07-21-2021, 04:03 PM
Day 3 Hike Lake Vernon
6 Miles
1978 feet up
814 feet down
I pored over the map for the Lake Vernon hike. The hike was going to be long and the lines on the topographic map along the route we hiked were really close together. Really close together topographic lines meant a very steep uphill climb. I figured we would be making a 1400’ ascent over 2 miles. Then we would climb another 500’ over the next two miles. Our peak elevation for the day and for the trip would be 7600’
As usual, I got up early. Seems my watch didn’t know I was on vacation and would go off at 4am. The way to change that is on my phone with the Apple Watch App, but I had resolved not to turn the phone on until much later in the trip. But I was usually awake when the alarm went off. I would gauge when it was time to leave the tent but how much light I could see outside.
Every day starts the same. I fold up my sleeping bag in the tent. I do this on top of my air mattress while it deflates. I fought with the air mattress many mornings on the best way to get the air out of the mattress and then roll it up into a tiny little ball. That mattress is probably one of my best purchases because I never felt a thing under me.
Then I throw all the gear I have in the tent, like my stuff bag full of clothes I used as a pillow and my bag of electronics out of the tent. Once the tent is empty, I take the tent down. I’m always amazed by the tinker-toy like rods that make up my supports for the tent. Mine break down as one unit but I noticed that the other tents used by the Younglings and the DMs have multiple rods. Yes, I have rod superiority.
While I was doing this, I noticed that DM was kind enough to start to get up as well. Some mornings I’m pretty much done with the backpack full while everyone else stumbles to life. I noticed the Younglings have an especially hard time with the early hour. They spend a good fifteen minutes just sitting up in the tent staring out the world. DM informed me they were all nightowls so these early mornings were hard on them. But if you want to get hiking up these hills before the sun starts it’s assault, you have to get going early.
I tried to choke down my second helping of the previous night’s chicken and dumpling but couldn’t get passed the texture. Plus, I wasn’t very hungry. Which is odd, because as you might have noticed my body clearly exemplifies my love for food. Just not when I’m hiking. The last thing I did before shouldering my pack was borrowing DM’s cathole shovel and heading off with my BTP.
We climbed up for two hours. I led. DM followed. Unlike the previous day, the sun was up and shining on our hill. It was nice to have the trees around but there were plenty of open spots to make us feel the heat. There were also plenty of trees down across the trail that we had to navigate over. Some of the downed trees, you could just lift your leg over. Others were high enough off the ground that you could kind of lift your leg over. Others were off the ground or were quite large, you had to sit down on the tree and swings your legs over. Tree navigation added an extra level of difficulty to the hike. My favorite (not my favorite) part was hiking the switchback, climbing over a tree, turning the corner at the end of the switchback and being faced with the exact same tree blocking another portion of the trail several feet away.
There were plenty of switchbacks to entertain us but there were also portions were the trail went directly up the hill. DM and I would go from the shade of a tree to the next shade from a tree. As DM pointed out, we could take our time. We had all day to get to Lake Vernon. I made it a point to drink as little water as possible.
As we got to the top of the switchback portion of our morning, I started to look for possible camping sites for the other group. During the switchback climb, there weren’t any good sites. The ground was steep or it was covered with foliage. I finally found one spot that could have made a good spot but there wasn’t anything to indicate anyone had camped there.
At the top of switchbacks, the trail became less steep. It was a great relief to climb at a less rigorous incline. But we still had to climb up hill for another 2 miles or so.
We finally got to the place on the map where there was supposed to be the creek, the water spot to refill our bottles. It was almost completely dry with just the suggestion of mud to indicate water once flowed there.
After a slight uphill away from the creek, DM and I found a spot to drop our packs and rest for a bit. My water conservation had proved successful. I still had plenty of water for the rest of the hike. While we sat there, I looked back down the trail. I saw a light brown hump near the dry creek crossing. That couldn’t be a bear could it? I said something to that effect to DM but quickly corrected it to “That must be a backpacker” Or not. When the backpacker didn’t appear, I stood up for a better look. “It’s a bear!” I never got a good look at it. I just heard it crash through the bushes near us. DM got a better look and was startled. He had never seen a bear move that fast. My adrenaline spiked to a 100. I scanned the bushes around us for any sign of the bear but the bear was long gone. I hoped. My fatigue was gone. Time to quick step it up the trail.
It wasn’t much longer before we came around a bend in the trail and saw Lake Vernon sitting in a granite bowl below us. In the distance, beyond the blue lake, there were several granite domes poking up from the ridge. The dirt trail that we had been following quickly became a granite slickrock trail. There is nothing like seeing your destination to help you pick up your pace.
I never did see any sign of the Younglings or Mrs. DM until DM and I got to the bridge over Falls Creek, the outlet river for Lake Vernon. There was one tiny bit of shade under a tree on the far side of the bridge. All the packs were grouped there while the Younglings found a cool spot next to the river underneath the bridge. Thankfully, the Younglings took the water filters and started filling up the water bottles. I immediately emptied one of my bottles and put the empty back in the pile to be refilled.
After a bit Mrs. DM returned from her hunt . She mentioned that we would have to walk a bit further to get to our site but it wasn’t as far as the ranger shack. She had talked to an Eastern European gentleman who had been out fishing who said he had spent two hours looking for a good campsite the previous day.
Reluctantly, DM and I shouldered our packs and followed Mrs. DM for some more walking. I left one of my bottles and my empty filter and water bladder with Younglings with the request that it be filled when they brought it to the camp. I knew at the time I should have grabbed my other bottle from them but I did not. I was on one side of the river and they were on the other and I didn’t feel like crossing over to get it.
The hike to our campsite seemed to take forever. It didn’t help that Mrs. DM couldn’t quite remember the location of the site. At one point, I thought Mrs. DM had taken us off on a wild goose chase through the brush. I really didn’t like having to squat to go under a fallen tree. Although I did learn later this was the actual trail. It was in terrible condition.
After several cries of “Found it” followed immediately by “That’s not it”, Mrs. DM led us to the campsite. My immediate concern was we had walked about twenty minutes from the creek. I could see the lake through the trees, but the shoreline appeared to be covered by reeds and brush. In order for us to get water, we would have to trek back to the river.
While I set up my tent, the Younglings showed up with their gears. The Cub was none too pleased to have to carry my extra Nalgene bottles and my water bladder. I apologized and thanked them profusely for grabbing my gear.
Our campsite was a bit warm and DM had a desire to stick his feet in the river. Since I had already killed another two liters of water, I opted to join him. Mrs. DM also wanted to join us for some water time It would also give me an opportunity to use my ultralight towel that I had been carrying around for two backpacking treks without ever using it.
Because I’m me, I measured the distance back to the bridge. It was 3/4s of a mile. It was 1/2 a mile to the trail for tomorrow’s hike.
From the top of the ridge on the hike down, I spotted the is glorious blue pool in the river. It screamed to be swum in. From the bridge, I thought I could spot that same pool down the river, but the idea of more walking was killing my desire to see the pool up close.
DM and I sat in the shade below the bridge while Mrs. DM waded in the shallows right near the bridge. DM filled more empty water bottles while I went about draining them. While we were at the other campsite, two more hikers had arrived. They set up camp right next to the bridge near some trees. They also were purifying water and swimming in the creek. Falls Creek at this point, while small, was bigger and faster than any of the other creeks we had seen. Since it flowed in a gorge in a giant granite outcrop, it was easy to access.
The lure of the blue pool proved too much. I told DM and Mrs. DM of my plans. They said they would wait as they were in no hurry to get back to the camp. I grabbed my camera and headed down the river.
I never actually made it to the pool because when I got near I could tell it wasn’t the same pool. I still felt like going into the river to rinse off some of my accumulated sweat and dirt. I was going to have to that unpleasant thing of taking off my boots and then putting them on again once I exited the water. I figured it was worth it. I stopped at a spot where there was what appeared to be a nice deep pool. I pulled off my camera harness, shirt, shoes, and socks. I sat by the edge of the water and slowly inched my feet into the water. It was gloriously cool. Finally, I pushed myself into the water. The current immediately wanted to take me down stream.
I had a bit of trepidation because one of the other hikers had followed my down to my swimming spot. I was afraid to leave my camera untended on the bank. But figured there weren’t many places for him to go if he grabbed.
As I dunked under the water, I realized I had my glasses on. And my baseball cap. I realized I had my glasses on because they floated off my face and headed towards Wapama Falls. After I got the glasses on, I noticed I had my Apple Watch on, too. Yikes. The watch was supposed to be water proof but there was also a button to push to seal it. But there was too much water flowing around and the screen was too dark for me to find the right button. The watch was either going to be waterproof enough or not. Turns out, it was waterproof enough.
I went into the middle of the stream to check out the pool. It was deep. Deep enough for me to completely submerge and still not touch the bottom. I couldn’t go any deeper because I had one hand on my hat.
Getting out of the creek proved more of a problem than entering. There was just enough moss on the granite near the edge of the creek to prevent me from getting a firm grip necessary to pull myself out. I eventually went out butt first, much the way i went in.
While I dried myself off, the lurking backpacker came by, coming up the other side of the creek. We exchanged greetings. Turns he lived in Santa Cruz not far from DM. I told him about the deep pool. He checked it out but didn’t venture in.
I finished putting my hiking boots back on, feeling a million times better and hiked back up the granite to the bridge. DM had waited for me but Mrs. DM had headed back. Since we were so close to the lake sure, I wanted to walk a little closer to see if there was an opening where I could take a nice photo. DM only wanted to head back to the camp, but he agreed to come with me as long as we didn’t go too far.
Not fifty feet from the bridge just over a slight rise of rock, there was a camp site. It was flat. There was dirt instead of granite and a couple of trees for shade. Son of a bitch. I walked on a little further. There was another camp site. Grrrrr. Guess what we found after walking even a little bit further? Yes, a third nice camp site. Nope. Not angry at all. I then spotted a lit bit of sand beach at the edge of the lake uncluttered by reeds. I just shook my head in disbelief at DM. I took my photos at the waters edge. DM shot some panos with his iPhone. It was a beautiful spot.
We then turned and walked our mile back to the waterless camp.
6 Miles
1978 feet up
814 feet down
I pored over the map for the Lake Vernon hike. The hike was going to be long and the lines on the topographic map along the route we hiked were really close together. Really close together topographic lines meant a very steep uphill climb. I figured we would be making a 1400’ ascent over 2 miles. Then we would climb another 500’ over the next two miles. Our peak elevation for the day and for the trip would be 7600’
As usual, I got up early. Seems my watch didn’t know I was on vacation and would go off at 4am. The way to change that is on my phone with the Apple Watch App, but I had resolved not to turn the phone on until much later in the trip. But I was usually awake when the alarm went off. I would gauge when it was time to leave the tent but how much light I could see outside.
Every day starts the same. I fold up my sleeping bag in the tent. I do this on top of my air mattress while it deflates. I fought with the air mattress many mornings on the best way to get the air out of the mattress and then roll it up into a tiny little ball. That mattress is probably one of my best purchases because I never felt a thing under me.
Then I throw all the gear I have in the tent, like my stuff bag full of clothes I used as a pillow and my bag of electronics out of the tent. Once the tent is empty, I take the tent down. I’m always amazed by the tinker-toy like rods that make up my supports for the tent. Mine break down as one unit but I noticed that the other tents used by the Younglings and the DMs have multiple rods. Yes, I have rod superiority.
While I was doing this, I noticed that DM was kind enough to start to get up as well. Some mornings I’m pretty much done with the backpack full while everyone else stumbles to life. I noticed the Younglings have an especially hard time with the early hour. They spend a good fifteen minutes just sitting up in the tent staring out the world. DM informed me they were all nightowls so these early mornings were hard on them. But if you want to get hiking up these hills before the sun starts it’s assault, you have to get going early.
I tried to choke down my second helping of the previous night’s chicken and dumpling but couldn’t get passed the texture. Plus, I wasn’t very hungry. Which is odd, because as you might have noticed my body clearly exemplifies my love for food. Just not when I’m hiking. The last thing I did before shouldering my pack was borrowing DM’s cathole shovel and heading off with my BTP.
We climbed up for two hours. I led. DM followed. Unlike the previous day, the sun was up and shining on our hill. It was nice to have the trees around but there were plenty of open spots to make us feel the heat. There were also plenty of trees down across the trail that we had to navigate over. Some of the downed trees, you could just lift your leg over. Others were high enough off the ground that you could kind of lift your leg over. Others were off the ground or were quite large, you had to sit down on the tree and swings your legs over. Tree navigation added an extra level of difficulty to the hike. My favorite (not my favorite) part was hiking the switchback, climbing over a tree, turning the corner at the end of the switchback and being faced with the exact same tree blocking another portion of the trail several feet away.
There were plenty of switchbacks to entertain us but there were also portions were the trail went directly up the hill. DM and I would go from the shade of a tree to the next shade from a tree. As DM pointed out, we could take our time. We had all day to get to Lake Vernon. I made it a point to drink as little water as possible.
As we got to the top of the switchback portion of our morning, I started to look for possible camping sites for the other group. During the switchback climb, there weren’t any good sites. The ground was steep or it was covered with foliage. I finally found one spot that could have made a good spot but there wasn’t anything to indicate anyone had camped there.
At the top of switchbacks, the trail became less steep. It was a great relief to climb at a less rigorous incline. But we still had to climb up hill for another 2 miles or so.
We finally got to the place on the map where there was supposed to be the creek, the water spot to refill our bottles. It was almost completely dry with just the suggestion of mud to indicate water once flowed there.
After a slight uphill away from the creek, DM and I found a spot to drop our packs and rest for a bit. My water conservation had proved successful. I still had plenty of water for the rest of the hike. While we sat there, I looked back down the trail. I saw a light brown hump near the dry creek crossing. That couldn’t be a bear could it? I said something to that effect to DM but quickly corrected it to “That must be a backpacker” Or not. When the backpacker didn’t appear, I stood up for a better look. “It’s a bear!” I never got a good look at it. I just heard it crash through the bushes near us. DM got a better look and was startled. He had never seen a bear move that fast. My adrenaline spiked to a 100. I scanned the bushes around us for any sign of the bear but the bear was long gone. I hoped. My fatigue was gone. Time to quick step it up the trail.
It wasn’t much longer before we came around a bend in the trail and saw Lake Vernon sitting in a granite bowl below us. In the distance, beyond the blue lake, there were several granite domes poking up from the ridge. The dirt trail that we had been following quickly became a granite slickrock trail. There is nothing like seeing your destination to help you pick up your pace.
I never did see any sign of the Younglings or Mrs. DM until DM and I got to the bridge over Falls Creek, the outlet river for Lake Vernon. There was one tiny bit of shade under a tree on the far side of the bridge. All the packs were grouped there while the Younglings found a cool spot next to the river underneath the bridge. Thankfully, the Younglings took the water filters and started filling up the water bottles. I immediately emptied one of my bottles and put the empty back in the pile to be refilled.
After a bit Mrs. DM returned from her hunt . She mentioned that we would have to walk a bit further to get to our site but it wasn’t as far as the ranger shack. She had talked to an Eastern European gentleman who had been out fishing who said he had spent two hours looking for a good campsite the previous day.
Reluctantly, DM and I shouldered our packs and followed Mrs. DM for some more walking. I left one of my bottles and my empty filter and water bladder with Younglings with the request that it be filled when they brought it to the camp. I knew at the time I should have grabbed my other bottle from them but I did not. I was on one side of the river and they were on the other and I didn’t feel like crossing over to get it.
The hike to our campsite seemed to take forever. It didn’t help that Mrs. DM couldn’t quite remember the location of the site. At one point, I thought Mrs. DM had taken us off on a wild goose chase through the brush. I really didn’t like having to squat to go under a fallen tree. Although I did learn later this was the actual trail. It was in terrible condition.
After several cries of “Found it” followed immediately by “That’s not it”, Mrs. DM led us to the campsite. My immediate concern was we had walked about twenty minutes from the creek. I could see the lake through the trees, but the shoreline appeared to be covered by reeds and brush. In order for us to get water, we would have to trek back to the river.
While I set up my tent, the Younglings showed up with their gears. The Cub was none too pleased to have to carry my extra Nalgene bottles and my water bladder. I apologized and thanked them profusely for grabbing my gear.
Our campsite was a bit warm and DM had a desire to stick his feet in the river. Since I had already killed another two liters of water, I opted to join him. Mrs. DM also wanted to join us for some water time It would also give me an opportunity to use my ultralight towel that I had been carrying around for two backpacking treks without ever using it.
Because I’m me, I measured the distance back to the bridge. It was 3/4s of a mile. It was 1/2 a mile to the trail for tomorrow’s hike.
From the top of the ridge on the hike down, I spotted the is glorious blue pool in the river. It screamed to be swum in. From the bridge, I thought I could spot that same pool down the river, but the idea of more walking was killing my desire to see the pool up close.
DM and I sat in the shade below the bridge while Mrs. DM waded in the shallows right near the bridge. DM filled more empty water bottles while I went about draining them. While we were at the other campsite, two more hikers had arrived. They set up camp right next to the bridge near some trees. They also were purifying water and swimming in the creek. Falls Creek at this point, while small, was bigger and faster than any of the other creeks we had seen. Since it flowed in a gorge in a giant granite outcrop, it was easy to access.
The lure of the blue pool proved too much. I told DM and Mrs. DM of my plans. They said they would wait as they were in no hurry to get back to the camp. I grabbed my camera and headed down the river.
I never actually made it to the pool because when I got near I could tell it wasn’t the same pool. I still felt like going into the river to rinse off some of my accumulated sweat and dirt. I was going to have to that unpleasant thing of taking off my boots and then putting them on again once I exited the water. I figured it was worth it. I stopped at a spot where there was what appeared to be a nice deep pool. I pulled off my camera harness, shirt, shoes, and socks. I sat by the edge of the water and slowly inched my feet into the water. It was gloriously cool. Finally, I pushed myself into the water. The current immediately wanted to take me down stream.
I had a bit of trepidation because one of the other hikers had followed my down to my swimming spot. I was afraid to leave my camera untended on the bank. But figured there weren’t many places for him to go if he grabbed.
As I dunked under the water, I realized I had my glasses on. And my baseball cap. I realized I had my glasses on because they floated off my face and headed towards Wapama Falls. After I got the glasses on, I noticed I had my Apple Watch on, too. Yikes. The watch was supposed to be water proof but there was also a button to push to seal it. But there was too much water flowing around and the screen was too dark for me to find the right button. The watch was either going to be waterproof enough or not. Turns out, it was waterproof enough.
I went into the middle of the stream to check out the pool. It was deep. Deep enough for me to completely submerge and still not touch the bottom. I couldn’t go any deeper because I had one hand on my hat.
Getting out of the creek proved more of a problem than entering. There was just enough moss on the granite near the edge of the creek to prevent me from getting a firm grip necessary to pull myself out. I eventually went out butt first, much the way i went in.
While I dried myself off, the lurking backpacker came by, coming up the other side of the creek. We exchanged greetings. Turns he lived in Santa Cruz not far from DM. I told him about the deep pool. He checked it out but didn’t venture in.
I finished putting my hiking boots back on, feeling a million times better and hiked back up the granite to the bridge. DM had waited for me but Mrs. DM had headed back. Since we were so close to the lake sure, I wanted to walk a little closer to see if there was an opening where I could take a nice photo. DM only wanted to head back to the camp, but he agreed to come with me as long as we didn’t go too far.
Not fifty feet from the bridge just over a slight rise of rock, there was a camp site. It was flat. There was dirt instead of granite and a couple of trees for shade. Son of a bitch. I walked on a little further. There was another camp site. Grrrrr. Guess what we found after walking even a little bit further? Yes, a third nice camp site. Nope. Not angry at all. I then spotted a lit bit of sand beach at the edge of the lake uncluttered by reeds. I just shook my head in disbelief at DM. I took my photos at the waters edge. DM shot some panos with his iPhone. It was a beautiful spot.
We then turned and walked our mile back to the waterless camp.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm