PSA - You no longer need a reservation to drive into Yosemite during peak hours on weekends and/or holidays (ended October 13th). The $35/car park entrance fee still applies when you arrive.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/reservations.htm

Heading to Emigrant Wilderness this week. Curious if anyone has been out in the past week or so and can give me an idea of the mosquito pressure out there currently. I suspect it's pretty heavy.

i’m located in west san jose. anyone interested in doing an overnight trip to HC before the new year? i’m trying to bag some peaks out there:

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/map-8722c8f-7?p=-1&sh=08a7ge

Where: Boronda Loop - https://doingmiles.com/2011-11-big-sur-boronda/

When: 3/9/22 - 3/11/22

Distance: 28 miles, 9000+ft elevation gain.

Conditions: Temps were mid 60's during the day, low 40's at night.

Lighterpack: https://lighterpack.com/

Overview: My Caltopo: https://caltopo.com/m/0A3TC. Amy and James have a great write up on their website (linked above) covering this loop.

This was one of if not the best trip I'd ever done near home. The views and hot springs really make it special. On a weekend I don't think I would recommend camping at the hot springs though. The hot springs would be insanely crowded so I would probably stay at redwood camp and try to hit the hot springs early in the morning. On that note, apparently the local Forest Service has come to the conclusion that the manmade hot spring tubs should not exist and will demolish any tubs made. So who knows maybe they wont be there in the future anyway. Timber Top was an awesome place to camp and made for a great end of the trip.

Photo Album: https://imgur.com/a/2qFhc9s

The Report:

Day 1 (18 Miles, 6000+ ft gained) - Boronda Trailhead to Sykes Hot Springs

Parking at the trailhead was just a long shoulder on both sides of road and could probably fit 12-20 cars. I arrived on a Wednesday and there were only 2 other cars there that belonged to day hikers. I'm sure on the weekend it would be more crowded.

The hike up from the Boronda trailhead was beautiful but also very difficult. It’s about 2500ft over 2.8 miles and I was wiped out by the time I got to the top. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have pushed so hard to go so fast.

At Timber Top I had a decision to make. Either go right and hike 15 miles to Redwood Camp and hit the Hot Springs the next day, or go left, hike 10 miles and hit the hot springs that day. I opted to go right. What I didn't fully realize at that point was that meant another 3000+ of elevation gain for the day on top of the 3000ft I already did.

I walked on a fire road for a few miles, coming across a water tank and a sad campsite. The trail kept going up, plunged into a valley, then went up again, plunged into another valley, and then up again, and then down to my intended campsite. I was pretty beat. This had been one of my hardest days on trail in a while. I underestimated how much elevation gain there was here. It didn’t help that I had used a huge amount of energy on the first climb.

At 4:00 I arrived at Redwood camp, my intended campsite. I decided to hike another 3 miles and get to the hot springs that night. That meant I only had 8 miles to go the next day and I could chill at the hot springs for a lazy morning.

I figured there might not be many people there, but there was about 10-15 people camped in the hot springs area. I set up camp, ate dinner, and waited till most people had left the hot springs before I checked them out. There were a couple of pools but only a shallow one still free. Still I sat in it for a bit and chatted with the guy in the next one over before heading off to bed.

The hot springs are pretty easy to find. You leave the trail where it crosses the river and walk downstream. Stay to the left hand side of the creek if you're looking downstream. Keep going until you run into them. They're just after a section where you have to scramble up some boulders on the side of the creek.

Day 2 (8 miles, 3000 ft gain) - Sykes Hot Springs to Timber Top

The next morning I decided it would be a very lazy morning as I only had 8 miles to go for the day. I woke up late, had breakfast, messed around with my tent pitch, and then headed over to the hot sprigs for a morning soak. It was nice to have the whole place to myself and I sat there for an hour.

At around 11am I left camp. I took it very very slowly. Hiking wise it was a pretty uneventful day. About 8 miles and 3k ft of elevation gain. It was very nice walking through the redwoods near the valleys though. Around 2pm I stopped and took a nap at the last water source before camp. I cameled up, grabbed 3 liters and set off for camp. Once I was up on the ridge again, the views were spectacular. To my right was the ocean 3000ft below, and to my left were these amazing mountains deep in the wilderness.

At around 4 I rolled in to camp and to my surprise found a group already there. They were a nice family who had been out for a few days and it was nice to have some company to enjoy the sunset. This camp was on top of the ridge overlooking the ocean so it had some killer views. Unfortunately it was also very windy at the time I set my tent up. I hadn’t had too much experience with the protrail in the wind, but I pitched it with the rear end going into the wind and that seemed to work well to shed the wind. Although I did come back from dinner to find one of the stakes had pulled out.

The wind eventually died down and it was a pretty calm night. Being so high up and watching the sunset over the ocean was a really special experience.

Day 3 (3 miles, no elevation gain) - Timber Top to Boronda Trailhead

The next day I had a very easy walk down to the trailhead and then I was on my way home. On the way I stopped at a beach near Carmel and jumped in quickly to wash the grime and sweat away.

Gear Notes:

TarpTent Protrail Li- I had never used this tent in heavy wind before, but I got some good experience on Timber Top. Staking out the extra guyout points near the entrance really helps to prevent the wind from blowing in the long side panels. Happy to far with this tent. Hopefully it goes well on the PCT.

Thought I'd share a report from a trip to Coe Park last December. I had planned to be hiking in Emigrant Wilderness but as the dates approached it became clear that a heavy winter storm was going to hit right as I would have been there. Bummer as I had a great route planned with some off trail exploration and fishing Cherry Creek worked in. So I had to head to the old standby, Coe Park. Never feels like quite the adventure going out at Coe. And the fact that you tend to walk on double track dirt roads alot of the time makes it feel a bit less wild. But the views are completely different from the Sierra and its good to be able to get out into the wild so close to home. I wanted to get out to the western edges of Coe Park that border Orestimba Wilderness.

Photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/EFSYaM3nYZGX3CeP7

LighterPack https://lighterpack.com/r/a59k7m I did carry a bass fishing spinning setup on this trip. Weighted a little less than a pound... add that to the base weight. Daytime temps in the high 50s. Nighttime temps a little below freezing.

Day 1 https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.1/-121.4379/37.1242&pubLink=HfZE452gXA6mG988BNe6F7PJ&trackId=74fcb6c9-1d89-4bdf-b1fa-18f8aad62b3f

Anyone who has hiked at Coe knows its either straight up or straight down. 14 miles 3700 ft of gain and 3300 ft of descent. Some of this trail I've hiked before but a lot I hadn't. Very beautiful. I saw a mountain biker coming down from Wilson Peak in the morning and another couple of mountain bikers around Pacheco camp at lunch. These were the only people I'd see the whole trip. Though this was a Wednesday - Friday hike. And I hoped to fish some of the further out ponds to see if the hype was true. I ended up camping at Will's Pond on night 1 after 14 miles. Beautiful camp spot a bit off the trail with no signage or trail to get to it. There are bass in the pond. I had a nice bass hit my line but he spit the bit right as I was about to pull him out of the water. More on the fishing later. It lightly rained most of the night here but stayed good and dry with tarp & bivy.

Day 2 https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.0/-121.3839/37.2233&pubLink=RYwy1oc22cozAWVrAIP30XOB&trackId=ffac41d4-4a73-4f62-a05c-82faf12b8f40

15.3 Miles. 2600 Ascent, 3000 Descent. My knees took weeks to recover from the downhill. Again, beautiful hiking. Saw a number of deer up close. A good stretch of the hike was on Long Ridge Road and provided expansive views to one side, but you did intersect with fencing on the other side periodically as it boarders what I assume is private land. But the highlight of the hiking was the 5 or so miles on Dutch's trail which takes you down the spine of a ridge to the North Fork of Pacheco Creek. Gorgeous hiking and not too steep down hill. And its a very little used trail it appears, so it felt more wild. Now going down the ridge I was loving Dutch's trail. But climbing back up toward Tie Down Peak at the end before descending to Pacheco creek I was cursing this guy Dutch and the Dutch people in general as my knees were killing me. Camped at a site at Pacheco Creek with some picnic tables. Pulled into camp around 4:15. Super short days so it darkness was descending. Not ideal camping low at the creek level but reliable good water and darkness made it necessary. More on water later. Dropped below freezing this night as my tarp was a sheet of ice in the AM.

Day 3 https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=14.4/-121.3730/37.1316&pubLink=IL3ocpLdZBANmnXZExBlPvKK&trackId=1cd79ed7-2557-4d87-86d2-1fed490b940d

10 miles 2900ft up, 2900ft down... I was hating the downhill by now and trying to rush to get home early didn't help. Very pretty, more of the same in terms of views. Many cars at the hunting hollow parking lot but didn't see a single person on my way out.

On Water: The small ponds can be hit or miss on quality, mostly miss. The Park website has a pretty good resource on current conditions. I try to plan on collecting at springs, and anywhere that there is even small amounts of flowing water at creeks. I only had to drink 1 litter that I took from a pond and it was only a little orange after filtering.... tasted fine. But we had some rain prior to my trip. I suspect you'd have to drink some pretty brown looking stuff if you did this hike in the summer. Bigger lakes like Kelly, Coit or Mississippi are pretty good to filter out of in my experience but Jackrabbit Pond was a hog wallow and basically looked like a shit pool. Plan ahead.

On Fishing: I had read on the website that great fishing could be had at Jackrabbit, Mustang and Kingbird ponds. I could have stopped at one of them on day 2 and I picked Jackrabbit.... I chose poorly. Its full of weeds and basically a mess. There is no reason to visit this pond to fish or camp. I don't know that Mustang or Kingbird would have been better. Will's pond where I camped on night 1 was very pretty though, had fish in it, and it was the cleanest small pond water I ran into, though still a little orange after filtering. I brought my bass setup. 6 ft rod with reel and crankbaits which have been successful at Coe before. But I've decided I'm done with that going forward and I'm just going to bring a tenkara setup with a long floating line and some big dry flies going forward. I can't deal with the fuss of a spinning setup while backpacking any more and I think I'd have done better with the Tenkara setup on this trip.

Final thoughts. The destination was a let down based on how excited I was about my previous plans. But it was beautiful and I did find solitude which I needed after such a crazy year. No new revelations on gear. I feel pretty dialed in and know what works for me at this point. Lucky we have Coe Park as our Bay Area bail out backup or as an easy quick getaway.

Already posted in r/norcalhiking but also wanted to post here.

I'm moving to back to the Bay Area after a few years away. First to hike the PCT this summer and then live in the Bay Area permanently

Where I used to live in Maryland I was fortunate enough to be a part of an incredibly organized and serious backpacking group called DCUL which has organized trips almost every weekend throughout all seasons. I really enjoy the social aspect of experiencing an exciting trip together.

After I move back I'm hoping to continue to be a part of and lead backpacking trips with people who are serious about backpacking and capable of completing high mileage trips. Does anyone know of backpacking groups like this? I've searched Meet-up and found that most groups are not really active or don't really hike that far. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place?

I'm also considering starting my own Meet-up group, but it would be a lot easier to find an already established group.

Thanks for your help!

Any interest in an SF meetup in the next couple weeks? Where are people located/what days/times work for everyone? I'd love to meet you all and talk shop!

Just a quick trip report from last weekend in Inyo National Forrest. This was a 4 day 3 night point to point trip. 30 miles and 9500ft of elevation gain. This really could be done in 3 days, 2 nights.... but since everyone was going to have very long drives home, we figured it would be easier to camp a 3rd night and have a quick hike out early on day 4.

Photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pHakjKR3C1VYX1dY9

Gaia route:

https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.4/-118.8962/37.5261&pubLink=oHVLavAXeKCn0xmtlIy7LZPq&trackId=a3c943e5-f07d-48e0-9518-3fa783d0c85d

Lighterpack Link: (I don't know why I thought I needed to bring my bear can to Inyo.... I should have brought my Ursak instead and saved the pound of weight.... life is hectic right now and it was hard enough just getting out the door)

https://lighterpack.com/r/kcz6f1

Day 1

Started from Convict Lake on Thursday morning. After shuttling cars and loading up we were on the trail a little after 10am. Gorgeous hiking weather, mid to high 60s during the day and high 40s at night. The views were stunning the entire trip as you'll see in the photos so I won't go on and on about that here. We followed the Convict Creek drainage all day. A few miles between where the trail crosses the creek and Mildred lake, the trail was pretty choppy. There were a number of washouts that took some scrambling but nothing extreme, just not easy hiking. We only hiked 7 miles day 1 but had 3500 ft of elevation gain finishing at 10,600ft, and we were all huffing and puffing pretty hard by that point. Camped at Bighorn lake and had it all to ourselves.

Day 2

This was going to be the real fun of the trip. From Bighorn lake we started off trail and aimed for Constance lake which was pretty straight forward hiking. After picking our way around the east side of Constance lake we were about 1000ft below Corridor Pass staring up at a mountain of scree and talus. This was class 2 scrambling but did require selecting the lines and some care around sliding rock or movement of larger boulders. Challenging but very doable. And after a good bit of work we were sitting at the top just a hair below 12000ft elevation enjoying the views. After scrambling down the back side of the pass we connected with the McGee Pass trail. As the name implies, we immediately began a hike up to another 12000ft pass which would provide more expansive views down the Fish Creek drainage which was our path to Tully Lake where we camped for night 2. 7.85 miles, 2700ft elevation gain.

Day 3

It was very straight forward hiking on this day. Following Fish Creek then some ups and downs past Virginia and Purple Lakes on our way to camp just south of Duck Lake. Beautiful trail, some aggressive mosquitos, and alot of hikers on this day as we connected with the JMT and PCT. Lots of other people is not my general preference but it was all good and we were just cruising along on the good vibes from our Day 2 adventures. 9.77 miles 2500ft elevation gain

Day 4

This was just a quick 5 mile hike out with less than 1000ft of elevation gain. We broke camp early and were at the Duck Pass trailhead in Mammoth Lakes before 10am which let me get a good jump on the long drive back to the Bay Area.

I’m planning to head up to Iceland and Ridge Lakes, starting at Kennedy Meadows. It looks to me that I can climb east from Ridge Lake toward Lewis Lake, then pick a route due south of Lewis lake over the 10k ft shoulder of Granite Dome, then down the gradual slope in the drainage just east of Spring Creek. Has anyone done this route, or have a better suggestion? I don’t have to go to Long Lake, I’m just looking to make a more interesting loop out of the trip up toward Granite dome.

Where: Cache Creek Wilderness

When: 2021/02/13 (day trip), 2021/02/20-21, 2021/03/12-13, 2021/04/10-11

Conditions: 24F (-4C) to 70F (21C) . Generally sunny, but often windy.

Map: https://caltopo.com/m/VGC1

Gearlist: https://packstack.io/1877/cache-creek-wilderness-04-10-2021 (the one I used on my last trip)

Useful Pre-Trip Information or Overview:

Cache Creek Wilderness is an easily accessible wilderness from just about anywhere in the SF Bay Area. The campsites closest to the trailheads are very popular, but few people make it farther back. The major downside of the park is that access from the south side is difficult (impossible?) due to privately owned land bordering the wilderness, and few of the trails leading south from the north side of the wilderness connect to create loops. My goal this winter was to determine the state of some of the trails and to see if I could find hidden connections between any of them to create loops, avoiding out-and-back trips. Most of the trips were one-nighters, usually starting on Friday, leaving work a bit after lunch, and getting off the trail around dinner time on Saturday.

Cache Creek makes for a good water source, however, most of the trails leave the creek, sticking to the ridgelines. This means that unless you can work your way back off a ridgeline, it is almost impossible to find additional water.

The brush in the area is unforgiving to bushwhacking. It feels like everything has thorns or hones to a needle point. I would stay away from any trails that are fully overgrown or cross country routes you haven’t fully scoped out unless you are a glutton for pain.

There are a lot of coyotes in the area. I heard several of them on all three nights camping in the wilderness. More importantly, hunting is allowed year round, so I highly suggest wearing some high viz clothing whenever in the wilderness.

I started seeing ticks in the area around March, but prior to that they were either completely dormant or just too sleepy to bother me.

The Report:

The Complete Failure (2021/02/13 - 10.5 miles (16.9km))

https://imgur.com/a/340Hg9A

In this trip, I attempted to follow Rocky Creek south, eventually turning along some feeder creeks back up to the ridgeline. After just a short way, it became too difficult to follow, at least on the west side, so I bailed back up to Redbud Trail cross country. I decided that I would instead go from there, cross country to the ridgeline trail to the west.

This was a mistake.

The cross country route starts out fine, but just before reaching the ridgeline trail, I ran into a very dense grove of low trees. With only maybe a quarter of a mile to the trail, I decided to literally push my way through, often crawling to get below the limbs.

I finally got through, and started my way down to Cache Creek, where I planned to find a campsite. However, when I got to the creek, I realized I had lost my water bladder during my scrambling and had nothing to use with my Sawyer filter.

So with that, I drank my last few sips of water and hoofed it back to the car at the Redbud trailhead and called this overnighter a day trip instead.

This One Was Worth It (2021/02/20-21 - 13 miles (20.1km))

https://imgur.com/a/zXGpIC6

This was an overnighter with the goal to connect the trail following the western border of the wilderness area with the ridgeline across the creek and to the east. This required about 1.5 miles of cross country travel, and then following some pack trails marked on Caltopo.

The campsite at the creek was nice, but I found that it was very cold, and even being off and above the creek a bit resulted in a thick layer of frost on my tarp in the morning. The lows in the valley were right below 24F (-4C), and it was ridiculously humid. Throughout the night I heard a group of coyotes fighting not very far away. Practically, I don’t think they would bother me, and my food was in an Ursack, but coyotes make some discomforting noise. The coyote population in Cache Creek must be large. I was very aware of coyotes on all three of my overnights in the area - howling or yipping within earshot of me throughout the night.

The off trail travel on this section was surprisingly great. Very easy to follow animal trails, with very little brush. It was actually much harder to find and follow the trails that appear in Caltopo leading to the ridge line. They were often more overgrown than animal trails, but it was all below waist height and only a minor nuisance.

The ridgeline walks on this trail were really great, and the distance to get to the campsite on the first night is easily covered. This makes it a good option for a quick overnighter, especially with night setting in early during the winter.

Difficult, But Good (2021/03/12-13 - 12 miles (19km))

https://imgur.com/a/l5ldc7w

This time I was going to enter the park from the northeast side via Judge Davis trail, eventually making my way to Cache Creek, following it south briefly, before heading off cross country to Round Mountain, and then making my way to the Cache Creek Ridge trail.

There is no water between the trailhead and Cache Creek along the Judge Davis trail, so I packed in enough for the night. I spent Friday night at a nice spot below the ridgeline, above a water feature marked on CalTopo. It was bone dry in March, so I suspect it is always dry nowadays. It was still a great campsite. Shaded a bit from the wind, with a nice view of the valley.

In the morning, I broke camp and hiked down to Cache Creek at the Judge Davis Trail ford, where I had some breakfast and basked in the sun for a while. I wanted to see how deep and wide the ford was to better plan future trips. It isn’t a dangerous thing, but it was probably knee-deep and wide enough that there was no option across the creek without getting wet. I also explored to see if you could go around the bend in the creek on the east side, but that was not an option.

And so I backtracked up the Judge Davis trail to the point just above the creek and cut southeast. The off trail travel here was easy. I was on a bit of an exposed ridge, but there were plenty of animal trails to follow, so maybe some of them stayed farther back off the ridge. It got challenging when I started up toward Round Mountain. I planned to stick to the ridge that goes down to the creek, but when I got there it looked fairly brushy. I saw some animal trails going up a face a bit farther off the creek, though. I decided to try those, and I do not suggest others do the same. If I were to do it again, I would probably go with the brushy ridge, as the open face was really steep, soft soil. I made it up, but it was exhausting work and eventually became very overgrown itself toward the top.

The ridgeline walk to Round Mountain and again to Dunfield Flats was a bit brushy, but mostly waist height and easy to deal with. It is an exposed, dry hike, but it has great views of the wilderness area.

The final hike out is along Cache Creek Ridge Trail. When I got to it, I was surprised to find something more akin to a road that was at least 10 ft wide. It took me a while walking along it before it dawned on me that it was probably a fire break to control the fires that burned in the wilderness over the last few years.

Brushy Sky is Right (2021/04/10-11 - 16 miles (25.75km))

https://imgur.com/a/rP8Tqaq

tl;dr: Bushwhacking up to Brushy Sky is awful and not worth it.

My final trip into Cache Creek this winter season planned to go to the south side of the wilderness, summiting Brushy Sky, the highest point in the wilderness, and seeing if travel farther south of there was possible.

My friend and I drove up Friday and camped on the ridge just after crossing Cache Creek on Redbud Trail. This made for a great site. Most people stop and camp just before the crossing, so by just getting across the creek you can find a bit of solitude.

The hike along the ridge is not really well maintained, but generally passable. I found it was just overgrown enough that if I put on my audiobook I would start missing turns in the trail, so I had to stick with just enjoying the scenery.

When we reached the base of Brushy Sky, the trail took a turn for the worse. The brush became 10 ft tall, covered the entire trail, and the points punched through clothing. This was awful bushwhacking, and it made for a miserable hour of walking. It stayed this way until we got to the summit.

On the south side, there are not fences, gates, or signs noting where the public land ends. However, it definitely looked like the trail turned into private roads. I wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing southeast to connect to the east side of the park going this way.

We instead turned around and went back the way we came. After the awful bushwhacking we were both happy to get home and clean up. It was just one of those kinds of trips.

A lot of my staples in the area have been pretty impacted/closed off due to fires (e.g. All of Big Sur). I'm wondering what areas y'all have been considering to setup some decent backpacking trips this winter.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VLvA39x1PfHgx5YQ6

Was able to sneak away for the weekend to Emigrant Wilderness. It is open, permits are free and can be obtained instantly online. Beautiful hike. It was pretty cold though, especially the first night at Emigrant Meadows Lake 9400ft elev. And with the fire and stove ban in place that meant packing up an icy tarp without a warm cup of coffee to get the motor running. Hadn't ever gone stoveless/cold soaked exclusively before... don't think I'm going to be doing it by choice again any time soon.

Looking to get in some overnighters before my jmt hike in mid August, but as is expected many spots are closed around the Bay Area. Any tips on open difficult 1-2 night trails? Thanks. BTW I know Henry Coe is open but I have had several people advise me against it for heat and water reasons. But maybe they're overblowing it? Opinions welcome on that.

Greetings,

My wife and I have lived in San Jose, CA for the last 6 years and in the last two years we have picked up Ultra Light backpacking and bike backing and we love it!

​

Most recently we did the HST East to West and had a great time! This is a link to a bit of film from that trip. Which can provide folks with more information about our overall ultralight style.

Anyway, the last week of July this year we are planning a 1-week Yosemite backpack trip and would like to find one or two like-minded ultra-light hikers to join us for a segment or all of our route.

​

This is a link to the GAIAGPS map of the route we are planing.

​

If this type of trip sounds appealing to you please message me directly and we can chat more about the trip individually.

My hope is to use this post to find and or cultivate a more local to my region UltraLight community.

​

Thanks, ~B

Curious if anyone has been over Dicks Pass in Deso in the past week or two. Curious is snow is still any issue at this point. Easily passable?

bare with me, first trip report so i thought i'd post it up here first haha.

​

u/moxboltz had posted in the r/Ultralight weekly thread about two weeks ago about going out to HCSP to do some windjacket testing. since i've had a bad case of cabin fever i thought i'd ask if he'd welcome a guest and i offered to put together a route that would suit the goals we had:

1. 20+ mile days (sat and sun)
2. lots of windy areas (moxboltz was testing his houdini after all)
3. visit the northern/wilderness areas of the park

the wednesday/thursday before the trip the whole region was hit with a cold front that brought snow flurries to the peaks above 2400ft (though i could have sworn we saw snow around 1800ft.) i was very excited at the prospect of seeing snow in what i consider my third home. we were not disappointed.

stats:

map: https://caltopo.com/m/NRDU (didn't completely follow it)

miles: ~48

total time: 2.5 days, 2 nights

weather: partially cloudy to clear. 30% chance of precip. snow flurries in the last 48 hours totaling ~3in.

highs: 50s

lows: 20s

gear list: https://lighterpack.com/r/c4cxmq (pretty sure this is what i brought)

photos: i got nothing - i apparently couldn't properly work my camera to even document the snow. moxboltz might have some though.

​

details:

day .5: ~7miles

we planned to meet/start around 4:30p but ended up starting around 5:30-6:00p, because google had moxboltz go down a narrow, rutted dirt road that ended at a locked gate. after getting unstuck he finally made it to hunting hollow and after a few minutes of talking we headed out. because we were distracted and it was getting dark we immediately missed the turn off for steer ridge trail and ended up taking lyman willson ridge, bowl trail, wagon road, wasno road, then kelly lake trail to get to kelly lake. it turned out better then planned as there is a small section of lyman willson has some nice views of gilroy/morgan hill and cell service. we took a quick break to check in with the families before we booked it to kelly lake. we setup camp by 9-9:30 and it was getting quite chilly. we turned in about an hour later after sharing some burgers that moxboltz brought along.

bonus snow watch: we saw some snow, but not a lot and we didn't walk on any. the further north we go the more snow we see along the other ridges of the park

day 1.5: 20miles

i slept alright but my legs/feet were painfully cold as i didn't air out my feet enough before getting into my quilt. i woke up to frost, lesson learned: don't go to sleep with wet feet. we packed up and started working our way north towards the northern/wilderness boundaries. shortly after leaving we walked along one of two (possibly) former dirt air stripes in the park as well as a small lake. we found patches of snow along the numerous ridges in the park and beyond. when along the ridges we were treated with views of the snow-capped sierras when the skies were clear. we took a little break for lunch and to dry out our feet and gear in the middle of the narrows trail. i was civilized and used a stove and boiling water to dehydrate some mountain house lasagna that really slapped; i immediately regretted not getting more for the trip.

after the break we scooted through the narrows and up bear mountain occasionally getting to see some stunning views of the snowy rock house ridge and a partial boar skull and hipbone. from the top of bear mountain we got to see the sun set over the park before continuing on along the northern boundary. we diverged again from our planned round around sun down when our morale was lowest and our butts coldest. instead of heading down hartman trail towards the eastern boundary of the park we took county line road to mississippi lake. after some back and forth we decided to bunk up in one of the pit toilets since it was below freezing and for the lols. it's not like i hadn't already slept in the little vestibule of one. at least my feet were wet before crawling into my bag.

bonus snow watch: we got to walk on snow!!! along the northern boundary and behind bear mountain we got to walk through and leave prints in the snow. my month was made.

day 2.5: 22miles

slept better since my footbox was actually working, though the concrete floor didn't help much. we both snacked a little before we slowly packed up and headed outside. we grabbed some water while we weighed our options to complete the "loop" or just make a b-line to the trail head; we thought with our stomachs and set off to take the most direct route back. we got to walk on some snow in the sun light so i tried and ultimately failed to get a video of the satisfying crunch before we stumbled upon 3 deer legs and wondered what might have down the deer and only take one leg. we made it to the trail head by 4:30 after a short break at wilson camp. we packed up, got some weird looks from a biker we saw around mississippi lake whom we had beaten back to the trailhead... #tinypackcrew

future trips are being planned.

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Gear:

took a few new pieces, pushed the limits of comfort of others, and generally reaffirmed by love in others.

nashville cutaway: picked up a pre-made shorter ls07 with sewn straps during the bf sale for less than any other pack i've got (my used v1 was more expensive) and had been basically sitting half-packed since it arrived. i played around with 1000/700/600/500ml smart and life water bottles and i can confirm, for me at least, 5-600ml is where i'd cap the capacity for a bottle that i'll put in the two shoulder strap pockets. i used a 500ml for this trip and it worked out perfectly. i absolutely love how the straps fit, even filled with items like a pixel 3 and inreach mini. between the 6 pockets on the shoulder straps and bottom pocket i was able to carry everything i'd normally want while moving within reach. tpw was probably no heavier than 12lbs between the few days of food and 1.5l of water and this carried very well and was comfortable while jogging downhills while not bouncing about. i'm going to need to take it on a few more trips but so far this pack is going to work quite well for the projects i have this year

kuiu peloton 97: i've had this thing for about a year and have only used it a hand full of times, generally as a midlayer around camp in the summer. i used it as a base layer this time around and i was definitely thankful for that given the low temps. the first 1.5 days i used this and my melly when moving and felt the p97 had a slightly higher wind resistance and was warm enough even with the wind. the last day i used my skylight gear wp/b dcf jacket instead of the melly and it performed just as well. my one gripe is the hunter fit it has; i have a medium and it just isn't cut that way; the large would probably fit worse.

skylight wp/b dcf shell: picked this up in july of 2019 to take with me on the trt. so far it's seen only a shower test and use as a wind jacket. i can at least say that it is an excellent wind piece and, while the fabric is far less breathable than a houdini, the adjustable cuffs/bottom hem and pitzips do quite well to regulate heat/moisture. i need a trip with some good rain to really form a complete opinion but skylight gear was a pleasure to deal with and came in clutch getting it delivered to my in laws just in time for the trip.

smoke kit: i revamped my smoke kit from last years plastic dime bag, mini bic, and an amazon mini cob pipe inside a myog silnylon stuff sack to a dangle bongs wizardstix, mini bic, and myog .51ozsy dcf folding stash pouch inside a myog flat bottomed stuff sack from the same dcf. the wizardstix was a xmas gift from the wife and the pouch and sack were made from off cuts. i love the wizardstix even though it's a tad heavier than the mini cobb, it's much easier to whip out, dip in the pouch, toke, and ash in one go. the pouch can hold about a half ounce, ground. it's not too deep either so i can still dip without much fuss. the stuff sack was my first in dcf and first shaped one; it isn't the most prudy but it fits everything i need and then some (there's plenty of space to stash prerolls.)

misc: mountain house lasagna straight up slaps, hard. cooking is nice when it's cold. and i still find myself grabbing by hex over all of my other shelters (tarps, myog bivy, bug bivy, etc) i think it's about time i double down on the myog shelter and make a tarp i'll actually use.

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tldr: i went to HCSP, met moxboltz (cool dude, need to walk around SEKI/PCT with him some time), saw some animal bones/remains, walked along an old air stripe, WALKED ON SNOW, had banging lasagana, slept in a pit toilet. also, dry your feet before you go to sleep.

Hi friends,

Is anyone planning on taking an ice axe training course this winter/spring? If so, it would be cool to coordinate. I found a one day course being offered at Bear Valley for $160pp.

Cheers

Hey ULNorCal,

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I snagged a permit for Butano trail camp the first week of December for a quick overnighter, but I couldn't find much documentation about the area on Reddit. There are some decent looking loops on AllTrails, but I'd rather hear first hand from the community. So, For anyone that's familiar with the area, what are some of your favorite loops? Also, what's the parking situation like around there? I'm open to any and all suggestions!

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For context, this trip will be me and 3 friends that I'm trying to introduce into the hobby. My goal here is to have it be scenic, relatively easy grade wise, and as pain free as possible so that they'll be willing to expand to multi-day trips in the future. That being said, I'd probably say our range is 10 - 15 miles as these people have never done anything more than car camping before and will be carrying borrowed equipment many of us consider sacrilegious. My plan is to set the tone with an awesome experience, then slowly edge them towards UL.

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Not really relevant for this post, but here's my solo Lighterpack for those of you that are curious.

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Thanks in advance!

Ultralight Meetup in San Francisco, Wednesday 10/30, at Beer Nerds in the Mission

Winter is coming. Join other Bay Area ultralight people, talk about gear and hikes. Tell us about your trips this Summer and Fall and maybe even get some trips planned on the coast for the winter!

Highlights from the July Meetup:

• We had a record 10 (maybe 11) people in attendance
• We discovered Beer Nerds still has the slowest beer taps in SF. Get a can from the fridge.
• At least 1 trip was planned and has since been executed
• We heard from a member of the crew who hiked most of the PCT
• We still don't have consensus about the best shelter for the Sierra

Details: Wednesday, 10/30 at 6:30pm. Beer Nerds. 3331 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (right next to 24th Street BART in the Mission). We will be in the back room.

Curious if anyone here has ever done any trout fishing in Henry Coe Park? I've fished for bass and crappie plenty of times out there but it does mention that rainbow trout can be found in Coyote Creek above Poverty Flat. If anyone has any experience please let me know.

I'm on the mendo coast so bonus points if I don't have to drive too far inland. Looking for hikes of all shapes and sizes. Day hikes, overnighters, week long trips...whatever ya got. Hit me.

About to do a 4 day trip with some friends this coming weekend. Anyone know what the trails, Snow, melt off, river crossings, or bugs are like right now?

Any information about the area is helpful, thanks a bunch y’all.

Gaia GPS Route: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/bjbTbcOSvI17kj4AT4LG8Y3Z

Edit: Added trip information, here’s a quick breakdown:

Day 1: We’re taking the PCT route north past Echo Lakes & Lake Aloha hoping to camp near Dicks Lake

Day 2: Head north and split off heading west where the PCT intersects Miller Creek where we’ll make our way to Buck Island Lake and set up camp

Day 3: From there we’ll head to Loon Lake where we’ll take Rubicon trail onto Loon Lake trail, cutting east on Red Peak Trail and setting up camp near Lawrence Lake.

Day 4: Hike down onto the Red Peak Stock Trail, and scramble our way down to Rockbound trail where we’ll follow that into China Flat, head south back onto the PCT and camp out near Haypress Meadow.

Day 5: Pack up, and head back out to the Echo Lake Chalet

Ultralight Meetup in San Francisco, Wednesday 7/31, at Beer Nerds in the Mission

Summer is in full swing. Come meet other Bay Area ultralight people, talk about gear and hikes and get some trips planned for the balance of Summer.

Highlights from the June Meetup:

• We had a record 6 people in attendance, up 300% from the May meetup
• We discovered Beer Nerds might have the slowest beer taps in SF
• At least 1 trip was planned and has since been executed

Details: Wednesday, 7/31 at 6:30pm. Beer Nerds. 3331 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (right next to 24th Street BART in the Mission). We will be in the back room.

Got an unexpected break in my schedule next weekend and I'm planning on heading out to Desolation Wilderness for a quick one nighter and some fishing. I've gotta guess that we're in the midst of mosquito season right now with all the melt off happening. Was anyone out there last weekend. Just wanting to get an idea of what to expect.