. We set up camp, had lunch, and explored the area. Around 2:30 pm, we were getting a tad restless and decided to continue on the hike as far as we could with only water bottles.
The trail after the crossing, got steep, fast. It was fun, but I was definitely happy my pack was not on my back. We got glimpses of the ridges that make the valley in between the dense fog and cloud cover. We hit snow at about 3200 feet, and with only minimal gear, we decided to stop. I was happy we made it up pretty far, but I am a little sick of the snow cutting off the high country.
We came back down, and I prepared dinner. My new thing is to make dinner for friends in the backcountry. Many people invite friends over to their homes and make them dinner, but I have decided I would much rather take a friend camping and prepare dinner out there. I made a pizza appetizer and a pasta main course. I was a little lazy on dessert; we had a big Cadbury® Dairy Milk Caramel Chocolate bar.
We cleaned up after dinner, brushed our teeth, and hung our food and smelly items (we were in bear country). Sitting around camp, the boys started talking about card games, and I was too tired to stay awake. I got into my tent around 9 pm and was asleep as soon as I could get into my sleeping bag. I woke up a few times, but I still was able to sleep till about 8 am. I got up, got the food down, made hot coffee, and sat by the river.
After three cups of coffee and some solid reflection time by the river, I woke the other boys up at 10 am. We ate breakfast and started breaking camp around 11 am. We were on the trail by noon, we hiked a solid hour then took a 30 minute break, and we were back at the car at 2:15 pm.
Orchid: Making it up into the Necklace Valley Saturday afternoon.
Onion: Leaving Sunday morning. Why I can't I live out in the wilderness?
Picture:
Google Map
No comments:
Post a Comment