Back in my home state Minnesota for a family reunion, we took time to visit the lovely Minnehaha falls right outside of downtown Minneapolis. Just a short walk from the small parking lot was a roaring waterfall set amongst the green landscape of Minnesota.
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Ironically, we chose Sunrise Camp based solely on availability and location, but little did we know this would be the absolute perfect destination for our very last backpacking excursion on our west coast trip. Rolling into the Sunrise area, it looked like we had stumbled into the Swiss Alps with the rolling green mountains and rustic A-frame buildings. The less than 2 mile relatively flat hike took only about an hour, yet there was so much beauty in each step including the best views of Mt. Rainier so far. The two other groups at the campsite retired early, so we pretty much had the whole area to explore for ourselves at the 9 pm sunset. We made some tea and walked right around the corner to Shadow Lake stumbling upon a male deer eating, barely budging when seeing us from 30 feet away. The only downside to the camping was that we got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitos, so we jet out of there pretty quickly in the morning. That was ok, because we couldn’t wait to get to Seattle and see Amy, Chae, and Jude!
Location: Mt. Rainier National Park, on the northeast side of the mountain/park. Accessibility/Parking (Volkswagon Golf or Jeep Cherokee): Trailhead was right off the parking lot at the Sunrise Visitor’s Center. Challenge Level (1: A female in her late 20’s in decent shape thought it was easy as pie to 5: Gonna need a forklift to help me finish this): 2, this short hike felt like a vacation compared to the others we had done on the trip. Overall Rating (1: Wouldn’t recommend 2: Bleh 3: Fun but wouldn’t do it again 4: Loved it 5: A favorite, must plan return trip immediately): 5, we were surprised by how much could be seen in this compact 2 mile hike. This trail would be great for families with young kids and pets. With the shorter trail options at Sunrise and location on the north side of the park, this would also be a nice day hike from the Seattle area. After having to forfeit our reservations to backpack and camp at Summerland, it just wasn’t sitting well that we could miss the main reason for planning a visit to Mt. Rainier. We had “settled” (or at that point thought we were settling) for Sunrise Camp due to availability, however being our last few days of hiking and backpacking it didn’t take us long to conclude: we would hike the 8 mile round trip Summerland trail as a day hike followed by the 2 mile hike to our campsite at Sunrise. No big deal. As we set out, in some ways we were glad not to have our packs on because of the steady elevation gain. It was a cloudy day with perfect hiking temperatures and the trail was very pretty, but lets be real we came for the field of wildflowers, which you truly don’t get to until at least 3 or 4 miles into the hike. I should add, prior to the wildflowers the hike certainly wasn’t disappointing. There were views of the surrounding mountains, flowing rivers, waterfalls, and miles and miles of tall trees. I don’t believe we actually made it the full 4 miles but were pretty close before we turned back.
Location: Mt. Rainier National Park, on the northeast side of the mountain/park. Accessibility/Parking (Volkswagon Golf or Jeep Cherokee): Trailhead was right off the main road. Challenge Level (1: A female in her late 20’s in decent shape thought it was easy as pie to 5: Gonna need a forklift to help me finish this): 3, this was a pretty moderate hike but has a 2100 elevation gain and is 8.4 miles round trip. Overall Rating (1: Wouldn’t recommend 2: Bleh 3: Fun but wouldn’t do it again 4: Loved it 5: A favorite, must plan return trip immediately): 4, as nice as the hike was I’m not sure I would do it again due to the many other enticing attractions the park has to offer. Nick and I set out for our last backpacking portion of our 2 week trip after a great time with family and friends in Portland. Arriving at Mt. Rainier National Park, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. This place is slam on your breaks and take a picture beautiful (before you rip my cheesy analogy to shreds, I actually did make Nick slam on his breaks multiple times). We completely underestimated the time it would take to drive on the slow paced, windy roads to get through the park. The realization hit us like an avalanche that we wouldn’t fully enjoy this experience if we rushed to the Summerland trailhead, where we had backpacking reservations closer to the north end of the park. So it was on to plan B: beg like animals to stay at the picturesque Paradise Inn (which was a pretty tough decision since it meant giving up our reservations for camping at Summerland). By some miracle, we were able to get into a small room with two twin beds and knew the right decision was made.
Highlights of our stay were: 1) The short (but steep) trail to an amazing viewpoint of Mt. Rainier 2) Seeing deer nonchalantly walking the trails 3) Eating our first “Real Turmat” dry meal all the way from the UK. Special thanks to Kyle and Leigha for purchasing these meals and shipping them to us! 4) Meeting a couple our parents age who talked about all the national parks they had traveled to as a couple, and also with their children who were now our age. Made us vow to keep exploring together as long as we are physically able, and someday hope our children will love to do the same! After receiving our overnight backpacking permit for any place on the 6 mile riverbed, we were met with the decision of whether to attempt the full 8 mile hike to the Tall Trees Grove, or only hike in a few miles so we could have more time at our campsite. Content with the redwood hikes we had done thus far, we decided to simply take our time and enjoy a 2 mile hike through a lush green landscape to the riverbed section of our choice. It wasn’t long before we found the perfect spot (complete with a lagoon). We set up camp, collected driftwood for a fire, relaxed and took plenty of pictures on this cloudy evening. The next morning, the clouds cleared for our morning coffee date and we headed back to the trailhead, ready to visit friends and family in Portland, Oregon. This easily became our favorite camping spot on a backpacking trail the whole trip!
Location: About 4 miles northeast of the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center in Orick, CA. Accessibility/Parking (Volkswagon Golf or Jeep Cherokee): Paved road and parking lot. Challenge Level (1: A female in her late 20’s in decent shape thought it was easy as pie to 5: Gonna need a forklift to help me finish this): 2, the 8 mile trail is lengthy but very flat. The first 6 miles of the trail only have a 200 foot elevation gain. Overall Rating (1: Wouldn’t recommend 2: Bleh 3: Fun but wouldn’t do it again 4: Loved it 5: A favorite, must plan return trip immediately): In terms of the camping experience a for sure 5. The trail itself I would give a 4, but I imagine making it to the tall trees grove could knock it up to a 5. I highly recommend leaving plentyyy of time for impulse stops when planning a trip up the California coast. Before we were to set out on our next overnight backpacking hike, there was this beautiful coastline near Orick, California. Reminded me of something you would see in a country like Ireland. This was near the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center where we had to obtain our overnight camping permit for Redwood Creek. Cute little spot with souvenirs and a very nice and helpful staff.
For us, Burlington Campground in the Humboldt Redwoods National Forest was just a place to throw down our tent and sleep between San Fran and the backpacking trip we had planned further north in the Redwood National Forest. This was yet another location that would take multiple days to fully appreciate. For our purposes we were just happy for the clean, quiet campground with plenty of old-growth redwoods. We rolled in pretty late, but were finally able to have a full-fledged gourmet camping meal of sirloin steaks, potatoes, and cheesy rice. The next morning we heated up frozen breakfast burritos. Couldn’t get too comfortable with spoils of running water, toilets, and gourmet food. It was time to drive through the Avenue of the Giants leading us in the direction of one of our most unique backpacking camping locations: Redwood Creek Trail!
I’m sure anyone who looks at this blog and has been to San Francisco will probably be yelling at the screen saying, “you didn’t do this!”, “you didn’t see that!”. Well, for this road trip we were only in San Francisco for one evening and part of the next day. It was quite a lengthy drive from Big Sur to San Fran including stops and we had some re-stocking to do. So…after shopping we stopped at Trader Joes, got some food and bubbly and went back to our pricey downtown hotel, Parc 55. Our only planned hotel of the trip was decent and our room had great views, but we would stay a bit outside the downtown area next time for a better value. The next day we woke up early and walked to Fisherman’s Wharf and enjoyed a clam chowder bread bowl at the famous sourdough producing Boidin. The 2 mile or so walk provided us a perfect snapshot of downtown San Fran. Thanks to a visit from President Obama and celebration parades for the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA finals, we had a horrendous time getting out of this city, but were on a mission to get to our next destination, the Humboldt National Redwood Forrest!
Thanks to my backpacking loving husband and childhood in the northern woods of Minnesota, I don’t recall ever camping at a designated campsite before. My research on Limekiln Campground told me I wouldn’t be disappointed, and o.m.g. was I right. This place had an unbeatable list of “amenities”: redwood trees, a creek flowing next to our site, a beach that was a 2 minute walk away, a short hike to a waterfall and limekilns, a fire pit (we hadn’t been able to have a fire yet due to backcountry restrictions), and did I mention clean showers and toilets?!? We set up our hammock next to the creek and got some much needed rest after hiking 14 miles in two days. I seriously would come back here permanently if it was allowed ($35 a night x 30 days = $1050 a month…totally affordable!) Location: Southern Big Sur area off Highway 1, just a few miles south of Lucia. Accessibility/Parking (Volkswagon Golf or Jeep Cherokee): Paved road and parking for those with reservations. Challenge Level (1: A female in her late 20’s in decent shape thought it was easy as pie to 5: Gonna need a forklift to help me finish this): 1, everything came easy at this campsite. Even the hike to the waterfall and limekilns was less than a mile. Overall Rating (1: Wouldn’t recommend 2: Bleh 3: Fun but wouldn’t do it again 4: Loved it 5: A favorite, must plan return trip immediately): 5-we WILL be back here one day for a longer stay. The Campsite: The Beach: The Hikes:
Right up the road from Salmon Creek trail we headed out for our next exploration of the Big Sur Coastline. To start I’ll say the hike to Vicente Flat Camp was the most challenging yet beautiful and diverse backpacking/hike that I’ve done to date. It was completely worth the exhaustion for the views of miles and miles of ocean, and the diverse change in scenery from wildflowers and golden fields to redwoods and mountains. Also worth mentioning, some of the trail was extremely narrow and had drop offs that would make any average person get sweaty palms. After arriving safely at the campsite in the redwood grove, we were met with an eerily silent setting…and plenty of mosquitos. The highlight of the experience was most certainly the return hike. Not only was it a relief to be well rested and heading downhill, but the mountains were covered in clouds for a cool and whimsical return.
Location: Southern Big Sur area off Highway 1, right across the street from Kirk Creek Campground. Accessibility/Parking (Volkswagon Golf or Jeep Cherokee): Parking area was right off the highway, and with Kirk Creek Camp across the street we felt more at ease about leaving our car overnight. Challenge Level (1: A female in her late 20’s in decent shape thought it was easy as pie to 5: Gonna need a forklift to help me finish this): 5, The conditions that made it challenging were the backpacks (duh), the afternoon direct sunlight and heat, and the 1800 feet elevation gain. We had also already hiked two miles out of Spruce Camp with our packs earlier that morning, and this trail was 5 miles one way. Overall Rating (1: Wouldn’t recommend 2: Bleh 3: Fun but wouldn’t do it again 4: Loved it 5: A favorite, must plan return trip immediately): 5, a great way to take in all aspects of what Big Sur has to offer in terms of scenery. |
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October 2017
AuthorAmber Hansen |