I decided this year I wasn't going to be anyone's orphan for Christmas, so I planned a 6 day backpack trip to a nearby hot spring. I've never hiked in to this particular spot before, but I know it usually gets a lot of traffic on the weekends and during the spring/fall.
Since I live in the most ridiculously packed city in southern California I left at 4:30am so I would miss morning rush-hour traffic. Unfortunately, this means that I packed my car in the dark and left my hiking boots on the curb by my house. The drive wasn't bad at all, except that it began at 4:30 in the morning. My second mistake was checking the weather forecast for the nearby town of Ojai and assuming it would be the same for me even though I would be 2,000+ feet higher in elevation and in the mountains. Wroooooong. I could have been warmer, but all in all it wasn't too bad.
Here's a great hiking tip for people who have dogs: they make really great sleeping bag warmers. Seriously, though, if you have a campfire consider finding a clean, somewhat round rock and setting it very close to the heat. After a few hours the rock soaks up that warmth and can keep you toasty for half the night in your sleeping bag. Wrap the darn thing in a towel, though, otherwise you'll cause some serious damage to yourself or your equipment.
The trail to Willett is 9-10 miles long and usually has some challenging stream crossings. Add in the fact that I'm wearing slip-on walking shoes and you've got a recipe for disaster. The hike in was freezing, literally. The streams were mostly frozen, the trail was frozen, my hands were frozen, my boogies were frozen. That first night.... was freezing!!! There are places to camp all along the trail and I wouldn't have known I had arrived if I hadn't run into a big group of people packing up their camp below Willett hot spring. The spring is actually uphill from the really nice camp spots, though there is a small, unprotected site very near the pool. The pool was helicoptered in and is filled by pipes collecting hot water from the spring as it exits the hillside. It's not desperately hot, but warm enough to be divine.
It's apparently a sulfur spring and the color and smell of the pool might give some folks pause before they step in. There's bright green algae that grows in the rivulets around the pool and white sulfurous precipitate that makes the green even more noxious looking. Don't be scared, though, it's truly amazing. Even my little dog was excited to hop in and lay around for an hour or more every morning.
I met some really great folks while I was out there, most of whom came in for overnight trips. I stayed out for quite a while and was very comfortable. The amount of traffic that passed through over Christmas weekend was really surprising, and I'd take some precautions if hiking there alone during a busier time. Toward the end of my stay, the hiker hunger really took over and I found myself slavering over my most boring meals.
Gear analysis time! I love my backpack, a Gregory Jade 50. It's lightweight but mostly comfortable (the shoulder straps kill my clavicles, so I added a bit of padding there). It is small, usually smaller than most people use for extended trips, but I find it helps me prioritize what I need to take versus what I want to take. My sleeping bag is an REI Downtime +10 men's bag (which I bought so I had snuggle room with the dog, otherwise a men's bag is way too big for a woman). It usually keeps me very warm, but I had some trouble on this trip. I attribute most of that trouble to the pad I used. I prefer airfill mattresses and have a lightweight one for warm weather and an insulated one for cooler weather. Guess which one I brought? Yeah, my Big Agnes with no insulation. The ground is darn cold and when that seeps into you from below, it almost doesn't matter what you have on top.
My tent is a Contrail made by Tarptent and I love this shelter because it is sooooo lightweight. The setup is quick, but take everyone's advice when they tell you to practice before doing it on a trip. The biggest problem I have with this tent is how much condensation you get when the conditions are right. I know it's the same amount you'd get in a double wall tent, but with the Contrail the wetness comes in direct contact with you if a) the tent isn't set up properly and sags during the night -- in which case you'll spend time the next day drying your sleeping bag or b) you try to do any kind of activity like get dressed, sit up, think too hard. It's really annoying, but I won't switch to a heavier tent because the weight is too convenient for a small person like myself.
I always bring 1-2 "luxury" items on any backpacking trip. Without fail, one of them is a book (which begs the question of what makes it luxury if I treat it like a necessity). This time I brought an old favorite "Shogun" by James Clavell. I devour books, so I go for whichever one packs the most in the smallest bundle. One trip I accidentally grabbed a Twilight book (which I had bought to use as a white elephant gift) when I realized after I had gone to bed that I forgot to pack a book. Do you see the pattern here with me packing in the dark? For three days that's all I had to read. It was a very painful trip and I left the book at my campsite when I hiked out. I thought I'd bring a book on tape as well, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I imagined. I really do like to hike in the silence, which helps me identify when my scruffy lapdog chases a lynx up a tree, not knowing that this particular kitty could kick her scrawny butt.
All in all, it was a great trip. Call the ranger station at Ojai before going in the rainy season since there are many stream crossings, but this is a destination I'm going to keep in my repertoire especially during the chillier months.
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