Snow Lake to Gem Lake

Snow Lake in summer.

This is the prettiest trek I've done in the PNW thus far. With that said, it's also the most populated as well. If you want to get this trek in, I suggest going in late July to early August for the views, and mid-week to escape the crowds and be near the lake.
We planned a weekend trip with a day hike to Wildcat Lake. It was beautiful, but with a lot of people. The best camp spots were taken on Thursday. Many campers left Sunday morning. I suggest a Sunday to Wednesday if you want as little people as possible. In addition to the large amount of people, the park rangers are pretty active here. If you're planning to bring your dog on this trek, be prepared to have them on a leash the entire time or risk getting fined. I took my chances and let Ruby run free for the most part. I also had a few close calls. A good note about being fined, the money goes back to the parks for upkeep, so you can feel good about paying way too much money for letting your dogs run free.

This hike starts off from the Alpental Ski Resort parking lot. With a quick stop at the bathroom and pictures in front of the booth while mapping our trip out. We decide that we'll hike up to Gem Lake, set up camp, and after lunch, day hike to Wildcat Lake.


The trail starts off with a quick stair climb that gets your heart pumping right away, leaving you thinking, if this is how the hike is starting off, then this is going to be a hard hike! But don't worry, the stairs levels out and you get to relax a good portion of this hike while taking in the views up to Snow Lake. The switchbacks up to the lake are a lung breaker, but they don't last long. There is a perfect photo opportunity vista just before the trail puts you on the ridge of Snow Lake. We stopped for a quick break and some water before making our way up the ridge and onto large rocks that overlook a small section of Snow Lake.

Vista view from Snow Lake back toward the parking lot.

 I've been to Snow Lake several times since moving to the PNW. In fact, I go a few times a year. But for the most part I go in the beginning of the season when the trail is soggy with mud from melted snow and the lake is still covered and foggy. I day hike here before the season opener. But for this backpacking stint, I made sure to push it out until late July to August in order to see the area in it's "spring" with a majority of the snow melted and wildflowers abundant. In fact, I only saw two patches of snow the entire weekend. I'd say it was pretty much perfect timing. Make sure to pack deet, this time of year has a lot of stagnant water.

Snow and Gem Lakes are a few of the lakes in the Cascades that are stocked with trout. This is a good trip for that fishing kit you put together. Pack a can of beer, a plastic bag of cornmeal and season salt with pepper mixed together. Should you get lucky and score a trout, after cleaning it, pour your beer over the the fish and drop it in the bag and bread it in the cornmeal mix. Fry over medium heat. Good job on catching dinner, you're BOSS! If you're like me however, and you never catch anything, well, at least you have that nice beer up on that mountain. Cool it off in the lake while you fish and drink with your packed in dinner.
I haven't brought a pole on a hike. I mostly left that up to my fishing buddy, but it did get me to thinking that I need to put a packer pole and kit together for such an occasion. I'll be doing that on future trips.

A hiker has found a diving board at snow lake.

Snow Lake is big, with lots of places around it to relax after a nice hike. Get some fishing in from the banks and even swim. Be careful when swimming, this water is very cold! Get out if you cramp or begin to feel oddly warm inside it, as it's possible that you may be experiencing hypothermia. And don't swim if you didn't bring something to warm up with once getting out of the lake. Snow Lake is a very popular day hike destination for the Seattle area making it loud and very crowded. If you take a hike here even on a weekday day, you won't be alone. There are a few camps for over night stays overlooking the water that run on a first come basis. This would be a great overnight hike for a solo middle of the week trek, but be ready to have to move on as they fill up fast.
This area is so popular in fact, that they have had to allow for natural regrowth in some areas due to human traffic. Those areas are are marked with "Do Not Walk" signs. Stay out of that area and keep your dogs out as well. Allow nature to do it's thing so that many generations to come can enjoy this beautiful place.





The three of us refilled our water and began the long rocky climb up the mountain toward Gem Lake. Moving along the trail, we left behind Snow Lake and much of the crowd. Stopping occasionally for the view and picture opportunities at the vistas along the way.

My friend Dan brought his camping hammock for the trek instead of sleeping cowboy style. His backpack, still was just a day pack! I am super impressed by his lightweight capabilities. He also brought a six pack of beer in his day pack! He's by far the toughest trekker that I've ever hiked with. The man is Boss. Stephen carried a smaller backpack this time around, but with the same amount of stuff. He even brought a french coffee press! These guys blow me away! I have very little stuff I bring, and I'm constantly thinking about how I'm going to make Ruby carry her own food! It's funny. But we are a good team. Super helpful and giving.

Me waiting out the rain.

On the drive to the trail head from Seattle, it rained. None of us brought much for rain equipment because the forecast had predicted a great weather weekend. It looked like the wind was drifting north, so we were hopeful that we'd stay dry, and the storm would pass us altogether.

Ruby, chasing rodents in the rain.

 We were lucky for the most part because the day started off as overcast,  keeping us cool. The sky would occasionally open up and warm us with light before the clouds would settling back in and cool us down again. But we were not able to avoid the rain all together. Dark blue and luminous yellow clouds formed overhead and thunder charged with lightning shot out of them periodically. Soon I found myself tucked under a tree branch waiting for the rain to stop so I could continue hiking on while Ruby cased rodents into their holes regardless of the rain. The rain would fall for a few minutes at a time before moving on, making it easy to move up the mountain toward Gem Lake in between down pours.

Ruby, coming back for me.

Ruby is my shelter dog. We got her from the Tacoma Humane Society this past March after my 13 year old pup, Abbey, passed away from cancer.

I was going to buy another dog, but my wife and I thought it would be good to rescue a dog instead of investing in puppy mills. Ruby is about 5 years old, and is a Jack Russel/Dachshund mix. She is incredibly intelligent and is still learning new tricks each week.
The pads of her feet are soft. It's highly likely that she didn't get much hiking before me, if ever. On this hike her pads developed ulcers making it painful for her to walk. I couldn't figure out what was wrong because her feet were so dirty, But Stephen and Dan figured it out and wrapped her feet in medical tape. She was walking funny at first, but then she ran perfectly normal. Since then, I've been trying to get her pads taken care of by giving her "Tuff Pads" and having her walk on rocks and pavement in addition to playing in the grass during her daily walks. But I'll most likely get her boots to wear for hiking from now on. Regardless of her soft feet, Ruby is a great trail dog. She runs ahead but doesn't get off the trail, and waits for me to catch up to her or comes back for me if I take too long. She fell off the ledge into Gem Lake trying to get to me at one point so I have to be more careful about where I take her or what I challenge her to do in the future. But at least she tried. She has a hard time in the tent because I don't let her on my sleeping bag. She wants to get inside at night as she would our bed. I'm trying to get her used to climbing and sleeping inside my empty backpack at night instead. Other than that, she does pretty good inside the tent. One last fun fact about Ruby, she is part of a fast growing breed of dog that is called a Teddy Roosevelt Terrier. They are Rat/Jack Terriers mixed with Dachshund or Beagle to give them bench legs, making then short stocky dogs with great sent and hearing for hunting. They are quickly becoming very popular in agility games at shows. So, Ruby was abandoned by an idiot, obviously.

Finally after waiting and dodging the rain I caught up to the guys and started setting up my camp with them. They found a great spot just off the water with a good place to chill Dan's beer in a patch of snow and start making lunch.
Dan and I traded hammock time for some Robert Frost Poetry. I'm now thinking I'm going to find and add a light hammock to my backpack, or to Ruby's, for leisure. I still want my tent, but his hammock was sure nice to lay down and relax in after a long 8 mile hike up to Gem Lake. I would defiantly enjoy being able to lay down and read a book until dinner time after a long hike. I pretty much have to have one now. I did manage to find a fallen tree near Dan's hammock that I was able to stretch out on and take a quick nap before going off to explore the area some more. But after having tried out the hammock, nothing will ever compare. So, yes despite the weight, the hammock is something that I have convinced myself I must have on any given trek.
The afternoon couldn't have been more perfect. The rain clouds were gone. Blue skies with a nice cool breeze filled the area. I set off to do some watercolor painting of the lake. I won't show you that painting as the art is a work in progress for sure. But I plan to keep doing it in journal form next season. Maybe after a few more practices, I'll feel one of my sketches will give the area that I am in justice. But for now, I'll just keep trying. After painting, I went back to camp and had a beer with the guys. I found out that Stephen and I had brought the same chili from the Co-Op that we belong to so I decided to try mine out with the Rainier beer that I had brought with me since Dan brought extras that he was sharing.
After lunch and a little more painting we decided to start off on our day hike to Wildcat Lake. Once we got to the Ridge of what looked like Wildcat Lake however, we decided against it, turning around and heading back to camp so the guys could swim. I didn't know it until I got back to camp and looked at the map, that Wildcat was out of view and further down the mountain than I thought. By the time I got back to the camp, the guys were already drying off and talking about climbing a the butte after dinner!
No way was I getting in that water! Plus they were swimming across the lake back to camp. Something I wasn't fit enough to do even if I wanted to get in the water and swim, which I didn't. But it was cool to watch them get in and go at it. And then meet them back at camp once I took a video of them to the halfway point. I have to say I was a little worried for their safety, and hypothermia setting in on them at a point out there where I couldn't reach them, but Stephen is a Dr. so I trusted that he was educated enough to know what he was doing. In the end. I think they made it across the lake in less than 10 minutes anyway.

A snippet of  Stephen and Dan taking on Gem Lake.

Just as I started thinking about how I was going to cook my dinner, the clouds started rolling in with the thunder and lightning. I deiced to get in my tent and wait out the little rain that was about to happen. As it turned out, it did a lot more than a little rain. It dropped a bucket of rain down on us and offered us a good two minutes of hail. This is the first time that my tent has had to stand up to rain, but with a down sleeping bag, it is way I got it. I trusted that it would do it's job. It did, perfectly. One thing I didn't do was make a trench around my tent. Mostly because I didn't expect such a hard rainfall. The water did spill in around me and wet the things outside my tent under the fly but it didn't matter as much. And that only happened because I didn't provide a trench for the water to fall into and flow out of. The tub of my tent was high enough to keep everything dry against the ricochet of the water hitting the ground around me and prevent it from spilling into my tent wetting the contents and my sleeping bag. I am pretty pleased with my tent. It's an REI Half Dome 2. I had looked around for a solo tent over the past summer, but in the end I decided to stick with the Half Dome 2 another season because I didn't like anything else out there. I would like to go lighter. But for now, this tent is a good friend to have.

The view from my tent. Not bad.

After the storm had passed I started on that dinner that I had been planning all afternoon. My "Rainier Chili". Luckily Stephen had extra chili of his own to share because mine had turned out so bad that I couldn't eat it. It had so much acid that it was not even eatable. So don't go try that one folks. Make sure to hydrate your food with water like you're supposed to. If you are into cooking on the trail, and you would like some suggestions for the perfect trail meals, check out "Lipsmakin' Backpackin' trail tested recipes. I have both veggie and meat eating books that I use for trail food, and have liked everything I have taken out of there.

The next day after the guys had hiked to the top of the butte, we packed up our things to head out. It was an amazing overnight trip. I hadn't expected so much in a single day. This is my favorite trek yet. I look forward to exploring more of the area next season, and hopefully make it up to Kathleen Lake over a two day stint. This is an B+ trek even with the crowds. Coming during the week will push Gem Lake to the top of anybody's wish list for sure!

I leave you with an adorable picture of Ruby the dog. She always has the last word.
Until next season! Happy trails!
Also, if you would like to see more pictures of this hike, or any other hike that I've done for that matter, you can go to my flickr account and check them out by coping and pasting this link. Enjoy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126779869@N02/

Ruby take Gem Lake.

Necklace Valley to Jade Lake

The Trailhead at Necklace Valley

I decided to go backpacking with three athlete's. It was a great idea in regards to spending time in the woods with the boys, it was a bad idea to think that I could keep up with two runners and a young Jack Russel dog. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time hiking alone.

 We drove to the Necklace Valley Trailhead on Friday after work, hiked a mile in and set up camp for the night. The plan was to get up early and hike to Jade Lake on Saturday, once there, pitch camp and then day hike to Opal Lake with a stop at Emerald Lake and the Necklace Valley Cabin in between. It was to be an adventure in exploring and a hard enough trek that my athlete friends would feel challenged.

Dan starting out on the trail.

We hiked in a mile or so from the trailhead just before dark to set up camp for the night. I noticed right away that Dan's backpack was a day pack. He didn't record the weight of it prior to the trek, but it had to be super light. He is training to climb Mt. Rainier this September, so this was a supply test for him. He brought a sleeping bag, bivy sack, two trekking poles and food. That was it! No tent!

Our friend Stephen brought everything, it seemed! His bag was huge! It looked like he was going to be in the woods for weeks not just a weekend. But he killed it on the trail, and to be honest, I spent the entire weekend far behind him wishing his bag was even bigger and much heaver. He was impossible to keep up with!

Dan and Stephen, morning coffee.

The next morning, quick to rise, drink our coffee, eat and hit the trail in full push. The valley wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was expecting a valley with plush meadows and hardly any trees, But we were under a good growth of moss covered second generation trees in the valley mixed with  plush vegetation. We stopped many times along the valley trail taking pictures of the many things to look at as we hiked to the river crossing.

The old bridge crossing, with all of it's charm, is a fun place to stop and take pictures while cooling off. We stopped to take pictures of this old bridge and raging Foss River before starting our hike upstream the next morning. We camped above the river on our first night, listening to the sounds of the flowing water. A good night indeed. Actually, I had a nightmare that night. I dreamt my tent was sucked into the river and I was trying to escape before it sank, but that's beside the point.

The Skykomish River, according to Wiki, is 29 miles long including the head. It merges with the Snoqualmie River and continues to runs down to Monroe, WA. The name "Skykomish" comes from the Northern Lushootseed people, and means, "upstream people".

Along the valley trail there is an abundance of moss covered trees to inspect along with lush vegetation along the trail with spectacular views of the surrounding Cascade Mountains. There are a few snakes to watch out for but mostly it's the nettles that stick you, making your legs sting as you walk though. It's probably best to wear pants through this section of the trail, but if you're hiking early morning, such as we did, you're surely going to get wet. I went with shorts and found that if I left my legs alone they didn't sting or itch terribly long. (Keep in mind that I also just got over a severe case of Poison Ivy. I suppose nothing would seem as bad at this point.)

Another really cool place to stop and take pictures is at a large fallen tree just before the river camp. We stopped and took many pictures of and in front of the fallen tree, but Ruby was the only one willing to walk all the way to the end of the hollow tree.

After a quick stop at River Camp to eat and refill our water bottles, we crossed over the river foot bridge to start a full push up the mountain.
The River Camp is the last stop before crossing the river to climb the mountain to the Jewel Lakes. It is a beautiful camp, perfect for several people, includes a toilet, and easy river access for swimming, fishing or whatever your pleasure. The camp is covered by trees so mid-day spent in camp will be cool and out of the direct hot sun. This is a fun five mile hike with a clear trail for families with children or teens. Or for a relaxing stroll or day hike without all the grit that comes with most backpacking hikes.

The river crossing is another great spot to stop and
have lunch before starting the push up the mountain. And if you are short on time, it is a great base camp to do some hiking from. The first of the three lakes is only three miles from the river camp. It is a hard uphill push, so if you are out of shape, this is a great place to set down you bag and do a short but hard uphill hike to Jade Lake.

Follow the stacked rocks to get to the trail.

Look for the fallen log to cross to the rocks.

Once over the river bridge, we stayed to the right and continued to follow the trail to a fallen an unmarked tree covered in vegetation. After crossing it, we then had to hike up a field of boulders looking for cairn of rocks to indicate directions to reconnect with the trail. Once we were above the boulder field, and on the trail again, we begin the long and steep upward climb to the lakes and cabin. In fact, the climb is over 2400 ft in 2.7 miles, and is truly rough terrain. The worst I've experienced thus far. I highly recommend adequate ankle and knee support on this trek. I hurt my knee even with my very slow pace.

The trail. 

This is pretty much where my athlete friends I was hiking with showed their abilities and quickly passed me up and after several stops of waiting for me, completely left me behind. Even Ruby proved to be an athlete in her abilities and left me in the dust with the guys. I would see them periodically when I hiked up during one of their breaks, of which they had time to remove their backpacks and walk around taking pictures. Once I was able to catch up to them, they tossed on their bags and left me in the dust again! I tried to hike fast, but it was no use. They were just way to awesome! And I really needed to be going to the gym before hiking with them! Regardless, it was pretty amazing to watch them hike without having to stop and take small breathing breaks as I did. That was also pretty much about the same time that I started to wish they both had bigger and heaver packs on to slow them down.

Ruby climbing the boulder field. 

Ruby came into my life two months ago after my 14 year old dog, Abbey, passed away from cancer. When we brought Ruby home she was slightly afraid of us and our cat. She didn't know her name nor a single command. And she wouldn't walk around freely in our apartment.

We have been working non-stop to gain her trust in addition to teaching her how to live as a polite dog in our community. And while she is still working on being polite, she has developed an amazingly lovable and outgoing personality.

Ruby on the footbridge.

 I decided to take Ruby on this trek as her first outing with me. She did awesome! She instinctively understood to stay on or near the trail, and came right away when I or one of the guys called for her. When I watched her pass me and follow the guys up the mountain, I was happy to see that she was doing so good on her own. But I was super surprised and touched when she came back down the trail to check on me, and even more so when she didn't leave me to go back up the trail with the guys again. Instead she stayed back and slowly hiked up the mountain constantly turning around to check on me. She is a loyal dog. We defiantly bonded during this hike.
Ruby didn't sit down once during this hike, even when she was waiting for me to catch up to her, she was off looking in brush or under boulders for rodents to chase. I was thinking that she would have a hard recovery the next day, but the next day, she ran like she didn't hike nine miles the day before. She didn't skip a beat on the trail the entire weekend. She for sure will be joining me in every single trek I do from here on out.

Another view of the terrain and trail...

After Ruby and I crossed the footbridge, we were having to pass snow covered rough terrain, slowing us down even more. In the miles of hiking though snow, I only broke through once, and was unable to touch bottom. In a way, this was a good thing as I surely would have injured myself had I hit ground or a boulder. But this made getting up really hard. I had to unsnap my backpack and push myself up out of the hole and get back on top of the snow without breaking though again. Then I had to carry my backpack over to exposed ground to put it back on in order to continue the hike up the mountain. This was probably the first time I had ever thought about giving up during a trek, and if I wouldn't have been following behind two guys who were waiting on me, I probably would have. By the time Ruby and I had caught up to the guys again, they were planning their final push up the side of the mountain to reach Jade Lake. Ruby and I followed Dan up, stepping where he stepped so we wouldn't break though the snow again.

Jade Lake.

Back to the River Camp, dang!

Jade Lake was surrounded in snow, and we really couldn't pass on without having more equipment to keep us safe. We would have to stop here. Unfortunately for us, there was only one camping spot at Jade, and it had already been taken. Thankfully, the guy who set up camp there was away. We took advantage of his area and ate lunch, relax for a good long while as I completed a sketch of the area in watercolor. Then we decided that we would have to hike back down the mountain three miles to the River Camp where we had stopped at for a break to spend the night. I knew It would take me even longer to get down the mountain as my knee was giving me some serious pain at this point. Dan offered me one of his trekking poles and a knee brace to help me out a little. It was a relief. I tried to keep up with the guys as we hiked back down the snow covering in case I broke through and needed help. And I managed to pretty much clear it before they pushed on ahead of me again. On mine and Ruby's hike back, I stopped to take pictures of the mountains during the "golden hour" and admire the views trying to record things in my memory that I saw for later sketches and paintings at home.

Photographs taken during the "golden hour" of the hike back to the river camp.

During the hike back to the camp, I stopped many times to take pictures and to think about how beautiful Washington is. And how hard it is to hike here compared to some of the treks I have done in other states. The reward for being able to complete a Cascade hike is a personal one as not many people have a true understanding of just how hard it is to hike a trail that hasn't been maintained for hikers. It truly makes hiking a challenge. And being able to say I have hiked up to Jade Lake in early spring might not seem like much of an accomplishment to somebody who hasn't done the hike, and even less of one to somebody that has never hiked the Cascade Mountains at all, but to the person that has, they know just how taxing this trek is. And while I didn't get to make it to the cabin or the rest of the jewel lakes, I will be doing this hike again at the end of the season. Hopefully with the two guys I came up here with. And this time, hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with their asses!


This is a really hard hike, and much of the trail is not maintained pasted the Necklace Valley. Do this hike with a friend, especially if you are not an experienced hiker.

Mine and Ruby's condo on the Skykomish River... We never slept so good.

Pine Ridge Trail to Sykes Hot Springs

In California where the Santa Lucia Mountains Rise from the Pacific Ocean, there is Big Sur. It's peak is the highest coastal mountain in the lower 48 states. It ascends nearly a mile above sea level within three miles of the ocean. With the many Micro-Climates in the area, it offers several different variables to experience. It's no wonder this destination is a favorite for hikers and backpackers alike.  Even the great writer, Jack Kerouac retreated to a cabin in Big Sur in search of solitude from fame and wrote a book about his fictional alter-ego Jack Duluoz in 1963 which included a poem about the sounds of Big Sur.

Although we would not be in view of this beautiful coast, this trek would take us high up into the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forrest in the San Lucia Mountains, where the vista views are sure to take the very breath you're trying to catch right back out of your mouth. We would be hiking to the head of Big Sur River, which runs roughly 15 miles through the forest and eventually drops out as a waterfall into the Pacific Ocean known as the Pfeiffer Falls. This trek is rated extreme, but who pays attention to that anyway?

John and I at the Trailhead

This would be a special trek for a couple reasons. First, it's Big Sur, my favorite place to backpack thus far. Second, I would be hiking with one of my best friends, whom I don't get to see that often, my Brother In Law, John. This is his very first introduction to backpacking, so I'm honored that he chose to go with me. And my comrade Shaun, who moved back to Sacramento and I hadn't seen since before winter would be joining us.

After a three hour drive west we pulled into the Ranger Station to collect our permit to burn our stoves. Then headed to the trailhead to park and fill out our camping and car information. I asked a girl in the car parking lot who had just pulled in if she had a pen I could borrow, and she found me one to use while she went to get her permit. When she returned I told her that I added the two of them to our group so she wouldn't have to get a burn permit from the Ranger Station. She said thanks and we headed down the Pine Ridge Trail on or way to the Sykes Hot Springs! 

Stopping along the trail to catch our breath and take pictures of each other and the views from the ledge as we climbed. The wildflowers were in full bloom and little lizards were keeping us on our toes as the darted out in front of us while we anticipated a rattlesnake encounter. We were in "full push," as John called it, heading up to the Redwoods!

In the early morning, the first person on the trail has to, "break the webs." There are a couple ways you can do this.  You can hold your hands in a, "stick em up," position in front of your face and allow the webs to collect on your hands and arms, wiping them off between bushes. This can become hard when your arms start to burn, but sometimes it's necessary to take your mind off of your legs burning when climbing a terrain.
A simpler way though is to use a thin medium length stick, hold up in front of your face, chest and arms with your wrist relaxed at your waist. The webs collect on the stick. Once you're done breaking, toss the stick.

During our hike the three of us pretty much stuck together for the first few hours, stopping to take water breaks and pictures of each other in front of the vista's before continuing on the push. To keep our mind off of the climb we talked about our philosophies for backpacking. My concept for backpacking light so I can enjoy the actual hiking part of the experience. And Shaun mentioned being able to push yourself despite being outside of your threshold for comfort. Which I totally agree with. We all have to experience this while backpacking, otherwise everybody would do it...

John on one of the many vista's.

Before the hike, I gave my brother the spill about trying to keep his backpack as light as possible and offered him my extra packs as a starter so he would already be packing light. But he informed me that he already had everything, and not to worry. 
The day before the hike, I mentioned getting a couple of canned beers. One for each night, and he said he was going to get canned stew too. I warned him against it, as ounces turn to pounds so every ounce counts! Canned stew would be too heavy for the trail, in my opinion. But as all men do, he did it his way.
On the trail, while struggling to get to the start of the wilderness, I asked him how much his pack weighed. And he replied about 40 or more pounds. And that he had those two BOTTLES of beer, and that stew!  My brother did what all beginning backpacker do, he over-packed! 40 lbs may not seem like a lot, until you are hiking uphill on a ledge, in the wilderness, with another eight miles to go! That's when your 40 pound pack feels like 60 and you want to give up before you even get started!  But I give him this, despite his bag weighing more than both mine and Shaun's put together, and hiking an extreme trail, he didn't complain, not even once! And he did his best to keep up with us. I bet those beers were the best tasting beers ever! 

Shaun at the start of the Wilderness.

We stopped at Ventana Camp for lunch and decided that we would not push on for Sykes until morning, but instead hike a couple miles more to Barlow Flat Camp and spend the night there. After a little exploring and lunch at Ventana Camp we pulled back on our backpacks and started hiking again. This time we hiked separately, giving each other time to do what you do on the trail, reflect. And watch for snakes!

John's camp. His bag is not even empty!

Once we arrived in camp, we scoped out our places and started setting up right away. We found a camp right before Barlow Flat Camp that was secluded and had it's own private swimming pool with small trout swimming around. Once we set up our camps, I went off to do some exploring. When I returned the girls from the trailhead had arrived, and as it turned out, they were really going to say in our camp with us. I helped Alana set up their tent in my spot then relocated my tent to a new and even better location. This is the first time that I have made trail friends! And since these chicks are super cool. It was pretty awesome! 

My camp in contrast to John's.  No really, this is it.

We all cooked our meals, talked and joked about our hike to camp. We talked about the things we saw and new things that we had added to our packs this year. I had purchased a new cup and stove set from Target for $15.oo for solo treks. And while I'm super stoked about finding quality items at outstanding prices in today's market, I'm worried about Target carrying backpacking supplies in general. They are such a mainstream store, it makes me wonder, is backpacking somehow in demand now? Shaun had a few additions to his backpack as well, in fact his backpack was new!
John had brought along a constellation map downloaded on his phone. (Always take your phone folks, it's a GPS!) And from where we were positioned, we would be able to climb to the top of the ridge and see the Peacock. We were both excited for the stars to shine that night because we both have went to the Dark Side of the Moon Star Show, and were well aware of what we would be looking for above us. Unfortunately when the sun dropped and the stars shined the Peacock was nowhere to be found. But we did get to see the Lion and the Bear (with a tail) from our position, which was really cool.

Our trail friends, Alana and Toni. Good times.

The next morning during breakfast we decided to hike back to Ventana Camp later that afternoon so we could be back to the car in time to drive home and catch my flight at four. I'll never do this again. I'll always leave the following day from here on out! It was just way to stressful. But John had the force and Shaun was right, we made it to the airport with time to spare. 
After breakfast and coffee, I packed my day bag and walked around camp to see if anybody was still up to complete this mission to Sykes Hot Springs before having to pack up and hike back to Ventana Camp for the night. I refused to give  up on making it to the hot springs. But everybody else decided to stay back and hang around camp. So I pushed off once again on this mission to the Sykes Hot Springs, only now I was alone on it.

Once at the top of the ridge, I could see why we were encouraged to continue on from Ventana Camp to Barlow Flat. The trail swiftly drops down to the base of huge redwood trees, and swimming pools from the Big Sur River. I took a few pictures and pushed on to reach Sykes Hot Springs.  With the trail rising and dropping as it did up to Barlow, I packed a full bottle of water, a candy bar, a sweater and headlamp in case I didn't make it back before dark. Hiking along I stopped to take breaks and pictures of weird holes in the trees, and refilled my water at a natural spring. Then preceded to scare the crap out of myself for a good ten minutes because I thought I was being stocked by a Mountain Lion. It turned out to be my Altoids making walking sounds in the bushes behind me that stopped every time I stopped and spun around to see what was going to eat me! The tricks your mind will play on you! Dang.

Big Sur River Head

 Finally, the trail dropped down one last time to the head of Big Sur River. I stood across from the best camp in the house by far! Across the river pool was a sandy beach with a tent on it. They were so lucky to have that camp! I took several pictures then moved on to try and find the trail again. I crossed the river and found more camp sights but not a trail to follow. I spotted a girl down at the end of the camps, so I walked down to her camp and asked her where the hot springs were. She pointed and stated that I needed to follow the river for about 15 minutes then the rocks to the hot springs. I said thanks, and then jumped in the river to walk down it to the hot springs, crisscrossing from one side to the other taking pictures and dunking my head to cool off. I turned a bend and spotted a guy that I had talked to at Ventana Camp during lunch the previous day. I walked toward him and saw that he was happy to see me, so I entered his camp, "I'm shocked at how few people are down here!" I said as I approached him. He said, "most people give up at Barlow. Where're your friends?" I swiftly replied, "they gave up at Barlow." We laughed. I asked him if he knew where the springs were since there wasn't a trail. And he pointed and said follow those rocks. I saw the rocks that he and the girl at camp had mentioned and started off to them when I heard him say, "Enjoy!" I spun around, waved to him and said, "Damn straight!"

 Hopping around like an old ball player, taking pictures of the stacked rocks and sometimes flat out inspecting some of them in amazement as to how they were standing. I slowly continued to move along down the river in search of the hot springs that I had come so far for.

The guide

I started to smell the hot springs before I saw them so I knew I was getting close. In fact I didn't actually walk to them, I more or less just stumbled upon them from above. And to my delight, they were empty! "Don't mind if I do," I said to myself and slid down the hill onto a rock
beside the spring and stripped down to my skivvies and climbed in! The temperature was perfect, not too hot. And the smell wasn't as bad as I anticipated it being. They we pretty much perfect! As beautiful as the rest of the wilderness that I had experienced. I was happy to be sitting there, relaxing in the Sykes Hot Spring, finally! I stayed in the bath for a good 10 to 15 minutes before getting back out and jumping back in the river and swimming around for a good 10 minutes. Then I climbed back out and put my clothes back on and started my push back to Barlow Flat and pack back to Ventana. In total I hike nine miles that day, seven of them completely alone and two of them with my 20 pound pack on. For it I received one blister. But it was totally worth the miles and fear of hiking alone that I have. And in the end, I felt more comfortable trusting that I was capable of taking care of myself without anybody else being around.

My camera died just after I took this last picture of myself in the spring. It's not a very good picture, but I can see how content and proud of myself that I am, having accomplished what I had set out to do. For this it is one of my favorite "selfies" taken.
   

The biggest rewards in life are the ones you work for.

                        NEVER GIVE UP!