Marty and I hit the trail at about 8:30 am on Saturday and had great weather... to start.
The hike up to smith saddle was awesome. Trail in perfect condition with 3 or 4 water crossings on the way up. The trail going down the other side was not so perfect. Somewhat overgrown and washed out as you will see in the pictures.
When we got to the upper bear creek trail camp, or at least what we thought was the camp, it was completely overgrown and lots of poison oak. But we made the best of it and camped on the only piece of real estate we could find. We were right on the beach.
At about 2 am the clouds opened up on us and it continued to pour the rest of the night. We packed up in the rain about 7:30 am and we hiked out. It rained on us all the way to the saddle. I try to see the positives in everything I do and there were many on this trip.
1. First Camping trip with my new friend Marty that I met on this forum.
2. No Crowds... lol
3. Clean Crisp air to breath
4. Incredible cloud formations surrounding us on the hike out
5. No Bugs
6. Low Fire Danger
7. The list goes on
One especially nice thing on this trip is there was no complaining by either participant in spite of potentially unsavory conditions. Usually when I am backpacking someone always complains about something.
Total Mileage was 12 mi round trip
Saw one rattle snake, millipede and pissed off bird.
Photos are a little out of order but you get the idea.
