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base topo map copyright by Wildflower Productions
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Aug 16 -- Into new territory -- bear stories -- stove problems We had a pretty good breakfast at the Cafe. The waitress commented on how she never saw backpackers leave food on the plate, as two of us had left some pancake uneaten. It turned out that she worked as the trail cook for the local pack train operation, and enjoyed that a lot, perhaps more than staying put at Reds. We ended up giving another backpacker first cut on all our leftover food from our resupply packages. He took two items but I think he would've taken much more if he wasn't trying to travel extremely lightly. David dropped off the remaining supplies at Red's store and asked that they give them out free to backpackers in need. We reluctantly packed up our worldly possessions and headed towards the John Muir trail which Red's people said started at the stables. We got to the stables and there were a myriad of trails heading out in all directions. We asked one of the pack train guys which trail it was, and he pointed us to a trail which headed straight down the hill. Within a few hundred feet feet the trail went right back up the hill and joined in with other trails that he didn't point out to us. Some of us had a theory that the pack train guides were hostile to backpackers. We were now headed across a large burned area and I stopped to take a rest on a fallen log. After a few minutes I saw a small herd of deer moving uphill from me. Soon I came across an unusual spring which fed a large pool. I believe this was the start of Boundary Creek. I caught up to the group in a section which zigzagged and reversed course so that we were headed north again, however briefly (a quarter mile). We kept ascending until we saw the Red Cones, which were quite striking formations. We stopped to filter water at a stream and someone came by with several dogs. Somewhat further at Crater Meadow we ran into a Boy Scout outing and one of the men in it was pulling his backpack on a trash can carrier. For many miles we saw his wheel tracks on the trail and commented on the oddity of it. David had talked to them at length and picked up another bear story--something about a Boy Scout having food out and a bear taking it away from him. Somehow a backpack trip wouldn't be complete without tales of great ursine picnics with burgled food. We came to a large meadow where a side trail came in. Our trail leveled out and became quite sandy for a period. The thin straps on my pack were feeling like piano wire, particularly with the now heavier resupply load. We stopped and snacked at Deer Creek, and filled our canteens for the long stretch without water ahead. My feet were hurting so I changed out of my boots and into running shoes. One thing Ray Jardine says in his books which I completely agree with is that when you have foot problems, one of the best things to do is switch footgear. It worked for me. We now faced a steep uphill climb along a ridge. At times we were all together, then fell apart as the steep trail taxed us differently. The tree density was such that we didn't get many big views of the surrounding lands. I finally saw a substantial break in the tree cover which afforded a view of the pristine Cascade Valley and pulled out my camera gear even though I was quite tired.
After taking this shot I was now rested some but behind everyone else. Another slow ascent in and out of a stream recess and I spotted another good panoramic possibility which required considerable off trail climbing and shot it.
As I was returning to the trail, I spotted a way to get to a rocky outcrop which had a 200 degree view of the valley, so I carefully climbed out to it and shot another.
After such a long as stretch of not shooting a thing, this was like being on top of the world. Cascade Valley was beautiful, as was the range beyond it. So it was with considerable glee that I descended into our camping area. Unfortunately I was not as careful with my steps and fell while trying to determine if all my loosely tied on items were still attached to my pack. Too tired! Downstream from the outlet of Duck Lake Zach had scored a great spot where evidently the Boy Scouts had camped recently as we found a whacky shower set up at one end. I set up my tent as Dave and Zach pondered the ultimate destination for tomorrow. I was too tired to think about anything but brewing up some miso soup. Our campsite was a short walk from a splendid streamfall, the outlet from Duck Lake. We were down to the one stove, and even it seemed to be acting finicky. For the first time I read the "What to do in case of problems" section of the MSR stove manual, and it seemed that perhaps it was not getting enough oxygen due to the altitude. I lowered the internal pressure and it worked more reliably then. After retiring to my tent I heard some little critters zooming around outside.
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