Our second backpack trip of the 2007 workshop was a three day - two night hike from the Highland Lakes to Ebbetts Pass, in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness. On this trip I had the pleasure of hiking with Lupe Perez (00) and Travis Swafford (06). We met at the Pleasant Hill Community Center at noon on Thursday, August 9th. Lupe and Travis were the only members who had confirmed their attendance, but we waited until 12:30 before heading east on Highway 4 to Angels Camp and Hathaway Pines, where we stopped for campfire permits. We then continued on to Lake Alpine, where we stopped for drinks and dinner. After dinner we resumed our drive to the Pacific Crest Trail trailhead parking lot at Ebbetts Pass, where we bivouacked for the night.

On Friday morning we arose at 6:00 and ate breakfast before loading our gear into Lupe's Tracker for the ride to the Gardner Meadow trailhead at Highland Lakes. Our first day's hike was to be a short one and we took time to drive to the west end of Upper Highland Lake, headwaters of Highland Creek. We walked to the edge of the canyon and looked west, down the canyon, towards Spicer Meadows Reservoir and the Dardanelles. This is the canyon we bushwhacked on the six day backpack in 1998. It was this bushwhack that earned hikers the "No Trail" stamp for that year's backpack trip. This was also the area that inspired the "Tree" warning for Jenine Wilson (97). The sun was warm, the breeze was cool, the sky was smoky, from a fire south of the Dardanelles, and Asa Lake awaited so we piled back into the Tracker and backtracked to the Gardner Meadow trailhead to begin our hike.

We organized our gear, hoisted our packs, and started east towards Lower Gardner Meadow. The trail through the meadow is a very fine, light tan, sand and as we walked we noticed that at least one bear had passed this way, traveling east. There were lots of boot and cow tracks on the trail but none over any of the bear tracks so the bear/bears were probably somewhere just ahead of us. We stopped to take many bear track photos as we trekked our way through the meadow. We soon arrived at the PCT junction at Wolf Creek Pass, where we stopped to talk to a dayhiker and take photos of Travis standing on the Pacific Crest Trail for the first time. The distance from the Gardner Meadow trailhead to Asa lake is about two and a quarter miles and it only took us an hour an a half to get to our campsite, at the east end of the lake, just above the two springs that gush cold, clear water from the mountainside.

We had stopped here on our fifth night of last year's six day hike and claimed the same spot we had discovered last year. Lupe and I set up our tents while Travis went exploring. We had a snack and then it was time for a nap. After a relaxing snooze I arose and set up my stove before Travis and I collected a couple of gallons of water in Lupe's yellow bucket. We relaxed around the "cooking rock" while waiting for 5 o'clock to roll around so we could start dinner preparations without feeling too guilty. While we were eating a hiker came into sight on the trail above our camp and I wandered over to meet "Virginia" (his trail name and home state), who was on his way from Donner Summit to Mount Whitney. His gear looked old fashioned, heavy, and appeared to be mostly home made. He asked about places to exit the trail because his brother had been injured in a serious auto accident. "Virginia" had been tracking his brother's recovery and wanted to be able to get off the mountain if his brother's condition started to deteriorate. He declined to camp near us and moved to the north side of the lake. Not long afterward two men hiked in and told of being run off the PCT by two bears, a mile and a half south of our position. The men had been heading south to do the "Paradise loop" and upon spotting the bears had reversed course and ended up at Asa Lake.

I just did some research on the "Paradise Loop" hike. It appears to be about a 15 mile loop from Highland Lakes, east to the PCT, then south to the Paradise Valley trail junction in Golden Canyon. From there the trail leaves the PCT and turns west, up and over the Pacific Crest, just north of Disaster Peak. The trail drops down to Disaster Creek before turning northwest, up the creek, and over the ridge into the Arnot Creek drainage. From there the trail heads north, up Arnot Creek, to Upper Gardner Meadow, with a possible stop at Half Moon Lake, east of Upper Gardner Meadow. It appears to be about a mile and a half from where the trail leaves Arnot Creek back to Highland Lakes. This looks like a possible route for a very comfortable three or four day trip. The hike loops with no need for a car shuttle and only a half mile of backtracking near the end of the hike. Total elevation gain/loss is about 2800 feet. Maybe next year we'll do this hike for one of our workshop trips.

We discussed the advisability of bear bagging for the night, versus tent storing our food. I voted to keep my food in my tent. My worry wasn't bears, I was more concerned with the Golden Mantled squirrel that had been lurking around my tent while I napped. The little bugger actually wormed his way under my tent until he found he couldn't get under my Thermarest. The silnylon floor of my tent is so transparent I could watch him crawling along and I reached out and lightly bonked him on the head before he backed out and went looking for easier picking's. The sun was down and the stars came out as the sky darkened. Soon it was eight o'clock and we could crawl into our sleeping bags. I had pulled my tent fly back to give me a good view of the night sky and lay, snuggled in downy comfort, while watching for shooting stars. Sometime during the night I was awakened by one of the loudest "booms" I've ever heard. It was loud and long. I thought it might be a sonic boom but there was no sound of a jet after the boom. It didn't sound like a dynamite blast, and I wondered why it hadn't awakened anyone else. I think I dreamed it. There were no visible meteors so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I awoke at 6:00 am and packed everything but my tent, kitchen and food, before getting the others up. We boiled water and ate our breakfasts before packing up for our hike to Nobel Lake. Just as we began our climb up the trail we were overtaken by a couple hiking north. We stopped for a while and spoke with "Requito" and "Squirrel". They were hiking the PCT from Walker Pass (north of Tehachapi) to Mount Hood, Oregon and were on their 36th day. (I just looked up the mileage in the Pacific Crest Trail Guide and the distance from Walker Pass to Asa lake totals 392 miles. Requito and Squirrel only have 1126 miles to go) We found out that they had already hiked from Mexico to Walker Pass and from Mount Hood to Canada. Their current trip would complete the whole 2650 mile Pacific Crest Trail. They both appeared to be in their 50's or 60's. Requito mentioned the bears we had heard about. He said there were three bears scavenging a cow carcass, just north of Wolf Creek, and that the bears had run off at high speed when he and Squirrel came upon them. It appears that the Paradise loop hikers had seen the bears and had probably turned back without waiting to see what the bears were up to. We stood back and Requito and Squirrel hiked north before we began to follow them up to Tryon Pass, and on to our Saturday camp at Nobel Lake.

Since Lupe is a very fast hiker she led off up the trail, with Travis close behind. I followed along, trailing farther and farther behind. Both of them were lounging in the sun when I topped the pass. They arose and donned their packs before we started down into Nobel Canyon. The distance from Asa Lake to Nobel Lake is about two and a half miles and we arrived at around 10:15. Last year, on the six day trip, we had made our last stop at a small pond just above and northeast of Nobel Lake and we headed for our old camp. Due to steep terrain the legal (more than 200 feet from the lake) campsites at Nobel Lake are some distance above and south of the lake and our pond allowed us to camp closer to the water. Travis elected to set up his tent in a small clearing. Lupe contemplated sleeping out, better to view any possible meteors, and I eyed a flat tent site away from overhanging trees. After we had set up camp Lupe and Travis took off to look for the waterfall Lupe had discovered last year. I relaxed and fiddled around camp.

After a while I decided to see if I could track them. I headed east in the direction they had taken and tried in vain to follow their trail. For about a half hour I wandered about looking for their tracks, to no avail. The only sign of a water course coming off the mountain was a steep ravine to the northeast of our camp, and I headed that way. The ravine was very steep and lined with loose rock. Surely they wouldn't have gone up there. I stopped and "Bruced" them loudly. No reply. I gave up the search and made my way back to camp. They'd show up sooner or later. I decided to take a nap.

Some time later I was awakened by the explorers returning from their adventure. It turns out that the waterfall was at the head of the steep draw and they were both about a half mile east and 600 feet above me when I "Bruced". Lupe hadn't heard my call and Travis told us he thought he had heard a cow mooing in the distance. As we had been seeing cows along the trail, and since Travis hadn't been instructed in the "Bruce" tradition, he didn't think anything of it and the two had continued climbing. Lupe said the waterfall was much diminished in this year of little snow. Travis started to circumnavigate our pond and Lupe lay her Thermarest in the shade of a pine and took a nap. It was a lazy afternoon so I borrowed some of Lupe's shade and continued my nap.

When the sun was about an hour above the Tryon Peak ridge we gathered at the "cooking rock" and began our dinner preparations. It was about that time that two women backpackers hiked in from the south, looking for a spot to camp. We invited them to share our space and found out that they were hiking from Sonora Pass to Ebbetts Pass. They were sisters, Nancy Delacour, of Tacoma, Washington and Susan McLaughlin from Oakdale, northeast of Modesto. They were hiking with Susan's dog, Oreo. Oreo took his ease while we heard about some of their hikes. One that impressed me was the hike they did of the John Muir Trail. Also, Susan had done the whole 165 mile Tahoe Rim Trail with Oreo. She said it took her three weeks, including stops at South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City. They were interested in CARRYING A GOOD THING TOO FAR and I got Susan's email to add to our CAGTTF data base. The two investigated surrounding campsite possibilities and decided to camp up the hill where the views were better. Do you think they had advanced warning of my snoring? The wind was up and gusts made dinner a gritty experience. One of the heavier puffs turned my tent inside out. I used my last two tent pegs and staked the upwind guy lines. It was uncomfortable sitting out in the wind and we turned in at about 8 pm. The meteors were few (I believe we counted an aggregate of seven.) and I drifted off to sleep with my jacket over my face to keep off the blowing dust.

When I awoke on Sunday morning the wind had dropped to a gentle zephyr. As I sat up I saw that my light grey sleeping bag was dark brown with volcanic grit. Everything in my tent was the same color. I got up, careful not to stir up a dust cloud, and packed up before getting out to wake the others. Lupe had slept out on her Thermarest, her sleeping bag wrapped with her tent fly. Her sleeping bag and tent fly seemed mostly dust free. I went to fill Lupe's water bucket and started to boil water for breakfast. In an hour and a half we were packed up and on the trail. Nancy and Susan said they typically slept in and we didn't get to say goodbye to them. I just now added Susan to our email list and hope she will be joining us on future hikes.

The PCT north from Nobel Lake switchbacks 600 feet down to the Nobel Creek crossing before climbing almost 800 feet up to the spur ridge overlooking Ebbetts Pass. Our descent on the east side of the canyon was mostly in shade but the climb up was through sparsely wooded slopes and the sun was hot in the windless canyon. The first time I climbed this section was in September of 2005, when Donn Nibblett (88) and I hiked from Sonora to Ebbetts Pass. Then it seemed that I'd never reach the top. Last August, when we did the same hike for the 2006 six day, the climb seemed much shorter. This year, even in the hot sun, I seemed to make it to the top in no time at all. As is her way, Lupe blasted up the trail and was "gone in sixty seconds." Travis stayed behind Lupe until the steepest part of the climb when he said his steam ran out. He finished 20 minutes behind her. I chugged along, with my pulse rate at a fairly steady 135, and got back to the parking lot 5 minutes after Travis.

We loaded the packs in my car while Lupe washed her hair and were soon on the road back to Highland Lakes to pick up Lupe's Tracker. Then it was off to Lake Alpine and lunch at the lodge. The food was expensive, and not that good, but is was salad, salt and grease and we ate with gusto (and mustard). Travis was riding with me and, after lunch, we drove back to Concord. I was home by 7:00 pm and boy did that hot shower feel good.



Red Leader out