An Outing Above the NFAR Sept 9 to 17, 2018
September 08, 2018 63bkpkr Treasurenet Forum
I attended my Dear Friends Memorial Service this morning, I am so glad I came up from SoCal to do this as I learned even more about why this man was a friend to all especially all the service (care, love, kindness, goodness) he had given to SO Many others including to me. This added input (service, lunch, talking with Don’s family and friends, looking at all the photo’s of his life) confirmed that this trip would be forever known as” Don’s Camping Trip”. After the service ended I changed clothes at the Chapel building into my ‘driving dud’s’ and hit the road for the final drive up to Auburn and into the hills and set up temporary camp #1.
[September 19, 2018
[So I’ve been back in SoCal since 5:45 AM on the 18[SUP]th[/SUP], having been up since ~ 7:00 AM on the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] and then hiking a full day including cutting more brush with a $40.00 side shear lopper that literally “was not cutting it”, returning to camp and shutting it down and driving out to Auburn to return the lopper (after showing picture of why it was being returned). From there I began driving to SoCal. So up at 7 AM on the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] hike/work all day, drive all night to arrive in SoCal and then be up all day on the 18[SUP]th[/SUP] (tried to sleep several times but just could not do it) so I am now still very tired but I slept for ~ 12 hours last night. The Crowning Glory of the 18[SUP]th[/SUP] was the shower, oh man was I dirty, dusty road trips are like that then couple that to only simple wet paper towel wipe downs at night after days of dusty hiking & brush busting for days and you should have an idea of just how grimy I was. Nuff said!]
Smoke from North Fire
"Road?" coming in with Hydraulicing Scars on the hills
The morning of
Sept 9[SUP]th[/SUP] I woke from a rough nights sleep, you know setting up a tent in the dark trying to judge if the spot is level never works out, so of course the spot had at least two severe dips to it making a good nights sleep not likely. I finish the drive out to Sailor Flat, turn the hubs to Lock, drop the Bronco’s transfer case into compound low
4 x 4 drive, shift into first gear and begin the trip down the first dusty road.
Finding my turn off still there I spun the steering wheel into the less traveled trail and began the final part of the drive. Lot’s of fire ravaged dead fall downed trees along the way, most I could get past w/o doing much to the Bronco (many extra bush scratches in the paint and only bent the exhaust pipe tip a little well some and a have a new angle to the exhaust pipe itself). The bushes indicate that this is becoming a really less traveled trail (unless of course one is just Crazy or a deer, bear, quail or grouse hunter) and speaking of that, I was just completing the last up hill section of bouncing, brush busting, tire spinning when I came upon one of those types. I continued past him a little bit and then I just had to stop to apologize for ruining his morning stalk & hunt.
So I met up with my new next friend Kyle. Since hunting was over we talked for about an hour well that is after his face came out of that Odd twisted look he first had when I reached out to shake his hand. After sharing with him some of what I knew of the area, like there is an animal drinking hole just down the hill from your current stand, sharing my 454 Casull with him, talking about the fishing and hiking on all the trails around and the like he was really happily smiling. We exchanged phone numbers and parted company.
Now to finish the short drive into where I wanted to make my final camp for the trip,
Uh-Oh another dead fall right across the road. Well it is Sunday and I am going to take it easy so I set up temporary camp #2.
Sept 10: Get up when I feel like it and switch into road clearing mode, dig out the duffle bag full of “what if tools” from, of course, the bottom of the pile. Let’s see the saw(hand saw), freshly sharpened hatchet and the somewhat light weight steel cable with slip hooks on both ends. First, modify the shape of the dead fall by removing all limbs now before they: stop the log from rolling, catch/hang up on every bush they can including the unlikely ones and clear the likely bushes out of the way (no I don’t need to cut that bush as the end of the log will never get that far up). Stuff cut tree branches under the log to keep it from digging into the places I want it to slide over and I will put this one right here so the tree spins on it, ok good attach the cable to the tree and to the Bronco and lets get this done. Oops that end of the tree was not supposed to go up that high and it did snag on that bush, darn. More cutting, log placing, cable breaking, more attachment methods and finally the 20’ x 28” dia. log is pulled way out of the way. Did you know that knots can be tied into a steel cable and they actually hold allowing a log to be pulled out of the way, it worked! On to camp!
Obstacle removed
Campsite confirmed, established and now for some food. An MRE is chosen for dinner (Note to Self: MRE’s are the pits don’t ever bother with them again).
Sept 11 Tues: Skipping breakfast I will take a little hike to see if I can locate the lopper I left out here last year. Nope its not there and I really thought it would be though it is obvious from the dropped Pepsi bottle that someone did find my newly cut trail. Why do they come out to this beautiful area and leave their trash?? I pull the offending Pepsi bottle and return to camp. Relax at camp for the rest of the day, those foldout recliner chairs are quite comfy once a sleeping pad has been placed on it. Note: I’ve never camped anywhere before where the gophers (yes those burrow digging furry little things that ruin lawns) get together at night and squeak at each other likely right at the roots of the plants they are eating, this chatter can wake a person in the middle of the night.
Down in there is where I want to go
Bear Scat
12 Sept Morning rituals completed time to take a hike “out there”. The trail out there (that I cut late last year) also shows signs of someone having been on it as many of my trail markers are down. I arrive at the spot where I took the picture last year that might show where the quartz deposit is at.
[About 10 years ago I was out in these hills (when the bushes were just young and easy to walk past/around) and I came upon this Quartz deposit; 40’ to 60’ long by 3’ to 6’ wide with lots of other potential protrusions of more of it showing on the hillside.] It would seem that I Will need a new lopper before I venture towards it, darn but not unexpected. On my way back to camp I loose the up hill trail and plow forward through brush for a lazy end of the day! I need a lopper!!
13 Sept. Thurs: Begin Communicating with Jerry/Asmbandits about a meet up in Coloma on Friday. An easy day in camp.
14 Sept: Purchase a lopper for $40. Head for meet up with Jerry in Coloma. (Note: Coloma is quaint, picturesque, lots of history sort of little town and is a Tourist Trap on par with the best of TT’s!! It is all planned out — Squeeze money from anyone that stops there as even parking costs money “in the Tourist section” the Mill site, mining, old houses etc. The Coloma Café where the meet up was to take place was outside of the TT area and was therefore pleasant, priced reasonable and I spent a few hours there on my own going over pictures and plotting my next trip into the bush.
Jerry arrives on time with Kayak in the back of his rig, he’s just finished a run down the river with his brother. Our first ever meeting goes very nicely, lot of talking and sharing. After about a half hour or so a new guest arrives, Goldwasher (aka Jarrod). Hellos go around and we settle in for some more talking. After awhile the second guest pulls out this squat little glass jar and the meeting shifts into high gear. In the jar is this ‘Specimen’ that he has been acid treating and is now being rinsed in water. The Specimen is released from the jar and is passed around, what a jaw dropping joy this thing is! The gold, to me, looks crystalline and sparkles like the jewel it is. The Quartz is white and the presentation of the gold is just so Dynamic, an absolutely Gorgeous piece!! Jarrod highly recommends the purchase of a Minelab 7000! About this time another acquaintance, Jeff, happens upon our group and joins us. Jeff’s work cancelled on him so he’s been off riding on some sort of motorized cycle checking out “stuff” in the mountains. After a very nice dinner it is time for all of us to go do our thing. The meeting is adjourned with hand shakes and smiles all around. Now the drive back and down the dirt road at night!
Locking Hubs
Tent goes up each night
Sept. 15 Saturday With new lopper in hand I head back out my trail with a somewhat weighty pack, ~ 40 lbs. I cut as needed (dead falls have collapsed bushes so they are now in the way) and apply new trail markers. I arrive at the picture perfect site and head across the terrain carefully to the top of the rock outcropping. Careful foot placement is required as this is steep, dusty, slippery broken rock pieces covered country and of course a few bushes are trimmed as reaquired. Nope, for certain it is not the Quartz deposit! I take pictures and estimate just how I will come down from this solid piece of rock to the sloping, brush plagued area below it. Now shall I return the way I came or should I just go straight up hill till I intersect my trail? Straight up hill it is! This is a type of ‘dance’ around bushes hike up and fairly quickly I see one of my trail markers waving at me, good choice to go straight up. Once again the sun sets at a touch after 6 PM and it gets Cold and NO camp fires are allowed so its off to bed after a quick but necessary wipe off of the daily grime.
On non-Quartz outcrop
The area
The Black Hole
Sept. 16 Another easy day in camp. So why so many easy days in camp? I’ve two bad knees, the left is bone on bone and the right has splits in the cartilage on both sides. To add to this the left shoulder surgery is only 6.5 months new and not right yet. The right shoulder surgery was performed in 2013 by “Our Friends” at Workmans Comp Insurance so it is a third world type of patch up that is not expected to last type of thing. Then of course I am Not in great physical condition (for me) so I’m trying to be reasonable (on this trip) in what I make my body do. I mean I’ve had Past years where I came in with a pack weighing 115 lbs BUT I was in top shape so it never bothered me!! Like the younger fellow with me could not outlast me! So this trip I really was being careful with what I was doing. Oh really, what about the drive home
??!
Lovely moment in camp
Sept. 17 Monday In high spirits I arise at 7 AM, eat a warm breakfast (oatmeal & raisins with Dark Brown Sugar) and prepare to leave camp. I take my shortcut
(short cut)
down to the rock and traverse around it on the right side and hit dense brush! I drop the pack, pull out the lopper and start cutting/fighting with cutting the bushes. Manzanita no problem but the ¼” stuff not working well. The cutting is very tiring and of course this day of all days is actually flaming hot! I cut till almost noon moving forward about 40’.
(40' of trail looking back the way I came in)
I stop for lunch and lots of water. After the rest I start cutting again, after awhile I’m about 60’ from the “Black Hole” rock,
(Black Hole Rock behind tree)
the cutting is bad and I can perceive that I might be getting close to an edge of something that I can not tell a thing about but I’m pretty sure that it goes down. How much down or where can I safely step and how should I handle myself are all unknown. It’s after 1 PM, the heat and lopper lack of proper cutting have really worn me out. The trip is coming close to an end and I need a rest day as the hike in really Overworked the right calf muscle. Also I must obtain a new lopper which requires a drive back to Auburn which also means I must purchase more gasoline and then drive back in. I’m just not up to it! I do not want to rush the end of the trip and in doing so put myself at more risk than I already have just by being out here. Out here is rough country! No mistakes allowed! Yes I have my SPOT Messenger on and with me but breaking a leg is not what I want to do especially as when I return to civilization I need to locate a new job.
So, I ended the trip there and then. That channel between the two ridges was 60’ from me but I knew I had to give it up. From its color the rock making up the black hole was likely loaded with iron.
(hiking out, looking back)
What would my GMT detector have told me when I waved it over that ground? Close, so Close, kinda like the movie Romancing The Stone. So I hiked out to the Bronco Camp for the last time (the new trail markers kept me on track), packed it all up, returned the lopper (good thing I took the picture of how it was not cutting as after showing that there was no question with the return) -
I hit Costco up for gasoline and a whole combo Pizza and got on the road back to San Diego. The next morning I noticed the right rear tire was low on air, a nail right next to the side wall. Costco will replace the tire w/o charge, it has 4,000 miles on it. (when did I pick up the nail, I thought I noticed the tire was maybe low at camp)
Will I ever get back there? Will I ever learn what might be waiting for me there? Was it worth leaving without learning the answers to these questions, Yes! Will it bother me, YES!!! Maybe to be continued but do not hold your breath.
It was a good trip, I enjoyed being out there. I enjoyed testing my body to see what I could do with it. I learned it needs to be worked on. However as long as I was careful with it, I did what I wanted to do. I have a Love Affair going on with this NFAR river canyon country. It haunts me. I want to be there all the time. I've become a man while hiking, fishing, climbing, rafting, prospecting, and taking chances in this Lovely place!
Be wise my friends, be safe and Enjoy being out there!
