I found a fresh set of mountain lion prints on the trail that ran just past our camp.
The guys decided that even though the weather wasn't great, we should climb at least part way up Mt. Baldy. (We don't have to worry about lightening today.) The rain had mostly stopped but the cloud base was only a few hundred feet above Baldy Town.
One scout's light plastic poncho had pretty much self destructed at this point. Fortunately, the Trading Post had a supply of decent backpacker's ponchos, and I fronted him the money to get one.
What with rearranging tents and visiting the Trading Post, it was noon before we started the climb. I carried the extra water and emergency sleeping bag. Even though it was very cool and damp, I was generating enough heat to be quite warm. I was wearing shorts and my rain jacket (no t-shirt), so I rolled up the sleeves and opened the front of my jacket. The scouts couldn't understand why I wasn't cold.
We
got as far as a meadow at about 11,800 feet, at the top of the ridge just
south of the final peak of Baldy. [The peak is 12,441 ft.] It was foggy
and cold, and the guys wanted to get back to Baldy Town before 5 so they
could take showers. Even though there was no view, the ridge was great.
The fog in the trees gave it an ethereal atmosphere.
The hike up and down was grueling, but gave a number of beautiful sights. At certain levels, the trees are festooned with Spanish moss (or at least a similar type of lichen). There are a number of old collapsed mine shafts along the way. The meadows near the peak are full of a variety of wildflowers.
On return to Baldy Town, some of us took showers. Then we returned to camp. I hope we'll turn in early tonight.
Dinner turned out to be an experience. I thought we were going to have a disaster, but it turned out well. The cook misunderstood the instructions Bob gave him. Bob had put on a big pot of water to heat, and told the cook wait for it to boil and then measure out water for the main course and for desert. The remaining hot water would be used for cleanup. Instead, the cook measured the water for desert and used the rest for the main course. There was quite a bit more water than the recipe called for, so instead of chicken with noodles, we had chicken noodle soup. The extra hot fluid was welcomed by all, and cleanup was much easier.
After a last (hope!) downpour just as we were fixing dinner, it started to clear. As we went to bed, we could see stars.
A frustration several times today was looking down into the valley below, which appeared to be in full sun. We were under damp clouds.
Our campsite, by the way, turned out to be rather pleasant. It is rocky, but pretty once you can see it. There's a little brook running just through the camp between the fire ring and the sump. We never did find the bear cable (the campsite map, once we found it, was no help, it even switched our camp and the latrine), but the latrine was a "red roof inn." After the first night, we improvised a bear bag hanging from a convenient tree limb. A determined bear could probably get it, but it's the best we could do under the circumstances.
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