World of Ong

Ha ha! I finally got my butt out of the house for some good clean sweaty fun. I decided to re-experience the Spider Meadow / Spider Gap hike. This time though, instead of stopping at the Meadow - I went all the way up. Almost even to Lyman Lake. To top this all off, I did it solo. Yes, solo. You heard me.

So, after a brief planning during the prior week, I grabbed some hearty goodness freeze-dried food, streamlined my pack and headed out. Leaving the house around 9am, a 2 hour road trip to the forest service road, another hour of craggy dirty roads I finally meet my 3,500 foot elevation Phelps Creek trailhead.

Noon, I check the logbook to see who has made it in so far - 22 people. Shit. I might not have a camping spot, so, I decide to speed hike. After 2 hours pass, 5 miles in and passing 4 large groups of people I make it to the Meadow. After searching for a spot in the Meadow, everything is taken and I head up in full gear to the Gap. Only to see 2 more groups ahead of me. Dammit.

Luckily they are stopped at the Phelps creek crossing. All of them are on the side of the creek, removing shoes to make the journey through the waist high water. I say screw it and jump right in. As I cross, I hear one of the folks, "Ah yes, the ol' boot method!", three miles up the side of the mountain and another 3000 foot climb, I start to fade. And just now I am trying to find the closest thing to a campsite. Luckily, no one is around and I grab it. Not to mention the soggy foot that I had from the little dip that I took back in the crossing.

I set up camp, replenish my water source, set my bear wires and cook some excellent gaseous beef stroganoff with a chocolate mousse for dessert. Then crash hard. Wake up a few hours later, to explore and then to battle the mosquitoes. Luckily, my ultra toxic and concentrated Jungle Juice deterred them mostly, but those little bastards ended up all on my shirt. I still have a line of bites across my forehead where the bandana stopped and the skin began.

During the night, I heard a few raindrops. Not too shabby. Wake up at 7am, and wander around in a circle for a little bit trying to dodge all the skeeters. I decide to blow off breakfast and try to beat the mad rush of cars at the trailhead. As I am breaking down camp, STORM CLOUD!!! I get beaten down with water. Quickly donning my rain gear, I gather my gear, jam my tent into its stuff sack (I think I packed along 5 pounds of mud as well), threw on my soggy socks from the day before knowing that I will have to cross that creek again. Throw my pack on my back and head back down the mountain.

Arriving at the creek, I replenish my water supply again and cross the creek, this time only plunging only one side of my body into the creek instead of the lower half of me. Not too bad.Cruising through the Meadow I decide now is the time to snap a few pictures and keep on trucking out. 3 hours later from camp, I finally arrive back to my car.

It was a great trip. One thing I found that I like is that when you get to the top of the mountain, and you pull out that first cigarette - Heaven. Knowing you have accomplished something and you can relax with that nice nicotine buzz. It's Marlboro Country.

Now, I am in the middle of the decontamination process. And yes, I did pack out a pint of mud. At least according to what I swept up on my balcony. Not to mention, my chocolate mousse dribbled out of my garbage bag and into the bottom of my pack. Ick. Thats going to be fun to clean.

# posted by Juanito the Bandito @ 1:59 PM