I wonder if I am the last blogger. If so, then maybe you are the last blog reader, so have fun with this.
I have a couple of kids that have enjoyed backpacking adventures with me to our local spot of Henry Coe State Park. We went in consecutive springs and those adventures are detailed here:
2023 with Ada: https://jrjohnsonyarb.blogspot.com/2023/05/coe-wada-2023.html
2024 with Seth: https://jrjohnsonyarb.blogspot.com/2024/04/coe-wseth.html
I guess we skipped trips in 2025, life getting busy.
This year there was a request to go backpacking in the big mountains. Late summer/early fall is the best season for an excursion to the Sierra and this left a pretty tight window to squeeze something in between our family's Kansas trip (which has to happen after basketball summer league) and school starting. So I put together some plans to see one of my favorite places, procured the required permits, and rented the extra gear for all three of us to do it.
We started from Rush Creek Trailhead on the eastern side of the Sierra.
As we climbed up from the valley we came across a rail built into the side of the mountain. Seth and I stared at this a while not thinking it was possible a train could go up and down that thing. Eventually a cart came along with some Rangers on it. They use a cable system to move the cart up and down the mountain to carry people and supplies. It was impressive.
This is a picture of our first rest stop as we climbed. The altitude was a factor and this was the kids' first experience with climbing with weight on their backs and less oxygen supplied to their muscles. It was slow going, but they kept trucking and we slowly crept our way toward the goal.
As you climb up from Rush Creek there are several lakes that flow into each other. They are not natural lakes, but instead there are some interesting dams that hold the water back in these reservoirs.
As we got farther up into the mountains we started seeing some of the beauty that makes this place special.
A couple of miles into our adventure I thought I heard some thunder. This is not normal for the trips that I have had in the Sierra and I got a little nervous. We began crossing paths with backpackers that were returning from their own trips into the hills and they were filling us in on what we might expect. One solo woman backpacker told us that the previous evening weather moved in on her at 4 p.m. when she set up her tent for cover. It stormed on her until 7. She claimed that it hailed on her for much of this time and she wondered whether her tent would hold up. She said it was looking like it might happen again this day, maybe even earlier and wanted to make sure we had the right gear. I said sure (knowing that we might actually be in a little bit of trouble). We proceeded keeping a close eye on the clouds, knowing that we would have to be quick with setup if things started getting bad. Fortunately, we were able to rack up some more miles while getting sprinkled on. Every once in a while we would spot lightning in the distance and count the seconds until the thunder hit - it was averaging 8-10 miles away. The worst of the weather seemed to keep away from us and there was a small window of OK weather that guided us up the mountains. That was a different hiking experience! I liked the cooler temps and some protection from the sun, but it was nerve-wracking to have to constantly scan the clouds and the direction of their movement, along with where we were going to judge if we needed to bed down for the night. The worst thing would be to get our sleeping stuff wet, in which case it would be a miserable and potentially dangerous night! We made it to Waugh Lake before the heavy stuff hit us. As it became apparent that this was going to be more than a light shower, we rushed to set up the tent. The rain hit us hard now and we struggled to keep our packs somewhat dry by covering them with my tarp while we staked out the tent and got the poles installed. That is when the hail hit us. We were just about to start getting the rain fly on top of the tent and the hail started coming down and bouncing off of the mosquito net. It was pretty intense because while this was all happening, the lighting started hitting the peaks surrounding us. Now the thunder hit one second later with deafening force - the sound reverberating off of the valley walls. Eventually we got the tent up, and then we rushed to get the kids sleeping equipment inside. We sent Seth in the tent to start setting stuff up and get into his sleeping bag as soon as possible. Ada and I found a somewhat protected spot in the trees to wait it out while Seth finished setup. Ada and I got a kick out of watching a previously dry streambed come to life - the water slowly and then more quickly pooling up above us and then flowing down slowly creeping around our campground. Seth finished setup, got in his bag and began to warm up. I had to convince Ada that she should get in there and do the same thing because we started getting really cold. She seemed to hesitate because she didn't want me to suffer alone out there - I said I had things to do to keep me warm and I wanted her to take care of herself, so eventually she relented and bedded down in the tent with Seth. By this time the rain started letting up and turned to a light sprinkle, which gave me permission to take the tarp off of the bags and begin construction of what I hoped to be a sleeping situation for myself that would protect me from the storm if such a thing were to hit us again.
I was proud of myself for this! Of course, the rain did not return, and then there was a beautiful clear night with no moon, which would have been perfect for star gazing, but instead I hunkered down under the tarp for fear of some other weather popping up on us.
The kids were perfectly comfortable in their mansion.
After the storm.
The next morning the sun came out and we had a beautiful day of clear skies and incredible views. Also saw plenty of fungus.
It seemed like we got a good night of rest, and the beautiful morning powered our hiking - I thought we did a lot better with our pace the second day. Here we can see Ada powering up the hill as we got into the high country - nearing in on 10000 ft.
Seth in his element!
Ada brought a new element to the backpacking excursion. She introduced us to the art of "poses and staging" for good pictures for the interwebs. In this scene she made sure that her braid was clearly featured along with the mountain.
And here she wore her special shades that she received on loan from her sister (with the understanding that there would be monetary compensation for the loss of or damaging of the equipment)
This was the big goal of the trip: Thousand Island Lake, a true gem of the Sierra. The mountain dominating these pictures is called Banner Peak.
Evidence that I was there.
I planned a loop that would bring us back to the car and let us see as much new terrain as possible. As we headed back to the car we missed a turn (I missed the turn, since I was the navigator). This resulted in a surprise climb that was really steep and exposed. The bonus was some really cool views and the discovery of some neat high alpine lakes that we would not have seen otherwise!
The route back to the car put us on top of a hill that gave us some pretty incredible vistas!
The route also brought us past some neat formations.
Here we are up a valley at around 9500 ft. If you look really closely, down at the bottom, you can see the road that leads to where we parked our car. I think if there was high enough resolution, you could even see the car. At this point we had a 2500 ft descent ahead of us to finish this trip off!
Done!
This was one of my favorite trips. It was special to share one of my favorite places with my backpacking partners, and they were really good company. The loop consisted of about 23 miles and 4700 ft of climbing and the kids did great. And now for the video montage:
Another year, another teenager. This year Seth wanted to get the Coe experience. Apparently he had a little FOMO when Ada and I went last year, so here we go.
He's 13 and hasn't really hit his growth spurt yet, but he is really athletic and has good endurance. Let's see how he does with 20 lbs on his back for 29 miles and 6000 ft of climbing!
The first couple of miles snaked across a stream several times. I had originally estimated there would be about twenty stream crossings and we would surely get our feet wet. It turned out to be 24 crossings and Seth was determined to do all of the rock hopping and pole vaulting that he could pull off to keep his feet dry. He actually succeeded until a stream finally got him later that morning (which I got video of). This picture is just a picture that Seth wanted me to take because he really liked it.
Seth was great on the climbs. He even invented his own climbing technique he named "beetle mode" where he really leans into his hiking poles and picks up his cadence. He is also hilarious.
Top of our first big climb:
Seth, not keeping his feet dry: Seth hungry: Dad showing how it's done:
He's always been a climber.
Seth and Dad taking a much deserved cooldown brake at the base of Pacheco Falls:
I think I took this same picture of Ada sitting on this rock last year, so I had to get this one of course.
We knocked out 18 miles in no time. In fact, we were so fast that we had a pretty early camp setup while the sun was still pretty high in the sky. The spot was halfway up a ridge from Coit Lake.
I thought I would do a similar camp setup to last year, where I would have the kid in the tent and I could sleep out in the open and enjoy the stars. Similar to last year, I hung out in the tent with Seth to play video games on the phone - killing time until sleep and having fun. I went out of the tent to check out my setup only to find out that there was moisture over everything and a bright moon spoiling the stars. Oh well. I started collecting my stuff to join Seth in the tent for the night and as I started throwing my stuff in Seth asked "So you're gonna come thug with me huh?" Yeah, sure, Seth. The crickets were especially annoying that night, so we just kept playing video games. At some point Seth turns to me and says: "This is nice right? No one to tell us to go to bed, brush our teeth, we get to do whatever we want!" I giggled to myself and thought "that's thug life baby!". At some point we got pretty desperate for a strat that might bring us our sleep, so I dialed up a Lex Friedman sciency podcast, and we were asleep in no time.
Next morning, getting packed up. Leading up to our trip Seth asked if I was going to keep my beard so that all of the dangerous animals would keep their distance.
The Birds at Kelly Lake doing their thing like usual:
The wildflowers were out in full effect once again.
Time for some McDonalds!
Overall I was really impressed with how Seth moved over the hills with weight on his back. He would even run the steep downhills "because it was easier". He seemed to have a good time and hopefully this leads to more adventures down the road!
Well, it's been a while. I was starting to wonder when I would ever go backpacking again. I would think that there was the perfect weekend, then think about trying to dig up my gear from storage in the garage and all of the stuff I needed to fix/buy, etc and then just say nah... Life with four kids, all in sports at this point was consuming a lot of time as well. I think back to all of the adventures catalogued in this blog and now realize that might have been the only time in my life that I could have pulled it off - so I am thankful!
Speaking of the kids, that is why there is this blogpost. Out of left field my fourteen year old, Ada, started bugging me about taking her backpacking. I'm not sure what prompter her, probably Instagram or something like that. I wondered whether she remembered what she thought about going hiking and such, but she was insistent. I still wasn't sure that I believed she was serious, so I kind of bought my time to see if she might forget. But, no, she seemed set. Don't get me wrong - I was super psyched that she was that interested and I was really hoping I could make it a special experience for her. I also thought that the whole thing could be a disaster if she found out real quick that this wasn't for her and then it turns into two days of hell. Well, let's see what happened:
First climb was a doozy: Straight from the parking lot up a ridge to Mt Wilson, it's like 1500 ft of climbing in 1.4 miles with plenty of 25 to 30% grade. I did it a little on purpose to test whether she was actually serious about this - if she gave up or whatever, we could get out of there quick without too much damage...
Here is what Ada thought:
Peak wildflower season here after the wonderful and plentiful rains - perfect for a Coe trip.
Upper Grizzly creek was our first snack stop. I taught Ada about elevensees. We filtered water and prepared for our next climb.
Have the sound on for this vid:
Part of teaching Ada about having a good time while backpacking - take joys in little things along the way:
Spot the creature.
We first hiked past Kelly lake (featured in a video above). At Kelly there was this dude that had things figured out: He had packed in a big float chair. He was chillin with beers and a fishing pole in the middle of nowhere - he probably didn't appreciate us passing by, but we were out of his hair fast. The next lake we passed by was Coit lake. At Coit we chatted with another lone fisherman (this one traveled by mountain bike). We told him that we were headed for Pacheco falls and he was kind enough to give us some trail beta that wound up being very useful. He detailed a secret trail that allows people to look down into the waterfalling pools above Pacheco.
Chillin on a rock.
Pacheco Falls.
I figured since this was probably an instagram kind of trip, I would plan the trip with the main goal of seeing Pacheco Falls. It did not disappoint:
The original plan was to fill up on water in the creek at the bottom of the waterfall, but alas, there was a wall of poison oak blocking our access. The sun was going down and we planned on climbing out of the gulch and finding our camping spot, but we needed water. As we headed back up the hill I heard water flowing to the left of us. Fortunately we found the perfect little stream to fill up on. As we continued our climb we met another lone backpacker that was planning to camp by the pond along the trail. He told us about how he was worried about being able to get to the water because of the reeds. That was when we made his day by giving him all the info: the stream just beyond the pond and the secret trail. It was nice to feel like we helped someone.
This video shows the sweet spot we found to spend the night:
Mountain House pad thai with chicken has a thumbs up from us.
As the sun disappeared, some bugs came out, so I threw my sleeping pad into the tent with Ada and we gamed out on her phone until we decided to go to bed. It was cold enough by then that the bugs weren't a problem anymore and I went out and got a wonderful night of sleep in my bivy. Fortunately there was no moon to deal with, so we just enjoyed an incredible star filled night. The next morning:
Views from the ridge as we headed back to the car.
All downhill at this point.
We hiked about 15 miles with 3000 ft of climbing on day one, and did another 10 miles on day 2. It turns out that backpacking food aligns pretty closely with the preferences of a middle schooler: Chocolate, cheetos, candy, jerky, stroopwafels, trail mix, breakfast bars - Ada was pretty happy with the selection.
Ready for McDonalds.
I would say that the trip turned out to be a huge success. Ada was a trooper and was a really good backpacking partner. She got a realistic experience that taught her that it's really hard, but that is one of the points. The hard stuff is punctuated with beautiful experiences that are amplified exactly because she endured the hard stuff. That is why McDonalds turns into one of the most satisfying meals - because we were really hungry...
