trip report

otay, here it is already then:

look at the map.

I started out parked at Jay (panel 2).

redwood trail to skyline to the sea trail to hihn hammond road (stopover at mt mcabee lookout, incredible view, good PBJ sangwich) to mccrary ridge trail to skyline to the sea to twin redwoods trail camp, where i had a reservation.

i was also on howard king trail for a while but this map is not the same as the one i bought at the ranger station.

i looped at one point because the signs were unclear and i listened to the advice of fellow hikers. doh.

pack weighed in at 52lbs before i left. i took out one 1liter water bottle, leaving me with 3.75 liters in a 1li bottle and a 2.75li hydration bag.

this was the first trip out with my new backpack, a gregory keeler. nice bag. not supposed to hold 52lbs. it did anyhow. i suspected that the bag was ill fitted to me (it's a size large but i might need a medium) on the other hand, it could just be that any bag is going to be uncomfy with 52lbs.

i found a really nice walking stick about 1.5 mi from the camp. over the next day and a half 6 people would comment on it: "nice stick". okay.

by the time i reached twin redwoods, i had already passed two fellow backpackers coming out of the twin redwoods from the other direction (parked in rancho del oso). they told me the camp "was a parking lot". what? there should be no cars there. then they let me in on something i didn't know: on one side of the trail (the trail camp side) lies big basin redwoods state park (yay), on the other side lies private property (which we should be celebrating this day). upon the private property was a parking lot filled with "campers" and screaming kids, they said.

they said they were going to find another camp and stay there. i told them i'd seen what looked like an abandoned camp just up the trail. we parted ways.

when i got to twin redwoods i found that they had made it sound much better than it actually was. the first thing i saw was a not-high-enough fence (or trees, i don't recall) partially obscuring 3-4 350lb old women in bikinis (no shit) and cowboy hats, laying back in lounge chairs and applying lard (or possibly sunscreen) beneath their bikini tops (must be lard, why put sunscreen there?).

around them were the aforementioned screaming kids.

there were cars with raiders bumperstickers and pickup trucks and did i mention screaming kids?

the kids were running from the private campsite into the park campsite, playing in the park's creek (where i'd need to draw drinking water) and shitting in the park's shitter. i was tired. i was hot. i was tired and hot and really angry. i put on my best scowl and turned around. a "camper", "clothed" in baggy, sagging jeans and a raiders jacket, was walking with his girlfriend or sister (possibly both) in the same direction, unladen. I, with my 50lb pack but fueled by PissedOff (TM), passed them, angrily and noisily, banging my walking stick every couple of steps. I could tell it irritated Saggy Pants. Good.

i arrived back at what the online map identifies as camp herbert (it's not on any of the 3 printed big basin maps that i have). the place was abandoned, overgrown, with no clearly marked camp sites. i stood very still and listened until i could hear the two backpackers i'd met on the trail. they were set waaay back from the trail by the stream. a perfect spot. i found a less perfect spot behind a burnt out redwood, a half-moon husk that served as a barrier, shielding my camp from the trail. a good spot. we chatted a bit. they told me about where they'd gone hiking last weekend and i forgot the place twice. i still dont remember it. they saw 2 rattlesnakes and got photos of one. good on them.

i set up camp, took a whiz in the grossly undermaintained shitter, lit my mosquito repellant, filtered and iodized 6 liters of water, and got eaten alive by bugs. i changed into shorts and sandals (tevas are nice but next time i'm taking lighter weight $2 target flip-flops). fired up my pocket rocket and cooked up my cheese enchiladas "serves two". served one. something like 42g of fiber (no shit! er, i mean, big shit!). that hit the spot. i was really really tired for some reason so i hit the sack. i tore thru a buncha chapters of the book i was reading (OSC's "speaker for the dead") and had to put it down around 10pm when i was too tired to read any more. i slept, fitfully. i'm still not used to sleeping in the coffin-style sleeping bag. i like to sleep in a figure-4, which is not easily attainable in my bag. oh well.

woke up at the buttcrack of dawn, surprisingly unmolested by rangers and raccoons. cooked up my breakfast of "serves two" "mexican omelette", iodized-water-and-powdered-milk in raisin bran, and freshly ground coffee. best coffee ever, btw. i packed up as quickly as i could, which wasn't too quick. applied some moleskin to the irritated parts of my footsies, sprayed some DEET on me when the bugs showed up, and immediately regretted the DEET when some got into my mouth and i had to wash it out with iodine water. yum on top of yum. yumyum.

my bags all packed i gathered up my teepee and paid the pit one last visit. i can squat 1.5x my body weight in the gym, so you can bet i'm able to fire one off without touching what passes for a wilderness turlet. a little bit of purell's (hey, i'm no barbarian) and i was ready to go. gathered up my walking stick and pack and turned on the GPS to check the time -- it's not much use for positioning in the redwoods.

8:45.

i set a mighty pace and took skyline to the sea (northbound) to redwood trail (the wrong way long way) to jay parking lot. my iodized water was nearly gone and i was ready for that home-PUR-ed 1liter bottle i'd left behind in the car. time: noon.

i was cranky, hot, tired, hungry, thirsty, and a bit woozy from exertion. just about everyone i ran into on the way back (far more than i'd met on the way "there" -- the mccrary ridge trail was a bit deserted) wanted to know "how far is it to berry creek falls" and "hey the sign says it's 6 hours and really hard, is that true?" and "did you come from the falls?"

no, i didn't come from the falls. if the sign says it's 6 hours and hard, then maybe the hike is 6 hours and hard. one elderlyish indian lady commented to her husband in tones not intended for me to hear: "wow, he's really sweating." damn right i was. it's What I Do.

i put at least 22 miles on my new hiking socks. i left the walking stick in the jay parking lot, partly because that's The Wilderness Way and partly because It Wouldn't Fit In My Car. i double socked on the return trip and it helped but not enough, i still bashed my toetips. i carried 50+lbs in what REI today confirmed was the wrong sized pack. i got really sore shoulders. i got really really sore feet. i got deet in my mouth and bugbites everywhere else. i got a light sunburn and ate a lot of clif bars. i spent a lot of the time pissed off, sweating, walking fast, and not resting.

best trip ever.