We made it to the Islip Saddle parking area and were prepping to start the climb up- lo and behold here comes some thru-hikers! I was SO excited! We gave them chocolate chip cookies that Miriam made and they were over the moon about it. We met Almost Awesome and Possum- a married couple from Tennessee, Johnny Rocket, and Blue Skies. So fun to chat with them! I believe I saw about 16 thru-hikers total over the course of 2 days and I was able to talk to 5 of them.
After the thru-hikers left, we started climbing the mountain to Little Jimmy camp about 2 miles up. The first mile was pretty steep and an excellent work-out. My pack weighed 35 pounds with everything including my new bear can which was required in this area. Let me say now, bear cans are a pain in the ass. I guess they are a necessary evil.
There were some pretty fast hikers in this group and they quickly left me in the dust. There were several people behind me that fell further back so that left me in my own world. I leap frogged with Paul a bit but otherwise was to myself most of the way up.
There were quite a few boy scouts doing a weekend backpack as well so when we made it to Little Jimmy camp, it took a minute to figure out where we could pitch tents.
After we got camp set up, we climbed 1.5 miles to the top of Islip peak. The peak sits at 8250 feet and I could feel it mildly in my breathing. It held breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and the Mojave desert to the north. There was an abandoned stone cabin at the top as well. According to the Angeles National Forest website "One of the earliest two-way radios used by the Forest Service was located at this lookout for fire reporting during the 1930's. Forty years ago, there were many more lookouts on various peaks of the Angeles National Forest, but the increase in smog decreased visibility so much that their effectiveness was greatly reduced, and they were closed.”
A black and cream butterfly fluttered around seemingly out of place and odd at this elevation.
We stopped at the spring on the way back to Little Jimmy camp and filtered water. There was a line of boy scouts waiting for their turn. They were all very polite. The littlest ones were so cute.
We got back to camp and started setting up for dinner. There was a dude sitting at the picnic table next to us who seemed to be on the look-out for thru-hikers. He asked a group coming by if they were thru's and they said Yeah they were through. LOL. They weren't thru-hikers but they were through for the day.
We saw a dad and his little girl climbing up the trail. She had a tiny little backpack and a sleeping pad she was carrying. I would guess she was probably about 5 years old. So frickin' cute I couldn't even stand it.
Our fearless leader, Kelly, took Miriam and Chin to go on a night hike. I opted to stay and chat a bit with a thru-hiker who had arrived named Big Stick (because he carries a big stick). He was also wearing a skirt. For some reason, I thought he had a British accent but when I asked him where he was from, he said Sutherlin, Oregon. No one else in the group thought he sounded British but I definitely know that is not how an Oregonian sounds. LOL. I drilled him with questions and he was an interesting character, having youth and brashness on his side.
I went to bed about 9am and the gals were still on their night hike. I was exhausted from not having slept the night before. We had some partiers in our condo complex that were loud until about 4:30am and I did not sleep one wink. Needless to say, I slept like a rock in my teeny tiny tent and super cozy sleeping bag. The night was warm probably in the 50's.
My phone completely died overnight despite having it in airplane mode and charging it with the solar charger so I was unable to take any pictures the second day. Which is pretty sad because Big Stick would have made for an awesome picture.
We got our coffee and breakfasts going, packed up, and headed back down the 2 miles to the parking lot. We were amidst a stream of exiting boy scouts so it was one long string of people moving down the mountain like ants marching.
When we got back to the cars, we decided we should eat at Grizzly Café in Wrightwood instead of hiking more. LOL. So we headed down and had an amazing lunch. I had the Western Burger with bacon, onion rings, and bbq sauce. I wish I had a picture it was so good.
Wonderful backpack with great company!
This is Almost Awesome. Her and her husband have a blog here: http://awesomepossumexpedition.blogspot.com/
Almost Awesome and her husband Possum below. He had an AMAZING beard. The guy on the far right that I cut out of the shot unintentionally is Johnny Rocket.
Blue Skies
No comments:
Post a Comment