1st backpacking in 20+ years (Round Valley)

[WoofDoggy]

Took my son (11) up to Round Valley and stayed Tu/We nights. Last time I backpacked was in 1987 when I took my wife-to-be up Devil's Slide, which pretty much ended her backpacking enthusiasm for eternity.

We got a late start and took the tram up around 2:30 on Tuesday. We had never been on the tram either, so it was a pretty nifty ride. For some reason I thought it would be a relatively flat hike over to RV but it was surprisingly up-hill most of the way. We arrived late afternoon.

Probably the most difficult part for us was actually figuring out where the campsites were once we got there. We looked on the ranger station wall map, as well as the back of our permit, but it was hard to tell the scale of things so we wandered around quite a bit before we actually found a 4x4 post indicating a site. All was well and we got set up for the night.

I had borrowed my friends down sleeping bag so I was actually a little too warm at night. We slept without the tent covering which freaked out the son a little bit, but once the moon passed over we had a great view of the stars.

We headed out to the Peak around 8:30 and reached the top at 11:15. It was very nice and sunny and little to no wind. Since we were the only ones in RV the previous night, we didn't see anyone else on the trail the entire way up. At the end of lunch a couple guys showed up that had hiked up from Idylwild.

We looked around the cabin trying to figure out what it was there for (just read Ellen's story upon returning ... and it makes sense now!). We headed back down and starting meeting all the people that had taken the tram up. We ended up back in RV at around 2:00.

One highlight of the trip was after we got back, we decided we had enough time to hike back to the tram and have some french fries and cokes. I was surprised the boy was up for this as it put the day at around 10 miles, but we had a great time. The funniest point was when we passed once again a very nice gentleman that we had talked to in passing when he was going up the peak. We were walking back to RV and he was almost at the tram and we told him why we had come back to the tram and he just gave us a very strange look. 4 miles for a coke & fries, but it was worth it.

At dusk that night I convinced the boy we should go down to the valley to see if we could see a family of deer that we had seen early. Sure enough just as we walked out into the middle they came out into the valley as well. We sat down on a log and watched them for about 20 minutes.

We packed up and left about 9:00 this morning, and were able to catch a tram down about 10:15 or so.

All in all a great trip, especially for my son's first trip, and a BIG thanks to everyone that has answered all my questions over the last month or so. I'll try to post some pictures once I process them.

Key Observations:
* Backpacking has changed a lot in 20 years. Bought a pocket rocket stove and Katadyn Hiker water filter. Simply amazing.
* Dehydrated Chili-Mac. Yikes!! 2-thumbs down.
* Dehydrated Chicken-A-La-King. Amazingly good!!

Woof!

[bluerail]

that sounds like complete fun, and I totally understand putting in the miles for the fries and coke. I seem to go way outta my way for those fries and a soda up there.

[Hikin_Jim]

Took my son (11) up to Round Valley and stayed Tu/We nights. Last time I backpacked was in 1987 when I took my wife-to-be up Devil's Slide, which pretty much ended her backpacking enthusiasm for eternity.

Well, let's just hope your second outing doesn't have the same effect as you first!

HJ

[Andy]

Glad to hear you a had a good trip Woof. If I had the chance, I'd sleep out under the stars every night...well almost. For me, there's just no better way to ground yourself..literally. Looking forward to your pics.

[RichMcG]

Woof,
I took a long break from backpacking and got back into it 2 years ago, and the new technology makes it so much nicer (26 oz sleeping bag!) We're heading to Angelus Oaks (Mt San Bernardino) in a few hours, there are so many great places to backpack within 2 hours of Carlsbad. We can watch the sunset from 2 miles high and from the beach in the same weekend! As for the coke and fries, we lugged Mountain Dews up to San Jacinto Peak and they tasted SOOO good. Now it's a tradition, we'll toast on Mt San Berdoo saturday!

[Sally]

Hi Woof!
Great TR. That was special about the deer watching. Sounds like your son is gonna really look forward to more backpacking.
I did a lot of backpacking with Girl Scouts as a kid. Then I got married and had a couple of kids and took a 15 year break from hiking (dumb.) Once I started up again I went nuts. I think I've been trying to make up for all that lost time on the trail!
I only get a couple of backpack trips in each year because of work. If I ever get to retire - hmmm...

[Pitownpi]

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