One last trip out before setting off in two weeks and Kathryn came with me! We hiked a total of 25 miles over 3 days, and climbed 6000 ft. The trail was rather overgrown past the saddle, but we encountered no major difficulties.

4 Days In Los Padres

The last fall quarter of my college education is over, what better way to celebrate than by heading out into my own beautiful backyard for a week. The details were sketchy as best, Lane and I knew the direction we were heading, and that's about it. This is a serious departure from how people usually do these types of hikes, but what the hell, our packs were loaded to the brim with food and off we went!

The first day along the trail was extremely pleasant, I introduced Lane to the spot where I spent the night under a picnic table, and we continued up along the mountain for the rest of the afternoon without incident. I would later learn that this trip would be more than double Lane's longest backpacking trip ever, so I was trying to ease him into the immense walking. Soon enough he proved to be more than adept at carrying his own weight and moving at a fair pace, so without further hesitation we climbed and climbed up to Happy Hollow for the night. Our bellies were still full from big breakfasts before we left so neither of us bothered with cooking. Lane put up his tent while I got a fire going, and we passed the last few hours of daylight keeping the fire alive and commenting on how cold it was getting. The night proved to be quite frigid, and the last few hours of darkness were spent praying for daylight to come as I huddled in my sleeping bag. Sometimes I wonder why I get myself into these situations, but all I have to do is look around me to realize that these situations are the price I pay for the beauty of my environment.

Morning finally came and to I discovered that the temperature had indeed dipped below freezing, as my water bottle had frozen solid! Good to know my sleeping bag can handle it if need be! Much complaining arose as we struggled to get a fire going with frosty fingers and wet firewood, but eventually Lane and I were defrosting our toes and hands before setting out again. Down the trail another mile we stopped and made a phone call to let loved ones know we were alive and without further hesitation plunged into the overgrown section of the trail behind the mountain. An absolutely beautiful day, zero clouds and warm temperatures quickly led to daydreaming and quiet walking for hours before hearing the unmistakable sound of running water far below us. Santa Cruz Creek was indeed flowing strong and my preoccupations about water shortages were abated. This valley was really quite beautiful, the Sun was starting to go down behind the yellowing leaves of the sycamore trees and the creek was littered with golden oak leaves. We spent some time making food and exploring the campsite before deciding to continue along the trail a bit more while the sun was still out. Only two miles further the made a fork with an ambiguous sign about which way to go. We debated the options, and decided that no matter which way we went we could just make camp wherever we wanted anyway. We spied an oak grove about a mile further down the ridge, completely deserted, and with no trail leading to it. The adventurousness overcame us and we bush-whacked our way down steep and muddy slopes covered in thick brush all the way to 'Gaucho Flat'. That night the fog rolled in, and thick! When morning came it was impossible to see more than 100 yards in any direction!

I was not looking forward to climbing back out of our secluded spot that morning, but it passed without incident and we found the original trail again. Without knowing what lay further out on the trail with regards to water we decided to head back to the only guaranteed water source around at Santa Cruz Camp. With looming dark clouds and tired feet we set our packs down and decided to continue the bush-whacking theme of the day and explore the creek for the rest of the daylight hours. We passed through some untouched territory for hours, with no sign of humanity anywhere. Just the occasional animal print in the sand as a clue that we aren't the only living things around. We rock hopped for hours with nothing to distract us from the tranquility of this little valley, except those ominous rain clouds rolling in. Light was fading, and the clouds loomed ever darker and heavier on our minds, so we turned back and called it an early night after making a fire and some dinner.

The last morning we packed our stuff up and headed out for a long climb back towards the car. The original plan was to spend one more night out here, but the rainy forecast was clearly coming to fruition and we had an easy source of exit, so why suffer? One last call to the parents to let them know we were coming home and were still alive, and then descent down the mountain towards the car. The clouds were casting incredible shadows on the hillsides all around us, and we had yet to see any other people all week – which is just as well. We had this backyard paradise all to ourselves this week, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Resupply Strategy

Total Miles	Name	ETA	Days to Next	Miles to next	Miles from Trail
0	Manning Park	15-Jun	3	89	0
89	Stehekin	18-Jun	8	172	10
261	Snoqualamie	26-Jun	4	99	0.5
360	White Pass	30-Jun	7	148	0.75
508	Cascade Locks	7-Jul	2	50	0.5
558	Timberline Lodge	9-Jul	4	106	0
664	Big Lake YC	13-Jul	2	42	0.7
706	Elk Lake	15-Jul	2	46	1.25
752	Cascade Summit	17-Jul	3	79	1.5
831	Crater Lake	20-Jul	3	81	3
912	Hyatt Lake	23-Jul	4	88	0.75
1000	Seid Valley	27-Jul	6	156	0
1156	Castella	2-Aug	4	83	0.5
1239	Burney Falls	6-Aug	5	134	0.25
1373	Belden	11-Aug	4	91	0
1464	Sierra City	15-Aug	2	41	1.5
1505	Pooh Corner	17-Aug	3	60	2
1565	Echo Lake	20-Aug	6	153	0
1718	Tuolumne Meadows	26-Aug	3	65	0.75
1783	Vermillion	29-Aug	8	175	1
1958	Kennedy Meadows	6-Sep	10	242	0.7
2200	Agua Dulce	16-Sep	4	89	0
2289	Wrightwood	20-Sep	6	153	3.5
2442	Cabazon	26-Sep	4	100	4.5
2542	Warner Springs	30-Sep	5	110	1.3
2652	Campo	5-Oct	0	0	0.5
		Average	4.307692308	102	1.363461538

Halloween @ Santa Cruz Camp

       In an effort to get out of Isla Vista for the insanely over-rated Halloween weekend I decided to go backpacking. After work on Friday afternoon I was dropped off at upper oso campground. I was initially apprehensive about leaving all my friends to fend for themselves with the out of towners who seem to have no respect for people's belongings. But that fear quickly abated into elation at how gorgeous the mountains behind Santa Barbara are. The sun was setting rather quickly and I was only able to make it 1 mile into the trail and camped at 19 oaks for the night. There are two well established campsites here and I opted for the one further from the trail and with less overhead cover. A quick inspection of the site found it to be in good shape with a food goodies left from whomever was there last. A bit of rope, frayed and dry as a bone made perfect tinder for starting a fire. I juggled keeping the fire alive and cooking rice for dinner while I listened to the creatures change shifts for the night. Birds gave way to crickets, ants retreated while moths came out in force, and finally the sun sank and the moon rose, lighting the surrounding hills with an eerie gray hue. With no artificial lighting, its amazing how quickly the body adapts to the natural flow of night and day. I was pretty tired soon after the sun set. I gathered up enough wood to last a couple more hours while I slept next to the fire in my bivy. Now, it should be noted that the weather report warned of thunderstorms and rain for the night. In my hubris frame of mind I disregarded this report and slept under the stars, counting 3 shooting stars before finally nodding off to the sound of crickets and the crackling fire. Some time in the middle of the night (didn't have a way to tell time) my dreams were interrupted by rain falling on my face. "Alright," I thought, "time to move into some place where this isn't going to get the sleeping bag soaked and ruin the rest of the weekend by sleeping in a cold wet bag." I scuttled under the picnic table at the campsite and covered my gear with the ground tarp, securing it down with rocks. The picnic table provided little shelter, however, as the wind picked up to near 30mph gusts, whipping the tarp off of my gear and making an awful racket, urging me out of my bag to replace the rocks and pray for daylight. This process repeated itself 3 or 4 times throughout the night before the rain finally gave up sometime near dawn.  Lightning flashing intermittently coupled with the wet and wild antics of the wind and rain made for few hours of sleep without interruption. 

         I was awake before the sun crept over the hills and on my way out of there without bothering to eat, I just wanted to get some miles under my shoes before being rained out again. Luckily, the clouds broke and the fog rolled in, making it a cool day with no views to speak of. Climbing up to the junction with happy hollow camp wasn't as bad as I remembered it to be, and the decision was quickly made to continue on to Santa Cruz camp for lunch before returning to Happy Hollow for the night. The trail was incredibly overgrown and slippy with mud. Overgrown plants had yet to be warmed by the sunlight in this steep canyon and every drop of water accumulated during last nights storm was duly transferred to my clothes. The first mile of the trail past the junction was rough though, after that it was smooth sailing and fast hiking along a mellow decline all the way to Santa Cruz. Lunch there consisted of tuna fish from a bag I scrounged from the cabinets. By now the fog had cleared and I had a clear view of the city of Santa Ynez. I decided to quickly return to a camping spot closer to my extraction point so tomorrow I wouldn't be late for my ride. The walk back to the junction seemed to fly by, as now I knew where the hell I was headed. Happy Hollow had some nice new growth since the last time I was there. The grasses are returning after a devastating fire a few years ago. Learning from last nights mistake, I made an A frame out of some branches and the picnic table here, and set my gear and bivy underneath the protective cover. Making a fire was out of the question, everything was still soaked through. I was in my bag before the sun went down. 

          I awoke again in the middle of the night multiple times just waiting for the sun to make its presence known. Finally the gray light of dawn spread across the hollow, and I was surprised to find frost all over the ground around my sleeping bag. My socks and shoes were absolutely freezing, and I walked up and out of the hollow without packing to find some sun to defrost myself. I ran into a mother deer and her two fawns scavenging for breakfast in the grass at the top of the hill. I wonder if I am the first person those baby deer had ever seen. I stood at the top of that hill trying to take in the beauty of my surroundings and warm my frozen feet. Finally I figured it was time to get out of there and back to cars and centralized heating systems before I was late to work. I packed up and flew down the mountain at breakneck speeds, putting my surgically repaired knee through some tests to see how it would hold up. It was fine and handled everything in stride, despite trying my best to find a situation to garnish caution in the future. I ran into some day hikers near the bottom who were surprised to find a 21 year old kid wandering in the mountains on this weekend. They were glad not every one of my generation has lost faith in what is really important .Horses and hikers with dogs even closer to the bottom let me know i had to be really close to the parking lots. I really am glad to see people getting out of their houses on a Sunday morning to enjoy the beauty of their own backyards.