Grizzly Lake Aug. 10th-13th

The backpack trip of the year! We all have those trips that are considered "trip from hell" well this was my "backpack trip from hell" even though it wasn't THAT bad. So lets get started from the begining!

August 10th. Tyeler got a head start on all of us but we were planning on meeting him at camp. At around 8:00 in the morning Zac met us at his parents house after getting off of work. We made sure we had everything loaded up in the cars and then it was off for our seven and a half hour drive. Cindy, Steve, Zac and I were in Steves Dodge truck which we named Sasquatch ( made it easier when talking on the walkie talkies) Brandon, his girlfriend Marcella and Courtney were in Brandons suburban which was called Yetti. After some winding roads and 7 and half hours in the car we finally reached our destination. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon and we had connected with Tyeler on the walkie talkie, he was a little over and hour ahead of us and gave us a heads up that the switchbacks were pretty gnarly! After getting all the packs ready we were off heading down the trail. After only 20 minutes or so on the trail Hudson stopped and his ears perked up, we looked to our left and there was a bear running down the hill. The scenery was goregous but the hike was very difficult. I am a thin person but I am extremely out of shape. This hike was very hard on me.

 

After hiking about  5 miles it was starting to get dark and I was exhausted! Steve, Cindy, Zac and I decided to make came for the night and finish the rest in the morning. It was a good thing we did because as soon as I stopped moving a had a wave of nauseousness, I wasn't able to eat that night and ended up throwing up! Not a good night for me at all. I would say after a good night sleep but that did NOT happen. When the sun was starting to rise we got up, packed and headed back on the trail. We were not to far from the actual camp site at all but it was nice to have that little rest. It was a hard hike on Steve because he was walking Mopar and Mopar is blind so every couple of steps he would have to guide Mopar back on the trail. We made it to camp pretty early in the morning and everyone was up cooking breakfast. I hadn't eaten much so Zac made me some oatmeal. We were able to relax by the fire for awhile and talk with everyone.

A group of us decided we wanted to hike up to the water fall, the waterfall wasn't to far away but we did NOT know what we were getting into. After waiting for Tye, Brandon and Marcella to catch up with us we thought we would start up to the waterfall on our own. The hike was literaly straight up, climbing up rocks! We got news on the walkie tha the rest of the group was not going to make the waterfall but we had already come so far that we did not want to go back. Plus, we were on a time crunch because we wanted to make it down in time so that we were not hiking in the dark. It was exhausting! At one point we were considering if all this work was even worth it but up we went! Finally after about two hours of hiking we found the lake! It was gorgeous! It was time to relax after all that hard work!

So we spent a little over an hour at the lake soaking it all in! What a beautiful place. Now it was time to make the trek back down! It was really hard going down because there was a bunch of little rocks on a steep "trail" and I went sliding! We were able to make it down a lot quicker but oh man was I going to be soar the next morning!

By the time we made it back it was already time for dinner and two more people had joined our group. It felt so nice to sit around the fire and enjoy some dinner. I still wasn't feeling to well so I had to force myself to eat but I knew that I needed to get something in my system. That night I slept a little better. Tye's dog Dodge would bark at any movement or deer that came near to our camp but I didn't mind it much because I felt protected. Dodge barking= no bears! We woke up the next morning and BOY was I soar. I could barely move from one place to the other. My plan was to sit around and do nothing all day but the boys (Tye, Steve C, Mike and Brandon) were going to hike to Thompson Peak and the rest wanted to go do a little fishing. Well needless to say I did not want to stay in camp alone so I went with them.

Well after a little fishing it was back to camp and I was finally able to get some realxing in! This is when things started to go down hill for me ( besides the throwing up episode) So the boys got back from there journey up to Thompsons Peak. At one point when they were at the top we were able to talk to them on the walkie talkie and even got out a mirror and we were flashing them from camp! They said the light was super bright. So the boys were back, everyone was at camp ready for dinner. I had finally gotten my appatite back and I was ready to eat! So we all cooked up some food and Steve cooked up the fish that were caught that day. Things were going great until Hudson was getting a little to close to the kitchen area so I decided to go over and move him. I grabbed him by the colar and was moving him away when I found a stick and I thought Ill just have him chew on this stick so that he won't bother anyone. I bent over to grab the stick and Dodge came over and tried to grab it, well Hudson was NOT having that so he grabbed ahold of him. Long story short Hudson ripped about a two inch slit in Dodges ear. So he was bleeding and everyone was trying to figure what needed to be done to keep him from bleeding. Maxi pads were used, stitches were attmepted but in the end it was glue and duck tape that saved the day. I felt horrible and went straight to bed. The next morning we packed up camp and headed out. Marcella and Brandon decided to stay.

So back on the trail. And this was even more difficult for me. The up hill was killing me! I would walk about 10 feet and then would stop because I as SO tired. I was still nervous about bears and I had good reason to be because on the way back we saw another bear and this time Hudson was not on his leash and he didnt see it but he caught the sent. I was freaking out that he was going to catch up to this bear and we would not be coming home with us. We finally got him back and I had Zac put him on his leash. We finally made it back to the vehicles and first thing I did was change my clothes and drink a nice cold root beer! Its the small things!

We finally made it back down the winding roads and were getting back in to civiliation. Tyele and Courtney had found a vet that was open in Redding so off we went. When we got there we dropped Dodge off and headed over to an In N Out to have our first real meal back from the mountains. Oh was it good! We finished and it was back to the vet to wait for Dodge to get his ear fixed. Now its time to go even more down hill. Its 96 degrees out and we are all chilling in the parking lot. The dogs are relaxing, Hudson is on his long leash snooping around when all the sudden I hear him sneezing like crazy! I know exactly whats going on. I ran over to him just to see the two ends of a fox tail go up his nostril ( not the first time THIS has happened) Then came the blood. I guess if it had to happen it best that we were at a vet already but seriously he had to find the only fox tail in the parking lot!? So now we had to wait another hour for Hudson to be in the vet to get the fox tail out of his nose. I was physcally and emotionally drained! I could not wait to get home. Once Hudson was done with his little procedure it was finally time to go home!! What a trip!!