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August 14^th to 17^th 2008: Desolation Wilderness and Granite Chief Wilderness

Day 2

I’m not sure exactly where we camped that night but the next day we reached Barker Pass after about an hour of leisurely walking.  From the pass we followed a fire road, not the PCT, then took a trail into Granite Chief Wilderness.  Like the end of yesterday, the terrain was dry and dusty and although we did descend a nice canyon, I wouldn’t go back there.  The trails could have used some maintenance as well.  At one point the trail was completely obscured by many fallen trees and it took a bit of searching to find the trail on the other side.  During this search I was very glad that I wasn’t alone.

Day 2 started with a short walk on a fire road to Barker Pass, followed by more fire road walking, as seen in this photo.

Around 11 am I insisted the group stop so I could take a photo.  Front row from left to right: XXX, Back row from left to right: XXX.  Click here for a high resolution image of this photo.

A bit before noon we entered Granite Chief Wilderness, which was just as nice as the northern part of Desolation Wilderness.

After entering Granite Chief Wilderness we descended this pleasant canyon.  I had dreams of epic pools upon reaching the river crossing at the bottom it was not to be.  The largest pool I found was barely big enough to submerge myself, which I did repeatedly.

Easy walking, except when fallen trees obscured the trail, which they did on numerous occasions.

I’ve never been to Hell Hole Reservoir, but Henrik and Ann go about every other year for boat and camping.  They say it was really nice, until Tom Steinstra ruined it.

On my second night we camped at Big Springs and the scouts put on an initiation / awards show.  The former is a secret which I can not divulge while the latter consisted of awards for worst blisters, most methane production, general dirtiness, and my favorite, bowel movements.  Daniel won the bowel movement award and during his acceptance speech described in somewhat startling detail each movement, sometimes up to 3 in one day, including texture and color.  It should be noted that Daniel carries a toilet seat strapped to the outside of his pack.

On day 1 I stubbed my toe really hard on a root.  I was pretty sure I was going to lose the nail but as of August 28th it’s still there.  I  used Injinii  toe-socks on this trip for the first time and will certainly use them again.

 

Alas, on September 5th, Beppo's 9-month birthday, while at UC Berkeley's Strawberry Canyon swimming pool, the toenail fell off.  Mommy declares it to be 'super gross'.  Daddy agrees and notes that it smells pretty bad as well.

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