Burned

We packed everything up last night, so we all rolled out of bed, grabbed our packs, and jumped in the vehicles, and were on our way to the trail head before anyone could say "coffee". Once through the park gates, we relaxed a bit, enjoyed a diner breakfast, perused the little camp shop, and found the right parking lot. After a round of pack adjusting and psyching-up, we hit the trail.

Hiking along the Crater Creek trail for several miles, then ventured into the wilderness for a bit more, until claiming our campsite on the edge of a rock-faced cliff and the head of a waterfall. Much of the area was still burned out by the fire of '92. all along the beginning of the trail were trees like this. Later on, there were some survivor trees, and intense shrubs, bushes, and underbrush that flourished once the canopy disappeared.

After we set up camp and ate lunch, five of us decided to hike down to a fishing hole at the bottom of the waterfall... in the middle of the great stone canyon... populated by all that new vegetation. It was an epic journey. As it turned out, climbing up and down shear rock faces with fishing poles and water bottles was the easy part. Once down, we found ourselves in the middle of thorn thickets, small forests of spindly trees, dense brush, slippery wet moss, dried and not-so-dried creek beds, and little idea of how to get to our famed fishing hole. And so we climbed and bushwhacked and fell and slipped and jumped and push ever forward. There were several spots where he had to stop and stare at what was apparently an impenetrable [thicket/rock face/wall of thorns/sudden drop/creek crossing/combination of all of these] and figure out the path of least stupidity. When we finally arrived, our leg were thrashed, our canteens were running dry, and our energy was low; but spirits were high. I had the honor of First Cast and immediately got a hit. My line was in the water just a few seconds, and I reeled in the first fish of the whole trip. Luck continued and we got a bite on almost every cast. It wasn't long before we caught enough respectfully-sized fish for dinner. When not fishing, we watched, relaxed, explored, and enjoyed the waterfall. I somehow managed to fall into a bush of stinging nettles and jump into the creek when I found a snake (I'm now sure it was just a Sierra Garter Snake). Just as we were winding down, our stringer swam off and got lost in the creek. So we had to start up again, and caught five fish as quickly as we could. I ended up catching the biggest fish of the trip, so it wasn't all bad. We packed up and headed back out and up.

By the time we got back to camp, were were all about to drop, Conner and I had run out of water and drained every drop from camp, while more was purifying. After snacking, hydrating, and relaxing, we explored some more until we regrouped to light the fire and get cooking. We packed in steaks and veggie sausage, so the other seven ate camp-style 'surf-n-turf" while I enjoyed sausage and trout. We supplemented our meals with out first taste of freeze-dried sides. Everything exceeded expectations.

We messed around, hung out, cleaned up, bear proofed, and went to bed. Melanie and I choose to sleep out under the stars, next to the tent (in case of rain).