Looking Forward

[mynameismud]

Nice

[rhyang]

Awesome !  Went to visit my sisters' and brothers' families about a month ago .. could not believe how fast the little neices and nephews are growing up.

[mungeclimber]

Original post was in 2011. 

[JC w KC redux]

Original post was in 2011. 

yes my better half already told me so i deleted the post - but you caught me!

[Brad Young]

Well, we had a fantastic trip: excellent, on-the-cool-side weather, perfect amounts of water in the drainages, trails that varied from quite good to "I think this one still exists," nice animal sitings, a near-full moon, and overall family fun (with a little squabbling here and there as is normal with any family that includes a teenager). Everything went as planned and hoped for.

I got carried away though with the number of photos. Although I'll only post a few, in order to easily get them loaded up on Flickr and then use them from that site, I'll need to do five installments of further trip reports (one for each day).

We stayed in the Santa Ynez Valley the night before we started. This gave us a one hour drive to the trailhead. Our start from Nira Campground was, as always, smooth and practiced:




We planned on a ten mile first day down Manzana Creek to a very popular backpacking campsite called Manzana Schoolhouse. This site is at the junction of Manzana Creek and the Sisquoc River:






Backpacking isn't Vicki's first choice for vacationing any more. To make sure she will continue occasional trips with me, she gets preferential treatment. Things like fresh brewed coffee every morning (with cream). This trip we gave her a daypack only (Katie carried two sleeping bags):




The ten mile hike is all downhill and very gradual at that. But it also crosses the creek often (and frequently). We made 33 crossings on the first day (on the Sisquoc during the next two days we made many, many more). At first the girls tried to stay dry, boulder hopping initially, and then changing into Tevas at each crossing. After about 10 crossings they realized that it was much easier to just get their shoes wet:
















The dogs, of course had no worries about crossings:




And some crossings were easier than others:




The whole Manzana Schoolhouse area used to be a small farming/ranching community (a century ago - it is now slowly reverting to wilderness). Thus, as we neared Manzana Schoolhouse we encountered an old settler's cabin:




We tried to replicate some of the photos from 20 years ago. On the first day we had only very slight success. Twenty years ago:




This trip:




Eventually we arrived at Schoolhouse. We made camp and explored the area:










And so we ended a fun first day...

[Brad Young]

We started day two with a family photo:




Then we crossed Manzana Creek again and headed up the Sisquoc:




I knew roughly where Vicki and I had camped 20 years ago the night we got engaged. I had one photo of it, taken the next morning. I was surprised though how easily I found the exact location this time. Twenty years ago:




This trip:




After the "photo shoot" we continued up the Sisquoc. In this area the river basin is very broad. The trail typically travels one side of the canyon and then just kinda disappears. That's when a hiker crosses the river and looks for the "trail" continuing on the other side:










The whole lower part of the Sisquoc is some of the wildest country I've ever been in. I've done this part of the river now four or five times over the years and seen two other parties of people there ever. And the hiking is nearly cross country. There's no real way to keep a trail intact in a wide flood plain that gets really serious floods every 20 years or so. Our progress this day was slow, but that was what we had expected:







Just like before, crossings varied from broad and shallow to deep, and the dogs loved it (again). Twenty years ago:




This trip:




We encountered a beaver dam:




Just in case there was any doubt:







And then we ended a nice day in another of the already established backcountry camps in this area, Miller Canyon Camp:

[Brad Young]

Our third day was all spent on the Sisquoc again. And, although we only spent six hours hiking, it was tough enough that we only progressed five miles. We started the day with one of many (surprise coming!) river crossings:




An established camp that we passed is called Cliff Camp. Here is it's namesake (if Gavin reads this, the Sisquoc area used to be known as serious condor country and has a designated "condor refuge"):







Some of the crossings this day were not just deep, but swift. Although Tricia is one tough ten year old, I stood by to help her a few times (then, when we arrived in camp that afternoon we realized that some of the crossings were so deep that the sleeping bag that she'd been carrying in her pack was wet - from the bottom of the pack being in the water!):




We arrived at Sycamore Camp by three o'clock. It was so pretty we decided to stay there that night (as can be seen these back country camps really consist of a fire ring, a designation on a map, and, sometimes, a camp table):





We were able to match one other of the photos from 20 years ago (although the lighting is different). Twenty years ago:




From this trip (the tree on the left is older and bigger, but has the same bend; the rocks are in different light, but are the same):




Astute studiers of that last photo (Munge?) might see the knife in Vicki's hand. Actually it's a scissors, and it's not for me, it's from working on the burrs from the dog's fur:




By now the girls were in calorie deficit. So I gave them packets of high calorie almond butter. Katie, who'd insisted on carrying a package of marshmallows for roasting, immediately suggested that they eat the almond butter on marshmallows for maximum caloric effect:

[JC w KC redux]

good for smiles and laughs so far...

[Brad Young]

Our fourth day turned out to be longer then I'd anticipated. Given the milage we had left to finish, all three girls decided to go for the car in two days and not three.

The day started out with the most difficult river crossing of all - waist deep water over four inches of mud (Dennis ought to like that). Katie moved across first, and then realizing that her sister's pack would be in the water if she crossed with it, she went back and crossed again, carrying Tricia's pack and helping her:













We then continued up the Sisquoc to its junction with White Ledge Canyon (so named for the long series of sandstone cliffs that line it for a few miles). This part of the hike was easier than the lower part of the river, since there is a decent trail (which is up off the river) for much of the remaining several miles:













White Ledge Canyon leads up from the Sisquoc toward Manzana Creek. It requires a fair amount of uphill. It was 6:00 by the time we'd finished the up part, and we were pretty tired. We'd also climbed to 4,000 feet by now and the wind and temperatures made for very cold conditions. So we found a nice flow of water and a pretty flat spot and set up camp:




Although we tried to have a campfire, the wind and cold were too much and we soon retired to the tent for hot soup and dinner:










Although it got down below freezing overnight, we were warm until morning (when I had to get out to get breakfast stuff going). It was a nice last night's camp which set us up well for a full, but not too long hike out on day five.

[mungeclimber]

knife spotted!

I see a return trip in another 20 years in your future!

[Brad Young]

I see a return trip in another 20 years in your future!

Don't let Vicki see that comment or she'll write you out of the will!

[mungeclimber]

ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh

you gotta surprise her with it.

definitely don't say you're going right after you got back too!  lol  let the bruises heal first.

[Brad Young]

On our last day a very cold morning meant breakfast in the tent:




Vicki got to examine the bruise incurred in a stream crossing fall:




And then we were off in still very cold conditions. First to the edge of the Manzana Canyon, then down switchbacks and then down the creek itself to the car (the girls were already scheming about In and Out burgers):







We stopped at Manzana Narrows Camp for water and food.  This is a very popular, very pretty, short backpacking destination:










And then on down the creek by way of a good trail:







We had a nice creekside lunch, and, finally saw our "good luck" horned toad (they became a good luck token for us on the trip 20 years ago; we almost always see them):







We made it back to the truck in good time (Vicki really kicked butt on the hiking this trip), and took off to dinner, home, showers and warm beds:




P.S. Munge, Vicki read your post about 20 years from now. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not you  

[mungeclimber]

some good rock in some of those pics

deep water slab

some nice sandstone above that, eh?

[rhyang]

Nice shots !  Have backpacked quite a bit in the northern Los Padres NF (Ventana/Silver Peak Wilderness) but have yet to visit the south.

[JC w KC redux]

super enjoyable reading and looking at your anniversary adventure...although sadly a few of the pics aren't coming through right now. cliffs do look tempting and i'm totally down with the In N Out Burgers idea too - that is the great side advantage to the West Side at Pinns as well...happy trails!

[Brad Young]

Yeah, about the photos not coming through, Flickr is being weird on how it downloads and stores the photos. Basically it is taking a day or more before photos stored there find a permanent address, as (apparently) to a temporary/thumbnail address.  I'll fix the (three?) broken links tonight when I get home.

And the rock there isn't actually as good as it looks from a distance. Not only is it waaay in the back country, it's all less than optimal sandstone, or worse. The nearest same-type rock I can think of is Mount Diablo sandstone, but in this case it is still scaly and not cleaned up.

And, Rhyang, I've also backpacked very extensively in the Ventana. The San Rafael Wilderness is drier, but also seems bigger and wilder. It's very worth a visit if you like wild country.

[Brad Young]

OK, links fixed now.

[jewelzsez1]

Great TR and pictures!! Especially loved the way back pics...great memories both backward and forward. Looks like you had a very fun family adventure.

[waldo]

Brad, what a classic trip!  Thanks for sharing it with us.  The photos are great.  That looks like some rough country and the river crossings reminded me of my first backpack trip with Phyllis.  She fell into the Carmel River and lost (temporarily) her shoes.  I know what a happy camper doesn't look like.