Adventure Pass, Indeed!

Items that are not waterproof:

1. Backpacks: zippers and seams.

2. Camera bag: not at all, but especially zippers.

3. Books: Hiking Guide, National Geographic Field Guide

4. Cardboard: MSR stove boxes become pulp in the rain.

5. Floppy-brimmed hats: they become sodden, droopy drips when drowned.

Items that are waterproof:

1. Backpacks: Pockets without zippers.

2. Raincoats.

3. MSR stove.

4. Our spirits!

Clouds below Dollar Lake (probably a little above 9,000')
http://flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2665147114/

Libby and I are going backpacking in a little more than a week. To prepare ourselves, we've been going hiking every weekend, running in the mornings, and going for long walks around La Mirada. But, how can you be ready to go backpacking if you haven't practiced carrying your pack?

This last weekend we resolved to put our gear, our hips, feet and shoulders to the test. We stuffed our backpacks full of whatever was at hand, threw them in the car and drove off to the local mountains. Our destination was Dollar Lake, a little puddle advertised in glowing terms by our hiking guide -- a sparkling glacial tarn in the local mountains -- the kind of lake that would be comfortable in the Sierras themselves. We got our wilderness permit, and we got our adventure pass, and, having been admitted by these sacred documents into the government's forests and wildernesses, we set out. Little did we know just what sort of adventure we were being admitted to!

Libby's loaded and ready to go.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2665111742/in/set-72157606147182459/

The lake is 6.3 miles from and 2700' above the trailhead, between 9200 and 9300 feet. The plan was to take it slow, hike to the lake, where we could drop our packs, relax, read, make some hot lunch (we were bringing our new stove to give it a field test), and then head for home.

I knew there was a chance of rain. The weather forecast put the chance at 30%. 30% didn't sound so bad. I figured, if it did rain, it would be a sporadic and light thunderstorm. With that low of a probability it couldn't do more than get the trail dust damp, then evaporate, right? Wrong. It started raining at about 1:30, about a mile below the lake on our way up. It stopped raining about 7:00, as we got into the car. There were occasional breaks in between, but on the whole, it rained. It basically rained the whole time we were at Dollar Lake. It rained on us all 6 miles down the mountain. There was no lounging about in the mountain sun reading. We stopped, set up the stove, ate some much appreciated hot soup, packed back up, and hit the trail. We might have taken it slow going up, but we were in a fine hurry on the way down. Low on the mountain the trail dust had become slick, inch-deep mud. The last mile or so, we were wading through little streams of running water as they joined us in their bubbling haste to get down the mountain.

The lake itself? If it was in the Sierras, I'd pass by without giving much of a glance. It was a little mud puddle in a shallow glaciated depression (this is one of the rare instances of historic glaciation in the local mountains).

The shore of Dollar Lake.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2664317679/in/set-72157606147182459/

Overall, though, the trip was a success. We had a good time. The pine forests were beautiful, the air was sweet and clean, and we made it. We're a bit stiff and sore, now, and we were in pain, then, but in all we decided that the five dollars we spent on our Adventure Pass was a steal. That much adventure for five bucks? Shoot, that was easily worth twenty or thirty dollars!

Pictures from our adventure are at Flickr: Dollar Lake Hike.