Overnight at Trail Fork Springs Jan 17 2015
Went up from Foresee Creek trailhead in the San Gorgonio Wilderness on Saturday. Started in about 2pm. Just two hours earlier I thought I was hanging out with my family this evening…but that fell through and bam, just like that, I'm throwing my gear in the van, which of course is always packed and ready these days, and I'm on the 38 eastbound.
I was treated to a show about a mile in when a large pine cracked midway up the trunk, shot out a sudden explosive cracking sound, and then crashed onto the slope and catapulted down about 50ft. Awesome! I love being there when this kind of stuff happens, and the fact that I have witnessed several similar natural events in person this year tells me that I am doing a good job of getting out often.
There was slippery patches along the trail but I never needed any traction and then went straight to snowshoes about a mile shy of Jackstraw maybe.
My shoes are not sized right, gotta do something about that (anybody have MSR Evo tails they want to sell???)….
So I postholed the rest of the way up. I stayed close to the edge, along the east side of the ridge, and arrived at a nice spot just as I approached the vicinity of Trail Fork Springs, and setup camp. 3k feet, 1k of which was postholing, seemed plenty to satisfy, and at 9800 feet elevation, I was liking where I was.
There was a pretty good slope so it took some work to prepare a decent platform for my tent. Snowshoes made quick work of this, though it certainly was a rough job at best. My standard groundhog tents did the job fine even in this loose unconsolidated snow, by carefully patting the snow around my stakes and trickling a little water around them. Spent the night enjoying mild temperatures, food, homemade tequila, Oolong tea, the stars, and all that stuff. Sweeeeet.
The next morning I was supposed to get going early and explore along way to Shields or Charlton but the morning seduced me and I sat around until 7 watching a new day arrive. Just really taking it in.
Finally, I hustled up to Anderson peak and found many other beautiful camps for future trips, and then tramped back down the way I came. Ran into a couple guys on the way out, one in skis and one on snowshoes. If you guys are on here, I’d love to hear how your trip went!! Made it to the car about 1pm.
Anyway, not much of a trip to write about. Mostly a reminder. Running and hiking is great. Getting fit and charging mountains and all that. In fact, this trip was tough enough that it demanded a certain level of fitness, which I was very glad to be ready for. But sometimes, the real magic, what the soul is really needing, is stillness and true quiet time, particularly in those golden evening and morning hours. All specialties of the "Quick Overnighter".
