(Day 4 of 7 4.) I noticed my toilet bag was missing as I packed up. That explained why the pocket it should have been in was shifting differently. I expect it is sitting on the ground at Bear Skull Camp. If I had investigated the oddity either of the first two times I noticed, I'd have been able to grab it on the way back down. I actually went and got a titanium spade that's in there. I'm sure no one wants to find the emergency menstrual cup. Leaving it is neither good for my pocket nor the environment. At least I wasn't trying to grab it for use. I couldn't bring myself to spend two more days on the creek needed to retrieve it. Silicone and plastic and titanium. Arg. I turned to finish off the last threeish miles.
With the whole of Wooley Creek at its back, this deer wants the trickle of water. Maybe this is the reason for the name of the creek a few feet off. (It's Deer Lick Creek.) The mule deer seems to know I'm up on the hill across the curve of the creek. Some red ribbons beside the trail.
I stomped my way back on the high trails. It was nice to see the Salmon River again. I dropped off my stuff at the car, then went down to it to grab water to try to wash out the poison oak in my clothes as best I could. I only had the one set since I was only supposed to be on one backpacking trip. It was already so hot that I didn't mind pulling on soggy clothes after. It is not the time of year to be at 900 feet. I got in the car and started the long drive to a nearby spot at 5000 feet instead.
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Anonymous said…
Hi! Stumbled upon this blog as I was recently in the same area and was looking for more information on the cabins. Anyway, ended up reading through your 4-day trek and wanted to let you know the Wooley and Bridge creek trails are now all cleared thanks to Siskiyou Mountain Club. They just finished up work (my brother a part of the crew) on Tuesday, August 23, 2022. You were right to be at a loss for finding that trail - the brushing they had to do to clear it sounded horrendous, and they cleared somewhere between 100-200 downed logs I believe. All is clear now if you're up for re-trying your adventure. ;)
Well, it's been a few years and a fire, so it was probably a lot worse than I saw it. I've been wondering how the Wooley up to the cabin got so bad since the fire didn't hit there and it was seeing regular clearing. Bridge must have been crazy. It'll be great for the winter and early season to have it open, though. Other times too, of course.
Klamath National Forest (Map link.) It has been a couple years since I actually did some trail work besides kicking the odd log and a lot of sticks off the path. There have been some excursions by the Siskiyou Mountain Club that got far enough south to tempt me, but none had worked out thus far. I noticed they would be working out of Clear Creek for five days and that sounded long enough to make it worth the drive. Is it odd that these California trails are getting a lot of maintenance by people from Oregon? Yep. I also notice that the folks driving out of Ashland are actually a couple miles closer to the trail than I am. I'm coming from another county too. Judging by the license plates on the way, it looks like more people from Oregon are using these areas too. In fact, you can find it covered in guide books for southern Oregon. Thursday The lower (last) parking area at No Mans Trailhead with the traditional burn area hazards signs marking the trailhead itself. The wo...
Uncompahgre National Forest (map link) The Forest Service seems to be uncertain if it is Lake Hope or Hope Lake, but more certain that it is the Hope Lake Trail. It consistently marks the road up to the trailhead as a 4x4 road, so I parked in a turnout at the bottom and started up, getting increasingly grumpy about how it is a rather good road with a loose rock here or there. I chatted with some campers about how it was probably great all the way up, but they'd gotten to their rather brilliantly picturesque site and been sufficiently mesmerized by it not to continue on. Talking with them got me sufficiently emboldened to actually stick out my thumb at the truck that came by as I finished the chat. When you're going 5 MPH anyway, it's easy to stop, and he did. Greg was going for the hike too and actually wouldn't mind having a buddy. The road promptly turned to something it wouldn't be wise to try the Scion on. With good judgement, I probably could make it, but...
San Diego Sung has been wanting to actually tour the aircraft carrier turned museum down in San Diego and I said sure, so off we go. Of course we start off just attempting to take in the size of the boat. There is something downright comical about the snack bar and tables at the stern and manikin service men eternally hang about on deck. It gets serious quickly going forward. The length of the USS Midway with snack bar at the back.
Gunnison National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 (orange line, map link ) I got an early start trying to beat the mosquitoes and sort of made it. I noticed the missing bit of sign on the ground to finally discover that there's no camping (or campfires) allowed at the lake. I turned at the post, ready to take it wherever it may go. The couple at the lake thought it was silly to think it might rain in the afternoon because the air was just too dry. Indeed, I'd washed two pairs of socks (in a bag well away from the lake and creek because I'm not a barbarian and I know soil bacteria is needed to break up everything from that and you don't find that floating in water) which were very nearly dry in the morning. It was quite pleasant until I got to the long grass meadows and everything from my knees down got wet anyway. A little bit of view over the meadow still shadowed in the morning. The trai...
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