Hawkins to Heaton and back(via Hwy39) in 48 hours
Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:08 am
could be epic, depending on the definition.
Took a fireroad to the PCT since I forgot the mile marker for the Little Jimmy shortcut...not bad at all, just adds one mile or so. PCT in excellent condition ,thanks to all the volunteers. Wildflowers in sections and very few flies(perhaps due to the early morning hours).
Summited Hawkins and down the Copter ridge I went. Took a left towards peak 7296 and then this time went south down the big drainage below.
Elevation 6800 it was a spring based enviorn, but easy to contour around the spiraling drainage. It then broke out into a rock filled valley of sorts...alas, I was still several hundred feet short of Iron Fork. Water returned and it canyoned up....no big drops..thankfully. At least I was in the Iron Fork and in a place I had been before.
Except the Iron Fork still had a lot of water moving through..deja vu as in too much....and there was a lot of spring season growth. Wearing a heavy backpack(at least to me), I was facing decisions to be made. I decided to go for the San Gabriel river, camping overnight still well into the Iron Fork. I reached the SG river by 9am and should I go up to Vincent Gap or down to Heaton? I thought the waterflow was too high to go towards Vincent Gap and decided to go for Heaton...everything went fine until my feet started to really hurt.
I kept on walking, eventually reaching the Williams cafe phone booth, agonizing whether to place a call to get picked up and go through the whole back and forth to get my car.....kept on walking. A canyoneer would end up driving the road and let me hitch a ride to Hwy39 which was a tad out of their way. Hiking up Hwy39 it would be a twist that those same canyoneers turned the wrong way and found me again. They gave me a ride to the end of Hwy39 at Valley of the Moon and it was about 3:30 pm...still hot and sunny.
My pace was going down and down and down to less than 1 mile per hour. My cell phone at one point read "emergency use only". There sure was a lot of water sources though, all the way throughout, and I kept on it, reaching Hwy2 at 5:30am the next day. Cortelyou Spring I would give the award to for an overall score...piped and cold. A short nap at my car and return to home.
Took a fireroad to the PCT since I forgot the mile marker for the Little Jimmy shortcut...not bad at all, just adds one mile or so. PCT in excellent condition ,thanks to all the volunteers. Wildflowers in sections and very few flies(perhaps due to the early morning hours).
Summited Hawkins and down the Copter ridge I went. Took a left towards peak 7296 and then this time went south down the big drainage below.
Elevation 6800 it was a spring based enviorn, but easy to contour around the spiraling drainage. It then broke out into a rock filled valley of sorts...alas, I was still several hundred feet short of Iron Fork. Water returned and it canyoned up....no big drops..thankfully. At least I was in the Iron Fork and in a place I had been before.
Except the Iron Fork still had a lot of water moving through..deja vu as in too much....and there was a lot of spring season growth. Wearing a heavy backpack(at least to me), I was facing decisions to be made. I decided to go for the San Gabriel river, camping overnight still well into the Iron Fork. I reached the SG river by 9am and should I go up to Vincent Gap or down to Heaton? I thought the waterflow was too high to go towards Vincent Gap and decided to go for Heaton...everything went fine until my feet started to really hurt.
I kept on walking, eventually reaching the Williams cafe phone booth, agonizing whether to place a call to get picked up and go through the whole back and forth to get my car.....kept on walking. A canyoneer would end up driving the road and let me hitch a ride to Hwy39 which was a tad out of their way. Hiking up Hwy39 it would be a twist that those same canyoneers turned the wrong way and found me again. They gave me a ride to the end of Hwy39 at Valley of the Moon and it was about 3:30 pm...still hot and sunny.
My pace was going down and down and down to less than 1 mile per hour. My cell phone at one point read "emergency use only". There sure was a lot of water sources though, all the way throughout, and I kept on it, reaching Hwy2 at 5:30am the next day. Cortelyou Spring I would give the award to for an overall score...piped and cold. A short nap at my car and return to home.
