6125 Training Hike

Ambrose and I are trying to get out together almost every weekend in June. The one we aren't going to be our together for is the one where I'm going to volunteer with the Idaho Trails Association for some trail work. Other than that, the plan is to be out every weekend. So, for the first weekend in June, following our inaugural backpack on Memorial Day, the plan was somewhat different. 

I didn't really understand the plan until we went over it together on Thursday evening. And it's a good thing I asked then, because the plan was for us to head out to the trail directly upon my leaving work on Friday evening. I got packed really quick after that on Thursday!

We would drive out to the Sheep Creek trailhead, spend the night, pack up in the morning and go hike 6125 (which is the elevation of a nearby mountain with no other name/designation). It's a great training hike; lots of gain, nice and long. Longer, now, than it used to be since we are using the new official trailhead instead of the old one. 

The drive out was nice and relaxing for me. Ambrose was driving and I was feeling a bit floaty from taking a bit more Aleve than is strictly recommended to treat my PMS. There wasn't a whole lot of traffic, and the road was as good as it ever is. Bumpy, but not frighteningly so. 

We saw jetskis coming into the reservoir from upriver and wondered how far they'd managed to go upriver. Ambrose thought they could have made it to Twin Springs, but I wasn't sure. Watching the water as we drove by, I thought there were some rapids that would have made most jetskiers turn back, but I've never tried to take one through a rapid. 

At the trailhead campsite, about half the sites were taken; the remaining spaces had some cars in them, but no people. So we parked between the two unoccupied cars and claimed that space for ourselves. I got the tent up in short order, though I did have to re-stake it once the wind decided to test my pitch. No rainfly for this night, because it wasn't just warm, it was hot, even at 8 pm with the sun behind the ridgeline. 

It was delightful to sleep under the stars, with just the mesh between us and the sky. And we didn't even need our sleeping quilts it was so warm. We ended up using the blanket we usually use for insulation on the air mattress as a blanket. 

The alarm was set for 5 am, and I actually felt well-rested when it went off. We proceeded with striking camp in harmony. It was like a dance; I'd finish bagging something, Ambrose would bring it to the car, then I'd have the next thing ready for him. We took the tent itself down together, and ate breakfast and took turns with the shovel. 

I tried several times to get a picture of this bedhead and this was the best of the lot.

We were on the trail before 6:15, beating the sun's rise though it was on the way. I had planned on using Gaia GPS to record the hike, but it refused to acquire a signal so I asked Ambrose to drop it in my pack instead, just so we could get going. 

After Ambrose beat me to the car on Memorial Day, I figured he'd be up on me on this hike. That was not the case, even though I was not feeling my best with my period hammering my guts. I pulled well ahead and stayed there. 

With the sun rising behind me, this ridge looked like it had reverse alpenglow.

At the Sheep Creek saddle, I saw a pair of hikers ahead of me, and I totally used them to speed myself along the trail. They kept going along Sheep Creek, beyond my turn off, before I could pass them, but I got close. I was glad they hadn't turned off, because I needed to dig a hole, and I didn't want other people close by. 

I thought for sure Ambrose would pass me while I did that, but he only walked up as I was putting my pack back on. I thought, again, that he'd keep up for a while, but I left him behind again, well before I started the evil traverse. 

If I had been going the same direction, I would have totally caught these two!

From where we cross Sheep Creek up to 6125, there's about 2500 feet of gain. Much of that takes place over about a mile, along a dry, sunny stretch of trail that tends to singletrack and is mostly small rocks, aka ball bearings. It is a rare hike that I do not slip and fall on those rocks - at least on the way down. 

On the way up, I didn't have too much trouble. A few slips, but nothing scary. I just kept going, powering on up even when I very much just wanted to sit down and stop. 

Instead, I skipped my usual rest stop at the Twin Springs couch and recited a litany of things I needed to do at the peak. Take off socks and shoes to shake dust out of socks. Finish the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie I was munching for breakfast. Put on sunscreen and convert pants to shorts and shirt from long to short sleeved. See if I could get the Gaia GPS to work so I could record at least half the hike. 

After the couch, the wind picked up, and I felt much cooler than I had with the rocks beaming the sun into my face. Flowers abounded, with multiple shades of purple along with a few of yellow and a small stand of bright red paintbrushes. I took a moment to enjoy the view down to Twin Springs, but without sitting. Sitting was for people who made the peak!

The sun found me! Way earlier than I would have preferred :(

I always find the view down to Twin Springs enchanting.

These sitting rocks, to me, mark the peak. 

Once I made the peak, I found that my list had acquired a new item. Dig a hole! I was glad that my digestive system was moving along so well, even though digging holes is a time suck. Then I wrapped up the other items on my list - including starting the Gaia GPS track - and started down, expecting to see Ambrose at any moment. 

He wasn't the closest that I've caught him coming back, but he wasn't too far down. I expected him to be an hour or so behind me. Maybe 90 minutes. 

I had a slip-slide heading down to the couch: my body's momentum swung me away from the trail and I had to move my feet quickly as well as lean the other way in order to stabilize. It felt a lot scarier than it sounds to write. Probably because I failed to describe that if I hadn't jerked myself around, then I would have rolled down a steep hill, on rocks, through scratchy bushes. 

I tried to take it slow down the ridge traverse, because those rocks just love to slide. Only one more notable slip made for a pretty good trip down. I do like the Altras for their grippiness on a variety of terrain, even though I really wish they'd make a women's wide. I've hiked this trail enough to know that they handle its ball bearings very well. 

There he is!

A snake!

But not a rattlesnake :)

I was excited to get off the ridge and down to the side stream crossing just before the bridge over Sheep Creek. I took advantage of the stream and dipped my sunhat in to help keep me cool for the end of the hike. Pro tip - rather than let the sun hat's tail get my backpack all wet, I rolled it up and tucked it under my shirt collar. That kept my neck cool and kept the tail wet a lot longer than if it had been exposed. It worked really well until the wind got strong and blew it off my neck - but then the wind was cooling me, so fair trade. 

I passed one pair of hikers heading out as I made my way back to the trailhead, finishing in just under 6 hours. 

My official time back to the car - we started at 6:12 am.

And what, exactly, did I do in 6 hours? Well, the track from the top down gave me a distance of 5.1 miles, so I did 10.2 miles. And, apparently, 2810 feet of descent. I felt like it. 

I moved the car to the shade, changed clothes and tried to stay cool while I waited for Ambrose to show up. 

When the first hour had passed, I was little worried, but not super worried. 

At two hours, I was starting to plan the rescue. Knowing that the total distance was 10 miles, I ended up deciding that I'd give him one mile per hour before doing a rescue. Only partly because I did NOT want to go back out there. 

After the 4th time I moved the car into shade, I could no longer read short stories on my phone. I was worried, thinking what could possibly have happened to him that he ended up so much farther behind me. What if his ankle were twisted or broken? Well, then I'd just have to do the Chamberlain hike with Bill and Mike only. He'd just miss out. 

After 2.5 hours had passed since I got back to the car, but less than 3, I finally caught sight of him coming down the trail. I had been feeling tired and cranky, but he looked a lot worse than I felt, so I went directly into caretaker mode and got him as settled as possible. When he poured potable water on his sweat rag, I went down to the river to get him some river water for cooling purposes instead. We didn't have enough potable water in the car to use it like that. 

Ambrose's official time back - which I only later learned was influenced by not one, but TWO naps on the trail. 

There was pretty much no way Ambrose could have driven home in that state. And, his tiredness was actually a blessing, because he discovered just how relaxing a drive could be when he closes his eyes and doesn't try to backseat drive. I felt quite cheered that he was able to relax while I drove these scary roads. He pretty much only opened his eyes when I talked to him or asked for water. 

Now, if only there was a place to buy slushies on the way home, the day would have been perfect.

Queens River Backpack Day 3

Now that we knew when the sun would hit our little campsite, we didn't even try to wake up before 8 am. I think Ambrose did, but just barely. The sun was shining as I came upon Ambrose boiling water for his chicken broth. I had already said I didn't want any broth this morning, just my coffee. 

"Your coffee is next," Ambrose said. Then he turned the heat up and the last of the fuel sputtered out. No more fire. I glared. I would be driving home; I didn't want to do that without coffee! 

Luckily, we had the camp stove at the car (as opposed to the backpacking stove), and it would have sufficient fuel to make me a coffee. Ambrose promised to make it when he got to the car, and I grudgingly accepted that this would do. 

After breakfast, I got to work striking the tent. Ambrose had pretty much packed up, but I still needed to get my stuff out of the tent. And then we worked together to turn the tent inside out and shake out the debris that inevitably makes its way inside - not trash, we make sure not to leave trash inside, but dirt and little sticks and pine needles. 

Where I got back to the trail.

Before long, we were all packed up and headed back to the trail. On the way, I had to call a stop and find a place to dig a hole. I told Ambrose to go on ahead of me. It was possible that I could catch him, but I felt it would be unlikely. I didn't have enough distance along the trail, and I could feel that this hole would take me some time. 

My business concluded, I proceeded to hike out. It was uneventful, and I didn't see anyone at all until I got back to the trailhead to find Ambrose at the car, starting to work on my coffee. Now that's the kind of greeting I like! 

We ate lunch at the car as well before starting the drive back. 

Now, it was my turn to drive. Ambrose drove out, I drove home. I was pretty happy to have navigated the Queens River Road, including that sloping part with the loose rocks that gave Ambrose trouble on the way in. But when we got to Middle Fork Road, I just missed getting out in front of three trucks hauling trailers. 

These trucks were passholes. 

That is, rather than allowing faster traffic to safely pass by pulling to the side at a wide spot in the road and slowing or stopping, they chose to stay in the center at wide spots, and even to veer over when it became clear that I was attempting to get around them. They spewed clouds of dust at us, unless I slowed to a tedious 10 miles per hour to let them get ahead. 

By the time they turned on to Swanholm, both Ambrose and I were frustrated at those passholes, and we ended up taking our frustration out on each other instead of communicating productively. I may or may not have gotten out of the car, yelling that apparently I can't drive, and storming off into the woods to sit on a rock and cry. When I returned, Ambrose was in the driver's seat. As I walked up to the car, he might have started to drive off. And I might have turned in a huff, figuring I could just walk to Atlanta or hitch a ride before he stopped and honked. 

Now, over the years, I have developed a high level of skill at driving on these dirt roads. But Ambrose is even better at it than I am. We caught up to those passholes in short order, despite our stopping, and then Ambrose pulled off some scary maneuvers to pass both of them - even though BOTH of them tried to run us off the road when it became clear what we were doing. The leader of the three vehicle parade was NOT a passhole; that one slowed to let us pass as soon as we drew up on it. 

At the next turn, Ambrose and I switched back so I could finish the drive. And we talked about what had happened. Why we had aimed anger at each other instead of the deserving passholes. Analyzing what led to that fight and how we could avoid its like in the future - because neither of us liked the way that felt. 

We stopped at Season's in Idaho City to get milkshakes, and that put the perfect topper on the overall excellent weekend.

Queens River Backpack Day 2

While we weren't in a hurry this morning, we did have a plan. After breakfast, we were going to climb partway up a mountain and see if maybe mushrooms were hiding at a higher elevation. The sun didn't reach our little spot until after 8 am. Before the sun rose, it was very cold, but after it came up I got hot quickly in my heavy long underwear and down jacket. 

Ambrose told me he was making coffee, but the soup broth he cooked up first was a bit of a surprise. A welcome one, since the broth was nice and salty, though I don't particularly like the bits in the Wild Zora broth packets. We both agreed that next time we brought broth it would be pho cubes instead - much better flavor and made for 16 oz instead of 8. 

The coffee came next, a kind of tea-bag style that we were introduced to by our backpacking friend Bill. I made sure to rinse out my cup well so I wouldn't have any soup bits spoiling my morning coffee. Ambrose steeped it well in our boiling pot and it was just about the perfect drink, sitting on a log, watching the sun rise higher above the horizon. 

Once breakfast was finished, we got our stuff together for a day hike. By agreement, I'd be carrying my pack, including 2 liters of water and other essentials, while Ambrose would be carrying the mesh bag that we had brought in the hope of using it for a bounty of morels, with the shovel and toilet paper in it for now. We had to bring the shovel on the day hike rather than a trowel because I had left mine behind once I chose to bring the shovel, and Ambrose had forgotten to bring one (which I will not let him forget until I forget something vital). 

I led the way on our hike. I had a point that I wanted to aim for, and for the first part of our trek, I tried to avoid bushy sections entirely. Bushes are hard to whack through, and I wasn't in the mood to get all caught and tangled. 

Ambrose did very well with the climbing, much better than in prior years. I was moving slowly, but he was still keeping up even on the steep parts. I used the Gaia GPA app on my old phone to make sure I knew where I was as we ranged up the slope. 

I'd never gotten such a look at the Queens River Valley before.

Ambrose got a good picture of it too.

Yeah, it was steep.

I thought we were on one side of a small peak - turns out, we were on the other side. I used that information to decide to start traversing. We made our way over to Kid Creek, and we took a bit of a different route. See, it was while we were traversing that I started getting in tune with the animal trails. 

Because while whacking through bushes is no fun, where the deer and elk have walked, it's ... easier. Not exactly clearer, not always, but when you are on one of those animal trails, you can walk a lot faster through the bushes than when you aren't. A LOT. 

So we were no longer taking straight line routes; instead, I picked a deer trail and followed it for a while. If it didn't go where I wanted exactly, then I still followed it, but kept an eye out for branches going in the direction I wanted. And when the bushes cleared up, I could just skip over to find a new deer trail. 

The best of the pictures I tried to take of a woodpecker.

Ambrose following a deer path.

You can tell this tree fell recently, because the bush limbs below it are still green and leafy.

It worked really well to get us up above Kid Creek, and it worked well to get us down from that height down to the water, where we took a break. If we had brought lunch, it would have been a good place and time for lunch. In fact, we might go back there next year to camp. Since we didn't have lunch with us, we just took a snack break and then mostly followed the creek back down. 

I climbed a rock. Lewis & Clark pose for Bill ;)

Ostensibly, I was the leader of this little expedition, but at some point after my third bathroom break (yay for pooping!), Ambrose broke off on his own and went ahead of me. 

I was confused by his actions - especially when he walked right on by our aspen grove, heading past our camp and towards the trail. I yelled over to him that I was going to the campsite, and have fun at the trail. 

That got him to turn around! 

After that, we got lunch cooked up and then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out, chasing the shade, and enjoying being alone in the wilderness so close to a trailhead. 

He might not look it, but I assure you, Ambrose is happy to be there.

Well. I tried to chill. But for a place that was too dry for mushrooms, there sure were a lot of ticks around. And they thought I was delicious. I caught a couple crawling on me before they could bite, but I also got two tick bites that afternoon. I was NOT pleased. 

Okay, when I killed one of the biters with my vengeful tweezers, that was pretty pleasing. But the bites themselves were not. From what I've read, Lyme carrying ticks haven't made it to Idaho yet, but I took pictures of the bites just in case I get a bulls-eye rash in a couple weeks. 

Cursed ticks!