....part 6 conclusion...

Day 3:

Morning came with a crisp coolness in the mountain air. I put on a coffee pot for hot water before most of our crew was out of their sleeping bags. The sun was rising and it looked like it would be another great day for hiking. I woke Andrew and told him we needed to break camp and have breakfast. He dressed and had a hot breakfast. It wasn’t long before we discussed the day’s hike, said a prayer and began our assent to the Coyote Trail trailhead.

It had already been decided that Brian and Josha would go ahead of us, because they were faster hikers, to go get the second vehicle and meet us at the trailhead when we came in. They were eager to make the hike at their own pace and were soon out of sight. We all had maps and trail instructions so there shouldn’t be a problem…or so we thought.

We stopped at the Coyote Trail trailhead to take some early morning photographs. The sun was shining from the eastern sky which made the haze disappear, brightening up the snow dotted mountainsides and the grassy valley below. I failed to notice Andrew dropping off down Coyote Trail alone, probably 15 minutes before we would be ready to go. It would be a couple of miles until I could get within shouting distance and stop his hiking. He knew better than to hike alone. We talked about it before. It would be only natural for a Cougar to roam this area looking for young goats or Marmot to make his dinner. I only hoped that would not be Andrew!

This side of the mountain is home to many Goat, Elk and Deer. Two years ago I counted a herd of over 60 Elk standing or lying down on a large snowfield across the valley to the other side. We watched herds of goats roaming the valley floor below, grazing on the lush grass and wild flowers. This area is primitive and protected by a barely accessible valley and high mountains on three sides. The valley floor is heavily wooded, providing protection for a dozen herds. If a predator or human on horseback approached a herd, the goats or elk could easily escape because of their great agility and endless strength.

I was finally able to get Andrew’s attention so he would stop. The trail down the steep mountainside had a large clearing with many switchbacks. It was in that area that Andrew finally heard my now scratchy voice and stopped on the trail. Thoughts of “killing him”, or leaving him in this wilderness, and other things danced in and out of my mind like channel surfing on TV. It was probably good that the trail was long. I managed to be calm, but stern, as I reminded him that his Mom entrusted him to me and that it was my responsibility to get him home in one piece. I told him about the Cougars in these woods and he wasn’t ready to be Cougar food. He was great the remainder of the trip.

We came to a fork in the trail that was not on our map. Looking on the ground we saw an arrow fashioned from 3 sticks pointing to the left trail. It did not look well traveled but thoughts of our conversation with a couple we met at the PCT trail marker the day before in Snowgrass Flats came to mind. They reminded us to watch carefully for the trail to Packwood Lake as it left the Coyote Trail, that it was hard to see. Perhaps this was it. We believed the arrow was left by Brian and Josha to make sure we didn’t miss the junction. Some of our group was still a ways behind us; Pat, Shannon and Marvin were behind me because I had “hot footed” it down the trail in order to catch up with Andrew. We waited on them to catch up with us before we continued.

As we all gathered together and discussed this particular part of the trail, pausing for a drink of cold water and trail food, we heard a noise. Turning, we saw Brian and Josha coming back up the trail towards us at a brisk pace. They told a story of how the trail sort of disappeared in the growth of brush and grass, appearing to turn back up towards Old Snowy. I checked my GPS with the coordinates on the map and there was a discrepancy. We decided to stay on Coyote Trail and see where that takes us.

It wasn’t far until we came to a well marked trailhead that showed us the Packwood Lake Trail very clearly. We knew we had made the right decision. At that point, Brian and Josha took off again at a brisk pace to jockey the vehicles at the end of our trail. The rest of us “old codgers” and young guys continued at a much slower pace now. Our knees were in pain from the steep downhill hiking; pounding our joints with every step. Even Shannon and Chris, the two young guys were in bad shape. I think Pat, Marvin and I were in better shape then them.

A few stops and some fresh water; a few snacks and a good rest and we were ready to resume. Shannon was getting frustrated because we didn’t know how far it was to the end of the trail. I took another GPS reading, checked the map and found out we were 2 miles from Packwood Lake; that the lake was 2 miles long; and that the remainder of the way was 4 miles. I had told the men that today would be a 12 mile trip. It is.

Packwood Lake was beautiful. The water was clear and clean, barely touched by anyone. Ducks swam on the water and fish darted into the shadows. We began to come near people who were tent camping along the lake and the smell of campfires filled the air. We stopped for a minute as Marvin wanted to use a rustic outhouse.

At the end of the lake a man approached us and talked about Chris and Andrew, who had hiked on ahead of us, that they had taken the ATV road to the parking lot instead of the foot trail. We decided to do the same. The kind gentleman walked with us for a ways and showed us the way to go.

We began to increase our pace on the road in order to catch up with our crew. Soon we found Chris and Andrew, energy spent, waiting on us in a small clearing. We didn’t stop; kept on walking at a brisk pace, as they followed behind. Soon we spotted the tops of parked cars and knew this was the end of the trail. We scrambled up a steep slope to shorten the way around and found ourselves looking out on a parking lot filled with cars, belonging to other hikers and campers. We spotted our van and car and quickly made our way. The doors were locked except for the back van door.

Opening the door we found a cooler filled with crushed ice and cold soft drinks. We dropped our packs and helped ourselves to the refreshing drinks, wondering where Brian and Josha were. We assumed they had grown tired waiting for us and had taken off down the trail to catch up with us. Unfortunately for them we did not take the trail so they would not find us.

Soon Brian and Josha appeared at the trailhead telling us that they thought we might have taken the road, so they turned around and jogged back.

We had a good laugh from the whole event and talked about everything. As we loaded up and drove away, visions of large Burgers and Fries filled our thoughts. We were ready for home. Our bodies felt like they were beaten to a pulp and our brains fried from all that fresh mountain air. We wondered why we had taken such a hard trip of 30 miles. Marvin, Shannon and Chris were very glad to get back home and to know that it was all over.

Pat and I, hurting though we were, began thinking of our next backpacking adventure with Brian, Andrew and Josha. …..it’s going to be great!