Making the most of a Friday night
Another last-minute decision. Both Amber and I had Friday night open with no plans until Saturday night, so what better way to spend that time than backpacking? So we loaded our packs and headed for the hills.
One of the best parts of this trip was making our decision on where to go while driving. After dropping our son off at a friend’s house, we vetted out our options. With little discussion, we decided to do Mt. Lowe, and glad we did.
Our hike began at 5:30pm on the Lower Sam Merrill Trail in Altadena. With headlamps strategically placed in our side pockets, we three (including “Lab Rat” our dog) headed up the first leg of the 7-mile hike to 100-year-old ruins of the Ye Alpine Tavern at 4,400.’ The hike went well with only a few people on the trail. By the time we reached Echo Mountain, it was 6:30 and dark. We used our headlamps in the red mode for the rest of the hike that night. During our walk, we did not encounter any animals, which surprised us. Although it does get a little eerie in the dark, it does add an element of adventure to what is normally a routine hike.
By 7:30pm, we were feeling hungry so we stopped on the road, pulled out the Super Cat and boiled water for our meal–instant mashed potatoes and Spam. It was actually pretty good! Fifteen minutes later we were back on the trail feeling fit but ready to get to camp.
One of our concerns was the availability of water at camp. Due to the drought, water levels are way down and some perennial streams and water sources are drying up. Just in case, we each hauled up an extra liter of water.
At 8:30pm we reached our destination. No one else was at camp. The air was a comfortable 55º, and we were fed so all we had to do was set up camp and hit the sack. We brought a 13oz tarp but we opted to sleep on what we have affectionately named the Stargazer, a strip of Tyvek just wide enough for two. And stars we saw! it was a beautiful night and never got below 47º F.
Saturday morning brought with it clear skies and cool conditions. After preparing hot water for our coffee and hot cereal, we tore down camp, which took all of about 20 minutes and hit the trail. First stop was the old water tank to fill our bottles. Sure enough, there was a trickle coming out of one the bullet-sized holes toward the bottom. The water level was very low but cold and sweet.
Our walk down the hill was awesome. We have done the hike many times before but we reveled in the thought of hiking in shorts and t-shirt weather. By the time we reached the bottom, the ambient air temperature was a blazing, 72º! It was 10:30pm.
Although we do many of these overnight backpacks, I still appreciate our mountains, our weather and my awesome wife for not just tolerating these trips, but absolutely loving them! We each carried a base weight of under ten pounds. Amber has a new GoLite Jam 50 she tried out for the first time and liked it. Just for fun, she brought our Bear Vault 450 to see how it fit inside. There was room to spare. Without the bear can she would have been at 8 pounds base weight.