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California's Lost Coast Log (2008-06-17 --> 2008-07-06)
Leaders: Meg Miller and Clay Kennedy
Students: Redding Kingery, Emily Knutson, Bill Pappas, Viriginia Ratliff, Jason Steiner, Caroline Turner
June 24
We are heading out of the lost coast toward Redwood National forest. Although we were really sad to say goodbye to the coast as we rolled through the foggy beach this morning, we are looking forward to exploring some big trees during our day hike tomorrow and then onwards to the Klamath River!
Everyone in the group has come together really well- we've discovered that not only can 8 people, their packs, duffels, food, and group gear fit into one single van, but we can also fit 6 people into one tent! Not to sleep of course, but fun too hang out in the afternoon after a long hike. After one bold attempt to sleep outside the first day on the river, the bugs got the best of us and it was back to our tents at night. We camped out at some excellent spots, starting out on Cooskie Creek with out tents and our kitchen set up on opposite sides of the river. After setting out the first day from Mattole Beach, the group did swimmingly well. We passed the Punta Gorda Lighthouse along the way with breathtaking views of both the coast and the valleys. One of the big highlights for everyone was sea lion gulch- a rock filled with sea lions who we heard coming from miles away. Emily was certainly the most affected by the sea lions in the group, adding in the group journal if she were a sea lion she would want to be a black one, but Redding would definitely be an albino seal . . . Low and behold a few minutes after this comment we stumbled upon a real life grey seal (half way between black and white.) After seeing the baby sea lion washed ashore, we tried to help it back to sea but didn't want to upset it too much in its natural environment. Sadly we had to say goodbye to the seal, but were relieved to get to camp at around 4 p.m. to unwind after our first day. We were happy to find a little swimming hole that had formed from Cooskie creek and jumped in to wash off before dinner. Cook crew made an excellent meal of tricolor pasta with tomato sauce and fresh veggies- we discovered that everyone had there own special habits- Bill enjoys savoring every last bite, while Redding had less of an appetite than most expected. Clay took the bulk of the food down the first night after most turned down seconds!
Day 2 of Beach backpacking was just as spectacular as the first, travelling abort the same distance of 6 miles; we traveled from Cooskie to Big Creek. Along the way the terrain varied between established trails perched on flats above the beach and some gravel and rocky terrain. Caroline and Jason were great leaders and set the pace, with Caroline trekking along the front and Jason picking up sweep in the back, although the group liked to stay as tightly together as they could. We stopped for lunch along Spanish Ridge Trail and gorged on PB&J Torts- "Tastes like Childhood" Redding added. We had some minor blister repair to deal with, Virginia was a real trooper and ended up finishing up the hike on trail in chacos with duct tape because her new boots were a little unforgiving. But she really made up for it the following day charging far ahead from the group, it was hard to keep up with her at times. Night two proved to be another great dinner with the cook crew staying on task to make an excellent dinner of chili. While Jason mastered the art of finely chopping peppers and onions, Redding monitored the beans and rice, and Virginia oversaw the art of stir frying veggies. We got to eat dinner with an ocean view, and continued our Moonup right on the shore as the sun was setting over the pacific.
Everyone discussed the highs and lows of the day and most everyone agreed the views were unbeatable and having the choice between sea and mountains was hard to choose from! The third day of backpacking proved to be our longest distance and most challenging terrain so we got an early start hitting the beach at 9 A.M. With 7.5 miles ahead of us, Leaders of the Day, Redding and Virginia set the pace at a steady clip and we forged ahead only taking 2 rest stops to "Pound Water" and polish off the remains of our GORP along the way. After using our map skills to calculate how long it would take us to hike through the 4.5 miles of beach that was impassable at high tide, we got through the toughest rocky section with an hour to spare before the high tide mark was to hit at 3:30. Arriving at our last camp site, we embodied the art of beach camping by setting up our tents right on the sand. Couldn't beat the waterfront property- after setting up our tents we had all afternoon to "kick it." Jason showed Clay his skills from his ultimate frisbee days at his former camp, earning the title of Zen Master Frisbee Thrower.
Redding continued his rein of tent rat, and took a nap, creating the illusive "double bag zip" essentially a queen size sleeping bag, made by zipping his and Bill's together. It was quite cozy. . . Emily added her witticisms to the group journal, as Virginia added pages and pages to her ever growing personal journal. Caroline ended up catching some rays closer to the shore and took a late afternoon dip with Bill. The water was chili, but almost all of us made it in at least for a few seconds- the perfect way to end a tough day of hiking with a chili dip in the Pacific. The afternoon faded into early evening with the sun still shining well past an excellent dinner of Cajun Ramen and Rice, the sun finally dipped below the water right as we were ringing in the day with a game of Big Booty. Some proved to have better rhythm than others- but we'll master it eventually. Moonup was really sundown, as the reflection over the water faded, and we added a few layers to our fastly cooling damp clothes. Each of us talked about what we thought we'd miss but didn't : some common things were running water, TP, and cars, and some things that we may have taken for granted- family was universal amongst the group. We got to bed early already feeling accomplished and ready to polish off the last 4 miles of our 25 mile trek, but reluctant to leave the coast so soon.
This morning we set out in a dense fog for our final leg, we finished up in just under 2 hours, arriving at Black Sands Point in Shelter Cove to greet our van. After emptying out our bear canisters, changing our shoes, and enjoying another excellent lunch of PB& J torts, we packed back into the van and headed towards Arcada for a night at Patrick's Point State Park before setting out tomorrow for the Redwoods and the River beyond. We're looking forward to the next section of our trip and hope it's as easygoing and awe striking as the first part has been!
- Meg, Clay, and our Brady Bunch
Trip Update 6-28-08
Over the river and into the woods we go! We finished up our 3 day/ 2 night river rafting section on the Klamath River today. The trip got off to a great start, we put out at Indian Creek early on Tuesday morning learning important safety like swimmers position (feet facing downstream) and how to swim away from rapids towards the eddy's- which sure came in handy when a couple of us (your current leader/story teller included) flipped our kayaks on some trickier class 3+ rapids. Setting out on 4 kayaks and one big paddle boat, the kayaks, or duckies as we affectionately called them, proved to be the big challenge. Almost everyone tried them at least for a half day; Emily conquered the waves and enjoyed many a wild ride, while Redding was a little more lackluster of a water bug. Jason proved invincible on a pretty tricky rapid called dragons tooth, and successfully shot through without even a splash (okay maybe a few drops) on his life jacket. Virginia took charge from day one and went through probably the most advanced rapids on her single woman ship. After floating until 4:00 we arrived at our first campsite or beach and soon scattered for more swimming and sunbathing, no one could seem to get enough of the perpetual rays from sunup to sundown. We had a delicious dinner cooked by our excellent Turtle Rafting River Guides of Pesto Pasta, Salad, garlic bread, and carrot cake dessert- we were very relieved to have a break from cooking, and cleaning duty proved to be very easy with buckets of soapy water at hand! The next morning we got to sleep in (till 8 a.m.) and woke up to toasty bagels and hot cocoa. We got on the river mid morning- and hit our first succession of major rapids. A big highlight for everyone was the whirlpool stream that we got to swim ourselves. After docking our boats on a nearby rock, we all swam right for a rapid that formed what can only be described as a giant bath tub drain, swirling us round and round until we came out of the stream swimming safely towards the rock. Caroline almost took our young guide Tano down as they went through it together. Bill and Redding got in on the fun too and seemed to loop around for minutes without popping back. The 2nd major highlight of the trip was the day hike we took the next day to Yukanum Falls- a sacred Indian ground. We docked the boats right on the beach and headed up rocks across streams and through rapids to get to our destination- a giant double water fall flowing into a green lagoon of icy cold water. Everyone made the trek across and waited under the waterfall together with water thundering overhead, as they slid across the slippery rock wall everyone could actually fit in a little nook and peak through the falls into the wading pool below them, once they'd gotten their fill of the thunderous white water they shot through the fall safely into the chilly waters and headed back towards the group drying rock. It was an amazing sight and we have the pictures to prove it! That night we were lucky enough to have a 2nd great dinner of chicken burritos and Mooned up around a fire safe pit talking about our high/low/highs of the day. Unfortunately in the distance a greater fire loomed and we could see the smoke from far away off in the mountains.
The following morning we were surprised to see our friendly ranger Dave, who had accompanied us for the first day, paddle to our campsite and tell us that we could go no further because the river was being closed as a precaution for the firemen and workers to get to the fire without any problems or hesitation. We were lucky enough to have 2 great full days and actually been able to hang out at our campsite and due some paddling upstream to make the most out of our final day. Now we are spending one more night at Curly Jack Campground in Happy Camp before driving towards the Trinity Alps to begin our backpacking section. We have arranged for a route that is in the East Range instead of the West, which will allow for a great trip and make it possible to avoid any smoke or fire whatsoever hovering around Weaverville. We've been in touch with the forestry service all day in order to plan a safe and fun route, and we're looking forward to our next adventure, with a slight change of plans, but a lot of excitement for the next leg of our journey. Onwards- to pursue our navigational and mountaineering skills so we can gear up for our summit of Shasta!
Swiss Family Robinson- (We've upgraded group names after our adventures along the Lost Coast)
Update 7-4-08
At approximately 8:48 A.M. on the 4th of July and we all reached the peak of Shasta, what better way to celebrate America's birth than by looking across its vast peaks and valleys, at 14,152 feet! The journey was slow and steady, we rose from our tents at around 1 A.M. getting a mixed amount of sleep over about 6 hours. But we were all ready to roll out with our headlamps firmly fixed to our helmets, our crampons strapped to our boots, and our ice axes in hand. Setting out a little before 2 A.M. from our base camp at 9,100 feet we began our ascent. Stopping hourly to drink our precious liters of water and snack on our endless supply of Cliff, Luna, and granola bars, to keep up our energy levels. After hiking under dark skies and stars for the first few hours, with the aid of our steady trail of headlamps, we got to witness the California sunrise very early with the orange light breaking through dark clouds a little after 5AM during our second "maintenance break." We all started out at a very strong pace and felt great by the time daylight broke. The hardest part of our trip was yet to come though, as we began our steepest climb when we broke 12,000 feet. The switchbacks and crossover step proved to be easy going, but as we reached a rocky traverse, a steep slope awaited us on the other side. Being split into two rope teams, with Virginia, Bill and Redding leading the pack on one, and Jason, Caroline, and Emily hot on our trail, we made the most physical part of our journey. We climbed a trail of steps of heavy-packed snow from the boots of many Alpinists that had come before us. As we vertically ascended this trail, each step was an effort with our packs on our backs and our ice axes firmly placed to hold us steady. Everyone was very considerate to leave enough rope and taught line between us to give plenty of room, and it helped to use the person leading as a guide for pace and distance. One of the last rest stops was the most intense, stopping on sheer rock still roped in at the base of the last snow hill. As the first rope team trod on, led by our excellent and experienced Shasta Mountain guide Keira, the 2nd team was slightly more anxious. They had a group discussion and had reservations about making the final push due to sheer exhaustion and some altitude sickness. But after a 30 minute break, they unanimously decided to push on. The final 500 feet was less than an hour away. As we scrambled up past the snow, to the last rocky ascent, we all made it to the very top in less than 7 hours! Signing our names and hometowns, and taking snapshots in our puffy down jackets no one could deny the feeling of elation and accomplishment. We stayed at the top for almost an hour basking in the 360 view all around and the early morning California sunshine. As we had our last victory chocolate bars, some even had left over PB&J's, we knew our journey was not quite complete, actually half way, but still felt great. The decent proved pretty tricky, with the snow having turned slushy on us by morning, but we got through it and even got some great glissading (a fast way to slide down). We made it back to base camp in about half the time it took us to get up, and though we were exhausted and dehydrated, we made a quick turn around packing up our tents and gear and making the final hike down back to our trailhead still some 2,000 feet below. We got down to the van by 4:30 p.m. enough to make it back into town to pickup some 4th of July Celebratory BBQ goodies. Finishing off our day with an all American meal of burgers and hot dogs we returned to Castle Crags campsite a mere day and a half after we had left, feeling a new sense of purpose and pride. Today its time to clean our home on wheels and head 4 hours south to Sacramento to stay at our final campsite before leaving for the airport at dawn tomorrow morning. But one last hurrah to celebrate our feats at our banquet dinner tonight with some great costumes to show off courtesy of the Clip 'n Save thrift store of Mt. Shasta. Blazing a bright trail wherever we go- we are all sad to leave our cozy crew of 8 and will surely be able to take with us what we learned but may have some trouble leaving behind the experiences we shared. So ends our trip but hopefully not our journey together! Already making plans for future excursions together- until then, goodbye California's Lost Coast- we saw the best of you and hopefully were at our best out here too!
Meg and Clay
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