April 20 & 21st, 2012
At the Mt. Wilson Trail trail head
Four Thirty PM, Friday and our packs were ready from the night before. Each of our backpacks weighed in at about 10 pounds base weight. The forecast this weekend called for clear skies, warm day and cool evenings.
Earlier in the week, I purchased a parking permit for $2 through the Sierra Madre Website. We parked the car at the trail head of the Mt. Wilson Trail and headed up. The day was hot–in the 90s, but the afternoon cooled to a manageable 80-degree hike up the narrow canyon to Orchard.
We stopped at the Crossover Trail junction to take care of business off the trail. This also gave us time to read the map to see exactly where we were. Our next stop was at Decker Springs to let Andy drink and enjoy the scenery. Orchard came quickly there after.
Multiple flat spaces for pitching a tent or “cowboy camp” as we prefer when the weather is good.
No one else was at Orchard Camp. One of the many benefits Orchard is that it is not an actual camp site; it used to be a camp. All that remains of the once popular destination (exactly halfway to Mt. Wilson) of the Great Hiking Era are a half-dozen foundations, making for nice and level spaces to sleep on. Another benefit is that there are no tables, wood stoves or toilets. There are also no fire pits or rings. The stream is well below the camp making it less desirable for the weekend party animals. In other words, Orchard is not a convenient trail camp. At best, it is a nice rest stop for most. To us, it’s our favorite camp in the area.
Hanging the bear bag
The sun had set but we still had enough light to set up camp, the bear bag and cook. The air was cooling nicely as we pulled out the polycryo for a ground sheet. After laying out our bags and fluffing them, I hung the bear bag. I found a limb at least 20 feet high with a few ragged limbs surround it. I flung the rock sack up and over the limb and allowed the bag to slide down. I attached the food bad with rocks and pulled to lift the system up into the tree. On the final pull, a huge limb broke loose bringing down a large, rotten limb.
No problem, the original limb held fast.
Once the bag was set, I lit the Super Cat. We each brought our own freezer bag meals; Amber had homemade chili, James had Mountain House chili mac and I had dehydrated Denison’s chili. My meal took about ten minutes longer to dehydrate but it was well worth the wait. For desert we had instant chocolate pudding.
The 3 oz Super Cat heating boiling water from the nearby stream
Cleanup was easy since we were freezer bag cooking; all there is to clean are our spoons.
By now it was dark, we were tired and ready for bed; it was only 8:30PM.
The starry sky was partially obscured by a California bay tree, with its clapping leaves hovering above in the breeze. But the brightness of the stars shown through enough to still feel a sense of wonder. A cool, steady breeze caressed our faces as we all slept side by side with James in the middle. Andy weaseled into James’ bag for the night.
Early in the morning, Amber sat up abruptly with a yell. She thought she saw or heard a bear but realized after the shout it was a dream. She was shaken enough that she didn’t sleep well the rest of the night, not by her nightmare, but by her own yell.
Most of us slept through the night. Morning came and we all got up and draped our bags over the bushes to dry them. I lit the stove to boil water while James and Amber continued to pack their things.
After breakfast, we each walked down to the stream to fetch water, which we treated with about ¼ to ½ strength Aqua Mira. We ran into a couple people we knew at the trail at Orchard, then headed down to the Cross Over Trail.
James wasn’t too happy about the idea of adding a few miles to the trip. He wanted to go back the way we came, but the plan was to explore a trail neither of us had ever done before.
Once on the Cross Over Trail, we headed up the steep, use trail. The air was warm and nothing about the trail was easy! Once we got to the exposed southern slope, the air turned hot as the sun beat down. I brought enough water to last about two hours in the sun—not quite enough. James was also a light on water. Amber, filled her 3-liter bag to about 2 liters, which ended up supplying all of us in the end.
On the trail, we passed about four people total, all headed down from Jones Peak. Amber and Andy passed a rattlesnake and startled Amber. Andy walk past never noticing.
Last stretch to the top of Jones
Once on top of the ridge, the trail swelled with people, mostly boy scouts. We walked down to the base of the hill and walked up the .1 miles trail to Jones Peak. On top, we stayed about 30 minutes then headed down 4 miles to Baily Canyon. We walked surface streets to the car. Temperatures were in the 90s as we trekked back to the car on the hot asphalt.
After the trip, we headed to Rick’s (now “Bobby’s) for lunch.