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Day 1) Flew to Reno, Nevada and then drove to Lake Tahoe. Reno
went out of its way to make us feel right at home by arranging a 45 minute
highway traffic jam just for us. Our "resort" in Tahoma, on
the western shore of Lake Tahoe, was great. Cute little cabins on the
lakeside with tall pine trees, private beach and dock. Tahoma, on the
western shore, was less built-up than the north-western or south-eastern
shores.
Day 2) We took a 10 mile day hike from Emerald Bay past Eagle Falls
and Eagle Lake to Middle Velma Lake to try and get used to altitude hiking.
It was a beautiful hike thru the wooded mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe.
We watched people skiing on the snow patches on a distant mountain peak.
(Must have been a long hike in with the ski's.) We went swimming in Middle
Velma Lake. The water was actually warm enough for Dave! On the hike out
the weather turned nasty with thunderstorms and a voluminous quantity
of pea-sized hail. Hail hurts when it hits your head and shoulders!
Day 3) We drove south to Bridgeport, Calif., our starting point
for our 10 day backpack. Bridgeport is a very nice small town and our
motel (Silver Maple) was the best. We stopped at the Ranger station for
last minute trail reports, checked out the trailhead and picked up the
camp stove at the post office. (I've found that mailing your empty camp
stove to yourself via General Delivery is a good way to get around the
airline restrictions on packing camp stoves in your luggage.)
Day 4) The next morning we started our backpack at the early hour
of about 7:30 AM. We left Twin Lakes Resort behind us as we started up
Horse Creek Canyon. After about 2 miles the trail petered out and we were
left on our own to find our way up the canyon. It was fairly obvious which
way to go since we were in an 8,000 foot canyon and the mountains around
us were about 10,000 feet, plus we could just follow the main stream.
Towards the end of the box canyon the way got very arduous as we were
hiking up a VERY STEEP slope covered in loose talus and snow fields. Around
4:00 we finally reached the pass at the end of Horse Creek Canyon and
were rewarded with a MAGNIFICENT view down the length of Spiller Canyon
on the other side. It was then that we had our first mishap. While looking
for a campsite, Dave lost his balance, slipped on some smooth rocks and
slammed chest first into a boulder. Once he regained the ability to breathe
and sit up by himself, he checked himself over. There were no sharp bony
protrusions thru his skin and he wasn't spitting up blood so he figured
he must be OK, to Diane's GREAT relief. (After he got back home, he went
to his doctor, had X-Rays and learned he had suffered two rib fractures,
on ribs number 8 and 9.)
Day 5) The next day dawned clear and glorious! (In fact every single
day we were in California dawned clear and glorious, ie: no RAIN.) We
were supposed to find our way thru another mountain pass into Matterhorn
Canyon next door but we couldn't find the pass. (We later figured that
we had camped right next to the pass but couldn't tell it since we were
so close to it and it was several hundred feet higher than we were.) Instead
we hiked further down into Spiller Canyon and mistakenly attempted another
lesser pass over the tallest mountain peak in the area! We found ourselves
attempting technical mountain climbing with 60 lb packs with neither the
technical knowledge nor the technical equipment. Both of us each suffered
a fall while attempting to climb up a steep, slick chute, (problems 2
and 3). We were lucky we only fell about 5 feet and didn't keep rolling
down the mountain. At 3:00 we decided we were doing something wrong (duh!)
and decided to climb back down the mountain and camp again in Spiller
Canyon. It was at this point we decided we'd best replan our trip. We
had a major planning conference that night and rerouted the remainder
of our hike, leaving out certain trails and doing others in the reverse
direction. If we were ever to attempt major cross country travel off trail
again, I'd want a GPS (Global Positioning System) (or our friend Blair)
with us.
Day 6) The next day we bushwacked about 6 miles down Spiller Canyon
till we met up with the Pacific Crest Trail which we took 3 miles eastward
over into Matterhorn Canyon. Spiller Canyon was a beautiful pristine canyon.
I could have contentedly spent the rest of my life there (considering
the directional problems we'd been having so far, we nearly did!) We were
so tired that evening that we settled for a lack luster campsite, anything
so that we could sit down and take our packs off. That evening we encountered
problem number 4, mosquitoes!. Due to El Nino and California's extra heavy
snowfall this past winter, the seasons were delayed and everything was
a lot wetter. Thus there were hordes upon hordes of ravenous blood sucking
mosquitoes, and we were the only meal within several miles. We were not
happy campers in the evenings and mornings.
Day 7) We decided we needed an easy day so we just went along the
Pacific Crest Trail for 3 miles and camped along Wilson Creek. We had
a lovely site hidden behind big boulders with a cold clear mountain stream
nearby. We washed up and did laundry in the stream that afternoon and
retired early to avoid the evening rush hour mosquitoes.
Day 8) We continued on the Pacific Crest Trail over Benson Pass
and then down to Smedberg Lake for lunch. Another place I could contentedly
spend the rest of my life. After Smedberg we attempted to make Rogers
Lake but the trail led thru a VERY boggy area and the mosquitoes were
getting HORRENDOUS so we turned around and headed for the 3.6 mile long
steep downhill trail to Benson Lake instead. Benson Lake was not a very
photogenic lake but its sandy beach made for a nice comfy campsite after
another long day of about 8 plus miles.
Day 9) The swamps behind Benson Lake made for a very buggy morning
so we hastily beat our departure from the lake and headed up to Seavy
Pass, a long arduous climb that never seemed to end. The hike thru the
pass went by many small picturesque ponds that Dave dubbed MBG's (Mosquito
Breeding Grounds) and several picturesque rock gardens with colorful wildflowers.
From the pass we descended into Kerrick Canyon and Rancheria Creek. Here
we departed the Pacific Crest Trail and followed Rancheria Creek thru
Kerrick Canyon north up into Kerrick Meadow. The hike along Rancheria
Creek thru Kerrick Meadow is particularly beautiful, with many inviting
sandy beach swimming holes in the meandering creek. Here we took a half
mile bushwack up into a small hanging valley behind a small mountain to
find Arndt Lake. By now our cross country hiking and topographic map reading
skills were improving and we found the lake with little trouble. We found
the most GORGEOUS site on a bluff overlooking the lake. We had to pitch
the tent half on a boulder and half on the ground between another large
boulder and a tree. The tent just barely fit. It was our most technical
tent setup ever. But the view was well worth it!
Day 10) The mosquitoes were still HORRENDOUS. We were mentally
tiring of their constant relentless blood thirsty assaults on our bodies.
We had another family planning meeting and decided we'd push hard and
just hike the remaining 13 miles out. It was mostly downhill so we figured
we'd have a chance at making it, and we did. Finally back at the car,
Dave stopped at the first Country store he could find, he needed his Coca
Cola fix and he needed it bad. We were lucky and managed to get a motel
room in our original motel. (Since we were coming out 3 days earlier than
planned we didn't have reservations.)
Day 11) The day was spent relaxing in Bridgeport and doing GOBS
of laundry. Also, since we had ended our backpack 3 days early (due to
the $%?@! mosquitoes), we now had 3 extra days of vacation that we had
to do something with so we held another family planning conference and
planned out our remaining days.
Days 12, 13 and 14) We spent our remaining days checking out the
area around Mono Lake, June Lake and Mammoth Mountain (a major Calif.
ski area in the winter and mountain biking area in the summer). We also
stopped off at the lackluster Devil's Postpile National Monument (Diane
thought it was kinda cool, Dave didn't). On day 14 we drove back north
towards Reno to prepare for our flight back home. We spent our last evening
back on Lake Tahoe, enjoying a very nice mosquito free dinner cruise on
the lake.
Day 15) This particular weekend was a BAD weekend for America West
Airlines and it's passengers (which included us). They were having mechanical
difficulties on MOST of their flights meaning many flights were delayed.
We ended up getting home 8 hours later than originally planned.
In conclusion, the abominable contemptible despicable multitudinous HORDES
of hideous mosquitoes really dampened the enjoyment of the backpack. It
is difficult to comfortably eat with a mosquito head net on while 8 mosquitoes
assault your left arm, another 8 assault your right arm and another 50
are RIGHT IN YOUR FACE waiting for you to lift the head net and insert
the spoon. From now on I will always carry a head net with me. Prodigious
applications of carcinogenic DEET helped, but you can't cover every square
millimeter of bare skin with the stuff. Even when we were at the top of
a 10,00 foot mountain pass standing on 3 feet of snow we were swatting
mosquitoes.
However the views of deep rocky canyons, cold rushing mountain streams,
snow capped mountain peaks, crystal clear mountain rimmed lakes and gorgeous
lush green alpine meadows captured our hearts and will remain with us
forever. Being able to stand in the 10,000 foot passes and see mountain
range after mountain range off in the far far distance was awesome. The
unlimited visibility thru the clear mountain air was phenomenal compared
to the dirty haze so prevalent in the Shenandoahs. The other factor that
always impresses Dave is the disparity of the 11,000 foot mountains flanking
narrow 8,000 foot valleys. The sharp contrasts in the elevation with the
wide open vistas always fascinates him.
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