Trinity Alps (Oct 26 – 30)
The Internet is a strange beast. With the anonymity of a computer screen and keyboard there are many people who are not what they appear to be — a counterfeit persona. Along with this there are many people who collect “friends,” “followers,” or “likes” as some sort of ego fulfilling stamp collection.
In spite of this electronic universe, a diligent person can recognize the sincere and honest people on the World Wide Web. But these folks can only be acquaintances. Friendship requires face-to-face real world interactions. At the end of October I spent a few days with some Internet acquaintances who I can now say are friends.
Going Solo
Those who read my blog know I really don’t care much for backpacking with other people. Not that walking with others is a bad thing, but for me I mostly prefer to walk alone for various reasons. Over the past 8 years I have made a few friends over at backpackinglight.com. The first was Craig who joined me on our first outing together in 2010 on the San Jacinto Loop. Later Chad and I became friends and have hike together several times including a Grand Loop in Joshua Tree National Park.
An Invitation
Four people who have backpacked together: Doug, Katharina (Kat), Ken, and Peter invited me to join them on a trip in Northern California’s Trinity Alps. Doug and I met a few years ago for dinner on the East coast. Kat, Ken, and Peter were Internet acquaintances of mine. After this trip, I now consider all of them friends. What is interesting and important to me is all of them are very much the same people in person as they are online.
Weather
Prior to the trip the weather forecast was not good. And the weatherman was correct once we got there. 100% chance of rain each day, daily precipitation of at least 1 inch, with daily lows and highs ranging from 32-42 F. Not my favorite kind weather. Plus, for me it was a 750 mile drive just to get there.
I left Wednesday morning early and arrived at our meet-up campsite late that night. The others trickled in the next day and we spent that night at the campground warmed by a fabulous warm campfire courtesy of Peter who obviously is a master at building and maintaining fires in a downpour. We spent Friday and Saturday backpacking to the Caribou Lakes basin and back. By Sunday afternoon everyone except me was headed home. I would make my way to the California coast for another backpacking trip… at least that was the plan.
Instead of writing about the trip, I’ll let the “pictures tell a thousand words” even though I took very few pictures because of the almost constant 24/7 rain. The rain and cold was easily overcome with warm friendship.
CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO OPEN THE PHOTO GALLERY.
