10.05.2012

42 MILES 4 PASSES in 3 DAYS: Day 2


Continued on from 42 MILES 4 PASSES in 3 DAYS: Day 1

The nice thing about not being in the mountains on my backpacking journey yet was the fact that i woke up to a hot continental breakfast and slept in until 9 am! The extra sleep would eventually come in handy!!!
Packing up, i left the motel at 11am and walked down to the auto shop only to find out there's nothing wrong with my car!! Really?!! That morning the mechanic came to work on my car and it started right up, no problem. I remember the mechanic saying to me, " oh yeah go backpacking like you planned. If it dies again you have 4,000 downhill feet to pop the clutch into gear!". I laughed and agreed!  I paid my $ 35 $ and threw my backpack in car and off i drove to the trailhead arriving there at 1pm. Nineteen hours later than planned. The dirt road heading up to the trailhead was nerve cracking, to say the least. It was one lane with quick corners and a huge severe drop off on the right! I felt like I was back in china just traveling to the next town on an average road in a filled to capacity average bus!

Once at the trailhead a volunteer park ranger insisted on taking my photo. She said my mom would definitely appreciate it!! And She was right! We started to chat and I explained my situation: The choice! Either keep the plan of hiking a 42 mile loop or cut the trip in half because of loosing 19 hrs. She was surprised I hadn't made my choice yet.
I would like to take the time to thank all the volunteers who spend many summer hours helping our state's and national  parks and trails!!! Endless thanks!!
The view from Deer park campground is amazing!! 5,000 feet up the trailhead started. I stood for a couple minutes analyzing the ranges which laid to my south. My route lead me to hike .2 miles on Slab camp trail to the start of the Three Forks trail. Three Forks trail heads down 4.1 miles of switchbacks through an old burned area as it looses about 2,750 feet!! This backpacking trek I had a lot of firsts and this was one of them. I had never lost so much elevation at the start of a hike let alone starting a hike at 5,000 feet! Three Forks campground boasts of a nice shelter.
On the way down Three Forks trail i realized that my 1.5 liter camelbak was having problems. The tube while on the ride up had something large pressing on it. A small hole was visible along with the tube being almost completely flattened along 1 inch. I was still able to suck water through the tube but it took extra power! I had to be careful to not fully rip the tube as my sawyer water filter was spliced into the tube, or so i thought. Somehow when i cleaned it last i never put the clamps back on. The tube still gripped the filter tightly. Thank goodness!
Crossing Cameron Creek i had to make my final decision!!! 38 more miles or 21.5 miles in three days!?? My original goal or the smaller goal? It was only 2:30 pm and i had been able to go down 4.1 miles in a hour and a half. Great time! The rest of today's journey wasn't estimated as hard elevation gain and i knew i would have the most energy today, day one! The decision was made and 38 miles it was! All four passes!! If finished would be another first!

Cameron Creek trail is needed for about .4 miles to connect to Gray Wolf trail. Seven and half more miles lay between me and my first camp, not to mention back up to alpine beauty! The Gray Wolf river is definitely a river compared all the other flowing bodies of water i passed on this trek! The river basin is pristine with rapids, log jams, with tall firs and cedars hovering over the river. Out of all the rivers and creeks i passed over on this trip the Gray Wolf was the most majestic!!
On the way up to camp i passed by a group who was heading up to Cedar lake junction for the night. They were going to conduct a marmot count up in Gray Wolf Basin the following day. The monitoring was to learn if the population was struggling or not. Once in the basin i only counted one marmot! Of course it was the scout who boastfully sounded his alarm almost endlessly!!

I stopped at Fall camp, where the Marmot counters were staying the night, and took a short brake. The trail for Cedar Lake starts at Fall Camp and two hikers i crossed sang it's praises! Next time, with a fishing pole in hand!!
Next switchbacks suddenly popped up and i knew i was almost to camp. Salmonberry bushes covered the forest floor and i was able to eat to my heart;s delight for about 10 minutes. I must have been the first hiker up the Gray Wolf in awhile as spider web after spider web tried to ensnare me.  The Lower Gray Wolf basin opened up after the switchbacks were defeated. The basin was perfect with open meadows, enough trees for my hammock and a creek to use for supper's cooking. All in all, even with all the obstacles i waded through i couldn't think of a better way to spend the evening watching the sun's rays slowly rise up the 7,000 ft tall peaks of the Needles!!

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