Backpacks: The Good, the Bad & The Ugly

We returned to the El Paseo de Saratoga parking lot immediately after our hike today. Since I needed a backpack to continue my conditioning, and since REI was right across the parking lot, we walked over. We were all pretty tired, but Jeremy was working tonight and he is apparently the man to see about backpacks.


Duane and I had been in to REI earlier in the week on a rumor that Jeremy was there. He turned out not to be working that night. We tried to have someone else help us. The end result was that the backpack I tried on wasn't fitted correctly and cut off my circulation at my right shoulder so that my entire right arm went numb. Worse yet, the 45 pound sandbags that they weighted down my pack with weren't resting on my hips like they ought to be - and my Achilles was aching from just short walk around the store. If this was what backpacking was going to be like, this was going to be positively grim. After it became clear that this wasn't working, we called it a night and went home.

So I wasn't certain when I walked into REI this evening that this was going to go much better. Was it the backpack or the assistants who were out of their department? Jeremy sized me up, measured my back, and then selected a couple of women's backpacks for me to try. I tried one on, weighted down with 45 pounds, and then another. They were both just a little too small in the wrong places - the shoulder straps. So he tried a men's backpack on me and adjusted the shoulder straps up a bit at the top. This was a vast improvement. My right arm was no longer going numb, the weight was resting comfortably on my hips and my Achilles was not complaining. Maybe I could do this after all! I was certainly feeling more confident about backpacking now that I had a backpack that fit!

The Gregory backpack that I purchased (Duane got the same one, though a different color) is a 60 litre backpack - plenty big enough for a 5 day trip. The most intriguing thing about it is the quantity of straps to pull in order to get it to fit properly. The shoulder straps pull at the bottom. The waist straps pull at each hip. There are load straps to pull at the top of the shoulders that make the weight sit closer to the back. There's a chest strap to pull at the front. There are two straps at the bottom to hold a tent or other gear. There are also two sets of ties and a zipper to close the main compartment. Nothing is going to fall out of this backpack by accident! There's a place to put a large hydration pack, of course, and there's also a small area underneath the main compartment to put the sleeping bag - once I buy one.

Water, Water Everywhere... and Mud Too!

The best time to see waterfalls is, of course, after it's been raining. We decided to take advantage of all of the rain we've been having to hike to several waterfalls in Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

Since I am training to get ready for another attempt at Half Dome, I loaded my day pack up with two large cans of pumpkin from my pantry. Between that and everything else that normally goes in my day pack, including three liters of water and two large bottles of lime-flavored Gatorade, I was up to about 18-20 pounds. I don't yet have a backpack, but I plan to remedy that situation at REI immediately after the hike.

We also decided to take the kiddo with us. After the fantastic job he did hiking to the summit of Mission Peak, Duane and I are both convinced he can do this 11 mile hike. So we packed his fanny pack with some granola bars and a litre of water.

We met in the parking lot at El Paseo de Saratoga and carpooled the final 45 minutes to park headquarters. There, we paid our parking fee and readied our gear. We chose to do the Skyline to the Sea Trail, cutting off to the Berry Creek Falls Trail, and then looping back to park headquarters via the Sunset Trail. This was actually the hike that I missed during Team in Training last year, because I was away at EmComm West, so I was really looking forward to seeing all of the beautiful redwoods and waterfalls.

We started off from the parking lot and it immediately got muddy. Puddles and rivulets to cross over were everywhere. There were also quite a few downed trees, including some large redwoods. Everything was lush, green and wet, but at least it wasn't raining on us. The earth tones were occasionally interrupted by big beautiful banana slugs and bright red mushrooms. About a mile after cross the fire road, we began to follow Kelly Creek, then West Waddell Creek down to the falls, crossing our first bridge of the day. This terrain was mostly down hill, which meant we would be doing the uphill when we were the most tired.

Shortly after the junction, we reached Berry Creek Falls. Here we stopped to eat an early lunch at the overlook and we pondered the strange story of Tilford George Berry, for whom the Falls are named. Berry was a loner who lived in the 1860s, near the creek that would bear his name, as a hermit without even a dog for company. He did, however, take his rifle everywhere. After selling a parcel of land, Berry disappeared into the woods never to be seen alive again. Twenty five years later, a hiker/doctor found Berry's perfectly preserved skeleton with his rifle leaning against it, a single bullet through his skull. Apparently, the doctor put the skeleton back together and it graced his office for many years until it too disappeared. To this day, no one knows what happened to Berry's skeleton.

We continued on up the Berry Creek Falls Trail until we neared Silver Falls. Here there were several stone steps to climb with rivulets of water cascading down the stairs. Halfway through the ascent there was a steel cable rope to hang on to as this part of the trail was practically in the falls. We hung on to the kiddo as we climbed. While Silver Falls was more exciting, it didn't offer quite the majestic views of Berry Creek Falls.

We continued on a short way past Silver Falls, until we reached a series of two falls: the Golden Cascade and Cascade Falls. The Golden Cascade is so named because the water traverses over sandstone, giving it a golden color. Cascade Falls is really more of the same. Shortly after the Falls we reached the muddiest part of our journey. Several yards of muck, just beyond the bridge over Berry Creek and near the junction with the Sunset Trail. Really mucky but great practice fo the Big Sur Mud Run which I am planning to do in March.

We met some of our friends who, being late and having missed us, decided to hike in the other direction. We warned them of about the mud and they took a good long look at our shoes which were, of course, covered.

Berry Creek Trail was all uphill and quite steep in places. So while the Sunset Trail was still uphill in our direction, it wasn't as much of a climb as it might have been. Some ways after climbing out of the mud, we reached a microclimate that was more chaparral than redwood forest. The sun felt nice and warm. We stopped for a few minutes. One of my toenails was bothering me, so I clipped it and retied my shoe. Ahh! Relief!

After passing the junction with Timms Creek Trail, however, we were beginning to tire. The kiddo was beginning to flag as well asking us every minute "When will we be done?" This was not good. I thought about it for a minute and realized that the kiddo had not been eating or drinking as much as he should. We stopped to take a rest and I gave the kiddo the last quarter bottle of Gatorade, some electrolyte beans, and a granola bar. He perked up considerably, so much so that, after reaching the fire road and knowing we were almost back to the parking lot, he started jumping on and off of tree trunks and boulders as if he were a mountain goat. Oh, to be young again and have that kind of energy! Well, it was all downhill from there. On the other hand, just knowing that the parking lot is within reach always does wonders for my energy level!