I came home from 2 weeks in Europe, worked 8 days in a row, and decided, on a whim, to make my annual pilgrimage to Northern California for 6 days. I caught an early morning, hour and fifteen minute flight and was on the road by noon. My first stop was a favorite of mine: Lake Tahoe. I arrived just in time for sun set.
I spent a couple of days there, exploring, hiking, laying on the beach, and eating amazing food.
The next morning, I grabbed breakfast and hit the road farther south to Big Pine and then off into the mountains to the trail head at Big Pine Creek. I'd researched and intended to hike to Big Pine Lakes, but upon arrival to the parking lot, found a South Fork trail and a North Fork trail. Unsure of which one to take, I assumed that they met up at some point by the lake, so I took the South Fork...honestly because it looked like it went into prettier territory. This route was 11.5 miles in, but it was early and I was prepared and ready to go.
Before I knew it, it was reaching up and over 80 degrees, and for some reason, the sun just seemed really intense. I hiked a few miles until I reached a raging creek and wasn't sure where the trail went from there. There wasn't really any sign of crossings and it was running way too high to attempt to cross on my own...especially unaware if the trail actually picked back up on the other side. I backtracked a few times to see if I could find the trail. Eventually, I decided to just scramble up the side of the mountain, in hopes of intercepting switchbacks at some point. I climbed and climbed and climbed and never found a trail. The sun was searing my skin and I had already gone through 4 of my 6 liters of water, so I decided to call it and climb down.
I was feeling super defeated when I came upon a middle aged woman and her dog and I asked her where the trail went. Turns out that the trail does continue over the other side of the creek and that it's virtually impassable until about July because the creek is just way too high. She suggested that I take the North Fork trail up...the 9 mile option. As I hiked back towards the parking lot, there was a dirt road that led off in the general direction of the North Fork, so I decided to take it, rather than backtrack all the way and then turn back up into the canyon. I climbed for a bit and then found where the North Fork trail picked up and took it across a meadow following the creek. I continued along for another couple of hours and spotted another huge waterfall up to my right and opted to just throw in the towel. It was so frustrating because I'd already hiked probably 15 miles, but didn't actually get anywhere, and if I'd just chosen the North Fork trail in the first place, I'd been swimming in the mountain's glacial lakes instead of sweating my guts out and burning my scalp in the 87 degree sunshine. Anyway, about 1/3 mile from the parking lot, I rolled my ankle on a little foot bridge with a sagging board and figured that it was best that I was done for the day. I went into town for a BLT and then made my way to San Louis Obispo for the night.
A portion of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed due to some mudslides, so I had to take the Interstate up to a little winding road through the hills that dropped off in just south of Lucia. It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me so much of the south of France minus 2 very important things: Poppies and stone ruins. From there, I took the PCH all the way north Half Moon Bay, called it a night, and then finished the drive to San Francisco in the morning for my 9 am flight out.
