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| Matterhorn is to the left of Shane's head |
This range of mountains we always see when we are headed anywhere near Bridgeport or Mammoth or June Lake. Just looking at the ridgeline from a distance is breathtaking, but to hike there was an amazing experience, especially now, in autumn when the leaves are all changing color.
For Shane's birthday we were lucky enough to have my sister and parents help out by taking the girls for 4 WHOLE days, so we could have an excursion of EPIC proportions. Shane and I have decided this is the craziest trip we have ever done. Apparently, we are getting more wild and crazy as we get older.
We leave Chico on Friday, Shane's birthday, and head to Pine Street Cafe in Grass Valley. (Funny how most of our travel revolves around exercise and food!) Then Reno, for the Patagonia Outlet and Sushi Club, our favorite all you can eat Sushi place, YUM!!! By this time it is 4:30 and we still have about 90 minutes of driving, PLUS, we need to find Trader Joe's to get our food for 4 days of backpacking. We are supposed to start hiking tonight and decide that we are both ok with hiking in the dark. Shane has done it before, but i never have.....I'm excited, it should be fun.
By the time we make it to Twin Lakes it is 7 and pitch black already. We cant find the trailhead, we cant find a place to leave our car for 3 days, we dont have our packs set.....curious way to start our trip. But we are awesome, so by 7:30 we are set, backpacks on, headlamps on and we set off in the direction the guy pointed in when we asked where the trailhead was. We walk and walk, no trailhead...then we get to a dead end...normally this wouldnt be so difficult, but remember it is pitch dark except for what our headlamps light up. Amazingly, we find the trail after maybe 20 minutes.
Hiking at night is amazing. I loved it. What an interesting experience to only see a small frame of what is surrounding you. We would stop and turn off our headlamps to look up at the starry sky and around at the mountain ridges that we could see circling us. However, when Shane stopped and noticed a "light" and then realized it was 2 beady red eyes staring at us, i kinda started to freak out. We couldnt see anything else except the two eyes. Then, we looked around and there were 40 more pairs of these eyes.....uh oh.....Luckily, it turned out to be deer. It was a frightening feeling for 30 seconds, though....
After 2 hours we found a rock flat and big enough to put our tent up. We ate some jelly beans I had brought Shane for his birthday and we went to bed. We were so excited to wake up in the morning and see what beauty surrounded us. We had no idea what our surroundings looked like. This is what we wake up to.....
Our hiking this day is amazing. When we hike out I will wonder how we survived this hike in. We end up doing 6 miles and gaining 2600 feet of elevation. That is INSANE!!!! In the picture below, we hike to the furthest mountain peak by the next morning.....
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| Barney Lake |
Whenever we stop to snack or take a rest I like to look at the map. Then I can see how far we have gone, or how much more we have to go, or how much more brutal elevation we have to gain. This was a long day, 5 hours of hiking.....but so worth it. The lakes and scenery were just breathtaking.
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| Robinson Lakes |
This is what Shane likes to do when we take a break.....big surprise there, huh???
The picture above is a GREAT example of the relentlessness of this trail.. UP....Up and more UP, until you think you are going to die and then there will be just a bit more UP...however, I was in lovestruck infatuation with huge monolith in the background of this picture. I just couldnt stop staring and admiring it. It was so beautiful. It helped that we were hiking to this mountain so i had a lot of time to admire it. I think it was called Crown Point, elevation 11,346 feet. And one of the happiest and proudest moments came during this part of the hike. I had been beating Shane's booty up this mountain, I kept stopping to wait for him. So one time when he caught up he said, "You are in such better shape than I am." I would never have guessed those words would EVER be uttered. Thanks babe!!! I'm working hard to keep it that way, too!!! And off I trot up the mountain!!!
We finally made it to our campsite at a little unnamed lake below Crown Point. We set up camp and were hanging out together having a cup of pumpkin chai (always important to have a huge quantity of hot, sugary food for when you get to the top of a huge 3000 foot climb) when this lady comes up, all alone. Now, we like to be alone, no doubt about it, but what is Shane supposed to say when she says, "Do you mind if I camp here?" So of course, we say, "Oh, that's fine!" But holy moly, this lady has no clue about personal space....see how close she camps to us.....UGH!!!
So we go for a little night walk cuz we really dont want to hang out with this lady. Across the meadow from us is Mule Pass which lies on the border of Hoover Wilderness and Yosemite. I have NEVER been to Yosemite, that is until this hike......here I am in Yosemite gazing upon the beautiful ridgeline where Matterhorn Peak is...(and i look like the pillsbury dough boy because it is like 35 degrees, i have every article of clothing on that i brought, 5 layers, and we dont want to be in our tent cuz there is a lady 10 feet away from us!!) But, it is beautiful.
We head back to camp at dark, play cribbage in our tent for an hour and then go to bed, well Shane goes to sleep. I read until 11:30.
The next morning, we have breakfast with our lovely neighbor and she packs up to head back out. It is Sunday, but we still have one more night out, YAY!!! We are rationing our food to last another day, but we think we'll be ok. We decide to day hike to the top of the huge monolith behind us. It is a huge climb, around 1000 feet up without a trail, mostly just straight up this mountain side.....but watch me go.....
See how the clothes come off. It is probably 40 degrees out, but man, you work up a sweat climbing vertically....
We spent the day exploring the amazing area at the top of this ridge. We set off in the morning talking about climbing to the top and then we would head to camp and relax so we brought water, a little baggie of trail mix to share and two bars (Clif/Luna). Of course, because we are who we are, we got back to camp 6 hours later after climbing 1500 feet of elevation and covering 6 miles. Needless to say we were so starving, we could have eaten an entire cow if we came upon one. But guess what we had....Mac and Cheese...oh and some Chai....
While Shane went to filter some water I decided to look at the map. Our plan was to hike out in the morning and go to Hay Street Cafe for breakfast. Well, i could tell looking at the map, that we wouldnt make it out before lunch even if we left at 6am. We had 9.5 miles and 4000 feet of elevation to lose. Shane and i talked about it and decided to pack up and hike as much as we could until it got dark, it was 4:30....
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| this is us packing up camp when most would just be settling in for the night, we have about 2 hours of hiking ahead of us...remember....we already hiked 6 miles today...over MULE PASS no less..... |
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| It's just a little stroll after dinner.....a little walk with our Chai... That's right, we chose to hike down carrying our chai instead of our trekking poles and yes...that is Shane backpacking in Chacos, nice choice my man. |
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| the mountain I fell in love with..... |
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| Do you see the crazy switchbacks.....and here we are hiking with Chai instead of trekking poles... |
We made it to a safe camp after about 4.5 mile of hiking. That leaves 5 miles for the morning. We play cribbage eat a bunch of dark chocolate and finish off the last of our food. We have two bars for the morning. Then we go to bed....The 5 miles in the morning are BRUTAL. I have always said, "No wonder no one wants to go on a trip with us. But I think around this time i was thinking , "I dont even want to be on this trip with myself!!" Ha!! And, all of this mostly because we want to eat at Hays Street, but man, that place is worth it, believe me....Shane and i actually really like to hike early in the morning and late in the evening. It is such a beautiful time to hike. It seemed as if we were never going to get back to our car. The last mile I was DONE and I am in pretty good shape (better shape than Shane, remember!!).
We did a happy dance when we made it to the beloved Subaru. Got some weird look as we stripped off the backpack and layers of clothing and just lie on the ground trying to recover.....But that only lasted moments cuz we had a 15 minute drive to Hays Street and we werent 100% sure they were even open, since it is a Monday, but they were open. Amazing end to an amazing trip.
Oh, then we headed to Ikea to start the kitchen remodel......which was also brutal.....