Backpacking

[falafel]

Didn't see this until now. That's amazing BP. Looking at my 9 year old and there is no way she would even want to attempt something like this.

We just had our High Adventure. Being the great scouter that I am I planned a week in the Outer Banks full of activities like bodyboarding, sunbathing, a baseball game, and an all you can eat seafood buffet. I had one parent ask me what kind of High Adventure this was and I replied the kind you get when I am put in charge of scouts. I can honestly say that your girls are 100x tougher than my YM. There is no way that they could have handled something like this. They were upset that it was too windy most nights to play Magic the Gathering. No way their packs could have held their decks.

Maybe the high adventure portion in your camp comes from braving all the shark attacks.

[BigPiney]

My respect for your women is off the charts. If the youngest bails, where will your wife and the other daughter go after Tuolumne Meadows? On my much more modest trip in that area, we went down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne which is spectacular. Is the missus carrying more than one bear canister?

Technically the John Muir Trail goes from The Top of Mt Whitney (you have to hike up there somehow) to the Happy Isles Trailhead in Yosemite Valley. That is 211 miles or so. Because of permits they started 30 miles south of Whitney. If she were to bail she would be missing the 18 mile leg down to Yosemite Valley, but still have completed 222 or so miles. I think she can claim the whole thing.

My wife is carrying 1 large canister(garcia), one 1/2 size canister (bearikade) and a bear proof sack (mainy to keep the rodents out).

[BigPiney]

Just got a phone call and all have decided to endure to the end. As of last night they were ready to be done. Especially after going over Donahue pass in unrelenting rain. But runing into 2 girls from town at their campsite last night and waking up to clear skies this morning changed their outlook. This is despite the fact that they took a wrong turn (their first of the trip) and ended up hiking at least 2 miles out of the way and then having to return from whence they came. They are enjoying ice cream at the moment and are going to knock out the remaining 22 miles in the next 2 days in time to catch the bus that leaves the valley.

I look forward to picking them up on Tuesday evening, though that is going to be one stinky ride home.

[SteelBlue]

So impressive. Mrs. Piney should do a write up and shop it to some of the outdoor magazines.

[PaloAltoCougar]

So impressive. Mrs. Piney should do a write up and shop it to some of the outdoor magazines.

Absolutely. I'd find the story of a mother with two young girls doing this hike more interesting than Cheryl Strayed's Wild. While her trip was of shorter duration, BP's wife has done something far more impressive.

[Surfah]

Maybe the high adventure portion in your camp comes from braving all the shark attacks.

That's been crazy. We had some very concerned parents. All the attacks have been south of where we were though so I wasn't too worried. They've been blaming the warm water for the attacks, but the water measured just 58° at Jeanette's Pier when we were in Nags Head. It was freezing.

[BigPiney]

They are in Yosemite valley. They made it. Just finished eating some pizza and now they are heading over to the showers. No stinky drive home.

They catch their bus ina few hours and we will drive up and meet them just after 7.

I am so proud of them. After seeing them the first day, I can't believe they made it. Amazing. And they finished 2 days early. 242 miles or so in 23 days.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Incredible.

Your girls are either going to become backpacking pros or vow never to put on a backpack again.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

They are in Yosemite valley. They made it. Just finished eating some pizza and now they are heading over to the showers. No stinky drive home.

They catch their bus ina few hours and we will drive up and meet them just after 7.

I am so proud of them. After seeing them the first day, I can't believe they made it. Amazing. And they finished 2 days early. 242 miles or so in 23 days.

Very inspiring. Makes me want to drag my kids on a coast to coast ride.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Truly amazing. Let the women know there are a bunch of guys who have followed their trek with great interest, and who acknowledge the women would destroy them on the trail. Most kids have spent the last three weeks playing video games or otherwise fiddling with their screens, thereby adding to their substantial girth. What your girls were doing while their contemporaries fattened up is beyond impressive.

[Sullyute]

Truly amazing. Let the women know there are a bunch of guys who have followed their trek with great interest, and who acknowledge the women would destroy them on the trail.

I second this. Pretty awesome feat your wife and daughters have accomplished.

[bluegoose]

This weekend was our fourth annual dudes backpacking trip into the trinity alps in Northern California. We've chosen a different section of the alps for each of our trips and have not been disappointed with any one of them. This one was no exception.

This year we decided on an area of the alps called the Four Lakes Loop. There are several different trails from which you can access the loop, as it is buried deep in the heart of the alps. We chose the Stoney Ridge Trail. It is 8.2 miles to the loop itself, gaining about 4,000 feet of elevation in the process. Once you reach the loop, it is an additional 5.2 miles and 2,000 feet of elevation gain to complete the circuit.

We chose Stoney Gulch trail based on a number of recommendations from online blogs. It is comprised of 57 switch backs in the trail, which help to gain the majority of the elevation gain. It was a very pretty section of trail, surrounded by giant ponderosa pines and incense cedar trees. There was also a number of huge granite slabs and fields, as well a large alpine meadow called Red Mountain Meadow.


About 4.5 miles into the trail you reach Stonewall pass, aptly named for a 3 foot high hand-placed stone wall built over the crest of the mountain saddle, initially built to contain cattle years ago.


But the stone wall wasn't the impressive part of the summit. As we crossed the divide we were immediately taken to a different world. Down below was massive Van Matre Meadow, filled with stands of evergreen trees, year round creeks, and spotted with beautiful clusters of mountain ponds. It was unreal to see this place for the first time. The Meadow was surrounded by numerous high, jagged mountain peaks. In the distance we could see the high peaks which make up the white Trinities, the destination for our three previous backpacking trips.


After descending for just over a half mile of very steep terrain we then began the climb up to our base camp destination - Echo Lake. Echo lake is set at about 7,200 feet and is settled in a deep granite cirque on three sides. The open side is a cascading 400 foot waterfall down into Van Matre meadow. It is facing due west, making for an ideal location for watching the sunset.


I hiked in with Steelblue. 3 of our other friends had left about 6 hours before us to get a head start and scope out a good campsite. We were fortunate to have the Echo Lake basin to ourselves the first night. There are a number of nice campsites around the lake and up on the granite ledges overlooking the lake. We camped at a nice spot just on the eastern shore of the lake near the spring-fed inlet.


Saturday morning we awoke early to get a good start on our day hike. The weather was perfect for hiking, with daytime temps in the mid 70s and mostly sunny skies. The day hike consisted of a 2 mile hike toward deer lake pass, the start of the Four Lakes Loop. Just before the pass we travelled through Silago Meadow, a 3 tiered meadow which was spotted with stands of pine and cedar trees, with a pretty creek running through the middle of it. This was probably our best chance of seeing an elusive black bear, but alas, all we got to see were a couple of black tail deer.


From Deer Lake pass we were greeted with our first views of not only Deer Lake, but also Silago Peak, the summit around which the Loop travels.


As we began to travel westbound on the trail we hit the first saddle which gave a view of the second lake on the loop, Summit Lake. It was a fairly good sized lake, sitting at a fairly high elevation of about 7,400 feet. It was a bright blue/green color set in a fairly dark peridotite rock cirque.


It was at this point that we changed our travel plans and decided, instead of completing the entire loop, to bag the summit of Silago Peak.

After wandering around for 100 yards or so on the lower slopes of the mountain we found a fairly well-defined use trail which followed the spine of the mountain to the summit.

After climbing for about 25 minutes we completed the 700 foot final ascent to the summit at just under 8,200 feet. The view from the top was spectacular! We had a 360 degree view of the entire Trinity Alps range. We were able to see three of the lakes on the loop, including diamond lake. The fourth lake, Luella, was hidden from our view to the north.


In the distance we also had a great view of 14,162 foot Mt Shasta and in the even further distance over 100 miles to the east, 10,453 foot Mt Lassen. We also had one of the best chances in all of the alps to see the contrast in the different types of rocks that make up the range, with the various regions descriptively named the White Trinities, the Green Trinities, and the Red Trinities.


After descending from the summit, we had actually considered then completing the loop, but decided against it, knowing that whatever views we were afforded from hiking the loop wouldn't be nearly as impressive as the view from the top. So we headed back to camp for a nice afternoon swim in the lake.


Our second evening at camp we had a couple of other groups set up camp in the area. Their mistake, as a couple of friends were pretty loud and boisterous that night, much to the chagrin of the ever-considerate Steelblue who spent the entire evening telling those guys to shut up so our neighbors could enjoy the evening solitude.

We also had a camp visitor for much of the evening- a PhD post-doc gal from Belgium working on Bio Fuel research for two years for the national forest service out of UC Davis. She was a very cool lady, who seemed pretty fearless to choose to hang out around the campfire with 5 rowdy strangers.

Sunday morning we didn't waste a whole lot of time around camp, as everyone was ready to hit the trail back home fairly early. Despite having to climb back out of the meadow valley it was by far our easiest hike out of our camp in the alps. We were back at the cars about 2 hours after leaving the lake 5 miles earlier.

Another awesome outdoors trip is in the books. Love the annual getaway into the mountains!!!

[SteelBlue]

Excellent report, BG. Not much to add but a couple of pics:

View of the White Trinities from Siligo Peak
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Early morning light on Echo Lake (this was the view from our tents)

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Approaching Siligo Meadow
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[Pelado]

Beautiful hike.

[mtnbiker]

Very cool. Thanks for the pics & write-up.