Big Basin: Mission Aborted

“Photos here.

Didn't expect to hear from me this morning, didja. Well, I didn't expect to be sitting in my warm house tying in a "trip report," if you can call it that. Planned trip: after first winter storm passes through on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Cameron and I hike 4-5 miles into deserted campground in Big Basin Redwoods State Park (NE of Santa Cruz) on Sunday; hike to a ridge to watch the sunset over the Pacific, sleep in; hike out on Monday.

My advice: never believe the National Weather Service. The forecast, including the one updated at 4 AM Sunday, basically said there was no chance of rain south of Santa Rosa, about 90 miles north, and that would be maybe a scattered shower or two north of there. Of course weather forecasting is something of an art, so I figured give these folks a break, and figure there could be a little shower activity where we were going, right?

So we arrive at Big Basin at about 10, get our permit, then drive to the backpackers' parking lot. It showered a couple of times while we were loading up, about a minute or less each time - no big deal. So off we went, passing by scads of humongous old and second growth redwoods, including the "Mother of the Forest" at 329 feet tall. We crested the ridge after a mile of hiking, and headed down the other side after a quick stop to take a picture of a bright yellow wooly worm. Our stomachs began growling at around noon, and we found a great log to sit on to have lunch. About the time we finished eating, it sprinkled a bit, but only for about a minute. We snapped a quick photo of a banana slug, then headed out.

After about 15 minutes of hiking after lunch, it started to rain a bit, so we huddled up next to a giant redwood. We fully expected, as before, that it would stop after a minute or so. But after about 10 minutes (during which time we didn't even bother to take off our packs) it was raining harder, and the drops were starting to make their way through the forest canopy (no easy feat!). So we found a reasonably dry spot under some redwood branches, put a poncho down and sat down. But it rained harder. So we got another poncho out and draped it over us. For 45 minutes. All it did was rain harder. Finally, after realizing that we would be spending the vast majority of our effort struggling with the weather, we decided to bail out. It continued to rain during our entire walk back - this was no "scattered shower."

Call me a wimp if you must, but to us, it just wasn't worth it to hike all day long in the rain, only to get to camp, sit in the tent, eat, sleep, then hike back out again. So ended our last backpacking opportunity of the year. Very frustrating, giving our few chances to get out during a typical year.

Trips this year:
Feb: XC ski/winter camping - good trip; death defying at times.
June: Desolation Wilderness - great trip.
August: Montana - good scenery; 1 full day of cold rain; uncomfortable family issues (NOT the Freemen, ng!); overall, about a 3 out of 10.
October: Sierra trip cancelled due to scheduling conflict.
November: Big Basin trip rained out.”

“Well sometimes it happens that way martyb. Man those are some big trees. Looks like he was having fun though.

Next weekend we are going to go get some firewood at the farm and then we are going to drive back to our house and set up the tent in the living room and build a fire in the fireplace and use my campstove to cook and just use our headlamps and stuff for light. It will be too cold next weekend to go backpacking with her.

Keep building the backpackers of the next generation.”

“I suggested the living room campout, but was vetoed. Something about the stakes damaging the hardwood floors....

When Cameron wakes up (no school for him today), I'll be making the freeze-dried hash browns that were on the menu for this morning, albeit on the regular stove....”

“Nice pics! Too bad about the trip, I would have done the same thing, especially with the kids.

I was just thinking about a trip to Big Basin on my way to work this morning. Haven't done any backpacking there, just day hikes.

Gotta love those Banana Slugs!”

“Call me a wimp if you must.
martyb
08:54:31 AM
11/11/02

WIMP!

I couldn't make your life miserable in person, so I'm doing it here.”

“Aren't you supposed to bury that when you're done?”

“No, because then they get mad and sneak into your tent at night....

Welcome back, Geezr!!”

“martyb - Don't feel too bad about using common sense. On my last hike in Oct. I stayed two extra nights in a shelter because of rain. When I arrived at the shelter, I learned it was going to rain for at least two days. It did. So I bypass a strenuous hike up a mtn. and back down during those two days. In the rain I would not have seen anything and the trail would have been dangerous with all the slippery rocks. Another day, another time.”

“Some nice pictures. It must be nice to hike on a trail without ankle twisting rocks. I could really enjoy that.”

“Martyb, I think Cameron ended up with more "bag nights" than I did.”

“nowslimmer - yeah, that was definitely a REALLY comfortable trail to hike on. It gets a lot of traffic, too, so they must do a lot of maintenance to keep it nice.

Geezr, Cam had 5 bag nights this year (2 in Desolation, 3 in MT).... (also: will respond to your email soon!).”