Sequoia National Park, High Sierra Trail backpacking trip - day 2
07/02/07 05:46 PM Filed in: travel | backpacking
We slept well in the
tent at 9 mile Creek and awoke to having multiple
Sierra mule deer snooping around our campsite! The
deer were timid yet not threatened by our presence,
so we were able to enjoy watching them sniff through
pine needles on the ground, to find their breakfast
:)
*our back-country campsite*
*female Sierra mule deer visitor!*
9 Mile Creek to Bear Paw High Sierra Camp
Monday, July 2, 2007
Day 2 we enjoyed a freeze-dried breakfast of bacon & eggs, with water from the stream, heated with our stove but we had one big problem; mosquitos. Lots of mosquitos. We skipped coffee to get a move out of there a little faster, but we soon realized we were completely worn down from day 1. With all the extra food and snacks we packed, we seldom stopped to fully replace those calories, and our muscles took the brunt of that. So, knowing Bear Paw high Sierra camp was at approximately the 12 mile mark into this trail, we decided to take it a little easier on ourselves today, and simply hike the three miles to Bear Paw and take the rest of the afternoon & evening off. We packed up and left camp close to 10:00 am.
The hike to Bear Paw was uphill, and the toughest part was hiking up Buck Creek Canyon; a very vertical climb up from the creek bed to 8,000 feet.
*photos of Buck Creek Canyon*
*it's hard to tell but there's a trail there*
We finally arrived at Bear Paw after 2.5 hrs. The area was virtually empty, people showed up close to night fall, and we enjoyed the pick of the crop for our next campsite. There was a large cluster of rocks up a steep hill almost above the other campsites, which was also a campsite with a make-shift rock table & chairs by the fire pit, and a whole lot of sequoia trees :) We ate our favorite freeze dried dinner, beef lasagna, and apple crisp for desert. With full bellies we went to bed early to rest up for day 3.
*our back-country campsite*
*female Sierra mule deer visitor!*
9 Mile Creek to Bear Paw High Sierra Camp
Monday, July 2, 2007
Day 2 we enjoyed a freeze-dried breakfast of bacon & eggs, with water from the stream, heated with our stove but we had one big problem; mosquitos. Lots of mosquitos. We skipped coffee to get a move out of there a little faster, but we soon realized we were completely worn down from day 1. With all the extra food and snacks we packed, we seldom stopped to fully replace those calories, and our muscles took the brunt of that. So, knowing Bear Paw high Sierra camp was at approximately the 12 mile mark into this trail, we decided to take it a little easier on ourselves today, and simply hike the three miles to Bear Paw and take the rest of the afternoon & evening off. We packed up and left camp close to 10:00 am.
The hike to Bear Paw was uphill, and the toughest part was hiking up Buck Creek Canyon; a very vertical climb up from the creek bed to 8,000 feet.
*photos of Buck Creek Canyon*
*it's hard to tell but there's a trail there*
We finally arrived at Bear Paw after 2.5 hrs. The area was virtually empty, people showed up close to night fall, and we enjoyed the pick of the crop for our next campsite. There was a large cluster of rocks up a steep hill almost above the other campsites, which was also a campsite with a make-shift rock table & chairs by the fire pit, and a whole lot of sequoia trees :) We ate our favorite freeze dried dinner, beef lasagna, and apple crisp for desert. With full bellies we went to bed early to rest up for day 3.