Caddo Bend Trail, Lake Ouachita State Park

Caddo Bend Trail - March 16th, 2015

Lake Ouachita State Park, Mountain Pine, AR

Distance: 4 mi (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: 295 ft.

Highest Elevation: 861 ft.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Easy

Growing up in the Rowland family meant that the outdoors and hiking were always part of my life.  There are pictures of me at state and national parks which were taken before I was even old enough to make memories.  As I got older my family would always figure out a way to incorporate the parks and the outdoors into almost all of our vacations and adventures.  As I got older, the outdoor tradition continued as I was introduced to more places and adventures through the Boy Scouts of America. Because of this, the park system holds a pretty important place in my heart.

Allison and I got to visit Arkansas in March.  By this time we had already started training for the PCT which meant that we were interested in walking almost every day during our visit in order to not lose any of our progress.  Luckily, my Mom was more than happy to join us and we were able to show Allison some of the local trails that I had spent time on in the past.

One of the day hikes Mom wanted to take us on was the Caddo Bend Trail at lake Ouchita State Park.  I was really excited to take Allison on this trail because it was a trail I hiked often growing up.  In the past I'd hike it with Mom, friends, and also the Boy Scouts.  So, not only does it hold a lot of great memories, it is also a beautiful hike that really shows off just how rich Arkansas' natural beauty can be.  Mom warned us on the drive out that we should be prepared to experience tornado damage which was the aftermath of a tornado that tore through the park in September, 2012.  Let me tell you that having someone tell you to expect it and actually seeing it in person were two completely different things.  You know in your rational mind that tornadoes are powerful and can destroy anything in their path, but the more abstract thinking parts of your brain hear that it happened 3 years ago and you think, "how bad could it be?" "Doesn't nature heal itself rather quickly?  The answer in this situation was, "not when it is damaged catastrophically."

After a few more short minutes in the car we arrived at the park, swung by the visitors center to pick up maps, and arrived at the trailhead.  Beginning at the trailhead the damage was immediately apparent.  What once had been forest so dense that you could hardly see the lake now looked like a logging company had done the worst clear cutting job ever and then burned it a couple of times for good measure.  It was awesome and I mean dictionary awesome, not Ninja Turtles awesome.  As we got further into the area where the main part of the destruction had occurred, it got even worse.  This part of the trail now had an almost unobstructed view of the lake.  Then as suddenly as the devastation had appeared, it disappeared.  The tornado pretty much just cut a line right through that section of the park.  We basically hike off that part of the trail and into a wall of treats.  This was great because Mom and I were finally able to show Allison the trail as we remembered it being in the past.

Arkansas State Park's website states, "Nature lovers, photographers, and geologists will enjoy walking on the slopes near Lake Ouachita's Caddo Bend Trail. Wildflowers, large boulder gardens, an abundance of quartz, scenic views, and an observation deck overlooking the lake at the end of the point are some of the main attractions."  They pretty much hit the nail on the head, and the three of us really enjoyed taking in all of the diversity and beauty this trail has to offer.

After passing and then being passed by an annoyingly loud group of teen hikers and also meeting and talking with an Arkansas Master Naturalist who was out cataloging wildlife, we made our way to the end of the trail.  We stopped to take a few pictures at the beautiful hand carved/painted sign at the trailhead and then headed over to the marina and had a great picnic lunch with a spectacular view of the lake.

Although the tornado damage is sad, it was also fascinating and awe inspiring.  If walking through something like that doesn't give you a sense of your place in the world, I don't know what will.  I still love this trail and had a great time sharing it again with Mom and for the first time with Allison.  If you ever are Ouachita State Park, make sure you spend an afternoon checking this hike out.

Pinnacle Mountain - West Summit Trail

West Summit Trail / Pinnacle Mountain - March 14th, 2015

Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Big Rock, AR

Distance: 2.5 mi / 4 km (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: 600 ft. / 182.9 m.

Highest Elevation: 1,011 ft. / 308.2 m.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Easy

Website

The East and West summit trails at Pinnacle Mountain State park are two of the most popular hikes in the state of Arkansas.  Both trails take you to the top of Pinnacle Mountain rises to 1,011 feet above sea level placing its summit several hundred feet above anything else as far as the eye can see.  Even though a mountain which is 1,011 ft. tall in Arkansas translates to a foothill at best in other parts of the country, in a state where the highest point, Mt. Magazine, sits at just under 3,000 ft., Pinnacle Mountain most definitely qualifies as a mountain.

Allison and I traveled to Arkansas in March to visit my family and friends.  My buddy from college, Jeff, and his wife Tina were awesome enough to pick us up from the airport, let us stay at their house for a couple of days and also through a mini college reunion party.  Upon our arrival, I told Jeff all about our plans to hike the PCT and also a little about our training schedule.  I informed him that we would be walking early every morning for training purposes.  This led to a discussion and decision to get up before dawn the next morning to hike Pinnacle mountain.  I was really excited to take Allison on one of Arkansas' best short hikes and show her the awesome 360 degree view from the top.

On the night of the party my other college buddy, Favorite (my nickname for him), or Precious (my grandma's nickname for him) or Ryan (his mother's name for him), his girlfriend, Courtney, Allison and I decided we would for sure do the West Summit Trail at sunrise the next morning.  Jeff also said he might come but since he is notoriously bad at waking up (once during a ski trip we carried him out of the hotel room we were staying in in his sleeping bag and left him on the porch and he still didn't wake up) I took that with a grain of salt, and sure enough he didn't end up going.  

The next morning Favorite showed up super promptly, to the minute we had discussed, and the four of us loaded up in the dark for the 20 minute ride to the park.  At the park we were greeted by some minor flooding and couple of cones with yellow Police tape across them saying not to cross.  Since it was obvious that the park had just run out of their normal caution tape and that this was not actually a crime scene, we jumped the tape, found a little bridge to get across the swollen stream, and started up the mountain.  

The the first mile or so of the ascent is really easy and not very steep so we tore up it in just a few short minutes.  Allison and I noted that we felt a little like super heroes during this section.  This was a result of having lived 3,400 ft. higher than this for over 6 months combined with training with backpacks at that elevation and above almost everyday in the recent past for our PCT training.  The last quarter mile of the hike is a very very steep scramble up a boulder field.  It had been raining in AR off and on almost the entire time since we landed and stopped raining heavily sometime during the night.  Needless to say, some parts of this boulder field can be treacherous under the best conditions, so we were less than happy to be doing this section with moisture on the ground.  Luckily we took it nice and slow and carefully made our way to the top without incident.  

At the top we were treated with a 360 view of the entire area surrounding the mountain as far as the eye could see.  Some of the more notable features being, Lake Maumelle and the Arkansas River.  We were in a bit of a time crunch as we were meeting my Mom and friend, Elizabeth, for lunch and we had to pack and get ready, so we quickly enjoyed the view, took a bunch of pictures and started our descent.  We weren't really looking forward to this part since going down difficult terrain is always a ton harder and more dangerous than going up.  Luckily, Favorite found an alternate path very early in the descent that allowed us to bypass the boulder field.  After we got past the first really steep 1/4 mile of the descent, we really started haulin' and made it down in about half the time it had taken to go up.

Pyramid Lake Northwest Shore

Pyramid Lake - February 27th, 2015
Sutcliffe, Nevada
Distance: ~12 mi / 19.3 km (Round Trip)
Elevation Gain: None
Highest Elevation: 3,796 ft. / 1157.1 m.
Dogs: Allowed
Difficulty: Easy
Fee: $6/vehicle for day use (+ $1 processing fee)

As part of training for the PCT Chris and I needed to find a long hike that was relatively flat for our first 12-16 mile hike. We originally planned to do an extended version of Golden Eagle State Park, but I was feeling a little bummed about that, cause it's just dreary high desert hills, with nothing to see and a high probability of running into people with guns.

Then a thought popped into my head. Pyramid lake. 

I'd heard some good things about Pyramid Lake from our friend Jan and her kids. It was apparently beautiful, an easy drive from Reno, and NOT dreary hills. So I google imaged it and the photos did not disappoint. After some additional searching we found out that Pyramid lake is the largest natural lake in Reno and is part of pre-historic Lake Lehontan which was actually a salt-water inland sea originally. Apparently you can still find fossils in and around the lake, and the saltwater, geysers and minerals in the rock combine to make this crazy cauliflower looking rock. That can shave your skin off like a cheese grater. Seriously. It's apparently amazing for fishing and has several type of trout and bass in it, which I imagine come in from the Truckee River, which feeds the lake. The lake also sits completely on tribal land, which made me happier to pay for the permit in a white-guilt kind of way. 

When Chris got home from volunteering I told him to take a look and headed off to class. During the middle of class I got a text: "I have a pyramid in my pants." My professor wanted to know why I was giggling. "NO REALLY IT'S NOTHING!!!"

There was a pretty good probability of rain, but we went out anyways. Afterall, we've been hiking in the PNW for years. If we let a little rain deter us, we'd never hike. So off we went. The drive out there was gorgeous, with all the clouds gathering for rain the light did some crazy stuff, and the mountains along I-80 going east are pretty cool all on their own. 

Then the lake came into view.

It seemed almost other worldly. A feeling that increased the closer we got. 

Town sort of We picked up our permit from the Ranger station and headed up the highway a ways to park and start on the trail. 

Initially we were just struck by how beautiful everything was. It seemed like every 10 seconds we were taking pictures. Then the rain hit us. Cold and needle sharp. At this point the terrain got a little rough too. Lots of rocks the size of bowling balls, so we were having to be especially careful picking where to step. Finally we found an access road that ran parallel to the lake, which was awesome, since it meant we could actually look up. This almost perfectly coincided with the rain stopping. 

We looked up and there was snow all over the mountains around us! There were also some really cool rock formations, including the Needles. Massive stone spires that stick out of the lake, but are currently inaccessible to the public. Across the lake we could also see steam jetting up from the geysers. 

It was a gorgeous hike, definitely a spot we'll be heading back to for fishing, camping and more hiking adventures.

Stateline Lookout

Stateline Lookout (Off Hwy 28, near Crystal Bay CA) -

Distance: 1 mi / 2.2 km (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: ~500 ft.

Highest Elevation: ~6831 ft. / 2082.2 m.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Easy

I originally picked out this hike because we needed something easy and short to do with Chris' Mom when she visited us back in October.

Can't Say I was disappointed...

Most of the hikes we do in California come from my copy of Foghorn Outdoors: California Hiking by Tom Stienstra and Ann Marie Brown. I had the Foghorn for Washington and Oregon and loved it, so when we moved I gifted my copy to Katie and naturally picked this up as a replacement (you should too). Aside from the occasional issue with directions and mileage these books are outstanding. They have spot on ratings for difficulty and beauty, and have pretty much all the relevant information you need as far as permits, location etc.

The Stateline entry caught my eye for a couple of reasons: the ratings and mileage were exactly what I was looking for, and when I read the first few sentences of the description I was all in.

"For years we avoided this trail because we thought it was just a tourist attraction, located at the lookout tower that straddles the Nevada and California state line. It turns out that we were the dumb tourists, because this little trail is great." (Pg. 222)

You basically hike up an old access road, but don't worry, the pay off is so good you might cry. This is a great spot to hike up to and eat some lunch if you're tooling around the northern end of Tahoe. There's some cool plaques with cultural information about the area, including timber, mining etc.

But I have to say my eyes were otherwise occupied...
 

Tahoe Rim Trail (Northern End) Meadows to Diamond Peak

Northern Tahoe Rim Trail: Tahoe Meadows to Diamond Peak - September 1st, 2014

Tahoe National Forest

Distance: 11.8 mi / 18.99 km (Round Trip)

Highest Elevation: 8945 ft. / 2726.6 m.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Moderate

After the glory that was Marlette lake, Chris and I were keen to get back up into the mountains before school started. After a little research we settled on starting at Tahoe Meadows and hiking on a northern section of the Tahoe Rim Trail to Diamond Peak and back. 

This hike was really, heart stoppingly, beautiful. You start in this gorgeous alpine meadow right behind Mt. Rose. There are quite nice paths through here and if you're in the mood for something easy, or just a quick leg stretcher, this is a great place to do it! There are some raised boardwalks through parts of the meadow, and then you start up through the forest. This bit is a little repetitive, though it's still beautiful Sierra pine forest. But then you break through those trees and Lake Tahoe is spread out before you, like the big beautiful bitch that she is. 

From here you're basically on the rim trail and it's just an endless parade of glorious views and beautiful forest. 

We ran into relatively few other hikers, though there were some surly mountain bikers. The Tahoe Rim trail is open to hikers constantly, but bikers are only allowed on even days (the 2nd, 4th, 6th etc. of every month). This was Labor day weekend, and this particular biker was fairly incensed that there were so many hikers (there weren't) and that they (the bikers)

weren't even supposed to be there. Basically he was talking to his friend really loudly, and it went something like this:

"I don't even care, it's like the last three day weekend of the year, and they get two days of it?! No fucking fair! I won't put up with it! They take up the whole fucking trail and it's not right. Why don't bikers gets a day to themselves...." and so on.

After a bit the hikers and bikers start to thin out and you run into fewer and fewer people. At one point you have a view of the Washoe Valley to the east, including Washoe lake. It's a bit pale after the sapphire madness of Tahoe, but still a very cool view. We stopped at Diamond Peak, which is a ski resort during the winter. We had lunch at the top of the highest chair lift and played fetch with Jaxx for a bit. 

The only other notable thing about this trip was the heat. It was hot as hell and for a good portion of the hike there is very little shade. Make sure you bring lots of sunscreen and water. We were all completely exhausted by the time we got back.

Farewell faithful blog readers. We're off for the PCT!

I'm typing this final blog post at Allison's mom's house in Santa Rosa, CA.  The post is part of the final to do list to leave for our summer of hiking. Allison and I have been discussing over and over again how the fact that we will be hiking for 1/4 of a year in two days just doesn't seem real at all.

The last two months have been a whirlwind of preparation.  You've all read about preparing food for the trail, we ended up with over 200 lbs!  Here is a picture of it all packed into the forester.  

You've also read about the huge amount of logistics that went into being prepared to do the trail.  Pictures of hundreds of maps, lists of stats about the trail, and explanation of gear really won't ever do justice to the shear amount of work it took us to successfully do all of the logistics for this adventure.  Once we get back we will write an extensive series of blog posts and try to flesh out the experience of getting ready for the hike in a more detailed manner.  We would have liked to do more posts leading up to the adventure, but there were just not, as you can imagine, enough hours in the day.

Our first section is 30 miles without any water so we will be carrying 14 liters of water or 30.8 lbs.  It looks like the weather for the first part of the hike will be rainy and between 39 and 65 degrees.  While you might think that starting in the rain would be a bummer, it is actually a blessing in disguise because of the lack of water in this section.  

If all goes as planned we will be arriving in Oregon a few days into the beginning of June, then entering Washington around or before the middle of July, and arriving at our final destination 60 miles south of Canada in early to mid August.

We will be in sporadic contact throughout our hike, mostly with our GPS messenger unit.  We will be sending periodic check in messages to 10 people.  We may make a few quick PCT blog updates if we have time and connectivity, but no promises.  Here is a list of people who will be receiving our GPS messenger updates, if you'd like to check in on our current progress:  Allison's family: Laurie or Steve, my family: Tanya, Nan or Cherese, and Seattle contacts: Katie and Jesse.

We have preemptively written several blog posts which are scheduled to post automatically while we are gone.  So, there should be fresh content on the blog periodically.  

In closing, I'd like to say a final thanks to everyone who has supported us, believed in us, followed our adventures, participated in our hiking group, and helped us achieve this once in a lifetime experience.  We love you all!  Have a great summer and we'll catch you on the flip side.

Steamboat Rock and Lenore Lake Caves

View from top of Steamboat Rock

Steamboat Rock - April 11th, 2015               Lenore Lake Caves - April 12th, 2015

Central Washington - Wenatchee                  Central Washington - Wenatchee

Mileage: 4.0 mi./6.4 km (Round Trip)          Mileage: 1.5 mi./2.4 km (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: 650 ft. / 198m                      Elevation Gain: 200 ft. / 60.9m

Highest Point: 2250 ft. / 685.8m                   Highest Point: 1300 ft. / 396.2m

Dogs: Allowed                                              Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Easy                                             Difficulty: Easy

Required Pass: WA Discover Pass                Required Pass: WA Discover Pass

I was lucky enough to have a 3-day weekend off work I was ecstatic about the idea of a weekend camping adventure. Since it looked like it would be a rainy weekend in the North Cascades I decided to head toward the more arid region of Eastern Washington.

I am still amazed by the variations in scenery when driving across Washington. We started out in the city of Seattle, driving along Highway 2 we passed through heavily wooded forests, then snow covered mountains, long expanses of highway along flat plateaus, and wildflower-covered coulees. As we dropped down into the Grand Coulee we saw the shimmering waters of Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock off in the distance.

Off-road view of Steamboat Rock

The trailhead for Steamboat Rock is conveniently located directly across the street from the campgrounds. After setting up camp we headed up the trail and quickly gained elevation climbing up rocky paths surrounded by the wildflowers of the shrub-steppes. There were numerous off-shoots to the path and initially we headed straight to the top. We reached a plateau and saw below us a grand view of Banks Lake and the protruding rocky cliffs surrounding. It was a spectacular, breathtaking view made all the more impressive by the strong gusts of wind that pushed us around the top of the rock. The winds were so strong they nearly blew us over as we clambered around the 600 acres of Steamboat Rock.

Looking out from inside one of the Lenore Lake Caves

Day 2: Following a particularly windy evening of camping, we packed up camp, made a hearty breakfast of potatoes, veggies, and eggs and headed out toward Soap Lake. Along Hwy 17 we spotted a small sign for Lenore Lake Caves and headed up the short, gravel road to the parking lot.

The first ~100 yards of the trail is paved and has stairs leading up to one of the seven cave/shelters in the area. We explored for a moment and then headed towards the cliffs looming overhead. We climbed along trails of loose dirt and rocks which proved to be a bit treacherous, but the end view was well worth it. The view over the parking lot and Lake Lenore was beautiful, but the real treat was the other side of the plateau which looked down over the Grand Coulee scabland. A prairie falcon soared overhead adding to the majestic view. The flood channels of the coulee appeared to drop of the edge of the earth into the blue skies. It was a breathtaking sight to behold.

The edge of the world a.k.a. Grand Coulee scablands

We explored a few more caves and while they were interesting, we were far more impressed with the view into the coulee than the shallow cave shelters. We made our way home and back into the snow of the mountains and the trees surrounding Seattle. Another perfect spring hiking and camping trip was complete.