Pacheco Falls in Henry Coe State Park

Just back from another weekend jaunt to Henry Coe. This time was not a solo trip and it was great to have some company. Jacob came up with the idea to check out Pacheco Falls, +/- 14 miles from the Hunting Hollow entrance. After nailing down dates and transportation logistics, Jacob, David and I came up with a plan. I met Jacob at his house and we took the Bart over to meet David.

The ride to the entrance was fine, I snoozed in the back of the car for a bit (I did get up at 5 am). We ate lunch at the trailhead and then David realized that he forgot the rest of his food and had to go back into town for more. Therefore, Jacob and I headed out, planning on meeting David later at our campsite. The day was just about perfect for hiking, good temperature and a nice breeze. It was a good thing too, those hills are pretty serious and we were sweating our way up and down trails.

Great exercise but as we headed up our last major climb my legs were like "Dude, you want me to do this again?" I had to give them a little pep talk, and they agreed to cooperate. We dropped down into a valley where the falls were located and made it there about an hour before dark. David joined us about a half hour later and we enjoyed the falls while trying to avoid the loads of poison oak everywhere.

Pacheco Falls

We made camp up by Wood Duck Lake, with the ducks making grunting noises all night long, it was pretty funny. Do those things sleep?

Evening by Wood Duck Pond

Sunrise

I spent the morning wandering around taking photos. The red-winged blackbirds were especially rambunctious, spring is in the air.

The rather odd Zpacks Duplex

David was rocking the hammock

I slept in my bivy, as usual and had a wonderful nights sleep. Had some weird dreams about horses and bees but its all good.

After a leisurely breakfast we cranked out the miles to get back to the trailhead.

Jacob messing around

David, test subject #1

Jacob and I both had a number of ticks on us, David seems to be immune.

After getting dropped off at the Bart and getting back to Jacobs, I had to hit up Punjabi Dhaba on the way home for some awesome Indian food!

Overall, it was a great trip with great company, I can't think of too many better ways to spend the weekend.

The Secret of Oh-Bay-Yo-Yo

Every place with a history has its secrets, Joshua Tree National Park is no exception. Before it was protected as a national monument in 1936 (to become a national park in 1994) the land was open for exploration and exploitation. Although Native Americans had lived there for the previous 5000 years, it wasn't until the 1800's that the area began to see drastic changes. Cattle were brought in to graze on the once abundant grasslands, miners were lured by rumors of gold and finally, in the early 1900's, homesteaders began to settle the area. Scattered evidence of all of these people can be found in the park, if you know where to look.

It has become a yearly ritual for Rakesh and I to make a stop in the park on our way back from planting trials in Arizona. In fact, it is hard not to stop, the park is right on our way home and is so beautiful and interesting that we too are lured in. We have made it a goal to explore the park and find some of these secret places. Two years ago we searched for and found Cary's Castle. That was a bit tough, mostly because of the 100 degree heat but also because it was in a fairly remote part of Joshua Tree N.P. Last year we found some abandoned mines as well as an old prospectors house. This was also our first attempt to find the holy grail of secret places in Joshua Tree, Oh-Bay-Yo-Yo cave.

Oh-Bay-Yo-Yo was built back in the early 1900's, so the story goes, by some kids that used to hike from 29 Palms to the Barker Dam to swim. They constructed a "room" that would be stocked with supplies and where they could spend the night. If true, these were some pretty hardy kids! During our first try we failed miserably, the very vague route description we had was totally off (now that I know where it is, I would say it was deliberately misleading).

There is very little information and this time around we only had those vague descriptions as well as photos of some rock formations on the way there. We started the day at White Tank campground. Rakesh spotted 4 large coyotes near our camp, unfortunately I didn't see them but I had heard them during the night.

Rakesh drinking his morning tea

Ryans Ranch Ruins

We drove over to the Boy Scout Trail trailhead and parked the truck. After checking that we had everything we needed, and lots of water, we headed out towards the Wonderland of Rocks. The first four miles are pretty easy walking along mostly dried out stream beds. There had been rain the previous night, so there was actually quite a bit of water.

We passed Willow Hole and headed into a maze of canyons and washes that quickly get confusing. For our second attempt we were relying on technology to help us out. I had my compass (but no detailed map) and Rakesh had his Ipad (with a few screenshots of some rock formations). With these unlikely tools we were hopeful that we would prevail.

Navigation by Ipad

The going quickly became difficult, traversing over boulders and through some pretty unfriendly vegetation.

There is no trail and not really sure where we were going

For most of the day I thought I knew where we were. Foolishly, I trusted the JTNP official park map. In hind site, it is really not detailed enough to navigate from.

I took a little spill, the granite here is not forgiving to skin

But it could have been worse....

Around 3 pm we realized were were off track and headed in the wrong direction. At this point, we had no clue where to look. We turned around and started back down, going to the left of a hill that we had passed on our way up.

We had a series of directional choices to make, many side canyons to choose from. Basically, we just guessed and kept going.

This slab was the first clue we had that we were on the right track

Amazingly, we started to notice some rock formations that Rakesh had on his Ipad. This gave us renewed hope that maybe we would find it.

After seeing the large slab we started down a canyon which required some seriously gnarly bouldering to get through. Neither of us said anything at the time but we were both thinking that one mistake here would result in broken bones or worse. So, with care we made our way down the canyon climbing over, under, and around giant boulders and following a small stream of water.

At the bottom of the boulder field, the canyon opened up into a flat sandy area and after searching for more clues we finally found what we were looking for.

Oh-Bay-Yo-Yo

rusted .50 caliber (?) shells

We were pretty stoked to have finally found the cave.

The next day, I still thought I knew where we were. I figured it would be only a couple of hours before we were back at the truck. Instead of heading back up the way we came, we descended down an equally sketchy boulder field into Rattlesnake Canyon. It was as dicey as the previous day but we carefully made our way down.

We took a wrong turn and, after more death defying bouldering, ended up in Indian Cove... twelve miles from the truck.

Fortunately, the way back was easy to navigate. We just had to hike over to the Boy Scout Trail and take the trail back to our truck. The scenery was pretty with lots of little wildflowers blooming.

View down towards Indian Cove from the Boy Scout Trail

After a few hours of fast hiking we made it back to the truck. Then it was time to drive the 8 hours back home...

Success!

We paid with blood and sweat but for us, it was totally worth the effort.

Wild, Wild World of Animals - Henry Coe Edition

I don't know how many of you remember that show from the 70's called Wild, Wild World of Animals. It had this funky theme song and was my favorite show when I was a kid (other than Dr. Who but that is another story). I was really inspired and even daydreamed about going to the Kalahari to study the big cats. I don't know how I ended up in the world of plants but anyways, they just don't make shows like that anymore. Well, my most recent trip to Henry Coe State Park was kind of like an episode of Wild, Wild World of Animals.

Normally, I don't see much wildlife at Henry Coe, it might be because I am unlucky, or unobservant or maybe I am distracted by all the ridiculous up and downs you are forced to walk. But this time was different.

I was on the trail by 10 am, and it never fails. When I check in at headquarters and tell them my plan to hike out to Mississippi Lake, they look at me real funny. "You know its like 14 miles, are you sure you can make it?" Literally, every single time and its a different person each time. Are we so sedentary that we can't walk 14 miles?

I was hoping for some wildflowers, we had a really nice rain two weeks back and I thought it might bring out some new growth. It was greener than when I was here in January but still not much plant action.

I saw four different kinds of flowers in bloom, this was one of them.

There is a mix of dirt road and trail walking, I tried to stick to the trail as much as possible. Dropped down about 1000 feet and hiked into the Narrows, one of my favorite parts of Henry Coe.

At the other end is Los Cruzeros, where I spotted a bobcat.

It wasn't too concerned about me and was much more interested in some birds sitting in the trees.

After the Narrows, the trail climbs back up that 1000 feet and hooks into a road for a while.

The road gets old pretty fast, there seems to be no attempt at all to follow the contours of the hills, it just goes straight up then straight down, then back up. I take a side trail and drop back down into a canyon to follow a stream (well during a normal year it is a stream, this year it is a series of stagnant pools).

In the shady parts of the trail are hundreds of Newts, migrating towards the nearest water source.

California Newt

I try not to step on them, they move soooo slowly but who wants newt slime on their shoes, and they are cute too. Apparently they are quite poisonous so I guess they don't need to worry about being eaten.

I made it down to Mississippi Lake and had the place to myself for a while. There are a couple of different species of ducks that live here and they have a very nice sounding call. Actually, there were quite a few birds and I really enjoyed listening to all the different sounds.

I was setting up my camera in the dark to try some star pictures when a couple walked by in the dark. A little while later, they came over to say hello. They saw my Zpacks hexamid and figured they would know who it was. Turns out it was Manfred and Michelle, I hadn't seen them since the trip to Fremont Lake back in June.

They hiked in their pack rafts in for a little time on the lake fishing.

They were nice enough to let me try out a pack raft, my first time in one!

The walk out was fine, I managed to get a little dehydrated but I figured it was good experience.

Just waiting

The ticks were definitely out, I could see them waiting on the grasses that hang over the trail. But they seemed a bit sluggish and I only had to pull a few off me. I think in a week or two it will get bad though. I had one of the worst tick experiences of my life at Henry Coe a few years back (and I have had a few) and I would rather not repeat it.

On a more cute note there were also swarms (?) of ladybugs on the trail. Definitely a good time to be a single lady bug, lots of options.

Stumbled across a dead amphibian, anyone know what it is?

As I was hiking out, getting close to the trailhead I noticed a coyote up on the hill above me. Seemed interested in something on the ground, I think it was hunting ground squirrels.

Overall, it was a very pleasant trip. Henry Coe continues to impress me. Although at first glance it looks pretty boring, when you start to explore it, there are wonderful surprises to be found.

Evolution to Lightweight

I was fortunate enough to have been introduced to backpacking at an early age. During my annual summer visit to see my Dad and Stepmom we would always take at least one backpacking trip into the mountains of the southeastern US. I don’t recall at what age I went on my first trip but I was probably around 6 years old. But every trip would start out the same.
As the day of departure approached there would be a flurry of activity, getting food and gear together. Making sure that the sleeping bags were aired out and that everything would fit into or onto the aluminum framed backpacks. I am sure I wasn’t very helpful during these preparations but I remember running around the house with Queenie (the german shepard) and being very excited. Queenie loved these trips as much as any of us and couldn’t wait to jump into the back of the car. These are some of the best experiences of my childhood and I think they were fundamental to my development as a person.

Greta, Queenie and I cooking over the fire

As a kid, I didn’t put much thought into what we brought with us but it consisted of your basic backpacking kit: sleeping bag, tent, foam pad, external framed backpack, boots or shoes, some clothes, some cookware, utensils, and other odds and ends. These were not long, grueling trips into extreme conditions. What we used was pretty simple but we were definitely comfortable and well fed.

 

Dad, Queenie and me (for the record, they didn't make me carry that big pack)

As a young adult, I went on few backpacking trips and continued to use and rely upon the knowledge gained as a child. At the age of 21, just before moving to Canada, I decided to go on a solo hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This was my first foray into backpacking alone and I spent one month wandering around the mountains. This was very much a spiritual journey for me and one of self discovery.

However, looking back I cringe when I remember what I brought with me. I had a massive Lowe backpack and it was jam packed full. I had so much stuff and I really didn’t know what I was doing.

I hiked in jeans and a cotton shirt with these massive leather boots and thick wool socks. My two person tent weighed in around 5 or 6 lbs. I carried a full rain suit (not breathable at all), had a big first aid kit that I did not know how to use. I didn’t know about hiking poles at the time but I carried a giant wooden staff that I carved out of cedar.

One of the most important pieces of gear, which should have been much warmer considering where I was going, was an old synthetic sleeping bag made by Moonstone. I think it would be optimistically rated at 45^o F. Unconsciously, I was following a principle of lightweight backpacking: using your clothing as part of your sleep insulation system. In this case, however, my supplemental clothing weighed way too much and consisted of 2 pairs of long underwear (tops and bottoms) which I could wear under my hiking clothes at night. One of those pairs of long underwear was made of wool and probably weighed in close to 2 lbs by itself.

But the thing that I still laugh about to this day is my cooking set-up. I had been getting into Indian cooking at the time and decided that I was going to cook fresh Indian food on the trail. I brought two pots, a spice kit in glass jars weighing at least a pound, and during the first week I carried with me a sack of potatoes, a head of cauliflower, onions, garlic, a jar of Indian pickle, I mean I went all out! I never did weigh the full pack but it was at least 60 lbs, it took a huge effort just to get it on my back, let alone walk with it.

Needless to say that first week was a bit rough. Not only was I alone in the woods but I was having a hard time just walking. I remember climbing up a mountain on a pretty steep trail and I was struggling hard, when this father and his young daughter just cruised right by me, my morale definitely took a hit. That very night, I was snowed on and shivered until morning because my sleep system was not adequate for the conditions. I stuck out that first week but had some serious doubts that this was worth the effort. At my first resupply stop, I dumped about 10lbs of gear (including the stupid spice set) and felt much better.

Despite this, I stuck with it and had a great time. That trip was an incredible learning experience. I met plenty of AT thru hikers and started to pick up a few tips from them.

After moving to British Columbia I continued to go on backpacking trips when I could. I never heard of the concept of lightweight backpacking and nobody I took trips with had either. But as I gained experience I started to reduce what I took with me, so that even though each item was not the lightest option available, I carried fewer of them. After a couple of years I switched to using a cheap blue plastic tarp instead of a tent, partly because I was poor but also because I like to be immersed in my environment and a tarp allows this while still keeping the rain and snow off.

I eventually switched to lighter boots, after those leather behemoths wore out. I finally bought a good quality down bag (waited way to long to do this!). It was about 14 years ago when I purchased a Hennessy Hammock and I was in heaven. I never did weigh my gear at that time but I would guess that I got my pack weight down to around 20-25 lbs.

Fast forward a few years, I didn’t do much backpacking when I was finishing my undergrad degree or during my graduate degree either. But after graduating and moving out to California, my passion for backpacking resurfaced.

Combine this with a decent regular paycheck and I was ready for business. I hit up REI and started to purchase gear to replace what had worn out. I found some lighter gear but I had still not been introduced to the concept of lightweight backpacking and I was still in my old mindset.

Hetch Hetchy in 2009

But, because I am a research freak and thanks to the internet, I started to look into the latest in backpacking gear and at some point I stumbled upon Backpackinglight.com. This website really opened my eyes to the world of lightweight backpacking. I bought a membership (well worth it) and have continued to use it as a resource for these past 5 years. I have met some wonderful people through it and am now part of a really great community of lightweight backpacking enthusiasts.

I returned most of what I had bought at REI and started over with a fresh perspective. My backpacking gear has been continuously evolving and becoming more refined as I gain more experience. I have now reduced my pack weight down to 10 lbs (not counting camera gear) and I am quite happy with where I am (link to my gear list blog post). I know I can handle just about any 3-season conditions and with a few additions I can handle winter conditions as well.

As I mature as a backpacker I find my focus is much less gear focused and much more skills focused. Proper skills and knowledge are essential for safe backcountry travel. And really, what is the point of all that gear? From my perspective, it is to make spending time in the wilderness a little more safe and comfortable, it is a means to an end and nothing more. 

Well, I hope that wasn't too boring and introspective. I look forward to seeing you out there on the trail of Life!

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year to All!

This blog is officially one year old. I really wasn't sure how this whole blogging thing was going to go but so far it has been very enjoyable. It is really nice to be able to share experiences in this format and I look forward to continuing in 2014. I hope you will join me for another great year.

Wishing you all safe travels on this journey through life!

 

Florida in December

Just got back from a visit to winter melon trials in Naples, Florida. While the rest of the country was getting ice and snow storms, Florida was having a heat wave. Not bad timing. Work went well and I finished everything in about a week.

Melon field at sunrise

I had my last evening in Naples off, no work obligations, so I went down to the beach to watch the sunset.

The great thing about work taking me to Florida is I get to visit my mom and step-dad. We had a great time visiting Crystal River and swimming with the manatees. As it was warmer than normal, we didn't actually get to see many manatees but it was still fun.

Mom

We walked by this cottonmouth

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of Jerry. Sorry Jerry, next time! Although I had a great time in Florida, it is always good to be home.