Last Monday I started a 4 day trip in the Mokelumne Wilderness, which is about 100,000 acres that is bordered between HWY 88 and HWY 4. The PCT crosses this wilderness towards the east side. You need a wilderness permit to stay camp in this area. I haven't gone on many trips that were more than one or two nights, so I was really looking forward to this. I like going in from the west side of the wilderness as the trailhead is more remote and I never see anyone.
Except for this time. I pulled into the trailhead about 9:15 AM and to my shock there were three cars there. There was a group of 10 young people who were going to dayhike to Mokelumne Peak. This is a pretty grueling thing to do, as it is probably 16 miles round trip and 5000 ft cumulative elevation gain. I went to the peak last year but I camped along the way so it wasn't in one day. I told them I thought they were cool, and they thought I was cool. "You're going to stay overnight ALONE?". They would be passing my first nights camp on the way back so I knew I'd see them later on their return trip.
Here is the map I made for my itinerary:
My pack weight was right at 24 lbs with two liters of water and food, where it always seems to end up at. My base weight is right at 15 lbs, two lbs of that being my new camera which is a micro four thirds, as I'd like to get more into learning to take better pictures.
The first day I hiked to Moraine Lake where I have been before. The trail goes down the west side into Tanglefoot Canyon and then back up the east side. The trail is real rocky but not hard to follow. I've never been up here this late in the year and the lack of mosquitos was really wonderful. It is a quiet spot, and while it is evident that some people do go there, I've never seen anyone other than the previous mentioned group of day hikers. It wouldn't be considered as picturesque as some of the higher lakes, but I really like it. I got there in the early afternoon and loafed around for the rest of the day. I was waiting for the day hiking group to come back by, and had filled up all my water containers with filtered water so that I'd be able to give them some if they needed it. Set up my hammock and new tarp and cooked up a meal and generally just did what I do best....loafing.
The dayhike group came back by at about 4:30 pm. Turns out they were scouts from Camp Winton, a summer camp on Bear River Reservoir. They were very nice although not looking bedraggled enough for my taste after how far they had hiked..yes oh to be young again. They were appreciative of the water and off they went, as they still had to go down and back up the steep Tanglefoot Canyon.
I slept well in my Traveller hammock and got up the next morning to hike the next leg. I was going to go north to Long Lake, and this was new territory to me. I had been on this trail partially last year when I went to Mokelumne Peak, but you break off the trail to go cross country to the peak after about two miles. This time I would stay on the trail and go over a saddle east of Moke peak and then drop down into another valley. Last year the part of the trail I had been on had a lot of fallen tress that I had to climb over or circumnavigate, but this year they had been cut through and the trail was a lot easier to follow than I had expected it to be. After quite a variety of terrain and a lot more time than I expected, I was at the high point where I would begin the downhill half of the leg. I had an upset stomach this day for some reason, but it wasn't awful. I did the steep descent into the valley and then expected it to level out but it didn't. It went back up...ok to make a long story short, I was a lot more tired than my planning had led me to believe that I would be, it took WAY more time than I had expected, and I ran out of water.
There were lakes closer to me than the one I was going to, so I knew I'd just be uncomfortable for awhile but it wasn't any kind of dire situation. But all of a sudden my energy just went kaput and the trail kept going UP instead of leveling out as I had expected and yep..it was feeling like a death march situation. Its not that unusual though for me to bite off more than I can chew, although I'd never run out of water before. So I was inching my way down the trail when I suddenly hear the lovely sound of running water. A small spring...a small pool ahhhhh...sweet!!.. I plopped myself down by the little trickle and get the filtering going and consider revising my plan. It was getting late although there was plenty of time to get to Long Lake if I wanted to. After drinking my fill and filling the bottles again I was still feeling kind of sick so I decided to just stay where I was.
The ground was rough and sloping, but there were plenty of trees and I was able to find a spot far enough from the trail that would work. It was so quiet and peaceful down there other than the babbling spring. I had a really nice sleep there. Got up early and made some coffee and got ready to head back to Moraine Lake. I was a little worried about the climb out since I had had such little energy the previous day. Left about 7:00 am.
The climb back up to the saddle was no problem, and with beautiful views. It had been hazy/smoky the previous day, but this day it was clearer. I got to the top of the saddle in good spirits. Now it was all downhill for about three miles back to Lake Moraine. I got there about 1400, set up camp and went back to my favorite activities, lounging and puttering around.
I slept a bit fitfully that night, but that isn't unusual for me at home, even though in the woods I usually sleep better. I ended up getting up at 0430 and
watching the sky get light with my coffee. I do love being up early, although sometimes I'm too lazy to do so! I got a really early start and hiked back down into the Tanglefoot Canyon, back up the other side and out to the trailhead, getting to my car before 10:00 am.
I really had a great time on this trip even with its little problems. I'm trying to decide where to go next week, as I have a few weeks here!
Ok gear talk: I had some new items this time. They all worked out well.
Sawyer Squeeze:..I've been using aqua mira or micropur. I live far from any outdoor stores, and I got tired of buying these tablets. I was in REI in the big city last week, and they didn't even have either of these items. They were out. Anyway I did some filter research and was surprised at how lightweight the Squeeze is. And cheap too. And no cartridges to replace! One Million Gallons?? Without having to buy anything again! Yes please. I cut the top off a smartwater bottle to make a scoop to make it easier to fill the
Squeeze bladder as its opening is so small, and that worked very well.
Snoe Peak LiteMax Canister stove:...I have always used cat can type alcohol stoves, lately the fancee feast one. I found out that the fire restrictions in place here at the moment really do not allow the use of such. You need to have an on-off valve. So I bought this canister stove. It is lightweight but the canisters are not. However, I did enjoy the convenience. The weight penalty is not as much as I would have thought, if any, after a few days. I boiled 15 cups of water on the trip and according to my scale only used 1.55 oz of fuel. I would have used a lot more alcohol to boil that much water. I would have taken 8 oz of alcohol if I'd been using my fancee feast. The canister weighed 7.3 at the start. So its a wash.
New Tarp!! Cuben Fiber Hammockgear Standard with Doors, bought from the For Sale forums on this site:....What can I say..its awesome!
Big Dig Potty Trowel: I replaced my 2.3 ounce green plastic trowel with this .6 ounce titanium trowel from Qiwiz. I was a little skeptical when I first saw it but it's great. Its amazingly strong for how light it is and cuts through the dirt, small roots and pushes aside small rocks much better than my plastic trowel. I know some people think it's a waste of weight to carry a digging item (just use a stake or your boot, or a stick or whatever), I've tried that route and having an actual digging implement is worth it to me! Thumbs up for the Big Dig. LOL
Sleeping Pad. I've got an underquilt. I love my underquilt. However I want to experiment with pads as I'd like to have "go to ground" alternatives. So I left my beloved underquilt at home and took a 26 inch by 50 inch piece of waffle pattern wally world blue pad. I also took a gossamer gear nightlight torso pad just in case. Both those together only weighed 12 oz. The low temperatures were between 45 and 50 and I was plenty warm just with the one blue pad. And it wasn't as hard to stay on it as I had thought it would be. It was just no big deal. It was in between the layers of my hammock, but my testing at home led me to believe that even between the layers it might be a pain in the butt over the course of a night. It wasn't, it was fine. Just bulky to carry but that didn't bother me.
Oh yeah ....Bablefish5 Beef Stroganoff
Okay I'm sorry this got so long!
Here are some pictures:
https://plus.google.com/photos/11415...08910175897793
Here is a video I made to give my friends some idea of what goes on when I'm out there, it is more like me talking out loud to myself and is probably pretty boring to anyone who doesn't know me (and maybe to them too lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGiGgARliRg
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- Anyways - 6/9/13 
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