Marble Mountains (added 7/5/99)

Howdy folks, here's some pictures from my Memorial Day backpacking trip to the Marble Mountains. As you can see, there was quite a bit of snow.

Below: Log Lake, which is aptly named, is where we camped.

Below: Unnamed falls along Shackleford Creek, I'd estimate the falls to be 20-25'

Below: Meadow above camp, still a bit early for catching trout in Shackleford Creek

Wrongway in contemplation, it's been a long day, should we go on?

Below: Me at frozen Summit Lake, and I did manage to catch a Rainbow here.

 Below: At Fosters Cabin in Trinity Alps Wilderness.

Below: At Ward Lk in Trinity Alps Wilderness.

Below: Crystal Range (Desolation Wilderness) reflects in Wrights Lake

Below: Camp on the S. Fk Stanislaus River at sunset

Below: Round Lake

Below: E. & Wrongway between Canyon Ck Lakes-Trinity Alps Wilderness.

Below: view from my favorite campsite-Peeler Lk-Hoover Wilderness

The Lost Coast

Friday March 26 to Sunday March 28

Dunk, EZ "E" & The Fonz

Trip Report

We reached the Shelter Cove trailhead just before sunset, jumped out, snapped a few sunset pictures then proceeded to ready our packs for tonights 3.5 miles. On my pretrip writeup, I warned everyone to start out with sandals as we had to cross Telegraph Creek to start are beach walk. Having just bought some Montrail Moraines, I thought I could surely cross the ankle high waters. As I stepped in the water the ankle deep water turned into lower shin deep water, EZ "E" and The Fonz followed suit. So, 3.5 miles to go in wet boots.

We started our hike northward from Black Sands Beach, wet boots and all, as the tide was reaching the highpoint. We had a near 3/4 moon overhead that would provide the evenings light. The first 1 1/2 miles of Black Sands Beach are wide and open. Before long, the last rays of light yielded to the moonlight and our shadows intensified. At about 1 1/2 miles we reached a second significant stream crossing. Already having we boots, we just splashed through the knee deep stream and continued on our trek. We reached a narrow spot on the beach where you hike between a narrow passage between two large rocks. With the high tide, the boulder to the left of us blocked the surf from blocking our way.

Before long some of the clouds that helped provide a dramatic sunset made their way across the moon and our shadows began to fade in and out.

Some of the clouds held a bit of moisture which gave us a shower or two, but heck, we were already pretty wet. Just as the soft sand began to tire us a bit, the beach started to narrow again and we picked up the pace as the crashing surf pushed us as far inland as possible. Fortunately the beach widened a bit and we soon reached Gitchell Creek, another wet crossing but also our nights destination. We splashed across the creek and I began looking for the best spot to toss our tents. There weren't really any choice spots but if the weather nice, and despite some showers it was nice out, and you're out of the tides reach, what beach campsite isn't nice. We set up camp, got a driftwood campfire going and changed into some dry clothes. We then settled in front of the fire in a trance like state as the waves crashed on the shore.

We decided on a late start for Saturday and enjoyed lazin' around camp and cookin' a good breakfast with the exception of my English muffin The Fonz knocked into the fire. We put on our wet boots and got going around 10:45 AM as we only had about 3 miles to go. At about 11: 30 we reached Buck Creek and stopped for lunch. Buck Creek has some beautiful bluff top campsites that someday I'd like to take advantage of. We ducked into the canyon as it had grown windy and cold. After a quick lunch break we put our sandals on in an effort to keep the boots dry the rest of the trip. On the other side of the creek we put our boots back on and continued up the coast. This next stretch contained nearly a dozen beautiful waterfalls dropping down from the steep Kings Range. The current low tide gave us views into the tidepools and we saw a colony of 12 Sea Lions over the next mile. At high tides the falls sometimes drop right onto the ocean.

We reached Shipman Creek where we would camp and again changed into our sandals. Shipman was the deepest, fastest moving and was also the rockiest of all the crossings we had. We decided to cross where the creek met the ocean as a wave retreated, this was the shallowist spot on

the creek. We found two campsites, one on the beach amongst the driftwood with great views but also high winds and one a few hundred feet upstream in a sheltered hollow. We opted for the latter and set up camp. Throughout the rest of the afternoon we made numerous trips down to the beach site to enjoy the views. Periodically, other backpackers passed by. This provided entertainment as all had trouble crossing Shipman Creek. No one wanted to take off there boots and many of those who did didn't have sandals, they also chose to cross at the deeper, and faster moving sections of creek. One who didn't take his boots off took over 1 hour to cross.

As sunset drew near the tide was also reaching its' highpoint. A point blocked our view of the sunset so we had to hike up the coast a bit to get the view, the whole time keeping an eye on the incoming tide. We did end up seeing the sun drop below the horizon then raced the tide back to our own section of the Lost Coast. We made a big dinner and soon were too tired to stay up any longer. Just as I was dozing off, with my tent door open to view the stars, I began to feel raindrops hit my face. I regretted not putting on my rainfly earlier as I rushed out and put it on in the dark as EZ "E" did the same. After I made sure my pack and other pieces of gear would stay dry I dove back into my tent as the rain stopped for the night - Oh well!

We woke up in the morning to partly cloudy skies and an occasional brief shower. We would leave at approximately 9:00 as that was high tide and would be dropping from that point. We started with sandals on to cross Shipman Creek. On the other side we began our usual last day sprint with thoughts of pizza and beer swimming in our heads. The stretch between here and Buck Creek was narrow and the waves chased us up on the rocks on more then one occasion. Reaching Buck Creek I found a dry crossing I hadn't seen the previous day and took it. From there we would not be affected by the tide any longer, and we were off to Gitchell where I found yet another dry crossing which I wasn't willing to try at night time. Soon we reached the passage between the two rocks then the next crossing. This one provided no dry crossing so we changed into sandals for the remainder of the way.

I hiked the next few minutes down by the waves so they could wash the small rocks from my sandals. Suddenly I got smacked on the ass by a rogue wave, I kept my balance but was soaked from the waste down. I kept my eyes on the surf the rest of the way. Next was Telegraph Creek and the trailhead and we were off to pizza and beer, but not before spending $1.70 a gallon for gas in Willits.

Some of the things I learned on this trip were the difficulty of hiking in soft beach sand and occasional volleyball sized rock-fields despite no elevation change. When you can see your destination throughout your whole trip it seems to take forever to get there. Watch for those supprising rogue waves. Finally, I HATE POISON OAK, BUT IT SEEMS TO REALLY LIKE ME.