Pyramid Lake trip. Backpacks, Hammocks, Swimming with Salamanders, and a Bushcraft Safety Lesson

 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.

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.  

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.