Day 3
The previous night I woke up with my brand new NEMO pad from REI deflated. It happened again that night. As a result, Mikalya spent some of the night smushed against the side of the tent as I attempted to share her pad with her.
Our alarms woke us up at 6:30 the following morning. As we warmed up in our sleeping bags and regained feeling in our legs, we considered our life choices. At 7 AM we greeted our new neighbors who were off to do Positive Vibrations, one of whom was a climber from Santa Cruz who we had not known previously.
We packed up our tent, clothes, and sleeping bags. After that, we ate our last freeze-dried meal, a breakfast skillet. It did not hit the spot like that chicken teriyaki did, however, it did give us the necessary sustenance until we could make it to the Jolly Cone, a must-try when in Bridgeport.
Before we left we were greeted by a marmot, deemed “Mr. Chubs”, who was admiring his rock for the morning.
He is there if you look very carefully
At 9:30 we were packed up and left what was our amazing camping location for 2 nights.
Leaving camp before crossing the snow field.
We then crossed the snow field that was next to our camp. Although the sun was up due to the size of the hulk our camp was in the shade still. The snowfield was very solid but icy. So much so that Mikayla slipped with her pack on, fortunately, she was okay.
We descended further following my AVENZA GPS map this time and had to cross more snow. This time it was a bit steeper, it was 10 AM.
About 15 minutes later we came across a snow field that looked too precarious to cross over. When checking out the base we saw that there was a path underneath with a steam going through it. While at first nerve-racking we found this to be the coolest part of the trail by far.
The initial squeeze under the snow.
Me trying to point to the waterfall and blocking it in the process.
Mikayla on the other hand actually knows how to pose.
We realized on this descent just how pleasant it could be staying on the trail. Passing by gorgeous waterfalls on at worst easy talus fields.
Yours truly next to a waterfall on the descent.
Crossing the river where we were supposed to on the approach led us across a well-constructed bridge with many logs. We made great pace from here. It was about 11:30 at this log crossing and we made it to the last steam crossing, a little under a mile away, at 12:20.
Once again following the map of this section resulted in a much more secure steam crossing with minimal bushwacking. Who would have thought?!
One of the last views of the Hulk we would have for a while (until we return).
The last river crossing on the map that we would do. Right before the flat section.
Finally, we had reached the much flatter section of our descent, we took a little break and started up the last leg of the hike.
We cruised through these last 2- 2.5 miles in under an hour. It was 1:20 when we made it back to the car.
Mikayla stoked the car is in sight.
Mikayla jumped into the lake to cool down. We then headed off to Jolly Cone. After wolfing down a burger each and an order of onion rings we headed across SPH. Traffic was not bad except for the normal 580 slowdown. Arriving to Santa Cruz safe and sound at 8:30 we unpacked and hit the sack.
We now are basking in the soreness of an awesome adventure and great memories.
Extra Notes:
Mikayla brought crampons and I borrowed a pair of snow creepers from Brad. We did not know if we would need them so they got a free ride. This violates the “no free rides” rule of bringing gear, however, it's always nice to “be prepared”. Overall they did not contribute that much to the weight and it was worth the peace of mind. Thank you Brad for offering, I appreciate it.
There were some gear issues we could have improved on. Both Mikayla and I were using hand-me-down backpacking packs. Both of our waist straps did not tighten down enough on our waists and therefore a lot of the weight was on our shoulders. We need to get better-fitting packs before our next trip.
Also having the super topo to confirm I was on route was very nice. Croft’s guide would have been sufficient then using your best judgment with taking the “line of least resistance” to get up would have worked fine. However, to confirm that we were in fact on route, we found the supertopo most helpful. Thank you Cole for the topo.
The descent on Mountain project seemed to be the most helpful/accurate description for locating the anchors to rappel. As always take in-person beta with a grain of salt.
We brought up to a #4 and found it very nice to have as it found a home on nearly every pitch. Especially the last pitch where Mikayla bumped it the entire time and still found a place for it as the anchor.
