Sunday, September 16th, 2007...8:37 pm
Pacific Crest Trail to Mt. Eddy – Don’t Follow The Leader
Last week I returned from a short, lightweight backpack to Mt. Eddy (9,025 feet), a great viewing spot for Mt. Shasta.
A mile north of the City of Weed, California, on I-5, you take Edgewood Drive, follow it to Stewart Springs Road and you end up at Parks Creek Trailhead (13 mile drive on paved roads).
When we reached the trailhead, two other groups were in the parking area. Each group headed out on a trail headed up hill without a second thought. Ten minutes later, we followed them. A half mile later, we realized that we weren’t on the trail afterall. We walked back down to the trailhead, looked around and off to the right and found a nice flat trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the trail we had wanted.
Lesson: don’t just follow groups ahead of you, driven by the adrenaline of beginning a new backpack and desire to get into the wilderness. Take a deep breath, check out your map. Avoid making rookie mistakes like ours.
Be light. Be safe. Be one with the pack.
1 Comment
September 27th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Those first few minutes on the trail are like the start of a running race. When I ran, I always started out too fast. A mile later, I regretted it, but I couldn’t help it.
Take a few deep ones and look around. Then start.
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