Plan: ~80 mile, 5 day yo-yo (with extensions) on the Ohlone Wilderness Trail, in central California roughly between Livermore and Fremont.
Actual: I totally screwed up the planning, put the longest and hardest days at the front of the trip, and trashed myself. Also, the virtually nonstop drone of airliners on approach to SFO from 6 am through 1 am was not fun. Shortened the trip to ~44 miles and called for pickup one day early. Unless the flight paths change, not sure I’ll go back.
Background: Ohlone Wilderness Trail runs from Del Valle Regional Park near Livermore, through several “wilderness” areas and other regional parks to end in Fremont at the western foot of Mission Peak. Regulations require camping in assigned camp sites, which typically have outhouses and running water which must be treated. Official trail length is about 28 miles; with connecting trails and alternate trailheads you can configure longer (much longer) and shorter trips.
Day 1, April 10, 2016 – 15.5 miles, ~5000 feet total elevation gain
At 10 am, my wife dropped me off at the Del Valle Arroyo staging area, below the dam for Del Valle reservoir, and about 10 miles from one end of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail. Started the hike roller coastering along the shores of Del Valle Reservoir. Fortunately for California’s drought, but unfortunately for me, rain had been falling lightly for several days. This turned several sections of the trail into nearly impassable mud bogs. One 100-yard section took 25 minutes of falling, sliding, and much cursing to traverse, more like skiing down mud slopes than hiking. Surprised to run into several dozen other backpackers on the trails that day, all complaining about the mud. Light rain fell off and on through the day, old Golite Chrome Dome umbrella was very handy. In the fog and twilight I missed the turnoff for Murietta Falls, one of the major highlights of the trip. Just as well, arrived at Stewarts Camp just before dark at 7:20 pm, exhausted and borderline hypothermic. So tired I barely noticed the airline traffic that didn’t stop until 1 am.
Day 2 – 18 miles, ~3000 feet total elevation gain
On the trail about 8 am, but steep downhill section through the Sunol Backpack Camp area (what lunatic laid out that campground?) triggered serious foot and leg pain. Took Aleve and pushed through to Eagles Nest campsite near the top of Mission Peak, arriving about 6:30 pm. Somewhat less airline traffic directly over Mission Peak. Clear for much of the day, thick fog descended at sunset, visibility less than 20 yards.
Day 3 – 8 miles, ~1500 feet total elevation gain
Planned on ~18 miles this day by hiking on alternate trails, decided to beeline to next assigned camp instead. I moved very slow due to serious foot and leg pain. With multiple doses of Aleve, and lots of rest stops, dragged myself into Eagle’s Eyrie camp early in the afternoon. Water spigot 50 foot elevation drop on steep, muddy trail; outhouse 110 foot elevation drop on steep muddy trail; brilliant campground design! In addition to the steady drone of airline traffic, add propane cannons blasting every few minutes to keep birds away from the Calaveras Dam reconstruction site a couple miles away. Ah, wilderness! Slept from 1 am to 6 am.
Day 4 – 4 miles, ~1200 feet elevation drop
Dragged myself back to Ohlone Regional Wilderness park headquarters, where my wife picked me up and we returned to the peace and quiet of our home in the woods.
Good news – some quite lovely patches of wildflowers; very nice views when the fog lifted; several of the small tweaks to my gear worked out great.
- Added bungie cord loops to the tieouts on my Tarptent Moment-not-DW, which eliminated overnight sagging of the silnylon.
- First trip where an umbrella proved useful for blocking wind and rain, and adding surprising warmth in the process. Easy to tuck into base of shoulder strap between showers.
- First trip with Tyvek sit pad (14 grams) from cut-down large envelope, worked great to keep my butt clean and dry during rest stops.
- Discovered DeLorme inReach SE “Extended Tracking” feature, which made a huge improvement in battery usage. Roughly 10% per day at 10 minute tracking, while still receiving messages.
- First trip with Nemo Astro Insulated Lite sleeping pad – quite comfy for side sleeping; sometimes warmer than my 30°F sleeping bag!
- First trip with using empty Crystal Light boxes to keep sunglasses from getting crushed in backpack. Relatively light at 30 grams each.
My next trip will be much farther from any major airports. And I’ll start easier.
— Rex
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