Expedition: Skyline to the Sea
(Beware - Eric-like submission below)
Key Info:
Castle Rock State Park (Saratoga) to Waddell Beach (Santa Cruz)
31 miles (possibly 27 or 34, depending on which State Park signs you read)
Elevation Change: Net - minus 1,500ft, Gross - enough to make your soul hurt
3 Days / 2 Nights
Day One: Friday 6/10
Destination: Waterman Gap - 6.7 miles
Given that we only had a bit over 6 miles to hike on the first day, we took our time getting ready and left the house around 10am. He had to drive down to Santa Cruz to drop Wifey's car at Waddell Beach, then drive to the starting point in Saratoga. It did take a bit longer to get there down Highway 1, but we were in no rush. I figured that we could comfortably hold 2mph as normal walking speed is just over 3mph, so we should only be on the trail for a maximum of four hours if we took our time. We had until sundown at 8:26pm to be at Waterman Gap, our first campsite.
We dropped her car around 12pm and then followed Google maps from Santa Cruz to Saratoga. It said to take Skyline, which is a ridge-line road from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, so we jumped off of Highway 17 onto Skyline. We quickly realized why it is not always the best idea to follow Google Maps when your gut says to take the well traveled 'long way'. As the road continued to narrow, eventually being just wider than a car, we decided to take the 'long way' when we came back to get my car in three days.
After finally arriving at Castle Rock around 1:30pm, we did a final check to make sure we had everything and started on our way. We were a bit surprised when we got to the trail head and it said 31 miles to Waddell Beach.
We were expecting 6 + 11+ 12 = 28 miles, but no worries, we were totally confident in our ability to knock this out in three days. About a mile in we came across a viewing platform next to a cool little waterfall. I was a lot cooler in person than the picture shows.
As we got further along the first trail we exited the trees to an astounding view where you can see the ocean. It was WAY out there with a lot of mountains between us and it however.
Our first major terrain change was about this same time when we started coming across large, steep and irregular rock formations. Normally these would be easy to scale, but with our heavy packs (25% of body weight) it was somewhat difficult navigating the big boulders and large steps.
These formations continued for about a mile, but the views were amazing from the cliff edge. In this picture you can see the trail we had just completed.
Then it got really weird. We came across a cliff edge with a cable to hold onto so that you don't fall off into oblivion. It wasn't that bad though, it was only a ~40ft fall, which is totally survivable.
Since Wifey didn't grow up doing 'outdoors activities' and hates snakes, she reacts to anything moving or making noises in the bushes. It usually starts with an absolutely terrified scream then quickly moves into a running in place squealing dancing-ish thing. We had to have multiple discussions about this reaction because if we were to come across a rattle snake, the last thing we needed was for her to start jumping up and down screaming. Thankfully over the first few miles we didn't see much beyond lizards. Which is funny because her reaction went from the above described reaction to getting close enough to kiss them. The bigger the lizard the more interested and time we spent looking at them. She also stopped reacting entirely because the sound that a lizard makes in the brush is different than a bird, which again is different than snake. It is a good thing that we had all of this lizard exposure early because we did end up running into a few small Garter snakes. Her reaction was definitely funny, but more of a lock-up with a slow back away. This was part of the rattle snake 'training' we had discussed prior to the trip: stop and back away slowly.
After going about three miles we ended up at an overnight campsite where we decided to have our lunch. Given that we were packing as light as possible, we packed the most nutrient rich foods that we could find. So we ate beef jerky, trail mix (with M&M's) and some fresh bread. Note the smile on Wifey's face at this great little break.
Once we got up and started moving to the next trail head, we found the mystery three miles from the first trail sign - they were behind us. I had miscalculated the mileage from our starting point as the directions I had downloaded discussed the mileage from Saratoga Gap, which is a few miles up the road from Castle Rock. Note Wifey's lack of smile just a few moments after the prior picture was taken.
After the campsite where we had lunch it was pretty clear that we were the only people on the trail. We had been walking for over an hour in which we saw not a soul, but a lot of lizards and a few more Garter snakes (which Wifey started poking at with her hiking pole). I also managed to misread a sign and send us off trail for about a mile of hard uphill. This was the point at which we (Wifey) decided we were going to make consensus decisions at trail junctions. After we got back onto track, we progressed downhill into the Redwoods and came across this little river.
As it turns out this is the headwaters of the San Lorenzo River, which is a massive drainage for the Santa Cruz mountains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Lorenzo_River). We had been told there was no water at the first campsite so we refilled our bottles and Camelback's here. This is not a quick process using a pump filter, so we sat down and ate a bit.
We started to notice that the shadows were starting to get a bit long when we realized that it was 6pm and we were still an estimated four miles from the camp. We got packed up as quickly as we could and started hammering towards the camp. Unfortunately and unknowingly, all of the downhill we had taken over the last few miles we were going to have to give back. After about a mile of steady climbing at a pretty heady pace we concluded that we still had over two miles to go and were not going anywhere fast enough to get to the camp before sundown. Adding to the situation, Wifey was starting to bonk because of how hard I had been pushing for the last hour. This is something that she normally could have just pushed through until we hit our next trail. It was a crossover to the actual Skyline-to-the-Sea trail and it was straight up. Well, maybe not straight up, but definitely a grade of well over 20%. We concluded that we would either need to stop for a while or we would need to shift weight to my bag. At this point it was after 7:15pm and we probably had another two miles left to camp. So we did what any reasonable couple would do and gave the man (ie. me) all of the weight and pushed on.
With Wifey leading pack-less she brought up the pace we had been holding for the last hour. As we continued trekking, she navigated me around rocks and roots because I couldn't see anything less than 6ft in front of me. After about 20-30min I was running out of gas from the ~80# of weight and Wifey took her pack back. She continued to lead carrying a pace that was just shy of running until we popped out onto a semi-paved road which led us to the campsite.
When we arrived at 8:12pm, with 14min to spare, there was a ranger waiting who asked if I was 'The Joker' and if we lost the rest of our party. I had made reservations for four hikers so we indeed lost the rest of our party, but before we even left Marin. We spent the next hour getting camp setup in pitch black darkness while multitasking and trying to boil water for our dehydrated lasagna (which was glorious). Despite it being somewhere in the upper-50's we were both so hot from our hike/jog for the last few miles that we had stripped down to t-shirts. Oh, and there was water at the campsite. We didn't need to waste 30min filling bottles and re-packing bags. Very glad I was able to haul that extra six pounds of water though...
We both crawled into our bags around 9:30pm and slept until around 7am.
(Beware - Eric-like submission below)
Key Info:
Castle Rock State Park (Saratoga) to Waddell Beach (Santa Cruz)
31 miles (possibly 27 or 34, depending on which State Park signs you read)
Elevation Change: Net - minus 1,500ft, Gross - enough to make your soul hurt
3 Days / 2 Nights
Day One: Friday 6/10
Destination: Waterman Gap - 6.7 miles
Given that we only had a bit over 6 miles to hike on the first day, we took our time getting ready and left the house around 10am. He had to drive down to Santa Cruz to drop Wifey's car at Waddell Beach, then drive to the starting point in Saratoga. It did take a bit longer to get there down Highway 1, but we were in no rush. I figured that we could comfortably hold 2mph as normal walking speed is just over 3mph, so we should only be on the trail for a maximum of four hours if we took our time. We had until sundown at 8:26pm to be at Waterman Gap, our first campsite.
We dropped her car around 12pm and then followed Google maps from Santa Cruz to Saratoga. It said to take Skyline, which is a ridge-line road from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, so we jumped off of Highway 17 onto Skyline. We quickly realized why it is not always the best idea to follow Google Maps when your gut says to take the well traveled 'long way'. As the road continued to narrow, eventually being just wider than a car, we decided to take the 'long way' when we came back to get my car in three days.
After finally arriving at Castle Rock around 1:30pm, we did a final check to make sure we had everything and started on our way. We were a bit surprised when we got to the trail head and it said 31 miles to Waddell Beach.
We were expecting 6 + 11+ 12 = 28 miles, but no worries, we were totally confident in our ability to knock this out in three days. About a mile in we came across a viewing platform next to a cool little waterfall. I was a lot cooler in person than the picture shows.
As we got further along the first trail we exited the trees to an astounding view where you can see the ocean. It was WAY out there with a lot of mountains between us and it however.
Our first major terrain change was about this same time when we started coming across large, steep and irregular rock formations. Normally these would be easy to scale, but with our heavy packs (25% of body weight) it was somewhat difficult navigating the big boulders and large steps.
These formations continued for about a mile, but the views were amazing from the cliff edge. In this picture you can see the trail we had just completed.
Then it got really weird. We came across a cliff edge with a cable to hold onto so that you don't fall off into oblivion. It wasn't that bad though, it was only a ~40ft fall, which is totally survivable.
Since Wifey didn't grow up doing 'outdoors activities' and hates snakes, she reacts to anything moving or making noises in the bushes. It usually starts with an absolutely terrified scream then quickly moves into a running in place squealing dancing-ish thing. We had to have multiple discussions about this reaction because if we were to come across a rattle snake, the last thing we needed was for her to start jumping up and down screaming. Thankfully over the first few miles we didn't see much beyond lizards. Which is funny because her reaction went from the above described reaction to getting close enough to kiss them. The bigger the lizard the more interested and time we spent looking at them. She also stopped reacting entirely because the sound that a lizard makes in the brush is different than a bird, which again is different than snake. It is a good thing that we had all of this lizard exposure early because we did end up running into a few small Garter snakes. Her reaction was definitely funny, but more of a lock-up with a slow back away. This was part of the rattle snake 'training' we had discussed prior to the trip: stop and back away slowly.
After going about three miles we ended up at an overnight campsite where we decided to have our lunch. Given that we were packing as light as possible, we packed the most nutrient rich foods that we could find. So we ate beef jerky, trail mix (with M&M's) and some fresh bread. Note the smile on Wifey's face at this great little break.
Once we got up and started moving to the next trail head, we found the mystery three miles from the first trail sign - they were behind us. I had miscalculated the mileage from our starting point as the directions I had downloaded discussed the mileage from Saratoga Gap, which is a few miles up the road from Castle Rock. Note Wifey's lack of smile just a few moments after the prior picture was taken.
After the campsite where we had lunch it was pretty clear that we were the only people on the trail. We had been walking for over an hour in which we saw not a soul, but a lot of lizards and a few more Garter snakes (which Wifey started poking at with her hiking pole). I also managed to misread a sign and send us off trail for about a mile of hard uphill. This was the point at which we (Wifey) decided we were going to make consensus decisions at trail junctions. After we got back onto track, we progressed downhill into the Redwoods and came across this little river.
As it turns out this is the headwaters of the San Lorenzo River, which is a massive drainage for the Santa Cruz mountains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Lorenzo_River). We had been told there was no water at the first campsite so we refilled our bottles and Camelback's here. This is not a quick process using a pump filter, so we sat down and ate a bit.
We started to notice that the shadows were starting to get a bit long when we realized that it was 6pm and we were still an estimated four miles from the camp. We got packed up as quickly as we could and started hammering towards the camp. Unfortunately and unknowingly, all of the downhill we had taken over the last few miles we were going to have to give back. After about a mile of steady climbing at a pretty heady pace we concluded that we still had over two miles to go and were not going anywhere fast enough to get to the camp before sundown. Adding to the situation, Wifey was starting to bonk because of how hard I had been pushing for the last hour. This is something that she normally could have just pushed through until we hit our next trail. It was a crossover to the actual Skyline-to-the-Sea trail and it was straight up. Well, maybe not straight up, but definitely a grade of well over 20%. We concluded that we would either need to stop for a while or we would need to shift weight to my bag. At this point it was after 7:15pm and we probably had another two miles left to camp. So we did what any reasonable couple would do and gave the man (ie. me) all of the weight and pushed on.
With Wifey leading pack-less she brought up the pace we had been holding for the last hour. As we continued trekking, she navigated me around rocks and roots because I couldn't see anything less than 6ft in front of me. After about 20-30min I was running out of gas from the ~80# of weight and Wifey took her pack back. She continued to lead carrying a pace that was just shy of running until we popped out onto a semi-paved road which led us to the campsite.
When we arrived at 8:12pm, with 14min to spare, there was a ranger waiting who asked if I was 'The Joker' and if we lost the rest of our party. I had made reservations for four hikers so we indeed lost the rest of our party, but before we even left Marin. We spent the next hour getting camp setup in pitch black darkness while multitasking and trying to boil water for our dehydrated lasagna (which was glorious). Despite it being somewhere in the upper-50's we were both so hot from our hike/jog for the last few miles that we had stripped down to t-shirts. Oh, and there was water at the campsite. We didn't need to waste 30min filling bottles and re-packing bags. Very glad I was able to haul that extra six pounds of water though...
We both crawled into our bags around 9:30pm and slept until around 7am.
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