My wife was in New York City visiting my
daughter, so it was high time for a local trip to the San Rafael
Wilderness with the fishing pole. These trips can quickly become death
marches to slimy, fly infested mud holes so it's a dice roll. If I catch and release fish, it's a
fishing trip, if not, it's a hiking trip. A "win/win" really. This
happened to be a fishing trip.
My
destination was Santa Cruz Station out of Little Oso but when I
arrived, the campground was full with compliment of volunteers taking a
working vacation to do trail maintenance in the Santa Cruz creek
drainage. They welcomed me into the camp with an ice cold beer. After
the last 5 miles of hiking " the Wall" and "the 40 mile stretch" that
tasted oh so sweet. They told me they just finished clearing the trail
to Flores Flat, so I said my thank you and I was on my way to Flores to set up a camp for the next two nights.
Looking back on the Station. Santa Cruz Camp is not in the San Rafael Wilderness so there is a road to the camp. The spur to the cabin has a locked gate at the top of the ridge.
The
top of the next ridge is where the entrance to the Wilderness is. The native
flora in some areas is making a great comeback after the Zaca fire
including the Oak trees sprouting new growth from blackened bark, other
areas, not so, I was picking foxtails out of my socks and teeth!
Great tread all the way to Flores.
The
camp at Flores is still there, under a big old (and very blackened) Oak
tree, the rickety table is gone but there is a nice very square rock
that served well as a seat.
The
water in the creeks were all running clear, clean, and cold. The banks
are lined with native Deer grass and willow. Miles and miles of deep
pools and cascading falls, each pool presenting a unique beauty and
challenge to get down to the next one undetected by the fish.
Spawning landlocked fish. It's there native home and the camouflage is nearly perfect. I would not be surprised if the genetics of these fish revealed native steel-head traits.
Just
before the trip began, the forecast changed to wording that mentioned
"cold air with a chance of convection" so I brought my Sierra tent (Akto outer tent only) and
bag (Western Mountaineering Versalite), I'm glad I did. No rain, but it was breezy and very cool. Perfect
San Rafael weather, no flies or ticks. Glad I brought the wood burning
stove too, plenty of fuel to burn so I could linger over the fire on a
foggy morning and warm the hands and enjoy the surroundings.
"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." Martin Buber
