The 3 day hike became a 2 day hike when Dave & I both brought light sleeping bags to a cold mountain top that required a heaver sleeping bag. The 2 days turned out to be plenty for me.
On day 1, we started at Willow camp and took the Chokecherry Canyon up to Madulce camp. That is only 7.3 miles, but the final climb to the ridge top is just under 1 mile and is named Heart Break ridge for good reason. I fully expected a tough climb, and it was. The climb out of Madulce was much worse. It was almost a steep as Heart Break Ridge; and it was over 6 miles long. This climb was between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. That made the 40 lbs backpack feel heaver. The trail snaked up and around the mountain until it met the Big Pine Service road. From there it was a short down hill trek to the Alamar camp. We arrived at Alamar out of water. Dave had volunteered to hike the 2-mile round-trip down (way down) to the Upper Bear spring for water. However, we noticed the Forest Service folks had left (maybe hid) 2 large 5-gallon plastic jugs of water at Alamar. Not sure what their purpose was, but we assumed it was for us, and we used 2 gallons from one jug.
On the morning of Day 2, after a cold night, we decided to Hike out that day instead of spending another night. Part of my problem that day is I thought it would be easy. I knew we had a 600 feet climb back to the ridge top. From there I was ready to coast down to the car. Unfortunately, Big Pine Mountain doesn’t have a coast mode. The trail follows the contours of the mountain. It was a continuous cycle of up and down sections. Obviously more down than up; but some of these up sections were 400 – 500 feet gains in altitude. Not only was it physically exhausting, but mentally exhausting.
To see day 1, click here
To see Day 2, click here