my backpacking debut

Hello everyone

I had an incredible weekend backpacking with Gina. It turned out to be both more physically difficult than I anticipated and more beautiful with more solitude than I ever expected. We left Friday morning and drove to the Pamelia Lake Trailhead south of Mt Jefferson. We had a 2.3 mile hike into the lake. I was surprised by how heavy my backpack was. We both felt we had been careful to not overpack and not duplicate my gear. My pack at 40 lbs would be too heavy and make hiking and elevation gain in particular exponentially more difficult than hiking with just a day pack as I’m accustomed to. We stopped to talk to a Forest Service Ranger we passed on the trail. He described a short cut to us that we could take the second day, reducing some of our miles. We hiked on until we reached Pamelia Lake where we stopped for lunch. The lakeshore here was battered and bare from overuse. After eating and briefly checking out the lake we hiked along to the far end of the lake. A man pointed out a spring along the trail that we were able to use to fill our camelbacks (pouches or containers that go in your pack with a tube that hangs out for easy drinkability). It was a big treat to have spring water which we didn’t have to filter but could drink straight from the source, cold and delicious. We hiked on and passed a family that was hiking out with two llamas. They had been up in the wilderness for 5 days with the advantage of llamas to carry some of their gear.

We came to Hunts Creek which we had to cross several times. Normally stream crossings are not an issue as it’s easy enough to hop from rock to log to the other side. I found with the heavy pack on my back that my balance was way off. I borrowed one of Gina’s walking poles which helped me greatly to navigate the crossings without falling in the water. Thankfully she had two poles so I could use one of them the whole rest of the trip. It was so helpful to spread out some of the work to my arms when climbing the steep hills and to help me keep my balance whenever I stumbled. After our stream crossings we began to hike up a 3 mile hill with 1200 feet of elevation gain. For a dayhike this would be a piece of cake but with the 40 lbs on my back it was utterly exhausting. The hillsides here were full of springs so we were able to fill our water bottles again with cold fresh water which was hugely important since we were sweating so much from working so hard. We went slow and steady and took breaks when we needed to, resting the pack on a log or rock to take the weight off for just a bit. We had no choice to continue all the way up to our destination as the trail was surrounded by a steep hill up and down on both sides. Parts of the trail were extremely overgrown with salmonberries thick across the path. The springs also supported lots of wildflowers that were blooming en masse.

Finally we reached our camp spot for the night on Hanks Lake. We were thrilled to find we were the only people there. We dropped our packs and scouted out a good spot to set up camp. Once that was decided our first priority was to jump in that lake. We were both soaked with sweat and the mosquitoes were descending upon us. We stripped off all our clothes and jumped into the cool mountain lake. It felt fantastic and refreshing to wash off. Our next task was to gather firewood and start a fire. It felt so great to sit down (in chairs made from straps and our thermarest sleeping pads). We sat around and marveled at our first day. Going up that hill was one of the hardest physical things I’d ever done but our campsite made it worth it. We were preparing dinner (dehydrated chicken and Mexican rice) when a large creature was suddenly crashing through the woods towards us. It was clearly very close to us and I felt compelled to make a sound to let it know of our presences. What comes out of my mouth but, “OH MY GOSH!” Bahahahahah! Gina and I both quickly turned on our headlamps to reveal a large doe standing on the edge of our campsite. She continued to circle around us all night long. It was the strangest incident with a deer I’ve ever had. At one point she was going to walk right up to our fire and hang out with us it seemed until I shouted at her to please go away. Very odd! We drank some wine, bought in Napa Valley during my Christmas visit to San Francisco and packed in wineskin since bottles are way too heavy. We didn’t stay up very late and headed for sleep in the tent.

In the morning I walked around the lake a little bit, taking pictures in the lovely morning sun. Gina woke up and we made coffee and breakfast. Our morning plan was to hike the .6 miles to Hunts Lake to see if we could find the short cut the ranger had described to us. Hunts Lake was another beautiful alpine lake but it was surrounded by steep cliffs that one would have to be insane to attempt to climb, especially with a heavy pack. We walked back to Hanks Lake and broke camp and loaded up our backpacks. We began our hike for the day and I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I realized I had been holding out too much hope for the shortcut and the possibility of a short hike and long relaxing day at our second campsite. Our hike Saturday began with 1000 feet of elevation in one mile. We began working our way up these switchbacks when I began to freak out. Friday was so hard and I was so afraid that Saturday and Sunday would be more of the same. I’m all for some good vigorous exercise but I thought this was ridiculous. I took my pack off and told Gina that I didn’t know if we should go on. I complained, “ I haven’t read one page of my book!” (and I never would). Gina said that it was my decision but that she didn’t want to quit because it was hard. I said that I thought that was the best reason to quit. I then said that I wanted it to be fun that it wasn’t supposed to “make me want to throw myself off the mountain so search and rescue can come take me away in a helicopter and feed me at the hospital with a tube. At least then it would stop!” Gina didn’t really know what to do with my meltdown and I think she handled it in the best possible way. She listened to me vent and vent. At one point she pulled out her flask of bourbon and handed it to me. I took one small swig then after pondering the situation for one moment longer said, “Okay, let’s go.” So we put on our packs and trudged up the huge hill. It was the longest mile ever. At the end we were rewarded with an incredible view of Mt Jefferson and Pamelia Lake in the distance. No wonder we were tired, we’d come a long way and done a lot of elevation gain.

From there the next 4.5 miles were basically level and with astounding views of the mountain and Hanks Lake (where we had camped on Friday) and Hunts Lake (where we visited earlier that morning. Eventually our route turned onto the Pacific Crest Trail. There we ran into a thru-hiker who had started at the PCT on the Mexico-California border on May 7th. He was hiking about 35 miles a day and hoped to be at the Washington-Canada border within a month. Whoa! We arrived at Shale Lake, our destination for the day. Hallelujah! Again we scouted out our campsite, this one on the isthmus between Mud Hole Lake & Shale Lake, then jumped in the lake for a refreshing swim. Both lakes were aptly named making Shale the better one for swimming in. After getting out we put on pants and long sleeves to defend ourselves against the swarms of mosquitoes. Mountain lakes are notorious for there very short and very vicious mosquito season. We took our thermarest chair to a trail in a meadow and plopped down with snacks. We relaxed and gazed at the huge mountain before us. Again we were the only people camping on these lakes and our solitude seemed a wonderful reward after our day of hiking. We collected firewood and Gina started our fire for the night. She brought up my earlier meltdown and we laughed and laughed. I actually laughed until I cried knowing how ridiculous it must have seemed to her and how relieved I was that my worst fears were not realized and Saturday’s hike was not as difficult as Friday’s had been. We cooked our dinner (dehydrated chicken teriyaki) and watched as the full moon illuminated the glaciers on Mt Jefferson. It was a truly incredible camp site. We crawled into bed in the tent. At 6000 feet up this was the highest I’d ever camped.

Sunday morning the sun was out strong and the lakes were steaming. The mosquitoes didn’t seem to mind the rapidly rising temperatures so Gina started a small fire to create some smoke to keep them away. We ate breakfast and filtered a bunch of water before packing up and heading out for the day. I found my pack extremely uncomfortable and felt my back screaming at me with each step. Gina thought perhaps my pack wasn’t adjusted correctly as the weight should be carried more by my hips than my back. She told me to turn around and she took the tent off my pack and attached it to her. As we walked on I could tell the difference and thanked her for taking the tent. I vowed to NEVER backpack with such a heavy pack again. NEVER! Our hike that day was the longest but it was all steadily downhill. We caught some glimpses of Pamelia Lake and gradually saw the forest change as we lost elevation. We stopped for some snacks along the trail then continued on the last few miles past Pamelia Lake and back to the trailhead. Both of us experienced more ankle rolling in the last two miles than in the whole rest of the trip combined. We were tired and so ready to be done. We reached the trailhead where my car was parked and whooped with relief. The backpacks came off and we got in the car and drove back to civilization.

We stopped in the town of Detroit where we had burgers and ice cold beers at the Cedars Lounge. Gina scratched her hundreds of mosquito bites and we talked about how great it was going to be to take a shower, to sleep in our own beds, to not be surrounded by a swarm of bugs. Nothing makes you appreciate the comforts of home like a few beautiful days in the woods.
So that was my weekend. Please let me know how you are and what you’re up to!

Xox,
carolyn