The day started just the same as every other. Got up and dressed, coffee, breakfast and put the stuff together for the day.This day was a little bit different though, there was a trip planned. A Bushcraft backpack trip. However, ultralight doesn’t usually mean bring all the delicious food we brought or near as many comforts. We're gonna head out to the trail, walk a couple miles, set up a tarp shelter, see some waterfalls, spend the evening sitting by the campfire drinking a beer and play with a couple new camping toys and maybe teach my boy how to use a knife. That was the plan. That’s almost how it went. Jump in the van, run a couple last minute errands and hit the road. Atreyu, Luna and I get to the trailhead about 11 o’clock in the morning, about an hour later than I wanted to be out there, Typical of trips with this group. We parked at the Fish Creek trailhead just off the Clackamas River Trail. Pack up, switch to boots and hit the trail.
Less than 20 feet under the trees before we start to notice beautiful magic. Just in through the trail, there’s a beautiful stone bench decorated by Faerie folk. Its covered in marbles and moss it makes the trail feel very inviting to start with. Start heading up the trail Atreyu is carrying his backpack, I’m trying out my brand new Osprey EXOS 48 for the first time. It fits like a dream and wearing it is so comfortable I barely even notice that it is stuffed to the gills. I've convinced myself I'm in training to do long a distance ultralight thru-hike next summer. I really like this bag but I’m not sure if I’m confident that its perfect for me for that purpose. I find that I generally carry a little too much stuff to be considered ultralight. I think I need to take it out on a two-night trip solo and see if I can manage with it like that because with carrying some stuff for both of us is too much. As we keep moving along down the trail on the river open beautiful dense forest on our side but there’s a road across the river. We can hear it, we can see it, but at least it’s over there. We’re going up and down, up and down when we had our first fright. The trail begins to climb not so much at first but then becoming steeper and steeper, going further up and up. Until we find ourselves several hundred feet above the river on a path no wider than 18 inches, staring straight down at the gully and the river below. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Atreyu was also showing physical signs of being scared, little shaky little whiny and was asking how long it’s going to keep going and he asked for his mama. Poor little guy.
Rest of the next mile of trail is a little sketchy. It's tall and has sheer drops. It’s past and over waterfalls. At one point one cascading down the rock face and in one spot had actually washed away the trail so that it is almost nonexistent. At this point, we were holding onto the rock as we scrambled across the trail. As the trail descends back down closer to the river we come across a series of switchbacks down through a talus field. On the cruck of one of these switchbacks, Atreyu spotted something moving. It was a tiny little garter snake warming its self in the sun on the rocks. I don't know what kind of snake it was but it just a baby and we were well enough far away to not be frightened of something so small, but someone forgot to tell the little snake that as it clearly opened its mouth and lunged near me while I was trying to take its picture. It could have been a baby rattlesnake for it knew, the way it was clearly ready to defend himself from my iPhone. We stop for a quick albeit windy snack on a sandy spot by the river and then finish up the last bit of our walk to our camp.
Despite the trail being difficult, I hadn't been trying to make it such a difficult hike we make it unscathed. Having arrived at only around 1:30 we have plenty of daylight hours left. Our campsite is a small open area surrounded by some big trees and a mostly sandy area with a couple of campfire rings and some are already cut and dried firewood. We decide on one of the fire rings as it offers an area to set up a camp and we make some lunch. The spot is very near to the trail, which is a no-no technically but I'd much rather use this spot than go far off the trail and make another thusly doubling the impact on the environment. Seeing as it is so close and there are still people hiking we decided to wait a little while before actually setting up our overnight shelter. So we made lunch, ramen soup is Atreyus favorite, mine so only because it weighs next to nothing. After lunch, we use the new knife I bought to process firewood. There was plenty of cut lengths and so I didn't need to drag the piece of crap folding saw I have all the way out there. I bought a Bushcrafter from Benchmade. I LOVE this knife. I really had a sentimental attachment to the last one I had but I snapped the blade on the last trip. The knife was simply not strong enough to be abused the way I need to use a knife, but it was a great piece to begin learning the bushcrafter skills I hope to hone now that I have a real tool I can use.
The knife works like a dream! Heavy in my hand, sturdy. It feels like a tool that I'll never need replacing. It feels reassuring. It feels comfortable. We spend the afternoon processing down the wood and building our shelter for the night, a simple tarp shelter open at one side with a ground sheet down to keep dirt out of our sleep systems.
The shelter is a silnylon tarp with multiple tie-outs. One end tied to a tree and the other on a 3 foot stake driven into the ground and tied off with paracord. I carved the tall stake and all the small tent stakes with my new knife. After the shelter is finished and most of the hikers have passed we start dinner.
Dinner is a creature comfort I see no need to forgo on an overnight trip, so we have marinated steak, fresh roasted corn on the cob and parmesan cheese sauce over noodles. The corn is slowly roasted right on coals as the steak and noodles are seared and boiled over low flames. Besides a piece of steak we saved for Luna, Atreyu and I crush every bite. After cleaning up dinner we toast up a couple of obligatory marshmallows and melt some chocolate on top. To those of you who say I forgot the graham crackers, I say, 'You carry them'!
After dinner we hang by the fire for a little while, wash up and head into bed early. Some light reading while laying in our awesome little shelter before dozing off watching the fire slowly die down.
Morning comes finding me unrested. Luna kept getting up and moving around and Atreyu kept scooting himself out from under our shelter and thusly I need to keep moving him back to his pad and under the illusion of safety under our tarp.
Breakfast is coffee and cocoa for warm drinks and a small feast of oatmeal with a mix of dried fruits infused into it. After packing up camp we head into the rest of the way to Pup Creek Falls, the original location for our plan the trip. Our short walk to the falls is a reward in and of itself. The trail is easier than the
day before and is fraught with wonderful sights. Streams and waterfalls, lowlands and marsh swamps, old growth and tons of greenery.
An hour of walking along the cold wild section of the Clackamas River brings us to a short side trail just 2/10ths of a
mile up to the falls. Pup Creek falls does not disappoint. A wild, overgrown, flowing two-tiered waterfall cascading down over 100 feet to the small and short creek below. We take in a picnic right on the trail near the base of the falls in the cold damp air.
As we leave the serenity of the falls we have a choice to make. we can walk what looks to be about 2/3 miles extra today along a much easier trail or ... we can go back the way we came.
We opt for a longer walk. The trail is a much more pleasant walk. It does, however, turn into a longer walk than we anticipate. We see several great camping spots along this route and I am sure if ever I were to do see the Pup Creek Falls again I'd come in this way. We have to walk the road to get back to the car turning our trip into a loop. A friendly dude in a beautiful old rusty pick-up offers a lift back to our car and we humbly accept.
A few reflections on this trip. First, the campsite was way too close to the trail. Had I known about the others on the other side I would have walked on that day, saw the falls in the afternoon and still be able to be at camp with plenty of time. That would have made our walk out so much easier and our camp spot feel a little less intrusive to others.
Second, although I love my new knife, I hated the sheath that came with it. The sheath that came with the knife was poorly made of plastic and screws. I had already ordered a new one made of solid leather with a spot for a ferro rod. The cheaply made plastic one actually broke while I was on the walk out. If Atreyu had not been walking a few feet behind me I would have lost it. That would definitely have ruined my weekend.
Lastly, on this trip I learned the limitations of Atreyu's hiking skills. I would not push him this far or difficult had I known what the trail was like, I'll not do so again for some time.
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It started a few weeks back. I have wanted to get in a long walk and do some remote country backpacking. I have been looking at walks on one of my favorite websites for such resources for some time. Fawn and Atreyu just aren't as down to spend hours and hours strolling in the woods with a few extra pounds as I am. A few friends had gone back and forth if they wanted/could go but in the end no one did, soooooo SOLO!!
The trip in question is the Bonnie Butte via hidden meadows. I was planning to follow the itinerary provided on Oregonhikers.org. I was hoping to leave the house by 8 am so I could be on the trail by 10. Again.....well laid plans and all.....
I don't get on the road until 10. Fawn and Atreyu waver on whether they are up to a backpacking trip or not. I had made secondary plans with a shorter walk just in the all too likely case they did want to go. But in the end, I do go on the solo trip if only a little later than I expected.
On the way up to the mountain, I stop in Rhododendron for a couple of beers for at camp and a snack on the way. I get a turkey and cheese sandwich, I don't want to be hungry starting out on the trail, and a few more snacks for camp, just in case.
Managed to finally get to the trial by noon and get all ready to get walking. The trailhead is not marked. I found it just by the GPS coordinates from the trail guide.
My pack is a little heavy moving out, but I'm not too worried as I'm not going too far. I won't
give
you the turn by turn on the trail since the guide is pretty in depth and accurate. I will say a few things about how I felt about it. The very first thing I notice is that there is bear poop just right off the trail as I start, then coyote poop, then more scat and more and more. There was so
much sign of predators in the area I actually stopped taking pictures of it. I find the trail pretty easy to follow for the most part, even though I did think I got lost for a little while, but obviously did not. There is a section where the first leg in meets up to the start of the loop
and I had a hard time finding the trail crossing, I walked past it several times before finding it. I did realize that I need to work on my navigation skills as I thought I was following the map on the western side not realizing I was actually walking up the eastern side of the loop.....
Where I actually do end up deviating from the trail description is when I get to the meadow.I was supposed to turn left at the meadow and go around the western edge, but I saw the signs leading to the campground and simply followed them. Not totally sure but I feel like this was a bit shorter and probably a little more pleasant of a walk, as the other way went on that bumpy road for a bit, but I did end up missing the view of Hidden Meadow. But I'm ok with the trade of seeing Bonnie Meadow a second time.
The meadow was beautiful. I really lucked out as I was there when at least 6 or 7 species of flowers were in full bloom. The photos I took don't even come close to show the sea of color resting on a carpet of green that was so quiet and peaceful. I could see just sitting there and letting whole days go by in quiet contemplating contentment. Just feeling the sun on your face. Listening to the bees and other insects flying all around and smelling the fresh crisp clean air.
Getting to the campground I run into the only people I would see the whole time on my trip. A couple with a dog on a big day walk. I take a minute to chat and we confer on where we all are on the map they are carrying before going our own separate ways. The campground was small, a few sites and a pit toilet. The road in was beat and worn, not maintained and full of giant pot holes. The sites each had a fire ring and a table and plenty of space to pitch camp. There was plentiful wood about if you were inclined to gather some rather than bringing it with you. I do recommend this camp for this hiking trip but my understanding of the road in is that it is 13 miles of what I was looking at and WOULD NOT try that in my mini-van.
My plan is to watch the sunset on top of the Butte, so I decide to make camp have a big early dinner and get all the camp chores out of the way...
First things first, I gotta decide my sleep system. I brought the hammock but was thinking about just cowboy camping or just setting up a simple tarp shelter. But truth be told we all know I'm gonna set up the hammock. I want to be comfortable and since I bought the stuff to do so I might as well. A combination of an ENO hammock and BearButt fly. Both pieces of gear work really well. The ENO is a little heavy and if I was going ultralight I couldn't justify the weight for the value. Placement of the hammock feels vital at this point.
I want to put the hammock up somewhere near the fire, but not so close ill set myself or my gear on fire and there just doesn't seem to be anywhere that quite fits the bill, so....plan B. I decided to go ahead and put those bushcraft skills to use and build a tripod to hang my system.
I find 3 poles at least as long as I am with my hands up in the air and clean all the little twigs off of them, tie them together really well at one end and try it out, NOPE. A second, more successful try after a finding a way to press the poles into the ground and we are hung up.
Take a short break and then get dinner going. Cooking on the old MSR stove I make a combo dinner with little ramen noodles and an MRE (meatballs and sauce) that I picked up at Winco...... maybe it was because I walked 7 miles that day, but it wasn't too bad. I will openly admit, I even liked it.
I got cleaned up, gather up some wood for a fire, and pack a little bag with just the essentials: a couple snacks, emergency supplies, water and a rain cover. All set and ready to go head up to the top of Bonnie Butte.The walk was pretty short and the trail was wide and easy to follow but fairly steep. The top of the Butte offered views in 360 degrees of several snow-capped mountains fields of wildflowers, the dessert off on the east and trees as far as the eye could see. Besides the fact I was standing on an old road and there was some signage here, one couldn't see evidence of people for miles and miles. The only way I was reminded that of human activity were the big dam (Bonneville?) and a bunch of wind turbines, both so far away I could only see them as specks with the naked eye.
I had brought a book and was going to sit and read until the sun went down but I was decidedly exhausted and my camera batteries were quickly waning and I still had a mile walk ahead of me back to camp. I strolled back down to camp for some relaxing by the fire instead. The rest of the night is fairly uneventful. I pop a couple of beers and hang in the hammock with a book.
**Side Note** One of my beers was McMenamins Hammerhead IPA, a signature brew made by a local company based out of Portland. If you just about anywhere in the PacNW you know McMenamins. Very tasty beer, hoppy and refreshing, came in a can for the win.
Morning is standard on the trail morning. A small fire to warm up a few minutes, eat as much oatmeal and trail-mix as I can stuff into my gullet so I don't have to carry it. Filter just a little bit more than enough water to get me down to the trailhead. Break camp, pack up and start walking.
Walking back out is mostly just a walk. Other than the steep incline first thing of the day leading to several viewpoints, including the view over a lake and a valley, there is a time when I need to sit down because the insole of my foot starts screaming in pain and I need to suck down a few ibuprofen to make the 7 miles in just about 2.5 hours. Hit up a coffee spot for a breakfast sandwich and a hot cup on the way home.
A couple notes;
I used the Sawyer Mini on this trip for my water filtering needs. It works great. The only thing I didn't like about it is the bag doesn't inflate really well and is not so easy to get all the water back out, forcing me to sit by the creek edge for longer than I think I really needed to. I think in the future I'll just pop this on top of a little disposable water bottle. It'll add less than an ounce to my pack and I'm certain it'll work way better.
On the topic of water: I realized the location of this trip was on the eastern side of Mt Hood which is a much more arid section than the opposite slope. I carried in with me 2 liters of water, which I considered the minimum I could get away with for an overnight and cooking the things I did. Walking up I was concerned that it would be the only water I'd have. Bonnie Creek is right at the camp and I definitely would just go one bottle on this trip again. I might still have some concern as it was only a small creek and somewhat of a trickle when I was there in early July. By late August or early Sept, I'm not sure I personally would rely on this being a reliable water source. Take your own chances
Look for my newest adventure soon. The fam and I have since gone up to Rialto Beach the town of LaPush for a quick weekend.
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I also will be trying out the camping vlog format. I took a lot of video on this trip so keep an eye out for that on youtube.
The weather started out a little dreary as the trip began. Atreyu, Everest, and I have headed out to Pyramid Lake, a remote lake with a little bit of a party reputation, not my impression at all when we got there, more on that later. It is Friday around noon before we finally get headed towards our destination. The drive is a little gloomy for a big part of it but we gun straight there. It is an overnight trip and I have to work tomorrow night so we have to plan to be back out early.
The last stretch of the road is pretty close in, maybe the last few miles are all dirt road and unimproved. We got to the trailhead around 2:30-3 pm. Take a few minutes to get all our gear on and car locked up and get out on the trail. I was expecting a low gradient and not too long a walk in, I wanted to take it easy on Atreyu and we do need to be out early. The trail immediately goes uphill. All up hill. All of the uphill for the whole walk in the first 300 yards. Steep. Pretty steep.
It does turn out to be a short walk however and once we reach the top of the hill we are near the lake edge already.
The first campsite we come to does indeed look like a party spot: oversized fire ring, several long large logs as benches near the fire pit, some random garbage, evidence of unnecessary cutting of wood (some green even) and a raft built and placed near the water.
The raft was kinda cool. I mean someone built a raft, but they could have/ should have taken it apart. Truth be told I'm not sure It was very seaworthy. I wasn't going to take it out and just give it a try for fun, but if it was a survival situation I might have been willing to give it a go, with a 50/50 chance I'd be swimming half the distance of the lake. Not a chance I'm willing to take for a photo op in the blog wearing all my clothes and backpack.
We decide against this spot for camping, partly because we have plenty of time to stroll around the lake and find a nicer spot and partly because we only brought hammocks and there's no place to hang them.
Strolling around the lake we do come across several campsites. The further we get away from the access trail the move inviting the spots become. The trail takes us clockwise around the lake and through a narrow trail that becomes lost in areas and has small stretches that are straight bushwacking.
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| Summer 2017 |
After hiking about 2/3 of the lake we cross a talus field and Everest leading the pack shouts how he found a great spot. He did. Perfect. This spot has access to the lake nad great hammock hanging spots. Someone even built a chair out of rocks here.
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| My Bright Shining Star. |
There were two separate fire pits here so I have to fix that quick. I take the pieces from the two of them and build one good fireplace. There is a lot of duff on the ground so I build the fireplace on top of a series of flat rocks so as not to catch the ground on fire. We then dig a hole in the ground where the remnants of the older/less well-constructed fire are to bury the old coals.
When we are done you can't tell there was ever two there. With the new and improved fire pit ready we get to some more camp chores. The plan was to get the water filtered with a new system and realized I either lost it on the trail or left it in the car, hopefully, its in the car. I built a bench out of a log and couple of rocks that are laying in the middle of camp. While building the bench my saw slips and cuts a nice little cut in two of my fingers. Not bad but a scary reminder to be careful when using sharp tools and good practice with my first aid kit. We collect firewood and get the hammocks hung.
The hammocks are both ENO hammocks. Atreyu and I are rocking the DoubleNest and Everest has the Double Deluxe. I really like this system for camping. SO comfy, little tough sometimes when Atreyu and I share one but still cozy.
With all else done its time to get the fire going for dinner and go for a swim. I started the fire with a ferrous rod for the first time. It took a few minutes of tries but I got it. A nice soak in the lake and we find a salamander swimming around and are able to just ever so gently scoop it up out of the water. So cool. We start to get cold after a little while and jump out and warm up by the fire while I get dinner ready.
Dinner is a special treat, ribs cooked on a stick right over the coals and some instant garlic mashed potatoes. Ribs were a little tough but very tasty and the instant mashed potatoes hit the spot.
A couple of obligatory marshmallows and red boxed wine are a perfect treat after dinner. The sun sets and darkness starts to creep in. Stars and the full moon shine in the night over the lake and it is good to just soak it in.
We all settle in for a quiet night listening to an owl and the peeper frogs, sit by the fire and read and talk.
Morning brings oats and coffee and a slow relaxing morning. We pack up and walk back out the way we came in case I had lost my new filter along the path. When we got to the van it is there. We roll out and head home.
