Piedra Blanca - Trail View

 

A Slow Freeze - The Piedra Blanca and Gene Marshall Trails

Hi. I hope you are doing well.

Several weekends ago Java and I spent time exploring
the heart of the Sespe Wilderness on the Piedra Blanca
National Recreation trail, and I thought I'd share a
bit about that experience.

Spending time the trail was a joy. Departing from the
trail-head at the east end of Rose Valley we crossed
the Sespe Creek several times and hiked alongside it
to the namesake of the trail. The popularly known
Piedra Blanca is a collection of large sandstone
formations situated on the top of a ridge north of the
Sespe creek and forms the back side on the
intersection of several canyons and feeder creeks to
the larger Sespe creek.

The Piedra Blanca formations were readily accessible
but there were greater rewards to be found in the
canyons behind and to the north on the Piedra Blanca
National Recreation Trail, which paralleled the North
Fork of the Piedra Blanca Creek. The entire area was
still recovering from extensive damage from a fire
that razed that section of the Sespe in the not too
distant past. The the winds were brisk and thus the
visibility was good. We traveled on the trail until
reaching the Pine Mountain Lodge campsite.

The campsite is a bit of a misnomer, or at least it is
now - There we found some pines, but no lodge, however
given the time of day and its somewhat wind protected
location we called it a day and setup camp.

Prior to making camp at above 6000 ft Java and I
encountered out first snow in a long long time. It
was great to be back in the white stuff, although in
reality there was very little of it, it remained only
in the north facing areas beneath rocks and bushes
where it was protected from the sun. Although there
was little snow the ground was frozen as were portions
of the small streams that flowed along the ridge line
of trail.

After the sun set the winds died down as well, and I
was at first grateful, until I considered the cold
that a still, clear night would bring - Not to be
proved wrong the temperature dropped quickly, and then
persistently until sunrise the next morning.

It amazing to think that miserable conditions can be a
source of delight but they were. Along with the deep
freeze came also the deep darkness of the night and
its veil of stars overheard. With nights like the one
that presented itself I contemplated the night sky
until the cold chased me into my sleeping-bag, and
under my tarp.

I had anticipated a cold night but not as frigid as it
had turned out to be, and so I spent the night trying
to stay warm, while not actually being able to do so ,
especially not my feet. How cold did it get? 22
degrees Fahrenheit under my shelter, and no doubt
colder still outside.

Despite the cold the hike was great - The attached
pictures only tell a small bit of the story about what
made the trail and this wilderness area in general so
intriguing. Summary: Hike ~14 miles, Elevation Gain
3100 Ft., Max. Elevation 6090 ft.

What could be better: I'm glad to be alive!

-Manny