Day Two: Hyatt Lake to Brown Mountain Shelter

 

I had a rough night sleeping. Getting into camp at 8 PM and not going to sleep until about 10 PM was rough and I had an uncomfortable night tossing and turning. I was hoping that the next day would be better. I still got what I thought was an early start and I was hiking by 7 AM. Right away, there was a water stop with a faucet and a sign that said Potable Water. I was all for that because it meant that I did not have to mess with my filter which was effective, but slow. That turned out to be an ample description for me also, effective, but slow as many people ended up passing me on the trail. Whether it was on breaks or just coming up behind me, there seemed to be a lot of fast hikers around. 

So much so, that I actually developed a pain in my neck from looking over my left shoulder for hikers coming behind me. There was only one person that I recall leaving in the dust and he was an out of shape Oregon only hiker who had hiked the whole thing a few years ago. He was smoking a cigarette when I ran into him and was planning a short day. I would never see him again but there were many young people who I would see daily for a lot of the rest of the trip who flew right past me. The trail went by Hyatt Reservoir and Howard Prairie Lake both of which I could see from the trail, but I would have had to leave the trail to really see them. Most of the day was spent hiking through the woods with one water stop at Griffin Pass. When I arrived there, it was like everyone who had ever passed me that day was gathered at the one shady spot near the spring. I was sticking with my strategy of stopping every so many steps, so I took my pack out to the spring to fill water and was off. I didn't feel like interjecting myself into the friendships of these people who had known each other for many days. Today was filled with forest hiking including a climb up to Old Baldy.

 The climb wore me down a little and after 40000 steps, I was pretty spent. My back hurt, my feet hurt, and I was struggling to hit the 50000 step limit that would propel me into camp at Brown Mountain Shelter. When I got to Brown Mountain Shelter, I was determined to camp there. I found an empty space and set up my tent. I was not the only one with this idea and soon the whole area was packed with people. No one stayed in the shelter as it looked run down. The picnic table was the most popular hang out spot, but I didn't feel like competing for space so I made my dinner at my campsite. I did go introduce myself later and many of the people I met I would continue to run into on the trail for the next few weeks. I was just happy to get in bed early. On this night, I put on the earplugs and the headband over my eyes and it was time to get a decent night's rest.

PCT Day One: Siskiyou Summit to Hyatt Lake

The first day of a big hike is never really the first day. The first day is when the idea pops in to your head that this is a good idea. That happened years ago. Then there is the prep work. You read books, blogs, posts, etc... about people who have done the trip before. Then you buy gear because one lighter tent or water filter may make the difference. Then you go through multiple stages of packing and anticipation. Finally when that morning arrives and day one begins, you feel a sense of relief that the event is actually finally materializing. That is how I felt as I awoke at 5:30 AM.

 Jacqueline and the kids would have to wake with me and everyone was mentally prepared to pile into the car early. We got out the door and on the road by 6:30 AM an we were off to the Siskiyou Summit, 3 1/2 hours away. The drive was fairly easy with mostly freeway down I-5 to get us there. I would be hiking the Oregon section excluding the 30 miles before the Siskiyou Summit that wound in an easterly direction from the Oregon border to the Siskiyou Summit. Since the Siskiyou Summit was only 5 miles as the crow flies from the Oregon border, I thought that would suffice.

We were able to find the trailhead by 10:00 AM. It was a tearful goodbye and everyone wished me good luck. Then it was a journey of 400+ miles and it begins with one step. It felt strange to start walking but I was excited. Immediately the trail lead me into the woods and I started to climb up and away from the road that I just left. The forest seemed dry and the vegetation rather thick. Most of my time that day was spent in the forest. Within minutes I had met my first PCT hiker. His name was Quiet American, or at least his trail name. We talked about the trail and he said that I was going to run into a lot of PCT hikers because so many people had skipped the Sierras and were now just hiking the Oregon section. That meant that the trail was going to be busier than I anticipated. I told him I was going to hike 23 miles today. He said that was a pretty big day for my first day, but I felt up to the challenge. Almost immediately, I started pacing myself using the step count on my watch. I took 10000 steps before taking a break and getting some snack food. Then I would take 5000 more steps before having a water break. 

I would keep this up most of the way through the trail. The trail wound its way through the forest and I soon found myself on the fairly open flanks of Pilot Rock. When looking at a map, you think, hey I will take that side trail to Pilot Rock. When out here, though, it would be nice to go up to Pilot Rock, but the real mission is to finish the trail. So I walk right by any side trails along the way. The trail continues its pathway of up and down through forest and open meadows. The day is hot and since I got a late start, I spend a lot of time out in the sun. I feel good because around 2:30, I pass another group that started today. I learn quickly that I am not a fast hiker, but a consistent mover. 

I take short breaks and keep the legs churning. This takes me past Hobart Bluff on some fairly steep slopes to a more level plain heading toward the Green Springs Hwy. There really has been only one water stop along the way where I ran into a bunch of PCT hikers just kind of hanging around the spring. This will continue to be the theme throughout whereas I filter my water and go. As I near the end of the day, though, the water starts to become a little thin. I reach Little Hyatt Reservoir and just pass on by though as I know there is a campground approaching.

 I am beat but I finish out the 23 miles necessary to plop my tent down around 8 pm. I run into the campground host and they point me to big field where no one else is. Later, when I go down to the lake to filter water, I find that most of the rest of the PCT hikers have taken campsites in the closed campground. I was hoping that the water would be easy to get here, but instead I have to walk extra down to the lake to get more water. I met some other PCTers on my walk back from the lake. So far everyone has seemed nice, but not like we are going to be long lasting friends. I make myself some dinner in the dark and then it is off to bed finally getting to sleep around 10. Big first day, we will see how it plays out for tomorrow.

Separation Creek Waterfalls

I needed to take a long, epic hike to see how the knee was doing. I had been getting in shape with some hiking, but I really hadn't done a big day yet. I had a friend, Spencer, who said he was up for anything. Those are always the kind of people I tend to get along well with because when it comes to hiking, I feel the same way. I had hiked the Separation Lake Trail a couple of times and each time I had been intrigued by a spur trail that went off of it up the Separation Creek drainage. This trail said it was not for horses and was unmaintained. Yet, every old map had it on there and it was definitely calling to me. We got an early start and Spencer seemed excited. The beginning of the trail was forest sometimes along Separation Creek, sometimes not. 

The creek was going pretty good and I was excited for this because the main goal of the day was to see some waterfalls. It did not matter which old map I looked at, each said something about a waterfall. When I looked up information online, there were waterfalls. I was hoping to see some of those. The first point where I should have been worried was when we got to the junction. Here, I knew, the difficulties would start. I tried to prepare Spencer mentally for those, but he mentioned that he wanted to make a quick run out to the lake. Knowing that this would add extra mileage to our already long day, I shot down that suggestion. The work was ahead of us and I was determined to get the job done.

The trail didn't stay a trail for long. Soon we were bushwhacking and fighting brush. Luckily, my GPS watch was fully charged and it had the trail on the map. This made me pleased because I could always tell we were on the right path and when we got off of it a little bit, I could always get us back on. The trail followed the creek and we found a nice shady spot by the creek for lunch. After this the climbing began. The trail got much steeper, but soon we were hearing the waterfalls start. I am sure that these waterfalls have names, but it was hard to tell which was which. The biggest one, I started calling Honey Creek Falls, but who knows if I was right. I just know that I felt so lucky to be out there seeing these sights. 

The first one we heard coming, but when we scrambled down to it, we were in for a sight. A beautiful stream of water falling 90 feet down to the rocks below. We took a bunch of pictures and then headed back up the trail. It continued to climb staying below the base of the steep cliffs. Encountering the next falls was the highlight of the trip. Multiple waterfalls dropped off including a very full large fall near the top. Here another 80 foot water fall plunged down to the rocks below. We spent quite a bit of time climbing around on the rocks, getting new perspective to take pictures. Honey Creek Falls was majestic, yet we got to feel like we were one of the first to see this place. When you look for images of Honey Creek Falls on the internet, the pictures I take do not come up. The work to get to this spot deters 99 percent of the people. I was loving in though and we really enjoyed this waterfall. The trail continued and we were forced to cross the creek. Here is where the map came in so handy because I made sure we were on the correct route and then wallah, there is was appearing out of the nothing was a nicely laid log for a bridge.

We were so lucky to have come upon that because for the most part, our trail was nonexistent. It was really a bunch of bushwhacking to get to where we were climbing over down trees. There were places where we could find the trail, but for the most part it was following the map and me saying, it says we are on the trail. We followed Honey Creek for a while, having to cross on a conveniently placed bridge again before we got back to Separation Creek proper. This area was so incredible, but dense. It would be amazing to get to just spend a week out in this area following the creek and looking for more waterfalls than are just on the map. Given how steep the area was, I am sure there are more to be discovered. 

We were back next to Separation Creek proper now and this is where what I saw is hard to describe. The drainage gets very steep at this point and it is just like one giant waterfall. Here, Separation Creek pours down from the area above in a torrent of waterfalls. It is a sight to be seen and something that should be experienced to be enjoyed. For me, this was the greatest. I felt so lucky to have put in the work to arrive at this spot. Spencer was getting tired, but enjoying the waterfalls. Both of us took so many pictures and it is hard to put into words the sheer number of falls that we saw because in some places, the creek just became one big series of cascading falls. From here, though, we would finally pop out to the trail above where we could get back to what I assumed would be the more defined part of the trail.

This section was called Indian Holes and I had been here before. It is a beautiful little stream with meadows and a nice campsite. The problem was that this area had burned since the last time I had set foot here. Because of that, not many other people had come to this spot. We floundered about for quite some time trying to find the right trail to take. There was an obvious trail that made its way to the PCT, but I knew if we took that, our long day would be made even longer. So we backtracked a few times before finally getting our feet a little wet and going across the creek in the right spot to find the trail. It went into a meadow and we lost it again before I figured out the error and we corrected it. This was losing us some time and Spencer was starting to get frustrated. At this point, we were only halfway through the day and there would be more pitfalls ahead. For me, this was part of the fun and the adventure. For Spencer, this seemed unnecessary. We found our way back to the trail, but soon we were in for it. The forest became non-existent and instead of an easily marked path, we found down trees and burned logs. When we did come upon a sign, it seemed randomly placed in the ghost forest. 

I felt so lucky to have my Garmin Fenix 6 watch because it kept us at least near the trail, if not on it. The problem was, though, that when we got to the Louise Creek trail, which was our trail back, this trail was not on my GPS map. It was on the actual map, but it did not show up on the GPS watch. So we had to follow the map only. At first, this was okay because it put us in Buck Meadow. I had been to this spot before. I had never followed the whole meadow though and it was a bright spot of green in the midst of a charred landscape. There was even a place where I could filter some water to keep me going. Spencer was happy to take a break here but didn't get any water himself.

When we had to reenter the forest, this is where it got a little dicey. In the meadow, the trail was pretty obvious. Leaving the meadow, it was just charred trees and a ghost forest. The old trail was no longer there and we had to use our knowledge of topography to send us in the right direction. This kept us near the trail, but we spent a long time bushwhacking. This frustrated Spencer. We had already put in a lot of miles and Spencer was not ready for this. I was okay with it as I knew we would run into the Louise Creek trail again eventually. We continued downhill and when we passed by the Tokatee Lakes, this is when I started to get a little frustrated too. I knew the trail was somewhere to our left, but where I could hardly tell.

Spencer started saying that the Louise Creek trail did not exist. I had been on the trail a couple of weeks ago, so I knew it was there. Finally, even though I knew we were making good progress, I just headed to the left until we ran into the trail. Getting back to the trail was relief, but Spencer was still not pleased. I was happy to be out here following it, but I get it as it was getting close to dark. On July 1st, that is saying something. It was smooth sailing on a well marked path from here. We hiked the Louise Creek trail back to the Separation Lake trail and to the car. I was very happy with how my knee did on this day as anything I was going to encounter on the PCT would not be much more difficult than this. Spencer pretty much made me buy him a Gatorade on the drive back and told the rest of his friends that I tried to kill him. All in all, it was a 24 mile day filled with half of that being bushwhacking. Not the easiest experience, but the waterfalls were truly remarkable and given that I have a short memory when it comes to the cuts, scrapes, and bruises that I encounter on the trail, I would be happy to do it again.