Trekked out with my son and buddy from Atwell Mill to Hockett Meadow this past weekend. We got a late start due to the recovery effort of a motorist who had driven off the road 300 ft down a cliff. He survived but recovery vehicles blocked our way for over an hour.
The initial hike out was 11 miles from the car to camp, beginning altitude was 6350 ending at 8499. Initially the trail drops from Atwell to the south Fork bridge and then begins the arduous climb from approx 6000 to Hockett.
The trail offers some great views down the valley towards the Central Valley, it was a little dusty in places but nothing to complain about. The last 2 miles to Hockett was slight down hill, perfect for a middle aged, out of shape guy. It took us 7.5 hours for the 11 miles out.
We met and spent a few minutes discussing the area with a local NPS biologist who was more than happy to help us find our way and described some interesting things to see in the area.
Camp was set and we proceeded to get organized.
Dinner was cubed teriyaki steak, stove top. Dessert was crecent rolls filled with apricot pastry filling cooked in aluminum foil directly on the fire, it rocked!
Day two started around 7 am with coffee and instant oatmeal. we pumped water for the day and offloaded into smaller packs. We day tripped to nearby Evelyn Lake with Raman, plenty of water and our collapsable fishing poles. I was feeling the previous days hike but managed fairly well. The lake was scenic and provided some fun fishing of 11" trout. Mosquitos were at a minimum at the lake. We caught many and released all fish back to grow bigger! The hike back was uneventful with more mosquitos as we approached the meadow, 95% Deet fixed that issue. Total milage was 7 miles for the day.
Dinner was canned chicken and cous cous, nowhere as good as the previous nights dinner, but satisfying none the less. Plenty of downed wood around provided a nice campfire which we kept going until around 11 pm. Great night of fellowship and stories.
Day three started 7 am, coffee and oatmeal. Pumped water, packed up and resituated our packs, tents, bags. Cleaned up all trash. Took a few last pictures of the spot and headed out.
11 miles back to the car with the last mile climb from the South Fork bridge to the parking lot, this was a death march! My son and friend work out regularly, I'm a desk jockey. I was lagging behind taking 12"-18" steps for as far as I could, then rest. It took me an hour for the last mile or so. 6 hours total for the hike back.
I had a wonderful sense of accomplishment for the weekend and hope to parlay my exercise forward and not let it be a waste. Infact I ran 1.5 miles on wednesday in 13:36, with some foot pain.
All in all it was a great weekend, both from the milage, scenery and being able to spend some quality time with my oldest son and my buddy, too.
This is hopefully a first hike of the season, We've been eyeing San Gorgonio and the WM. We learned a few things about equipment and about neccesities. My bag weighed in at 44 lbs at the start, with over 7 lbs of water. I need a new sleeping bag, this one worked great but weighs 5.3 lbs. The water purifier/pump worked as expected, it's Friday and I have no ill effects from the water. My left foot is sore between the ankle and the outside edge, but it's managable.
That's it! I hope this interests anyone heading that direction. I enjoy reading the other reports on this site and thought I would share.
Diamond-X
Sequoia - Atwell Mill to Hockett Meadow
Sounds like a nice trip. I probably would've kept some of the trout instead of having canned chicken, but that's just me. 8) Gonna post pics?
What stove did you use?
HJ
What stove did you use?
WM? Do you mean the White Mountains -- the ones east of Owens Valley?
HJ
Hi Jim, We could have eaten some of the fish but just felt better with catch and release. There are plenty of fish in the lake simply because it's so far from the road, hopefully they will continue to grow for the next time.
I didn't bring the Svea because of it's weight, my son and friend both had stoves.
WM = Washington Monument, the Meridian.
I'll post some pics when I get home and if I can figure out how.
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PackerGreg
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- Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:31 pm
My house was built by Walt Atwell. Aside from operating a mill, he was on the crew that built the trail/stairway to the top of Moro Rock. I used to catch trout behind his house (which neighbors mine) when I was a kid. He seemed like a hundred years old, and was probably close to that. I wish I had known then to ask him for stories of the old days.
Awesome! I've been to the top of Morro Rock.PackerGreg wrote: ↑My house was built by Walt Atwell. Aside from operating a mill, he was on the crew that built the trail/stairway to the top of Moro Rock. I used to catch trout behind his house (which neighbors mine) when I was a kid. He seemed like a hundred years old, and was probably close to that. I wish I had known then to ask him for stories of the old days.
The biologist was leading a team that was interested in historic peat bogs that exist in a few rare places in the park. He told us about Sand Meadow, Cahoon Rock and Evelyn Lake as well as the different spots to camp in the meadow. He also told us no bears had been spotted nearby and that deer frequent the east side.
