Lost Valley

10-18-12

On 10-18 2012 Myself , Wayne and Bill entered the Ventana Wilderness on the Lost Valley Trail. The weather was unseasonably hot 99 degrees and the trail was fully exposed to sun . M dog Sierra was carrying a ten lbs pack , and half way up to the saddle ( a 1200 ft climb ) I had to carry her pack hanging it on the back side of my 33 lb pack in an awkward position , which proved to be a big mistake as it became very clumsy and I took a beating . Bill turned back as the heat was too much for him . On the plus side of the climb is the clear trail up to the saddle , thanks to the hard work of some trail work volunteers. The next couple of photos will illustrate the trail last year in November .

The above photos 2011

Water was plentiful at Arroyo Seco and Fish Camp , however the flow was low .The slopes were very dry and difficult to cross thus making the trek a little dangerous but exciting . And now I must tell you that we had to abort our adventure approximately less than  1/4 mile from Lost Valley as I while leading , slid off trail and required assistance from Wayne in pulling myself up to the trail after removing my back pack , a real difficult trick in itself while hanging from a tree limb with one hand .

All went well and we had a great time .The photos below are from this year and show a clear trail in the same location as the photos above .

 

All in all we had a great time and the little mishap of falling only added to the adventure .in the following photos you will see Bill with Junipera Serra mountain behind him , Wayne resting after helping me up to safety from my fall with the slide behind him . Also pictured here is a typical slope shot last year .

In the following photos is my dog Sierra at the repaired sign on the Connector Trail p;us a couple of more shots taken this year .

To add to our excitement , Sierra was a great trail dog as she guarded our camp by alarming us to the presence of a couple of bears and on the first night a mountain lion . They are easy to spot once Sierra points them out . All that is needed is  a flashlight  Sierra also was excellent at scouting out the trail when not visible to us .

Note worthy were the many signs of wildlife on the trail eg. tracks and scat , see the bear scat below.

I hope you enjoyed my trip as much as we did !