I woke up at about 8am, then decided to take a hot shower and shaved. Given I will be in the wilderness for the next 48-72 hours, I will not be able to take shower or shave for the next few days.
After a satisfying smoke trout/mushroom/sausage omelet breakfast at Mobil Restaurant, located at the junction of Hwy 395 and 120, H and I were ready for action!
We set off to Silver Lake, located along Hwy 158 loop, off Hwy 395. We are going into Ansel Adams Wilderness, taking the Rush Creek Trail to Gem Lake. Distance from the trail head to campsite is about 4 miles, with about 2000ft gain in elevation. The peak elevation of the trail is about 9000ft.
After putting on our backpack, we started walking. H led the way, and I followed. After about 10mins, I sensed she was hesitant. Turned out, we took the wrong trail! We backtracked, found the correct trail head and set off again.
3 mins into the hike, we met our first obstacle, a small creek. A couple walking in front of us stopped, but equipped with hiking boots, we stepped on a few high rocks and crossed the creek confidently!
The next obstacle was a snowy slope. The first couple of miles of the trails were basically switchback along the side of the mountain. A patch of snow had covered the trail and we need to cross this slope.
Again, H led the way. She kicked the snow to form compact indention, then walked with the toe of her foot, using the small indention as foothold. Having no experience with snow transverse, I promptly fell and slided down the slope. Luckily the slope was not too steep and after a few feet, there was a bunch of stones and dried tree branches to catch me.
I "scrambled" along the edge of the snow patch and got back onto the trail. We crossed a few more similar snowy patches, but I now know how to give the snow a good whack with my boots to form solid foothold.
The altitude and the weight of the backpack started getting to me. I did not tighten the waist strap enough, so was putting a lot of weight on my shoulder instead of mostly on the hip. I was also inexperience with walk on trails. I would take a high step, where H tends to take 2 lower steps. This help conserved more energy.
We would cross another creek. I got careless and got one of my boots wet. While water did not penetrate the boots, H was concerned since there was snow in the forecast, and keeping oneself dry was a key to survival in the snow.
The Rush Creek Trail crossed an industrial rail car tracks, which was open, so we did not have to walk on more switchbacks. The rail car tracks went straight up a fairly steep part of the hill. According to H, the tracks were constructed and used for mining operations. I kept thinking about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom":)
Atop the tracks, we saw the first lake - Agnew Lake. Given the location and the weather, I was surprised to see 2 people fishing at the lake.
We continued on Rush Creek trail around Agnew Lake and reach Gem Lake. At this point, I was fair tired. My steps were shorter and I had difficulty keeping up with H. Luckily, we were fairly close to our campsite, so we took several water break and was able to reach our destination at about 2pm.
The first order of business at the camp site was setting up the tent. With 2 of us working together, it was quickly done. I sat down, chewing on a Cliff bar when H pulled out a plastic bottle, filled with a strangely familiar red liquid....
After a satisfying smoke trout/mushroom/sausage omelet breakfast at Mobil Restaurant, located at the junction of Hwy 395 and 120, H and I were ready for action!
We set off to Silver Lake, located along Hwy 158 loop, off Hwy 395. We are going into Ansel Adams Wilderness, taking the Rush Creek Trail to Gem Lake. Distance from the trail head to campsite is about 4 miles, with about 2000ft gain in elevation. The peak elevation of the trail is about 9000ft.
After putting on our backpack, we started walking. H led the way, and I followed. After about 10mins, I sensed she was hesitant. Turned out, we took the wrong trail! We backtracked, found the correct trail head and set off again.
3 mins into the hike, we met our first obstacle, a small creek. A couple walking in front of us stopped, but equipped with hiking boots, we stepped on a few high rocks and crossed the creek confidently!
The next obstacle was a snowy slope. The first couple of miles of the trails were basically switchback along the side of the mountain. A patch of snow had covered the trail and we need to cross this slope.
Again, H led the way. She kicked the snow to form compact indention, then walked with the toe of her foot, using the small indention as foothold. Having no experience with snow transverse, I promptly fell and slided down the slope. Luckily the slope was not too steep and after a few feet, there was a bunch of stones and dried tree branches to catch me.
I "scrambled" along the edge of the snow patch and got back onto the trail. We crossed a few more similar snowy patches, but I now know how to give the snow a good whack with my boots to form solid foothold.
The altitude and the weight of the backpack started getting to me. I did not tighten the waist strap enough, so was putting a lot of weight on my shoulder instead of mostly on the hip. I was also inexperience with walk on trails. I would take a high step, where H tends to take 2 lower steps. This help conserved more energy.
We would cross another creek. I got careless and got one of my boots wet. While water did not penetrate the boots, H was concerned since there was snow in the forecast, and keeping oneself dry was a key to survival in the snow.
The Rush Creek Trail crossed an industrial rail car tracks, which was open, so we did not have to walk on more switchbacks. The rail car tracks went straight up a fairly steep part of the hill. According to H, the tracks were constructed and used for mining operations. I kept thinking about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom":)
Atop the tracks, we saw the first lake - Agnew Lake. Given the location and the weather, I was surprised to see 2 people fishing at the lake.
We continued on Rush Creek trail around Agnew Lake and reach Gem Lake. At this point, I was fair tired. My steps were shorter and I had difficulty keeping up with H. Luckily, we were fairly close to our campsite, so we took several water break and was able to reach our destination at about 2pm.
The first order of business at the camp site was setting up the tent. With 2 of us working together, it was quickly done. I sat down, chewing on a Cliff bar when H pulled out a plastic bottle, filled with a strangely familiar red liquid....
"Red wine?!" I asked. I could not believe it! H had packed the wine to help celebrate my first backpacking trip.We sat around, enjoying the sun and the beauty of Gem Lake's snowy banks. Soon small dots of snow starting falling. We collected some lake water and retreated to warmth of our tent.
Since we did not really break for lunch during our hike, we decided to have an early dinner. H had brought along quite a feast! There's seaweed soup, instant noodles, spicy pickled vegetables, tea quail eggs and sliced turkey. For dessert, there's hot coco.
Given it was now snowing fairly heavily, and I was tired from the hike in, we slept at about 8pm, as soon as night falls.
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