[pct-l] the Tale of Grider Creek

[Tortoise]

First of all, NO poison oak rashes on me!  with all the PO I was sure 
I'd be itching and treating but I escaped / avoided the PO this time.

I did stop at the third bridge going south as you count them. I think 
the trail to the campsite just above this bridge is almost totally 
obscrued by overgrown brush now. Others have not spotted it.

Also, the access to the campiste at the second bridge going south (third 
bridge in the guidebook) is overgrown and not visible per David 
Plotiknoff's post. By the time I got back down to this bridge I was 
really hauling ass (at my own Tortoise pace) to the campground so was 
not that alert. Also Zen Quake did not spot this either. Hopefully 
someone can get the trail brushed out.

But thanks for your info and I did have a good time anyway. And proved 
that I could do more than I anticipated.

I don't think I drove by Little Grider Creek since I drove up to Obrien, 
OR then down Waldo Rd - Indian Creek Rd to Happy Camp before turning 
east towards Seiad Valley.

Tortoise

<> He who finishes last, wins! <>

I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/



Deems wrote:
> Tortoise,
> I guess you needed just a little more local info. I didn't know you 
> had planned on camping on the Grider. You list the bridges in order 
> going from south to north. If you reverse them in your mind, starting 
> at Grider Campground. As you hiked south, you passed a large camping 
> area to the right at the 2mile point. When you got to the second 
> bridge (4miles) , the first being at GC, there was a great camping 
> spot downhill to the right and about 200yds before the bridge. The 
> trail to it starts near the bridge, and I camped there a year ago. 
> This bridge washed out in 1997.  It sounds like you stopped at the 
> third bridge. The campsite at it is on the east side to the right only 
> a dozen yards or so going south, and I used it in 1991. Going up 
> stream from there there are few opps.  I'm glad you walked my creek. I 
> hike it often in the winter since it's low elevation and pure PCT.  It 
> is also one of my early season camping stretches since it's open 
> almost all year. Grider creek is one of the few major creeks that the 
> PCT follows in northern Calif, and there are few in Oregon, and 
> Washington. The water is pure!! I live on Little Grider Creek that you 
> drove past on your way to your hike. Meeting the thruhikers enroute is 
> always worth your journey.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tortoise" <Tortoise73 at charter.net>
> To: "Pacific Crest Trail List" <pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net>; 
> "Reinhold Metzger" <reinholdmetzger at cox.net>; "Deems" 
> <losthiker at sisqtel.net>; <atdoodlebug at hotmail.com>; "David Hough on 
> pct-l" <pcnst2001 at sbcglobal.net>; <david at emeraldlake.com>; "Schifrin 
> Benjamin" <benschif at hughes.net>
> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 8:45 PM
> Subject: the Tale of Grider Creek
>
>
>> The Tale of Grider Creek
>>
>> Yesterday (Thursday 08/09/07) I drove over to Seiad Valley via Happy 
>> Camp and then up to the Grider Creek trailhead and campground.
>>
>> On the road up to the campground I met two pairs of trekkers.  I 
>> stopped and talked briefly with the second pair. They were Eddie & 
>> Meeghan; and they said the pair ahead of them was probably Wilderness 
>> Bob & Max.
>>
>> About 11:30 I started up the trail. In the first hour or so I met 
>> Gus, Deacon, and 2 pairs (one was Bohemian?). Then no one else on the 
>> way up. Trail was good from the trailhead to the "third bridge" (the 
>> first one I encountered hiking up the trail after the bridge at the 
>> trailhead). I saw a little poison oak, but all easily avoided. I had 
>> lunch alongside Grider Creek where the trail was close to the creek. 
>> I got to "Third Bridge" around 15:00 and took a short break.
>>
>> Shortly after resuming my hike, I started having leg cramps. I had to 
>> stop a couple of times to sit and stretch my legs before resuming 
>> hiking and then was able to hike thru the cramps. The trail from 
>> Third Bridge to Second Bridge had a lot of bushes intruding on the 
>> trail to where the trail was almost out of sight at times. There is a 
>> lot of poison oak in this section and difficult to avoid it all. This 
>> area needs a good brushing. However there were no blow downs blocking 
>> the trail.
>>
>> I arrived at Second Bridge around 17:00. I spent about an hour 
>> looking around for the campsite mentioned in the PCT guide (5th 
>> edition, 1995) and couldn't find it. Heavy brush growth all around. 
>> So I decided to turn around and hike back to the campground. I made 
>> better time going down hill. Crossing Bark Shanty Creek my foot 
>> slipped and I fell into the creek. Flooded both shoes. So I hike 
>> around the corner; took off my shoes and drained them, put on dry 
>> socks, had a snack, and resumed by trek.
>>
>> I was hoping to make the trailhead before dark but didn't. About 
>> 20:30, Zen Quake caught up with me. He had been looking for a camping 
>> spot but hadn't found any and he wanted to avoid the campground since 
>> he wasn't bear bagging. We hiked together for about 15 minutes when 
>> it became so dark we had to put on our head lights. Zen Quake took 
>> off ahead at a faster pace and I hiked on down the trail and finally 
>> reached the campground and my pickup about 22:00
>>
>> My legs were so sore and likely to cramp that I didn't want to risk 
>> driving down and seek a motel. So I rinsed off my legs with water and 
>> went to bed. I had 10 gallons. I have a camper shell on my pickup so 
>> this was like car camping.
>>
>> This morning I drove down to Seiad Valley store to have breakfast and 
>> then on home. So far no poison oak rash! (fingers crossed)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Tortoise
>>
>> <> He who finishes last, wins! <>
>>
>> I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
>> Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
>>
>>
>>
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