Poison Oak…again
This past weekend, I went on the shortest camping trip of my life, lasting only 9 hours (excluding travel time). On the other hand, this camping trip was the most intentional and productive trip that I’ve done. The last trip I went on was in the Sespe wilderness a little more than 2 months ago, where we faced grueling landscapes, rattlesnakes, and finding ourselves lost and without water, resulting in severe dehydration and failed attempts to call the Ranger service for a helicopter out of a ravine that we were trapped in, as well as several weeks of painful and itchy poison oak rashes.
So, why would someone be stupid enough go back to a place that caused them so much misery? To get his crap back.
While stuck in the ravine, some of you may recall that I left a tent ($220), a sleeping bag ($60), a sleeping pad ($20), a fishing pole and lures ($30+$10), a propane tank ($5), clothes ($50), a pot ($10), and a poo shovel ($5).
So JL, his roommate, and I set out into the Sespe wilderness to recover what was rightfully ours. We left SD around 8 pm on Friday, and got to the trailhead around 12 am, where we set up camp and tried to get some sleep before we started our early morning hike. However, it was so hot (80 at 12 am), that it was difficult to sleep and I believe I only slept for an hour before our alarms went off that we were to start our hike. We hit the trail at 4:30 am, each carrying 5 L of water, and navigating through the darkness with our headlamps. We reached our gear (4 miles from the trailhead) at 6:30 am after navigating our way down 240 feet of rock slides with the help of the sun, which had just started peaking over the mountains. We climbed out, and got back to the car at 8:50 am with the help of some clouds partially blocking the sun. After a quick rinse to wash off the poison oak, we headed back to SD.
Anyways, that’s my version of the story. JL has more pictures and chronicled the adventure far better than I did. http://johnnysideburns.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/sespe-wilderness-epic-conclusion/ He even has pictures!
If you want to read more details about the first trip we took: https://jmw590.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/memorial-weekend-sespe-creek/
Hopefully, this rash goes away soon…
jmw590 