Buck Creek Pass
After a good and proper head shaving, what’s a girl gotta do to properly celebrate? Why go for a long solo backpacking trip of course. I had all this big and elaborate plans to backpack the Spider Meadow – Buck Creek Loop…which would be 44 miles in 4 days.
My trip plan was something like this:
Day 1: 10 miles to Buck Creek Pass
Day 2: 10.5 miles to Image Lake
Day 3: 14 miles to Spider Gap
Day 4: 9.5 back to car
While hiking 14 miles in one day seems a bit insane with a full pack, that particular section is almost completely flat - the worst part of it would be the first day with the most elevation gain. I wanted to head out on Monday, but the weather was dreadful and the forecast said maybe tomorrow will be better. Tuesday rolled around and the weather was just as bad with a forecast that the next day could be better. Wednesday came and same thing…with a 4 day trip in mind, I couldn’t sit around any longer so I decided to bite the bullet and pray for good weather.
The drive out to that loop was insane, it took over 4 hours to get there…I was on the trail around 3:30p.m. and I had 10 miles to cover. So I hiked. It drizzled most of the first 3 hours then it became a downpour when night time hits. Because it had rained for the past 3-4 days, the trail was a nice goopy mess with mud often coming up to my ankles, thank God for gaiters. I have to say, I worried a lot about solo hiking for hours in the dark, but it wasn’t bad at all. By the time I got to Buck Creek Pass and found the campsite and got my tent all setup, it was 9:30p.m. I figured that to be not too bad of a time for a little gal carrying fucking 35lbs worth of gear with 5 days worth of food.
I did a big no-no thing and cooked dinner in my tent - yeah, I know gas poisoning danger blah blah…but by 9:30, it wasn’t merely raining up in the mountain pass, it was rain combined with strong wind…you know the kind of wind that could diverge a heavy downpour to aim straight up your ass. Warm food in a cozy tent when it’s raining out is nice. I set up my mattress and sleeping bag and slept like a happy log…until 2:30a.m. Dear god, I forgot to go pee before I went to bed. I heard the wind howling against my tent and cringed, not wanting to drag myself out of my warm cocoon…but I had to go so badly. So out in the pouring freezing rain I went. Thanks for the free enema, but I brought my own T.P. After that, I slept so damned well…there isn’t any lullaby as sweet as rain on a tent.
I woke up at 7:30 and the rain was still going strong. Damn you, rain, go away, I appreciate the good sleep and all, but you can go now. I snuggled back hoping maybe it’ll go away in another hour. 8:30 rain seems to be slowing down, I figured I should hunt down some water since it was hard to locate the previous night in the dark. Finally around 9:30 or so, the rain stopped. I almost did a little dance – but then it started snowing. The world turned to a white flurry. I had to throw in my gloves and decided to head home. I could suck it up and deal with the rain, but I fear getting snowed in up in the pass – everything I had was soaked or damp from the constant rain, they started freezing up with the snow. So I packed up all my crap and made for home. My pack which was previously 35 lbs was probably closer to 40 lbs by the end of my trip due to all the rain-soaked gear. I probably packed out another 50 lbs or so of mud too – because what girl could resist free mud? When I got home, I found that I skinned one side of my hip from where the extra heavy pack was resting. Overall, cold snow and blistery hips aside, I had a really good time. I enjoyed solo backpacking a lot more than I thought I would. Pretty soon, I’ll move out to the woods, grow my own carrots and make my own bombs.
The one really cool thing about this trip is I saw two guys on the trail…they were doing the trip that I thought I might consider doing one day which is hike the entire PCT trail. They started in Mexico back in May 15th…I told them they were making some damned awesome time. They said, “Yeah, but it snowed on us the last 3 days.” I can’t imagine how hard it must be for them. I saw that they had only packed an open face tarp to save weight…that means any time they have freezing rain or snow combined with gusty wind, they get soaked. Still, I’m very happy for them that their trip is almost complete and from the current weather forecast, they should have at least another week of awesome weather.
Slide of hike here.
My trip plan was something like this:Day 1: 10 miles to Buck Creek Pass
Day 2: 10.5 miles to Image Lake
Day 3: 14 miles to Spider Gap
Day 4: 9.5 back to car
While hiking 14 miles in one day seems a bit insane with a full pack, that particular section is almost completely flat - the worst part of it would be the first day with the most elevation gain. I wanted to head out on Monday, but the weather was dreadful and the forecast said maybe tomorrow will be better. Tuesday rolled around and the weather was just as bad with a forecast that the next day could be better. Wednesday came and same thing…with a 4 day trip in mind, I couldn’t sit around any longer so I decided to bite the bullet and pray for good weather.
The drive out to that loop was insane, it took over 4 hours to get there…I was on the trail around 3:30p.m. and I had 10 miles to cover. So I hiked. It drizzled most of the first 3 hours then it became a downpour when night time hits. Because it had rained for the past 3-4 days, the trail was a nice goopy mess with mud often coming up to my ankles, thank God for gaiters. I have to say, I worried a lot about solo hiking for hours in the dark, but it wasn’t bad at all. By the time I got to Buck Creek Pass and found the campsite and got my tent all setup, it was 9:30p.m. I figured that to be not too bad of a time for a little gal carrying fucking 35lbs worth of gear with 5 days worth of food.
I did a big no-no thing and cooked dinner in my tent - yeah, I know gas poisoning danger blah blah…but by 9:30, it wasn’t merely raining up in the mountain pass, it was rain combined with strong wind…you know the kind of wind that could diverge a heavy downpour to aim straight up your ass. Warm food in a cozy tent when it’s raining out is nice. I set up my mattress and sleeping bag and slept like a happy log…until 2:30a.m. Dear god, I forgot to go pee before I went to bed. I heard the wind howling against my tent and cringed, not wanting to drag myself out of my warm cocoon…but I had to go so badly. So out in the pouring freezing rain I went. Thanks for the free enema, but I brought my own T.P. After that, I slept so damned well…there isn’t any lullaby as sweet as rain on a tent.
I woke up at 7:30 and the rain was still going strong. Damn you, rain, go away, I appreciate the good sleep and all, but you can go now. I snuggled back hoping maybe it’ll go away in another hour. 8:30 rain seems to be slowing down, I figured I should hunt down some water since it was hard to locate the previous night in the dark. Finally around 9:30 or so, the rain stopped. I almost did a little dance – but then it started snowing. The world turned to a white flurry. I had to throw in my gloves and decided to head home. I could suck it up and deal with the rain, but I fear getting snowed in up in the pass – everything I had was soaked or damp from the constant rain, they started freezing up with the snow. So I packed up all my crap and made for home. My pack which was previously 35 lbs was probably closer to 40 lbs by the end of my trip due to all the rain-soaked gear. I probably packed out another 50 lbs or so of mud too – because what girl could resist free mud? When I got home, I found that I skinned one side of my hip from where the extra heavy pack was resting. Overall, cold snow and blistery hips aside, I had a really good time. I enjoyed solo backpacking a lot more than I thought I would. Pretty soon, I’ll move out to the woods, grow my own carrots and make my own bombs.
The one really cool thing about this trip is I saw two guys on the trail…they were doing the trip that I thought I might consider doing one day which is hike the entire PCT trail. They started in Mexico back in May 15th…I told them they were making some damned awesome time. They said, “Yeah, but it snowed on us the last 3 days.” I can’t imagine how hard it must be for them. I saw that they had only packed an open face tarp to save weight…that means any time they have freezing rain or snow combined with gusty wind, they get soaked. Still, I’m very happy for them that their trip is almost complete and from the current weather forecast, they should have at least another week of awesome weather.
Slide of hike here.
posted by SteakGirl at 10:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home