Day 7 - Garrapata Moutains of DOOM!!!!!!

We decided on our last day to have an adventure.  We were going to hike the Garrapata Rocky Ridge Trail loop.   This is the description from a Monterey tourism website:  Keep an eye out for the Garrapata State Park sign, and then for a large pullout (probably with several cars parked in it) under a row of cypresses.  You’ll see a dirt road, and beyond it a tin barn.  This is the trail head for the Rock Ridge and Soberanes Canyon trails, a loop that’s seven miles long with an 1850 foot elevation gain.  Gird yourself for some steep ascents as you follow the Rocky Ridge Trail up the ridge, past a conveniently placed bench, and up to some panoramic views.  Once you’ve managed this uphill climb, it’s time for the steep descent into redwood-filled Soberanes Canyon.  Admire the views, but watch your footing.  Soberanes Trail leads through beautiful redwood forests (some of which are old-growth) on its way back to Highway One.

Sounds lovely except for the ascent but we were up for an adventure, something to remember from our last full day in California.  Well, we got that and more. 

At the beginning of the hike.

We start the trail and at first it is a series of switchbacks, easy elevation changes.  We see some wildlife, lots of rabbits, lizards and a road runner.  From the trail you just see the first mountain and foolishly we believe this is the top of the trail.  The trail becomes steeper and I am soon out of breath – damn allergies.  But I take a few deep breaths and continue on.  I keep telling myself “I can do it, I can do it”.  We reach the top of mountain one only to realize there is another mountain behind it and the trail continues up.  As I wheeze with each step, I tell myself at least we don’t have to climb back down this trail.  We meet several hikers, older than we are, and they tell us they do the trail all the time and they were moving slow and they had been hiking for about 3 hours.  Good news - we are also moving slowly but we know have an idea that the hike is going to last about 4 hours max.  We continue up the trail looking for the bench.   We find it.  The views are spectacular and we take a quick rest.

Rest Stop

As we head back to the trail we hear more hikers.  We can't see them but we hear them.  They finally come into view and we realized that we have to climb yet another mountain.  We wait for the hikers to pass and then we continue on.  I am overheating and at any opportunity welcome a cool breeze.

Catching a cool breeze off the ocean

Still we climb on and on and on and on.  Every time we come to the top of a mountain and think we are done climbing, the trail continues on over another mountain.  The mountains are deceiving - the ones in the front block your view of the ones behind it.  You only see them when you reach the top.  We climb so high we are now above the clouds.  Oh goody - sunshine.  Can I get any warmer?

Above The Clouds

We finally feel we have reach the highest we will go and now we just need to follow the trail around the ridge and we will soon be descending.

Can you see the little trail in the distance?

We keep on walking, giddy that we have reached the top.  There is one very steep section and it takes us awhile to get to the bottom.  Again I am happy we are going down and won't have to hike back up that section of the trail.  We keep hiking in the bright sunshine hoping soon the trail will turn down.  The trail is getting smaller and smaller and suddenly we come to a fence with a sign.  The sign says "This Area Closed by Monterey County Parks System"  WHAT!!! WHY  DIDN'T THEY POST THAT AT THE TRAIL HEAD!  We have two choices, carry on and follow the trail hoping it isn't impassable at some point or turn around.  We decide to turn around.  We have now been hiking 4 hours and are very low on water and nowhere near the trail head.  We should be done by now, not stranded high on a mountain top.  We start back and we are soon at that incredibly steep section of the trail that we had trouble getting down and now we have to climb up on it.  Amy starts up, I take about 4 steps and I get dizzy.  I quickly sit down.  I rest a few minutes, get back up, take a few steps and I get dizzy and now I am also nauseous.  Not a good sign - heat exhaustion here I come.  I take off my shirt, hoping to catch any breeze and wait for my body to cool down.  Amy is at the top of the mountain and is calling down to see if I am okay.  I let her know I am still alive and in a few minutes I try it again.  I now have my shirt over my head like Lawrence of Arabia trying to block the sun and catch any breeze that I can.  I finally make it to the top.  It is relatively level for a bit but then we have another climb.  Off comes the shirt, I drag my hot and tired body up the slope with a few breaks until we finally reach the top again.

I am not throwing up - just trying to catch my breath!

As we head across the ridges I am saved by the clouds that roll in from the ocean.  Amy puts her fleece jacket back on, I revel in the coolness.  We continue on, walking down the mountains we worked so hard to climb up.  As we walk down, it is steep and I am amazed that we climbed up this trail.  I was working so hard getting up I didn't appreciate the view or how close the trail is to the edge.  Down and down we go.  I am now cool and my shortness of breath is no longer bothering me.  We keep going down and down and down.  Soon are legs, knees and feet are killing us and still the trail goes down and down and down.  We keep looking for the tin shack that is at the start of the trail - when we see that the hike will almost be over.  No tin shack and we continue down and down and down.  When we do come to a relatively flat section of the trail, our legs hurt even more.  Still we hike down - will it ever end? 

We finally meet another hiker coming up the trail.  We ask him a few questions about the scat we saw (coyote) and about the trail and it ending abruptly.  We find out that we missed the turn down.  When we rested at the bench, we were very near the connection with the other trail that would have taken us down.  Unfortunately, we saw those two hikers coming down another trail and assumed the trail continued on.  When we met a few other hikers on the trail, we assumed we were going in right direction.  All that extra hiking and we were not even on the right trail.  Laughing at our stupidity, we continue down the trail.  Finally after 5.5 hours of hiking we see the shack.  It takes us another 30 minutes to finally reach the end.  WE MADE IT!!!

FINALLY!!!

At the trail head we encounter a hiker who graciously took the "after" photo for us.  If only pain could be captured in a photo.  We get to the highway and realize our car is parked at the very end of the road.  We shuffle to the car and head to the cabin.  I really needed a diet coke. Back at the cabin we are in no mood to eat but before we take a vicodin we need to eat something. I have a few pieces of See's candy and ice cream. Amy has smores. Soon the vicodin kicks in and I am in bed by 7 pm. Amy stays up reading. I sleep well except for the sunburn. I forgot to mention that I have quite the sunburn - my arms and neck are bright red. My back a lovely pink. We wanted an adventure, we got an adventure.



Addendum:  I forgot to mention that we passed a rattlesnake on the trail.  Yikes!  All the pictures but one in this blog posting were taken by Amy - my camera decided not to auto-focus and we quickly discovered the mountains are home to a lot of bees!  I learned quickly not to take a break near any yellow flowers.