Sycamore Canyon and Environs

I did a 10-hour, 19-mile journey in Sycamore Canyon and some of the trails leading out of it today on the quest to find all the Backbone Trail caches.  Got 16 finds and a couple of DNFs.

Looking North from the trail to 180-Degree Canyon View

I parked on PCH walked through the campground.  My first find, A cache for Mrs Richmond’s Class, was at 7:00 AM.  I continued through the Canyon, picking up caches without much problem.  On the Found List were Crack Up, Time Out Log, Sycamore Rest Stop, and Seek-a-more Canyon Cache.  Then it was time to head up the west side of the Canyon to find 180-Degree Canyon View and Between Main Trails.  Just as I started up the hill, the sun came over the eastern ridge.  Its warmth was welcome because it was pretty cool in the bottom of the canyon.  I had to be alert on the trail because I was sharing it was a bunch of mountain bikers.  It was interesting how different their reactions to me were.  I greeting each one.  Most of the time they smiled back and said Good Morning.  But there were others who just rode on by without any acknowledgement.

A Peek of Boney Peak from Overlook Trail

View from near Two Foxes Burnout

After Between Main Trails, I headed back down the trail.  I found She was Wrong! and Two Foxes South, but didn’t have any luck at all with “Bent”, even with some help from Ken (OLdweeb). I looked and looked in all the nooks and crannies, but came up empty.  I found Two Foxes Burnout, then it was on to Hideout.

Hideout was the big disappointment of the day.  I looked everywhere I could think that a cache might be lurking, but only spooked a few lizards.  I decided to take a break and have some lunch.  Perhaps my luck would improve.  Nope, still couldn’t find it.  I figured that I would keep going and give it another try on the way out.

Along the road

Love Shack from above

I found Two Foxes North quickly.  It just took a little time to extract it from its hiding place.  Then, armed with info from Ken, I headed off for Love Shack.  He and Marty found it a couple of weeks ago and told me that it was on the ground.  I didn’t know that Erik had been by since and that restored the cache to where it should have been.  So it took a little longer with the help than without it.  Then it was on to Danielson’s and up the eastern ridge.

Boney and Toyon

Wooly Paintbrush along the trail

Blooming Lemonade Berry

Blooming Ceanothus

The trip up the hill took me longer than I wanted to.  I’m sure it was a combination of being too out of shape and the remainder of my bad cold last week.  I did enjoy the views of Boney.  And it was a great day for hiking.  I needed 2 caches along this stretch–BACKBONE ON BACKBONE and A Not So Familiar Ring.  BACKBONE ON BACKBONE is a fun cache–just about what I was expecting.  When I hiked the entire BBT a year ago, I walked by A Not So Familiar Ring and by the time I realized it, I didn’t want to turn around.  So today I had to go all the way back for it.

After Familiar Ring, I continued on to the trail junction and realized that I had cell coverage.  I made a few calls regarding Hideout.  I learned that I was looking in the right location.

Sycamore Canyon from "Toe Stubber Trail"

Time to go down the hill (actually, there is a little bit of elevation gain) to the bottom of the canyon.  I stopped at Not the Backbone, but didn’t do much of a search.  I was tired and it appeared I was going to expend more energy than I wanted to, so I just kept on trucking.  I walked about 250 feet past Toe Stubber Trail before I realized that I had gone too far, so I turned around and went back for it.  I realized that I was quickly running out of gas.

Once I got to the bottom of the canyon, it was time to try Hideout once again.  I really worked that log over.  I didn’t want to need to come back just on this one cache.  I tried everything that I could think of and then a few other tricks.  Nothing!  I finally gave up and headed for home.  I really have my doubts that the cache is there.

Along the 3-mile walk from Hideout to the car, I was feeling that I had really put in a good day’s hike.  I checked the GPS and realized that the hike was going to be 19 miles.  I don’t think that I’ve walked that far in a long, long time.  I also wondered if I had walked all the way to tropical Mexico–I looked up in the nearby tree and saw a flock of yellow and green parrots.  An interesting way to end a very nice (but long) hike.