As most of you know our housesit in Sutherlin, Oregon is coming to an end next week. We'll still be in Oregon for a couple of more weeks but then we are headed off for another adventure. We have had several inquiries with regard to our plans and wanted to share some of what our intentions are.
The theme for this summer could be many things -
The Great Summer Experiment OR
Our Vision Quest OR
How Much "Stuff" Does It Take To Be Happy? OR
How To Get Back to Our Heart Place OR
Who Are Larry & Charlotte & Why Are They Here?
We attended a wonderful class in Roseburg, Oregon earlier this year. It was called "The Quest for Wholeness: Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World".
To learn more about the book, you can click in the link to the right below "some of our favorite books".
We have had a wonderful spiritual teacher in Donna Smith and a wonderful group to share and grow with. It has been a remarkable and awakening experience that set us on a path of questions ..... that led us to this jumping off place. Our intention for our summer is to continue "our quest for wholeness".
Before we go on, we have a story we want to tell you. Some of it you may know but not all and we want to speak to you from our hearts. We have been reading through 30 years of journals and looking at photos these last few weeks and in doing that we have made many discoveries or perhaps, the truer statement is to say that we have remembered a lot of things that we had somehow forgotten over the years.
When we met, over 31 years ago, we were both working at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California. We had very good paying jobs. We lived for Fridays and dreaded Mondays; returning to jobs that felt like drudgery - a week of mundane activities and shuffling papers. (Larry had worked at the lab almost 20 years as a scientific programmer when I met him) When we met, we found that we shared similar dreams of moving to the woods and living by the sweat of our brows with some brains thrown in. We went off to live those dreams together in 1981. Probably, neither of us would have attempted it alone but together we felt that we could do anything. We dreamt of writing about our adventures and at the time I had a dream of becoming a successful artist.
Benjamin Franklin said, "Write something worth reading or do something worth writing about". Our intention was to cover both of those bases. We have done a lot of living in our 30+ years together. I wish we had a record of the location of every bed we have slept in. Some of the things we are really passionate about are traveling, adventures and writing about our experiences.
Our very first home together was on the banks of the North Fork of the American River above Chimney Rock. Lots of people hiked the trails during the day and we wanted more privacy so about a week later we moved up to Shirttail Creek below Yankee Jim Road. These were huge pack-ins since we set up a kitchen for long term camp outs and all of our camping gear and mining gear.
From a Mormon hymnal dated 1862:
I heard of gold at Sutter's mill
At Michigan Bluff and Iowa Hill
But never thought it was rich until,
I started off to prospect.
At Yankee Jim's I bought a purse,
Inquired for Iowa Hill, of course,
And traveled on, but what was worse,
Fetched up in Shirt-tail Canyon.
At Iowa Hill they buried me,
In the Catholic cemetery,
Underneath an old pine tree,
Now I no longer prospect.
Yet from below the gravestone cold,
I think about the days of old,
Still yearning for the days of gold,
When I went off to prospect.
On Shirttail Creek Larry built us a wonderful camp. We worked hard, cooked over an open fire and slept under the stars. Young love was wonderful - beyond our wildest dreams.
In October of '81 the rains moved in and we spent one night slowly washing away below our tarp as the torrents of water came down off of the hills. Thank goodness a caretaking position was not too far in our future. Winter on the creek was looking a little harder than we expected. It wasn't too many days after that we moved up to King's Hill just outside of Iowa Hill, California.
When we headed for the river, we went in search of a simple life that required very little money. We were on a journey to discover who we were without all of the trappings. How much does a person really need to own to be happy? We lived by the sweat of our labor without the security of a savings account, a regular pay check or health insurance. Some people thought we were foolish. Some of our family members thought we had lost our minds. Who, in their right mind, would leave good jobs, and years of education and go off to live in the woods?
Our new home, King's Hill, was 3000 acres of forestland owned by a group of land investors who lived in the Bay Area. It was remote to say the least. We actually had a cabin but there was no phone, electricity or running water, unless you ran down the hill to get a bucket of water at the spring. Or, I almost forgot, in the winter rain water did run off of the roof and into our aluminum boat and we bucketed water out of that . We lived mostly off of gold for those first 7 years.... gold, walnuts and firewood. We had 40 acres of dry land walnuts to tend and we got the crop in exchange for caring for the orchard - at least what was left over from the ground squirrels and the bears. We thrived on the hard physical labor of hauling water, cutting firewood, building fires, shoveling snow, hunting for food, mining for gold and even washing clothes by hand.
If we had a "poor" week we ate beans - if we had a "rich" week we ate steak and drank wine. We ate a lot of beans in the beginning but it made the steak and wine experiences all the more delicious. What we discovered in a very short time is how much we had taken for granted and how many of the pleasures of our lives we had missed because we were walking through so much of life in a semi-conscious state. We thrived on the challenge of making ends meet - seeing how little money we could live on and still be happy.... sometimes deliriously happy. We had very little "stuff" . We chose not to sell our souls to the devil for a $ so that we could buy more "stuff". Our greatest extravagance was the purchase of books.
We chose the "road less traveled" and it has made all the difference. We have traveled the highways and bi-ways, had amazing adventures and experiences, met wonderful people and spent long summers camped out in the woods. Our pursuits have brought us moments of great peace and exhileration but we have also been presented with challenges and obstacles to overcome; illness, injuries, homelessness. We can always find a place to camp and hang our hats.
We have lived an extraordinary life and adventure but we have never found a way to make a living doing it. I think that we made up the story that we could choose to suffer through in the corporate world and make good money or we could live the life we dreamed about and live on the edge. We did not dream of making lots of money. We dreamt of living life off of the land, in the wilderness. We dreamt of a simple life where we could discover the essential facts of life. We used to tell folks that we had read Thoreau one too many times because we made a conscious decision "to go to the woods, to front the essential facts of life and see if we could learn what it had to teach, and not when we came to die, discover that we had not lived".
A friend asked us once if we had taken an oath of poverty. It seemed an odd question at the time but after consideration, we had to answer "yes". Basically we did take an oath of poverty. We went in search of a simple life that required very little money. We were on a journey to discover who we were without all of the trappings. It has been an amazing and wonderful adventure. Periodically, we would drop back in for a few months and get "jobs"; working for a National RV guide visiting all of the privately owned campgrounds in California selling advertising, working for the census, Hickory Farms, working as organic farmers for 8 years, caretaking, paintings houses, digging ditches.
As we have traveled our path, we have shared our journey with others but not in an organized way. This journey is a process of ups and downs and all arounds. There are paths to walk, mountains to climb, rivers to cross and rivers to navigate. There are challenges and some rough roads. But, there are also wonders to behold and many gifts and blessings to be had along the way. One never knows what is around the next bend. It is a journey of discovery and awakening.
We lost a dear friend last month. Judi was 50 years old. She was a very successful and brilliant business woman. When we spoke to her in February she said that she was in the process of reorganizing her life because she didn't have enough time for fun and family. She was in apparently good health but she went to sleep on a Saturday night and never woke up again. Her husband, David, discovered her the next morning. I cannot imagine the pain of that for David.
What we learned from Judi's passing is that you can run out of time while you are trying to find more time. You can run out of life while you are living for that "someday". You can run out of days while you are chasing after the dream, instead of embracing the journey. When we were young, we thought we had all the time in the world. Larry will be 70 this year and I will be 60. As one gets older, one becomes more aware of their clock ticking. If one wakes up, one finds that things that have been important, lose their importance. Your priorities change.
We are seeing things very differently these last few weeks. We realize that "stuff" can still own you, if you aren't careful. Dreams of ownership; whether it be a home, car, RV, the latest gadget, lots of clothes, toys, stuff, stuff and more stuff, etc., the illusion of security - they all cost us time. So we are asking ourselves how do we want to spend our time, and in the end, will it really be worth it? This is a very personal decision for each individual. That is where we are.... taking a close look at how we want to "spend" our lives..... our time on this planet. It's just like money in the bank except we don't know how much we have. We want to be fully awake instead of lost in our delusions and illusions.
This is what we know for sure - we left our jobs in 1981 because we did not want to live lives "of quiet desperation"...
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."
Henry David Thoreau
We want to live each day to the fullest. We still have hopes and dreams but we are not exactly sure what they are any longer. We got lost along the way and started marching to the drums of other people. We are igniting our fire once again. It has just been a glow of embers for awhile now. We almost forgot that it was even there. The fire of life burns from the glow of passion in our hearts. What are we really passionate about? Why are we here?
I won't say that we lost our way. We made the perfect detour to learn the lessons we came here to learn but now we return to "our woods".
We know that the way to get back to our heartplace is to spend lots of time alone in the wilderness ~ walking through the woods, sitting by the campfire at night, sleeping under the stars, writing, meditating and just being still in the sights, sounds and fragrance of nature.
When were were farming we used to go out to the pond and see how long we could sit there in total silence just noticing our surroundings..... counting birds, so to speak. It was an amazing experience. We haven't done anything like that in a long time. We know that it is in the silence that our Divine Source speaks to our hearts.
It feeds our souls. We are headed to California in the next few week to do just that. We will be calling Tofte Ranch our home base but our intention is to spend long periods of time camped out and backpacking. We have an invitation to spend time on a gold mining claim way up in the high country. It is a place where we have spent many summers all alone and look forward to time there again. There are also many other options for us that we will be exploring. We will post to our blog often throughout the summer and look forward to sharing our adventures.
We aren't sure of our departure date at this point but our intention is to head south somewhere around the first part of July. We are planning to spend about a week working at Tofte Ranch down in Chicago Park, California before heading out for the wilderness. Happy trails until next time.........
Showing posts with label American River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American River. Show all posts
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
American River Adventure 2009 ~ Day 1
Monday, August 24, 2009 North Fork of the American River, California - Wild and Scenic Area
Charlotte: Monday Evening - TIRED, TIRED, TIRED. Our friend Mo came over about 6:30 AM to make sure that we had a ride to the Stevens Trail in Colfax. She helped us finish packing; including pain pills (in case we break something) and Imodium D (good thinking, just in case). She made a quick trip home to grab more dehydrated food for us. We left the house by 7:15 with our friend, Arlene. Happy and excited good-bys at the trail head. "See you in 5 days".
It was a long hike in with Larry carrying 70 pounds and me carrying 40 pounds. The gear for prospecting is pretty heavy, including wet suits and tools. Larry has all of that gear in his pack. I have the food and toiletries.
I had read a description of the Steven's Trail that said, "It was not for the faint of heart." Boy, that was more true than I could imagine. The first 1 1/2 miles were pretty easy going. We found our first resting spot in an open area. There was a speed boat parked in the middle of the woods - how did it get here?!?! It proved a great spot to take off our packs and rest awhile. Once we reached the North Fork canyon the trail became fairly narrow and dropped straight down to the river below. I am guessing about 1000 feet. Since I have a terrible fear of heights, the sight of the the trail along the canyon wall was scary, to say the least. Larry turned and said, "OK, this is the deal. You keep your eyes on the trail at all times and only on the trail. If there is a wide place to stop and rest I'll tell you but otherwise just keep your eyes down and concentrate on the next step."
I never once looked away from the trail unless we stopped at a wide spot. Our next resting spot was back in the trees at a small spring trickling out of the hillside. It was nice to find some shade and there was a small ledge where we could remove our packs. When we headed out again it was a long, hard, hot trek to the river. As the morning wore on the temperatures climbed into the 90's. We thought we were in good shape but the heavy loads proved to be more than we realized. We were bone weary tired and hurting by the time we reached the river around 11:30. We were tuckered out. Our legs were shakey and weak and my back was screaming at me for the last 2 miles of travel. We rested for awhile on the bedrock in the shade of a small bush. It felt good to sit down without a pack on. Larry wound up with a blister on his big toe and I have one on the edge of my foot.
There was a miner at the foot of the trail. He lives down here! He finds some gold - not really sure how much. Apparently, he walks out about once a week or so unless people on the trail give him food. Amazing! He says he has been living down here a couple of years. Oh, my! We gave him some fruit and trail mix.
After resting and talking to Chuck we repacked all of our gear into the dry packs for our trip down river. Larry unpacked the raft and blew it up with the pump. We suited up in our wetsuits, packed the raft with our gear and tied it down and headed down river about 1 PM. We had a shallow set of rapids to navigate firt - HARD - lots of slipping down and banging of ankles and knees. After that there was a deep pool. It looked inviting but proved to be very strenuous going. The wind was blowing us upriver so swimming our raft through was almost impossible - really hard work. Larry was on the front and I was on the back. The pool was deep and only once in awhile, on the edge, could we get a foothold. We tried to hang on to the rocks and rest when we could. Our trekking poles proved to be the handiest last minute purchase we made. When we extend them to their full length they are about 6 feet long. They helped up keep our footing in the river and sometimes we could find bottom with the poles and push our way through the pools. Larry's pole broke as we made our last crossing of the river to what looked like a possible campsight. He really needs a stick.
We decided to pull out of the river about 3:00 because we were bone weary tired and Larry's treking pole broke into in the last pool. Our bodies were worn out and hurting. It was hot! We could see that there was another deep pool up ahead and now Larry has no pole. I spotted a sandy area down river just alittle ways so I hiked down to scout it out. There is a large pine tree so we'll have some shade. After a rest we portage our gear down to that spot. We get out our bedrolls so we can lay down and strip down to T-shirts and shorts. It feels good to just lay flat and be still. The air is hot but there is a slight breeze. It is interesting how aware of my body I am, the aches and pains, throbbing, perspiration, how the breeze cools me because of the sweat and how hot it feels when the breeze doesn't blow.
After resting for awhile Larry gets up to go look at something at the river's edge. When I ask what he is looking at, he announces "3 of the biggest piles of bear poop I have ever seen"!. I get up and pull our bedrolls up higher on the bank.
Later in the day Larry strips off and announces that he is going to hike back upriver and dive down in the last pool we crossed to retrieve the other end of his trekking pole. He thinks maybe it just came unscrewed. I get up and go with him. I have to see this! The water is very cold. Remember, we have had wetsuits on all day? His pole is black and silver. I do not see how he will ever find it. He jumps in the cold water and down he goes. He has to dive several times but finally he comes up with pole in hand. Unfortunately, it is broken. We decide to keep it and take it back to Big 5.
Larry: Monday Evening ~ Arlene dropped us off at the top of the Steven's Trail on the Colfax side just before 8 AM. Little did we know what lay ahead for us. The trek down to the river really stretched our physical endurance to the max. Our trip into the Grand Canyon comes to mind. Our legs shook from the exertion. My new hip/thigh held up pretty well though but both buttocks ached. I got a blister on my big toe. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to hike the 4 1/2 miles down to Secret Ravine. We collapsed on the bank of the river in total exhaustion. I don't think we could have gone another 100 feet! We just concentrated on our feet and our next step. It was far more frightening for C but bless her heart, she sucked it up and followed me along the narrow ledges that dropped off into space.
After resting awhile we slowly assembed our gear and inflated the raft. We loaded it up, tied everything down and headed immediately for our first rapids. Slowly, we inched our way through the rushing water until we reached the deep pool below. The deep pools are our hardest, as we can't touch the bottom so we just have to hang on to the raft and kick our feet. Very aerobic! We finally spied a decent looking camp spot and quit the river about 2:30. We were totally exhausted and decided to rest the remainder of the day. It was fairly hot so we had to follow the shade. Blessedly, the sun findly went behind the far ridge and it began to cool down. The water is very clear, the hillsides are dry and brown and the canyon walls soar to the sky.
It feels alien to be out here on the river bank, miles from civilization. It's been many years since we've slept beneath the stars beside the river. Our only concern is the 3 piles of bear poop in our camp - one pile being fairly fresh!
Photo Album Day #1 https://www.facebook.com/larryn.bacon/media_set?set=a.1162800984363&type=3
Photo Album Day #1 https://www.facebook.com/larryn.bacon/media_set?set=a.1162800984363&type=3
Sunday, October 25, 2009
American River Adventure 2009 ~ Day 2
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
North Fork American River ~ Sunny
Charlotte: Tuesday Morning ~ This trip has been more difficult than I expected!!! Far more difficult! We are sitting here on our little garden kneeling pads facing the river. We have had our first cup of tea. It was a LONG night. I kept listening for the bear or bears. Each time we were both awake, I banged on our cooking pot a few times with the lid. Larry had the pot the first part of the night but I took over pot duty about 11 because he wasn't banging it often enough. By 1 AM the ground had grown hard and my body was aching. Actually, I should say really aching since it was pretty much aching since about half way down the trail. I had taken Sport before bed but I finally gave in and took some Advil.
On the positive side..... the stars were unbelievable. I saw at least 6 shooting stars. We were awake several times together during the night (Larry confessed in the night that he was also having some apprehensive thoughts about the bear). We even had one long conversation during the night ~ partly to discuss our sanity with regard to this trip. We agreed that we are glad we are doing it. We are just not sure why yet.
I am very thankful for the 4 pound porta potty that I hauled down here, even though I took some kidding about it. This old body doesn't squat quite as easily as it once did.
We layed down on our pads on the gravel bar about 7:30. We won't do that tonight. The old body only wants to lay on that hard ground for so long. Today we will start looking for gold. We have some great sniping tools that our friend Steve made.
Our dry packs are a bit of a challenge. Everything we need seems to always be in the bottom. We had a supper of Annie's Mac & Cheese with tuna. It was pretty darn good. We had to keep moving, to stay away from the meat bees, while we ate. We only had cheese and crackers for lunch, a small piece of pork and a protein bar for breakfast. We are sore, sore, sore this morning.
Later in the morning: I am sitting on the bank in my wetsuit waiting for Larry to find an interesting area to prospect. It is quiet and peaceful here ...... sitting with my feet in the water. Wow, that is a really deep hole in front of me! First thing this morning we went in search of another pole for Larry. He finds what is left of a dead alder at the waterline. He sawed it down with the saw in our swiss army knife and whittled it and now has a dandy 8 foot staff.
Mid-day: I hiked down the river in my wetsuit to where Larry was sniping to find out how he was doing. It was getting hot so I hiked our dry bags up in the trees, to keep them in the shade, before I left. We have some chocolate bars, cheese, etc. that we would like to keep out of the hot summer sun. We decide that it's time to think about moving down river. Larry isn't finding many colors and we now feel we must keep on the move to make the bridge by Saturday. We are marking our progress on the topo map but we won't know if we are correct until we arrive at the bridge. I came back to camp to gather everything together to load the raft. As I approach our campspot I hear the familiar chirp of a ground squirrel, signaling. I see ground squirrels at our dry packs - demon squirrels! When I get to the packs I find that they have torn holes in the food pack. They didn't actually get into the pack but 15 more minutes and they would have.Thank goodness or we might now be down in this canyon minus our food. They managed to pull out part of one of the ziplock bags with trail mix and scatter some on the ground. Thank you God that I came back when I did.
Later in the afternoon: We floated our gear down the river. It was pretty easy going. First there was a long pool, mostly knee deep with small saucer size rocks. Then we decided to hike everything down a long gravel bar/boulder pile . Then it's back in the river. It was pretty easy going after the overland trek because it was mostly gravel on the bottom. We come to an area that could be a good camp but it's early and there is no decent looking bedrock here for sniping. We keep going. We made it down a series of rapids before we quit.
At our new camp: It's been another hard day. Larry is off looking for gold. He seems driven to find something. I mean isn't that what this trip is all about? I hope he is finding gobs. I am sitting in the shade of the blue tarp that he put up before he left. We are in a new campspot. I am trying to stay out of the blistering sun. We are on the wrong side of the river for shade.
Larry sniped around camp most of this morning and found a few bits. The areas that were accessible had been worked pretty hard and in the other areas the bedrock was simply too deep. The camping part isn't hard. If we had a nice campspot with a little shade ~ fish a little, snipe a little. The really hard part is moving and hauling our gear. I will be so glad when I have some real shade. This new campsight has absolutely no shade. The shade is all across the river but there is no place to camp over there.
Like I have said several times, "Who would hike down the Steven's Trail for fun?"
Evening: Poor gold showing today. Day 2 ~ HARD ~ not much gold
Larry: Tuesday: Early morning ~ Sun hasn't hit our camp yet. Got out of our bed and made a cup of tea. We had a restless night, what with our aches and pains from yesterday and our trepidation over the bears. We hung our food bag and trash bag in a tree and took our cooking pot to bed with us. At odd hours throughout the night, we banged on the pot.
With a crescent moon that set early, we had the starry heavens for entertainment during our waking hours. I was reminded of all our carefree years sleeping out under the stars down at Shirttail and up on Duncan Creek. I tried to get in touch with the spirit of those people and realized that I was actually trying to recreate that adventurous quality in us. We had lost our fearlessness over the years, rather I should speak for myself - I had become old and fearful. I resist that aspect of myself mightely. I want to go out full of vigor and adventure, doing fun, challenging things in the time that I have. In that respect, I have an ideal partner in Charlotte. Not only does she love me enough to go along, she can also lead the way, as she embraces the same adventurous spirit.
I must admit that last evening, I had misgivings about this trip - in our ability to pull it off. The trek was approaching our physical limits and the trip down river was tough. Walking in the river was difficult but the deep pools were the hardest. But, after a night of rest, my spirits are restored and I'm looking forward to a day of sniping. I plan to work my way down one bank so far and then work the other side up past camp a ways before returning to camp.
In our new campspot - Evening ~ Two more portages today. Lots of difficult terrain. Plus, the crevices seem to all be cleaned out. I'm working hard to just get some color. We camped on a very narrow strip of sand. I carried more sand in my gold pan to build it up to accomodate our bed. Charlotte, bless her heart is bearing up under the strain but it's taking a toll. Falling and bruising her ankles and shins while walking the boat through rapids we didn't portage.
North Fork American River ~ Sunny
Charlotte: Tuesday Morning ~ This trip has been more difficult than I expected!!! Far more difficult! We are sitting here on our little garden kneeling pads facing the river. We have had our first cup of tea. It was a LONG night. I kept listening for the bear or bears. Each time we were both awake, I banged on our cooking pot a few times with the lid. Larry had the pot the first part of the night but I took over pot duty about 11 because he wasn't banging it often enough. By 1 AM the ground had grown hard and my body was aching. Actually, I should say really aching since it was pretty much aching since about half way down the trail. I had taken Sport before bed but I finally gave in and took some Advil.
On the positive side..... the stars were unbelievable. I saw at least 6 shooting stars. We were awake several times together during the night (Larry confessed in the night that he was also having some apprehensive thoughts about the bear). We even had one long conversation during the night ~ partly to discuss our sanity with regard to this trip. We agreed that we are glad we are doing it. We are just not sure why yet.
I am very thankful for the 4 pound porta potty that I hauled down here, even though I took some kidding about it. This old body doesn't squat quite as easily as it once did.
We layed down on our pads on the gravel bar about 7:30. We won't do that tonight. The old body only wants to lay on that hard ground for so long. Today we will start looking for gold. We have some great sniping tools that our friend Steve made.
Our dry packs are a bit of a challenge. Everything we need seems to always be in the bottom. We had a supper of Annie's Mac & Cheese with tuna. It was pretty darn good. We had to keep moving, to stay away from the meat bees, while we ate. We only had cheese and crackers for lunch, a small piece of pork and a protein bar for breakfast. We are sore, sore, sore this morning.
Later in the morning: I am sitting on the bank in my wetsuit waiting for Larry to find an interesting area to prospect. It is quiet and peaceful here ...... sitting with my feet in the water. Wow, that is a really deep hole in front of me! First thing this morning we went in search of another pole for Larry. He finds what is left of a dead alder at the waterline. He sawed it down with the saw in our swiss army knife and whittled it and now has a dandy 8 foot staff.
Mid-day: I hiked down the river in my wetsuit to where Larry was sniping to find out how he was doing. It was getting hot so I hiked our dry bags up in the trees, to keep them in the shade, before I left. We have some chocolate bars, cheese, etc. that we would like to keep out of the hot summer sun. We decide that it's time to think about moving down river. Larry isn't finding many colors and we now feel we must keep on the move to make the bridge by Saturday. We are marking our progress on the topo map but we won't know if we are correct until we arrive at the bridge. I came back to camp to gather everything together to load the raft. As I approach our campspot I hear the familiar chirp of a ground squirrel, signaling. I see ground squirrels at our dry packs - demon squirrels! When I get to the packs I find that they have torn holes in the food pack. They didn't actually get into the pack but 15 more minutes and they would have.Thank goodness or we might now be down in this canyon minus our food. They managed to pull out part of one of the ziplock bags with trail mix and scatter some on the ground. Thank you God that I came back when I did.
Later in the afternoon: We floated our gear down the river. It was pretty easy going. First there was a long pool, mostly knee deep with small saucer size rocks. Then we decided to hike everything down a long gravel bar/boulder pile . Then it's back in the river. It was pretty easy going after the overland trek because it was mostly gravel on the bottom. We come to an area that could be a good camp but it's early and there is no decent looking bedrock here for sniping. We keep going. We made it down a series of rapids before we quit.
At our new camp: It's been another hard day. Larry is off looking for gold. He seems driven to find something. I mean isn't that what this trip is all about? I hope he is finding gobs. I am sitting in the shade of the blue tarp that he put up before he left. We are in a new campspot. I am trying to stay out of the blistering sun. We are on the wrong side of the river for shade.
Larry sniped around camp most of this morning and found a few bits. The areas that were accessible had been worked pretty hard and in the other areas the bedrock was simply too deep. The camping part isn't hard. If we had a nice campspot with a little shade ~ fish a little, snipe a little. The really hard part is moving and hauling our gear. I will be so glad when I have some real shade. This new campsight has absolutely no shade. The shade is all across the river but there is no place to camp over there.
Like I have said several times, "Who would hike down the Steven's Trail for fun?"
Evening: Poor gold showing today. Day 2 ~ HARD ~ not much gold
Larry: Tuesday: Early morning ~ Sun hasn't hit our camp yet. Got out of our bed and made a cup of tea. We had a restless night, what with our aches and pains from yesterday and our trepidation over the bears. We hung our food bag and trash bag in a tree and took our cooking pot to bed with us. At odd hours throughout the night, we banged on the pot.
With a crescent moon that set early, we had the starry heavens for entertainment during our waking hours. I was reminded of all our carefree years sleeping out under the stars down at Shirttail and up on Duncan Creek. I tried to get in touch with the spirit of those people and realized that I was actually trying to recreate that adventurous quality in us. We had lost our fearlessness over the years, rather I should speak for myself - I had become old and fearful. I resist that aspect of myself mightely. I want to go out full of vigor and adventure, doing fun, challenging things in the time that I have. In that respect, I have an ideal partner in Charlotte. Not only does she love me enough to go along, she can also lead the way, as she embraces the same adventurous spirit.
I must admit that last evening, I had misgivings about this trip - in our ability to pull it off. The trek was approaching our physical limits and the trip down river was tough. Walking in the river was difficult but the deep pools were the hardest. But, after a night of rest, my spirits are restored and I'm looking forward to a day of sniping. I plan to work my way down one bank so far and then work the other side up past camp a ways before returning to camp.
In our new campspot - Evening ~ Two more portages today. Lots of difficult terrain. Plus, the crevices seem to all be cleaned out. I'm working hard to just get some color. We camped on a very narrow strip of sand. I carried more sand in my gold pan to build it up to accomodate our bed. Charlotte, bless her heart is bearing up under the strain but it's taking a toll. Falling and bruising her ankles and shins while walking the boat through rapids we didn't portage.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
American River Adventure ~ Day 3
Wednesday Morning, August 26, 2009
North Fork American River ~ More Sun
Charlotte: Early Wednesday Morning: LONG night last night! Our bodies have really taken a beating. We are sore beyond belief. Even with 4 Advil I didn't sleep much because my whole body is sore and every time I moved the pain woke me up. I can't believe I didn't bring any Bounce Back. I thought this was going to be an easy stroll down the middle of the river. Instead, it is an experience in torture. The river is strewn with boulders most of the way - platter size to banana box size, slippery, laying at different angles. We made our way slowly with the raft trying to keep our footing but we have both fallen repeatedly. We are bruised and sore. Add to that, walking a mile or more each day in water that varies from knee deep to chest deep or even deeper. It doesn't seem far unless you are in the water. The deep pools are the hardest. The river is low and there is very little current, so we hang on to the raft and try to paddle our way through. Often there is a stiff wind that blows us in the opposite direction.
We learned the first day to stay near the bank so that we can find some footing on the bedrock once in awhile, when it's shallow enough to reach with our feet. It is very strenuous going through the deepest pools. Then there are the rapids - boulder fields with swifter moving water, pushing you along and you can't see where you are stepping. We portaged around a long series of rapids yesterday and a long pool on Monday. We made it through 2 areas of rapids and that was enough yesterday. We stopped at a less than ideal camp spot. We were exhausted. The sand was just wide enough for our bed and even that required more sand. Larry hauled several loads of sand in the gold pan. There was absolutely no shade of any kind. We didn't have any shade until after 6 PM. I am guessing that it was up in the 90's. There were no flat rocks to put our gear on. The night before we had some nice flat bedrock. Last night our bedroom was a long narrow area of sand, maybe 3 feet across and then a straight up rock wall that retained the heat of the sun long into the night. We were about 6 feet from the water. We learned not to put our bedrolls down until just before bed. The sand retains heat long into the night. This has been the most difficult and strenuous undertaking of my life. Larry says the same is true for him.
There is great looking bedrock all around. Larry spent 2 hours sniping after we made camp and only came up with a few colors. He says the area has been worked hard. It seems impossible since we are so far from a road or trailhead.
Later in the morning: We've had our tea and protein bars and have decided to move out as soon as there is sun on the water. We want to get our next move over with and hopefully we'll find a better camp with some shade this afternoon. We are hoping for a nice camp spot tonight ~ shade, sandy area for sleeping, flat bedrock for gear and sitting AND some gold would be nice. We figure we are about 1/3 of the way to the bridge at Mineral Bar. I think we would stay put a couple of days if we could find a good spot.
We can see up ahead and there is another rapids and then a big bend in the river. We are going to cross the river and portage around the rapids. We are praying for an easy trek today ~ sandy bottom, even cobbles would be OK. We saw a hiker way up on the trail just after 7 this morning and amazingly, 2 runners right at nightfall last night. We feel certain they were training for the Western States 100 mile run.
Pain and agony. We're not eating much. We took our first bath in the river last evening after the sun went behind the ridge ~ COLD water! We must remember to bathe while it is still sunny. We are in the water most of the day but shampooing and cleaning up with soap felt good ...... after we got out of the river and warmed up in the summer air.
Early afternoon ~ Thank you God! Finally, we have a wonderful camping spot. We are on a long expanse of cobble beach with nice sandy areas for our bed. We are on the south side of the river but there are several shade trees on the rocky ridge above us. There is even flat bedrock for our gear. Now, if there is just some gold. Larry is off sniping.
We set out early this morning. We rafted everything across the river and then changed into boots and portaged around the rapids. We decided to hike our gear as far as we could. We ran out of bedrock and a place to walk at the bottom of a deep pool ~ maybe 15 feet deep. We were thankful to be able to miss the rapids and having to swim through another deep pool with our gear. We could see another series of rapids farther down the river. We decided to take a rest after hauling all of our gear to this spot. The grotto-like pool with it's clear, deep teal colored water was amazingly beautiful. There are big leafed plants along the far side of the pool. We could see several large bass swimming around. We decided to change back into wetsuits and river shoes so that we could float our gear across the river and then portage our gear down below the next series of rapids. It seems like alot of work but it's much easier than making our way down the rapids in the river.
After we crossed the river we could see that there was actually a series of 3 rapids and then a long riffle so we decided to hike the gear down below the riffle, which was quite a distance.
We went high and up over the bedrock. Easy does it ~ slow and steady. How do we make our way down this river? One day at a time, one stretch at a time, one step at a time. That is what we decided last night when we felt so beaten and exhausted ~ we'll just have to take it one stretch at a time and if that is too much, just one step at a time. This river trip is like a metaphor for life; you never know what is around the next bend.
It took 2 trips each to get our gear below the riffles. One trip with packs and each carrying 2 bags of gear and then one trip with the raft and a light load of gear. Out of our boots and back into wetsuits and river shoes, load the raft and we are off again. First there was a long stretch of boulders. We have discovered that in the deeper water, where we have a foothold, we can lightly push off instead of firmly placing each foot and it is much easier. At the end of the boulders was our longest stretch of deep water yet, maybe 20 feet deep, and we couldn't even see around the bend to know where it ended. Larry decided that we should hang to the right because it looked like there were some handholds in the bedrock. It was hard going for Larry - holding on to the front of the raft, his new wooden 8 foot staff and trying to find handholds on the rocks. All I could really do was hold on to the back of the raft and kick to try to help move us along. Finally, about half way through the pool Larry saw a spot where he thought he could climb up and over and pull the raft along while I stayed in the water to steady the rear of the raft. A good set of flippers would have come in handy.
He was able to finally climb out and go up and over past the first outcropping ~ I had to keep kicking out toward the middle of the river so that he could pull me and the gear downriver. The next manuver was more difficult. Larry had to climb up a fracture in the rock face like a cat, up and way over an outcropping of bedrock. The river shoes helped him with traction. I had to really push out with my legs and kick hard several times to get beyond the outcroppings at the waterline but finally he was able to pull the raft and me down the river. Once I was adrift I felt like Cleopatra on her barge. It was a little scary because I couldn't see Larry most of the time. Thank goodness for our very long rope. Larry climbed over yet another large abuttment of bedrock and I continued kicking away from the edge. Finally, Larry climbed back down to the river and got in the water because he could see that it was shallow enough for walking in the river and it was gravel. For quite a distance I wasn't able to touch the bottom so he pulled me and the raft along, like Humphey Bogart in the African Queen. This deep pool and grotto area were even more beautiful than the one we saw earlier this morning. We headed to the left bank and found our large gravel bar and wonderful campspot for tonight and this is where we have been since about 1:30.
It is very warm and I am so sleepy. I think I'll go cool off in the river and then take a nap.
Larry: Day 3 Early Morning ~ Early morning, having our cup of tea sitting with our backs against the rock wall that we slept against. Watching the sun catch the tops of the high ridges - comparing pain. Our night was semi-restless, more for Charlotte than me. I had much less trepidation about bears last night as our camp was perched right on the river with steep cliffs above.
I woke up around midnight and we had a nice conversation while watching for meteorites. My body is aching and stiff but my spirit is beginning to embrace our challenge. I guess I'd say that mentally, it's getting easier. Monday night I was filled with fear and trepidation as in, "what have I gotten us into?" And thinking whether or not we were up to this adventure. My male ego wants me to be up to any challenge, no matter how extreme .....but time has taken a toll on my body. 28 years ago, we could have waltzed down the Steven's Trail and laughed at our soreness and bruises. But today, at 58 & 68, they take on new meaning. I am going to concentrate more on the trip and less on how much gold I find. Since the gold has been disappointing so far, I'll look for the treasure of time spent well with my love.
Evening - We moved down river once again - portaging several rapids and a deep pool. I finally had to climb up and over a wall of bedrock and tow the raft through a very deep pool. The problem with those deep holes is the up river wind is much stronger than the current and our feeble kicks ....so, without any purchase on the bank or the bottom, you go upstream! We had literally prayed for an easier day with a nice camp spot and what do you know?! Around the corner appeared an ideal sandy, gravel bar with ample shade (until the late afternoon). We rejoiced over our fairly easy move and our sweet camp.
I rested for an hour or so and then went sniping. Same story - little to no gold. But, we had a marvelous day and now a super camp, time to rest and recuperate. Our water filter is a gem. With it, I can fill a 2 gallon jar in about 10 minutes and our little one liter bottle in 3. Each afternoon I fill the liter bottle with cool river water and we add lemonade powder for an afternoon treat. Do we know how to live or what!?!?
I'm sitting here looking up at the Steven's Trail. It seems like weeks ago that we were struggling our way along it, looking down on this part of the river. I'm bushed. I think that we hadn't rested enough from our barn labors to really be up for this trip. I have a residual fatigue that catches up with me by mid-afternoon.
*** I want to note here that this adventure was a result of a book that Larry purchased.
By the end of the first day I was ready to hurt the author of the book.
By the end of day 2 I wanted to hurt him and make him eat the book.
By day 3, I knew exactly what I wanted to do to him. I wanted to send him down the Steven's Trail with 70 pounds on his back and have him hike, walk, climb, swim, claw and crawl his way to the Iowa Hill Bridge. The floating part in the book sounded so easy..... "floating your gear down the river". Oh, there was soooo much more to it than that.
North Fork American River ~ More Sun
Charlotte: Early Wednesday Morning: LONG night last night! Our bodies have really taken a beating. We are sore beyond belief. Even with 4 Advil I didn't sleep much because my whole body is sore and every time I moved the pain woke me up. I can't believe I didn't bring any Bounce Back. I thought this was going to be an easy stroll down the middle of the river. Instead, it is an experience in torture. The river is strewn with boulders most of the way - platter size to banana box size, slippery, laying at different angles. We made our way slowly with the raft trying to keep our footing but we have both fallen repeatedly. We are bruised and sore. Add to that, walking a mile or more each day in water that varies from knee deep to chest deep or even deeper. It doesn't seem far unless you are in the water. The deep pools are the hardest. The river is low and there is very little current, so we hang on to the raft and try to paddle our way through. Often there is a stiff wind that blows us in the opposite direction.
We learned the first day to stay near the bank so that we can find some footing on the bedrock once in awhile, when it's shallow enough to reach with our feet. It is very strenuous going through the deepest pools. Then there are the rapids - boulder fields with swifter moving water, pushing you along and you can't see where you are stepping. We portaged around a long series of rapids yesterday and a long pool on Monday. We made it through 2 areas of rapids and that was enough yesterday. We stopped at a less than ideal camp spot. We were exhausted. The sand was just wide enough for our bed and even that required more sand. Larry hauled several loads of sand in the gold pan. There was absolutely no shade of any kind. We didn't have any shade until after 6 PM. I am guessing that it was up in the 90's. There were no flat rocks to put our gear on. The night before we had some nice flat bedrock. Last night our bedroom was a long narrow area of sand, maybe 3 feet across and then a straight up rock wall that retained the heat of the sun long into the night. We were about 6 feet from the water. We learned not to put our bedrolls down until just before bed. The sand retains heat long into the night. This has been the most difficult and strenuous undertaking of my life. Larry says the same is true for him.
There is great looking bedrock all around. Larry spent 2 hours sniping after we made camp and only came up with a few colors. He says the area has been worked hard. It seems impossible since we are so far from a road or trailhead.
Later in the morning: We've had our tea and protein bars and have decided to move out as soon as there is sun on the water. We want to get our next move over with and hopefully we'll find a better camp with some shade this afternoon. We are hoping for a nice camp spot tonight ~ shade, sandy area for sleeping, flat bedrock for gear and sitting AND some gold would be nice. We figure we are about 1/3 of the way to the bridge at Mineral Bar. I think we would stay put a couple of days if we could find a good spot.
We can see up ahead and there is another rapids and then a big bend in the river. We are going to cross the river and portage around the rapids. We are praying for an easy trek today ~ sandy bottom, even cobbles would be OK. We saw a hiker way up on the trail just after 7 this morning and amazingly, 2 runners right at nightfall last night. We feel certain they were training for the Western States 100 mile run.
Pain and agony. We're not eating much. We took our first bath in the river last evening after the sun went behind the ridge ~ COLD water! We must remember to bathe while it is still sunny. We are in the water most of the day but shampooing and cleaning up with soap felt good ...... after we got out of the river and warmed up in the summer air.
Early afternoon ~ Thank you God! Finally, we have a wonderful camping spot. We are on a long expanse of cobble beach with nice sandy areas for our bed. We are on the south side of the river but there are several shade trees on the rocky ridge above us. There is even flat bedrock for our gear. Now, if there is just some gold. Larry is off sniping.
We set out early this morning. We rafted everything across the river and then changed into boots and portaged around the rapids. We decided to hike our gear as far as we could. We ran out of bedrock and a place to walk at the bottom of a deep pool ~ maybe 15 feet deep. We were thankful to be able to miss the rapids and having to swim through another deep pool with our gear. We could see another series of rapids farther down the river. We decided to take a rest after hauling all of our gear to this spot. The grotto-like pool with it's clear, deep teal colored water was amazingly beautiful. There are big leafed plants along the far side of the pool. We could see several large bass swimming around. We decided to change back into wetsuits and river shoes so that we could float our gear across the river and then portage our gear down below the next series of rapids. It seems like alot of work but it's much easier than making our way down the rapids in the river.
After we crossed the river we could see that there was actually a series of 3 rapids and then a long riffle so we decided to hike the gear down below the riffle, which was quite a distance.
We went high and up over the bedrock. Easy does it ~ slow and steady. How do we make our way down this river? One day at a time, one stretch at a time, one step at a time. That is what we decided last night when we felt so beaten and exhausted ~ we'll just have to take it one stretch at a time and if that is too much, just one step at a time. This river trip is like a metaphor for life; you never know what is around the next bend.
It took 2 trips each to get our gear below the riffles. One trip with packs and each carrying 2 bags of gear and then one trip with the raft and a light load of gear. Out of our boots and back into wetsuits and river shoes, load the raft and we are off again. First there was a long stretch of boulders. We have discovered that in the deeper water, where we have a foothold, we can lightly push off instead of firmly placing each foot and it is much easier. At the end of the boulders was our longest stretch of deep water yet, maybe 20 feet deep, and we couldn't even see around the bend to know where it ended. Larry decided that we should hang to the right because it looked like there were some handholds in the bedrock. It was hard going for Larry - holding on to the front of the raft, his new wooden 8 foot staff and trying to find handholds on the rocks. All I could really do was hold on to the back of the raft and kick to try to help move us along. Finally, about half way through the pool Larry saw a spot where he thought he could climb up and over and pull the raft along while I stayed in the water to steady the rear of the raft. A good set of flippers would have come in handy.
He was able to finally climb out and go up and over past the first outcropping ~ I had to keep kicking out toward the middle of the river so that he could pull me and the gear downriver. The next manuver was more difficult. Larry had to climb up a fracture in the rock face like a cat, up and way over an outcropping of bedrock. The river shoes helped him with traction. I had to really push out with my legs and kick hard several times to get beyond the outcroppings at the waterline but finally he was able to pull the raft and me down the river. Once I was adrift I felt like Cleopatra on her barge. It was a little scary because I couldn't see Larry most of the time. Thank goodness for our very long rope. Larry climbed over yet another large abuttment of bedrock and I continued kicking away from the edge. Finally, Larry climbed back down to the river and got in the water because he could see that it was shallow enough for walking in the river and it was gravel. For quite a distance I wasn't able to touch the bottom so he pulled me and the raft along, like Humphey Bogart in the African Queen. This deep pool and grotto area were even more beautiful than the one we saw earlier this morning. We headed to the left bank and found our large gravel bar and wonderful campspot for tonight and this is where we have been since about 1:30.
It is very warm and I am so sleepy. I think I'll go cool off in the river and then take a nap.
Larry: Day 3 Early Morning ~ Early morning, having our cup of tea sitting with our backs against the rock wall that we slept against. Watching the sun catch the tops of the high ridges - comparing pain. Our night was semi-restless, more for Charlotte than me. I had much less trepidation about bears last night as our camp was perched right on the river with steep cliffs above.
I woke up around midnight and we had a nice conversation while watching for meteorites. My body is aching and stiff but my spirit is beginning to embrace our challenge. I guess I'd say that mentally, it's getting easier. Monday night I was filled with fear and trepidation as in, "what have I gotten us into?" And thinking whether or not we were up to this adventure. My male ego wants me to be up to any challenge, no matter how extreme .....but time has taken a toll on my body. 28 years ago, we could have waltzed down the Steven's Trail and laughed at our soreness and bruises. But today, at 58 & 68, they take on new meaning. I am going to concentrate more on the trip and less on how much gold I find. Since the gold has been disappointing so far, I'll look for the treasure of time spent well with my love.
Evening - We moved down river once again - portaging several rapids and a deep pool. I finally had to climb up and over a wall of bedrock and tow the raft through a very deep pool. The problem with those deep holes is the up river wind is much stronger than the current and our feeble kicks ....so, without any purchase on the bank or the bottom, you go upstream! We had literally prayed for an easier day with a nice camp spot and what do you know?! Around the corner appeared an ideal sandy, gravel bar with ample shade (until the late afternoon). We rejoiced over our fairly easy move and our sweet camp.
I rested for an hour or so and then went sniping. Same story - little to no gold. But, we had a marvelous day and now a super camp, time to rest and recuperate. Our water filter is a gem. With it, I can fill a 2 gallon jar in about 10 minutes and our little one liter bottle in 3. Each afternoon I fill the liter bottle with cool river water and we add lemonade powder for an afternoon treat. Do we know how to live or what!?!?
I'm sitting here looking up at the Steven's Trail. It seems like weeks ago that we were struggling our way along it, looking down on this part of the river. I'm bushed. I think that we hadn't rested enough from our barn labors to really be up for this trip. I have a residual fatigue that catches up with me by mid-afternoon.
*** I want to note here that this adventure was a result of a book that Larry purchased.
By the end of the first day I was ready to hurt the author of the book.
By the end of day 2 I wanted to hurt him and make him eat the book.
By day 3, I knew exactly what I wanted to do to him. I wanted to send him down the Steven's Trail with 70 pounds on his back and have him hike, walk, climb, swim, claw and crawl his way to the Iowa Hill Bridge. The floating part in the book sounded so easy..... "floating your gear down the river". Oh, there was soooo much more to it than that.
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