Week of August 6: Boys Gone Wild

Every year, Bock (his first name is Eric but we all call him by his last name), Steve, Vin and I embark on a backpacking adventure into the wild. In some years, we've had others join us but for the most part, the four of us have gone on this backpacking trip consistently every year. We have many stories from our past trips... some of which should at least receive honorable mention from the Darwin Awards. For example, one year, after having a few drinks (our drink of choice is Vodka and Crystal Light), we decided to bear bag our food before calling it a night. It must have been the combination of the altitude and Vodka but the task of bear bagging took us almost an hour (It normally takes us 5 minutes). Next morning we awoke and realized that our bear bag was only about 5 feet away from our camp, hanging in a tree about 3 feet off the ground. Example #2: one year Steve woke up early in the morning to find himself sleeping face down in the dirt outside his tent. One side of his face was scraped up pretty good. He claimed to have no idea how he ended up there. This was after another night of Vodka and Crystal Light. Example #3: a few years back, we backpacked into Yosemite's backcountry, Kennedy Meadows. We had packed enough to eat and drink for 3 nights. The first night we camped, we drank and ate all the food for the weekend and had to hike out home the next morning. That's eating and drinking additional 6 meals in one sitting... including all the Vodka and Crystal Light. Beginning to see a pattern here?

So last weekend, we packed our Vodka and Crystal Light and headed into Granite Lake in the Trinity Alps.

The hike to Granite Lake was pretty easy compared to our past trips. We started our hike early Friday morning (we drove up to Trinity Alps Thursday night). The trail was about 5 miles each way, with about 2800 feet in elevation gain. In the past, we have had several trips where we had gotten lost for a few hours in the back country. Even though this trail was well marked, we were cautious and had both Bock and Steve independently verify our position.

This hike into Granite Lake was one of the more scenic trails that I have been on. We backpacked along a stream all the way up to the Lake. Along the way, there were several waterfalls, meadows and inspiring views. Not sure if Vin qualifies as an inspiring view but he does look like a tough outdoorsman.

It was at about the halfway point, where Bock and I first caught the glimpse of Seven Up Peak which stands at 8,134 feet above sea level. Granite Lake is located at the foot of the Peak.

After backpacking for more than 3 hours, we finally arrived at our Lake. Staring at the cool alpine lake after 3 hours of uphill climbing, Bock proclaimed that he would swim out to the middle of the lake and jump off the tree stump. Yeah right!

Bockster... my hero! And this is before Vodka and Crystal Light.

Steve and Bock are warming up by the fire after swimming in the cold lake. Perhaps it was the mountain altitude or the Vodka or perhaps the romantic fire but Steve and Bock got a little too warm with each other.

We did some fishing in the evenings as well. The fish in alpine lakes are not always the biggest. Here Vin proudly shows off his brown trout... the 8 inch monster. Good thing he's using a 10 lb test line.

We were visited by deer every day... especially at night (click picture to enlarge). They didn't seemed too worried about humans. The picture on the right was taken within 10 feet of the deer.

Since the deer were so approachable, we decided to hunt one for Saturday dinner. Just kidding. Vin is a scientist (PhD) and works for a bio-tech company in the Bay Area. He has access to liquid nitrogen! So he flash froze 2 pounds of marinated tri tip in liquid nitrogen (at -144 degrees Fahrenheit) and packed it up to the Lake. By Saturday night, the steaks were finally thawed out for cooking. They were perfect!

Finally on Sunday morning, we packed up and hiked back to the trailhead. The hike down was much easier and faster than the hike up. It took us just over 2 hours to arrive back at our car. As for interesting tales from this trip, there were quite a few hilarious events that took place. You may be reading about some of them by way of the Darwin Awards. Let's just say that some of the stories included midnight hikes, loud bear growling calls, bear bagging by stemming between two trees, deer eating our pee (they were after any sources of salt), and the Forest Service workers (they were not rangers) scolding us for sawing wood that was bigger than the size of a wrist.