Total Miles: 35 (including the wrong turn)
We needed a multiday point to point hike, where better than our own backyard with a destination that would easily keep us motivated, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Midway. After studying maps and satellite imagery we plotted out a 3 day and 40 miles backpacking adventure.
We set out early after waking our friend Kent to drive us to the Desolation trailhead halfway up Millcreek Canyon. Kent had been out late the night before, yet he rallied through the struggle and got us to our starting point. (THANK YOU KENT!) Everything was going great and our stoke was high. A couple miles into our 12 mile trek for the day and we walk into a wall of mosquitoes. Time to get our DEET on. I spayed some on my arms and legs, and Jamie asked me to spray her down. I get her covered, except I missed the bottom sides of her arms. So I turn the can upside down to reach them. The powerful spray of a new can of Deepwoods OFF comes out with such force, it sprays past her arm and blasts her in the face. Eye balls, mouth, nostrils, all covered in Deet. Then comes the screams, followed by sneezing, tears, snot, and a string of profanities. I drop my pack, grab a bottle of water and start flushing her eyes. I'm not sure it did much more than make her shirt wet. After 15 minutes of writhing in pain, Jamie powered on and continued through the pain.
After a couple thousand foot climb, we reach the ridge, but then lose the trail. Looking at a poor excuse for a map on my phone, we take a guess and continue along the ridge line. Fighting the even steeper terain, loose rocks, and quickly losing the trail again, we turn around deciding this can't be the correct trail. We reach the trail again and go West instead of east. I charge ahead trying to get a better view to confirm we are where we are supposed to be. The brush is nearly 5 feet tall and Jamie can only see my head. All of a sudden she looses site of me, hears a grunt followed by a thud, and with that I'm gone. Like a scene out of Jurassic Park, I dissapear. While charging a head I tripped on a tree root, and because of the brush I was instantly camouflaged. Other than a bruise, I also found the trail. Back at it! Lets go!
Up until now we had been shaded by the large trees surrounding us in a narrow canyon. Now hiking along the south facing side of Big Cottonwood canyon we're exposed to the hot sun. Our only water stop is Dog Lake, which is still 7+ miles away. Our thirst grew strong. Soon our water supply is getting low enough conservation is required. We keep giving water to Teller as he is suffering in the heat more than us at this point. The trail seemed to go on forever. What we thought was 10-12 miles, later turned out to be closer to 16 miles. We finally reached Dog Lake at dusk, but with still enough light to set up camp and to use our new Platypus Gravity water filter. We were so excited to get fresh water and quench our raging thirst. I first became a little worried when I filled up the dirty water bag, and I could see little swimmers in the water. "Oh well" I thought, "thats what the filter is for." After waiting for it filter, we started drinking. Although the water may be safe to drink, it did not taste like it was safe. Dog Lake has dozens of dogs swimming in it everyday, and it tasted like it! A mix of wet dog and mosquito breeding ground, but it was still water.
The next morning came early. We awoke to mountain bikers out for a sunrise ride from a different trailhead only a few miles away. I was slow going. Nauseated and feeling quite sick. In retrospect, I think I was dehydrated. I sweated out so much on the hike, and couldn't make myself drink enough pond water to get back to normal. But we continue on!
After a few miles, on our way to Lake Desolation, we start passing a lot of mountain bikers. First a couple, then a few more, and by the time we were climbing the ridge alone the Great Western Trail, there were hundreds. I had no idea there were so many bikers! Lucky for us, they never yielded to hikers. Leaving us to jump off the trail into the weeds, whisking Teller out of the way, as they zip past flying down the mountain. Around this time, Teller was starting to limp on his front paw. We stop, take a look at it, and with all the miles, sharp rocks Teller's pads were wearing through and on the virg of bleeding. Pull out the dog first aid bootie, and get him bandaged up. Although he didn't like the boot much, he looked happier with it on. But it only took a few minutes before I realized he was limping on his rear paw too. Took a look at it and it was in bad shape too. There was no way he would be able to make the miles we had planned ahead. Looking at our map, decide we need to get him off the trail, and the nearest place is Guardsman's Pass only about 5 miles away. Calling Kent back, and explaining the situation, he volunteered to be our evac transportation.
The battle with mountain bikers continue, but we are on our way to get Teller back home. Passing Scott Hill (a transmitter site) we know were are so close to Guardsman's. Jamie points off in the distance and asks "Is that it?" I look over and see Big Cottonwood Canyon highway. "No that's not it." looking back down at the trail and putting one foot in front of the other. Continuing along the trail where all the mountain bikers are coming from, I look on my map and verify we are going the right direction, there is only one trail on the map and although the GPS dot doesn't have us directly on the trail, its close enough. We begin our descent off the ridge. Making quick time now that we are losing elevation instead of gaining it. I check my map again. We are no longer anywhere near the marked trail. But this is such an established trail it must go somewhere, there are still dozens and dozens of mountain bikers. After nearly and hour, I catch up with Jamie who has been dancing to music and skipping down the trail. "We are lost!" I exclaim. "This is definitely the wrong trail. I think we are dropping into Park City somewhere. We missed our turn off, we were supposed to turn right at the ridge." "I thought that was the turn off." Jamie said cheerfully, obviously still singing along in her head with the song on her iphone. "Oh well, how much further can it be?"
"Jamie! Stop it!" I said. "Stop what?" Jamie asks. "Stop dancing, singing, and skipping down the trail! This is serious! We are lost, I don't know what trail we're on. Who knows how far we have to go now? Teller is barely hanging in there. What if we have carry him down the rest of the mountain?" I am at the end of my rope as I rattle this off with much frustration in my voice. Jamie looks at me and says: "But I can't fix any of those things, so what good does it do to not have fun?" "Commiserate with me!!!" I exclaim!
I call Kent back and let him know his services are no longer required, knowing that he had plans that night. Instead switching the mayday call to Mum and Dad to see if they are available to pick us up in what we think is going to be Park City. We continue to see pass mountain bikers as they are pedalling up him. Each time we now ask them how much further to the bottom? Everytime we get the same response. "Not far, maybe 5 miles." Encouraged by this, it should be much easier to just continue down the trail rather than try to go back up the couple thousand feet we just dropped. Now a few hours later, still hiking down these never ending switchbacks we keep getting the same mileage estimates from these bikes. "About 5 miles." WTF! I know we're not walking in circles. Afer a few more hours of this, keeping in mind that we were less than 30 minutes from our pickup before a wrong turn, we make it to paved road. Call Mum and Dad and give them directions to where we are and the come to our rescue. We are exhausted, dehydrated, and feet are so sore. And Teller made it though despite his shredded pads.
I later mapped out our miles, and we hiked close to 20 miles on day two alone. 15 miles was our original plan before we decided to end early.
We both learned so much about ourselves, each other, maps, and backpacking on this trip. Although a lot of difficult moments, it was still one of our best trips to date.
We needed a multiday point to point hike, where better than our own backyard with a destination that would easily keep us motivated, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Midway. After studying maps and satellite imagery we plotted out a 3 day and 40 miles backpacking adventure.
We set out early after waking our friend Kent to drive us to the Desolation trailhead halfway up Millcreek Canyon. Kent had been out late the night before, yet he rallied through the struggle and got us to our starting point. (THANK YOU KENT!) Everything was going great and our stoke was high. A couple miles into our 12 mile trek for the day and we walk into a wall of mosquitoes. Time to get our DEET on. I spayed some on my arms and legs, and Jamie asked me to spray her down. I get her covered, except I missed the bottom sides of her arms. So I turn the can upside down to reach them. The powerful spray of a new can of Deepwoods OFF comes out with such force, it sprays past her arm and blasts her in the face. Eye balls, mouth, nostrils, all covered in Deet. Then comes the screams, followed by sneezing, tears, snot, and a string of profanities. I drop my pack, grab a bottle of water and start flushing her eyes. I'm not sure it did much more than make her shirt wet. After 15 minutes of writhing in pain, Jamie powered on and continued through the pain.
After a couple thousand foot climb, we reach the ridge, but then lose the trail. Looking at a poor excuse for a map on my phone, we take a guess and continue along the ridge line. Fighting the even steeper terain, loose rocks, and quickly losing the trail again, we turn around deciding this can't be the correct trail. We reach the trail again and go West instead of east. I charge ahead trying to get a better view to confirm we are where we are supposed to be. The brush is nearly 5 feet tall and Jamie can only see my head. All of a sudden she looses site of me, hears a grunt followed by a thud, and with that I'm gone. Like a scene out of Jurassic Park, I dissapear. While charging a head I tripped on a tree root, and because of the brush I was instantly camouflaged. Other than a bruise, I also found the trail. Back at it! Lets go!
Up until now we had been shaded by the large trees surrounding us in a narrow canyon. Now hiking along the south facing side of Big Cottonwood canyon we're exposed to the hot sun. Our only water stop is Dog Lake, which is still 7+ miles away. Our thirst grew strong. Soon our water supply is getting low enough conservation is required. We keep giving water to Teller as he is suffering in the heat more than us at this point. The trail seemed to go on forever. What we thought was 10-12 miles, later turned out to be closer to 16 miles. We finally reached Dog Lake at dusk, but with still enough light to set up camp and to use our new Platypus Gravity water filter. We were so excited to get fresh water and quench our raging thirst. I first became a little worried when I filled up the dirty water bag, and I could see little swimmers in the water. "Oh well" I thought, "thats what the filter is for." After waiting for it filter, we started drinking. Although the water may be safe to drink, it did not taste like it was safe. Dog Lake has dozens of dogs swimming in it everyday, and it tasted like it! A mix of wet dog and mosquito breeding ground, but it was still water.
The next morning came early. We awoke to mountain bikers out for a sunrise ride from a different trailhead only a few miles away. I was slow going. Nauseated and feeling quite sick. In retrospect, I think I was dehydrated. I sweated out so much on the hike, and couldn't make myself drink enough pond water to get back to normal. But we continue on!
After a few miles, on our way to Lake Desolation, we start passing a lot of mountain bikers. First a couple, then a few more, and by the time we were climbing the ridge alone the Great Western Trail, there were hundreds. I had no idea there were so many bikers! Lucky for us, they never yielded to hikers. Leaving us to jump off the trail into the weeds, whisking Teller out of the way, as they zip past flying down the mountain. Around this time, Teller was starting to limp on his front paw. We stop, take a look at it, and with all the miles, sharp rocks Teller's pads were wearing through and on the virg of bleeding. Pull out the dog first aid bootie, and get him bandaged up. Although he didn't like the boot much, he looked happier with it on. But it only took a few minutes before I realized he was limping on his rear paw too. Took a look at it and it was in bad shape too. There was no way he would be able to make the miles we had planned ahead. Looking at our map, decide we need to get him off the trail, and the nearest place is Guardsman's Pass only about 5 miles away. Calling Kent back, and explaining the situation, he volunteered to be our evac transportation.
The battle with mountain bikers continue, but we are on our way to get Teller back home. Passing Scott Hill (a transmitter site) we know were are so close to Guardsman's. Jamie points off in the distance and asks "Is that it?" I look over and see Big Cottonwood Canyon highway. "No that's not it." looking back down at the trail and putting one foot in front of the other. Continuing along the trail where all the mountain bikers are coming from, I look on my map and verify we are going the right direction, there is only one trail on the map and although the GPS dot doesn't have us directly on the trail, its close enough. We begin our descent off the ridge. Making quick time now that we are losing elevation instead of gaining it. I check my map again. We are no longer anywhere near the marked trail. But this is such an established trail it must go somewhere, there are still dozens and dozens of mountain bikers. After nearly and hour, I catch up with Jamie who has been dancing to music and skipping down the trail. "We are lost!" I exclaim. "This is definitely the wrong trail. I think we are dropping into Park City somewhere. We missed our turn off, we were supposed to turn right at the ridge." "I thought that was the turn off." Jamie said cheerfully, obviously still singing along in her head with the song on her iphone. "Oh well, how much further can it be?"
"Jamie! Stop it!" I said. "Stop what?" Jamie asks. "Stop dancing, singing, and skipping down the trail! This is serious! We are lost, I don't know what trail we're on. Who knows how far we have to go now? Teller is barely hanging in there. What if we have carry him down the rest of the mountain?" I am at the end of my rope as I rattle this off with much frustration in my voice. Jamie looks at me and says: "But I can't fix any of those things, so what good does it do to not have fun?" "Commiserate with me!!!" I exclaim!
I call Kent back and let him know his services are no longer required, knowing that he had plans that night. Instead switching the mayday call to Mum and Dad to see if they are available to pick us up in what we think is going to be Park City. We continue to see pass mountain bikers as they are pedalling up him. Each time we now ask them how much further to the bottom? Everytime we get the same response. "Not far, maybe 5 miles." Encouraged by this, it should be much easier to just continue down the trail rather than try to go back up the couple thousand feet we just dropped. Now a few hours later, still hiking down these never ending switchbacks we keep getting the same mileage estimates from these bikes. "About 5 miles." WTF! I know we're not walking in circles. Afer a few more hours of this, keeping in mind that we were less than 30 minutes from our pickup before a wrong turn, we make it to paved road. Call Mum and Dad and give them directions to where we are and the come to our rescue. We are exhausted, dehydrated, and feet are so sore. And Teller made it though despite his shredded pads.
I later mapped out our miles, and we hiked close to 20 miles on day two alone. 15 miles was our original plan before we decided to end early.
We both learned so much about ourselves, each other, maps, and backpacking on this trip. Although a lot of difficult moments, it was still one of our best trips to date.
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