Had a great first backpacking trip of 2020 with the fam. With everything on lockdown, we figured we should head out. It was still a bit early in the season, so we knew we'd encounter some snow, but this was the perfect amount. Evan told me about Paradise Lake so we figured we'd start off there. I haven't been to the Marbles in a long time, so this was all kind of new to me. I took a lot of extras (chairs, beers, wine, fishing equipment, to make this a fun trip). All in all, I can't wait to get back out again... it's Sept now, and I can't believe I haven't made it back out... sigh.
Info:
It's approx 2 hr drive to the trailhead from Ashland
Check out the caves (BigFoot, SlipStream, Skunk Hollow, Karst) in the Marble mountains? Do more research
Print out some recipes for rainbow troup. Don't take cinnamon rolls, take a grill/frying pan/tin foil/ for the fish. Cook on low, bring butter, lemon, oregano, flour, salt, garlic powder. This might be fun to try too...
Print out wildflower guide - https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm9_008263.pdf
Check out this cool bridge on the way to the trailhead
This hike was all uphill...
Yellow Avalanche Lilies (Yellow Fawn Lily)
Kimbo was stoked on her Rose
Kai and I took a walk around Paradise Lake
I caught lots and lots of fishes here...
The next day, I woke up. Caught more fishies... was thinking about going on a run, but there was a bit too much snow for any reasonable options.
The boys wanted to warm up.
And check on their jello
Snow fleas - spring tails - they have an antifreeze protein and they feed on decaying organic matter, so they play an important role in natural decomposition.
What kind of poo is that???
Western Anemone?
King's Castle
Our day hike destination - Bear Lake
Desert miracle for the win
It was time to swim as soon as we got to Bear Lake.
I spotted some massive trout here, and caught a few smaller ones, but after a while they stopped biting. There were lots of salamanders mating though...
Back on the PCT.
Nikko cooling off
Lupine
On the way back, I grabbed Kai and we decided to go tag Kings Castle.
Summit bugs!
Definitely worth the hike
The next morning, I woke up to a nice sunrise alpenglow
And caught more fishies
These cinnamon buns didn't do too well... some sites make it look easy... but it's not. Get a cast iron and do it car camping.
All smiles
mmm this worked well. Just do it on the last day so you don't have to clean it. Or bring tin foil.
Leave no trace!
Kai ready to hike down!
It was hot down low and back home. On our way out, we stopped here to take a dip.
Had a fun ride up to Mt. A with Jace and Niko. T'was quite cold on the way down and they put on trash bags that we got from the campsite for our descent down.
Kai on modified Naxos and Nikko just went up with his boots unbuckles. Inspired by Casey.
We also cruised up a few days later with the Segers for the boys last day of skiing. They logged 16 days of skiing this year. I managed to squeeze in 53 days! The most days I've got in probably since I last lived in Ashland. Maybe ever.
Kai and Nikko have been riding their bikes a LOT since COVID. Kai is on his 24" mtn bike... that I need to upgrade. But for the record, as an 8 year old, he's ridden 2k ft of vert (see below), up Morton St., up Tolman Creek, etc... he's kind of a crusher.
Here's the boy's tracks on their first shuttle lap!
Had a great trip out to Hemlock Butte Cabin. My first local hut trip! I love hut trips, BTW. And this one is pretty sweet. Easy skin in, and great access to Bailey near by.
March 11 - Meadow Hut, day 5 - had a great day out with Sam until I tweaked my ankle on a pillow line (Sam has footage). That sucked.
March 12 - sat in the lodge with my ankle up and iced all day
But I did manage to get out and take some pics of Barton hitting the kicker. Here's a lincoln that he stomped. And he later did a backflip 180, which was pretty amazing.
Gord built quite the quinze.
March 13 - Last day at Meadow - we did laps on the front door where Barton took a slide on a pillow collapse. He took out some trees but came out (quite luckily) unscathed. Little did we know that the world was quickly changing due to COVID. We heard from Sam that schools were closed...
Ankle swelling went down a bit...
So I decided to check it out. And Barton promptly knocked down a pillow and slid down this whole way.
He got beat up, but no broken bones, etc. His phone died.
This was a pillow that I knocked down on day 2. Funk carved a thrown out of it.
Looking down the N. Face of McLoughlin... so tasty looking... but not on this day.
Another view from the top. You can see Brown to the right side of the pic.
And the summit shot from the top of Brown looking over at McLoughlin. Brown was short and fun. Not much steeps.
Had a fun solo adventure exploring some near by peaks. McLoughlin is a bit over an hour away and provides decent access to some fun terrain. It's a bit of a slog, making it more of an all day affair. And the goods are on the N. Side, which makes it even a bigger day. On this day though, we hadn't had much weather so the snow wasn't ideal. But I was itching to get out, so I figured I'd just go.
Got up McLoughlin a bit quicker than expected, so I decided to go back down, cross the road and tag Brown as well. Gotta get back there with decent snow.
