Spent the morning eating.   Then spent the afternoon eating.   Here is Soho preparing to clear a couple plates with his buddies.

Got to learn more about the Great State of Jefferson.   The revolution is coming!

 

It is soooo hot here.   105 degrees right now.   We figure we will start late evening and night hike the first 6 to 10 miles to a higher elevation.    Next stop is Ashland. 

UPDATE

Twigsy, Soho, and I sat around watching the thermometer until 7:30.  When it broke into the double digits we decided it was time to leave.   Last I checked it was a cool 98.    

There was a 1+ mile road walk out to the trail.   Along the way we passed a road that some folks were taking as an alternate to the top.    Seemed sketchy, especially at night.

I somehow got volunteered to be in the lead so we started climbing together.   After about an hour of climbing we ran into a French dude with a couple of gals setting up camp.   He told us there was spa and hotel at the top.   Ok, dude.  

I managed to keep a decent pace for the first 2 thousand feet.   Dusk was approaching so I put on my headlamp.   Left it off since I could still see the trail.   I hit a turn near and heard a loud buzzying sound.  Oh boy.   I turned on my headlamp and there he was.   A damn rattlesnake sitting on the side of the trail.  

Soho and I were looking at him, but he wasn’t moving.   Threw a couple sticks at him which backed him up a bit.   He was a little guy, I figured he couldn’t strike very far.   So I edged to opposite side of the trail and jumped across.  Soho said the thing tried to strike at me but was way off.   Guess that bummed him out, he slithered up into the brush and let the other guys pass.   After that bit of excitement, it was headlamp on for the rest of the night except at rest stops.  

The next big stop was Lookout spring at 1659.   Probably around 11pm.   By then we had climbed about 3500 feet.   This was a pitiful little thing, with a trickle coming out of some pipe stuck into the hillside.   It took a couple minutes to get a liter out of this thing.    We were standing on the hillside with our lights off and could see a big fire blazing in the distance to the South.   It was a little surreal, blobs of orange with little flare-ups here and there.

It was now time to relinquish the lead.    On long climbs I have a rhythm that most don’t like.   I’ll climb for a while until my legs start to burn, then I’ll stop for a minute and wait for my heart rate to go down.    It seems to be the best method to keep going for a long period.

Soho and Twigsy tore off ahead and I’d catch up when they paused for a bit.   Ran into tents and cowboy campers scattered along the ridge line.   They didn’t seem to bother with picking out good spots, just some place flat to flop down.

Our goal was to clear the top and get to a camp spot around Kangaroo Spring about 10 miles in.   I was trying to convince Soho and Twigsy that we should just hike all night.   Soho thought that a stupid idea.   Oh well.  

Made camp around 1:30.   There were a couple of tents already setup there together with a doe who ran over to lap up Soho’s piss.   I could here her licking away as I dozed off.

It was a hard, hot climb, but at least it is over.   We climbed almost 5k that night and camped at 1664.    

 

Let’s start with the good news.   Store, showers, and beer tonight.   Bacon, pancakes, and bacon burgers tomorrow.   The bad news is that it is damn hot and will keep getting hotter as we lose altitude.   The worse news is that the climb out of the valley will be a nasty 5k gain over 8 miles.   This one is even worse than Belden. 

I didn’t get a good look at my campsite last night because it was dark when I arrived.  It actually was a nice spot to camp.  

Soho and Twigsy packed and left while I was crawling out of my tent.   I really slept like a rock last night.   

First thing in the morning was a 500 ft exposed climb.   Glad I’m doing it early in the morning.   It was a good warm up.   Here is a view from the peak looking back.   The campsite and lake is behind the ridge.   

Then the great descent began.   7k to 1300 feet in 20 miles.   Rule of thumb is that I’ll gain 3 degrees for each 1k drop as the Sun (and temp) is rising.   

Stopped with Twigsy and Soho for some brunch action.  The German boys showed up while we were there (Bay Watch and Golden Snitch).   Those kids look dirty as ever.    I took off ahead of folks to get a jump on the miles. 

Down, down, down.   Began to start seeing these

My pace began slowing as I stopped and picked these whenever I found them.  The trail was overgrown in some areas and I missed a turn.  Spent 15 minutes beating around until Soho showed up and told me where the trail was.   Back on and more hiking. 

Followed this river for 8 miles or so.   Most of the canyon was burned so there was little shade.   It was now over 90.   There are a bunch of little streams feeding it that we cross every mile or so.   I started dunking my head and dumping my hat in each stream.   The cold hat would last me for 15 minutes then it would turn into a hot, moist hat and the cycle would repeat again.

All the dead trees are getting pushed down during the avalanches and spring flooding. 

The trail crosses the river several times.  There are nice bridges which is nice.

Eventually the trail spilled out to a 6 miles road walk.  What total sucks about this is that 4 miles are just going around this stupid river.   I was looking for a place to cross while walking it, but there are No Trespassing signs everywhere.   Found out later one of the German guys jumped the fence and walked/swam the river. 

There was an upside to this road walk.   Gigantic bushes of Blackberries !

I ate about 6 handfuls of these.   Wanted more, but I figured I’d be barfing soon at this rate.   They were soooo good. 

Here is the stupid bridge that 4 miles of the road walk forced us to cross. 

Here was the route.  Why can’t someone get a right of way to cross the river instead? 

Got to town at 6:30 in time to get beer and some burgers for the grill at the RV camp.   Soho, Twigsy, and me had a good dinner.   It was 26 -ish miles today.    Glad we rocked these two days.  

 

 

I arranged a ride back up the to the trailhead for 6:30 in the morning.  Soho was pleasantly surprised (not really).   He and Twigsy showed up at 11 after spending a few hours at the beer tap.  

In the morning we were milling around waiting for Blossom to show up with the keys to the car.   Twigsy jumps out of his rack wants to join  in.   We got dumped at the trailhead around 7 and I took off ahead of the group.  

Was hiking for a bit and ran into Rattler and Rockdoc.   They were taking a break on a nice vista.  I chatted with them for a minute and mentioned that I was thinking we needed a 30 today.  

 

I wanted my brunch, but every time I stopped the bugs were swarming.   I’m a bug magnet.  I just put the pack back on and kept hiking.   Eventually I hit a nice exposed vista at the top of a climb with enough wind to keep the swarms away.   It was 11 or so.   Soho and Twigsy showed up and joined in.

While munching away, Soho says he heard that we are doing 30 miles today.   Heh.   I guess Soho ran into Rattler and go the news.   His reply to them “That’s news to me.   Well I F’ing guess so.”   Trail rumor gets around quickly.  

So I came up with this idea without really looking at the effort.   Soho says we have 6k work of climbing to do those miles.   This is going to be a viscous day.    

Packed up and took off.  Ran into Optimistic Turtle along the way!   She is south bounding a section because she needed new shoes at Ashland.   Probably run into her again soon.   

 

The theme for most of the day was hot, dry, and exposed on one side of a mountain, then hot, wet, and shady on the other.   Didn’t expect to take many photos, but the small streams with the steep drops made for some really cool looking waterfalls.  

Live Waterfall Action

Here’s another one.

More Waterfalling

I like the smaller ones that are taking divided paths down the fall line.  Maybe one day I’ll make one like this in my backyard….if I ever get my house back 🙂 

Walking and walking.   Ran into some snow again.   I’ve been thinking it was time for a Tang Slushy, but needed just the right spot.   This one looked pretty good (around 1614). 

Well this is a good stop.   I saw Soho walk right through without stopping.   That will not be my agenda.    I cleared off the nasty snow and scooped up some raw materials then headed for the shade. 

After poking at my bowel with my spork for 10 minutes, it turns into this

This turned into a 20 minute siesta.   Twigsy visited the slushy stand on his way up.  He declared it delicious.  

 At this point it was 3 and I still had 12 miles to go.   Lots of pain on this stretch.  

So much exposed burn.   This was hot and miserable hiking.

With a few lakes.   Of course everything is burned above where I’m hiking.  

    

This was cool.   I think this is the beginning of marble mountain. 

It was 7 and I still had 5 miles to go with some climbing to add to the enjoyment.   After I picked up another 2 liters of water the trail became this overgrown mess.    No trail crews have cleared it this year and I could barely make out where the footpath was.   The drop-off to the right is pretty steep.    

So I’m trucking along making good headway walking at about a 3 mile/hr pace .  I stuck my right trekking pole on a hidden rock slanted  downhill and it slides.   Turns out the right side of the footpath is washed out next to the rock, so my right foot hits thin air.   Gravity took over and face-planted.    Bit my lip and my glasses tore open a cut on my nose which bled all over my face.    Here is a post crash view.

Finally 

  Finally made camp at 9am.   Soho and Twigsy were setup and eating dinner.   I just wolfed down some cheese block and a tortilla and crash.   This was a max effort day for me.   I don’t think I can do more than 6k elevation change and 30 miles.   Racked up a 29.5 miler today.    Sleep came quickly.