Pine Mountain Lodge, September 18, 2012

Let’s start with the moral: A disengaged brain misses stuff.

After the triumphant retreat of the Agua Blanca gang from a hot and dry Ant Camp on September 16, 2012 I found myself in Ojai with some unexpected slack time before I had to board a plane for points east. I wanted to hike, but I would still need time for departure logistics. This made a long drive to the trail head problematic. In reality, there was not much question what my destination would be. I was going back to Pine Mountain Lodge from the Piedra Blanca trail head, repeating the hike I had done August 15, 2011. That hike had left me with a gnawing existential crises that had to be addressed.

Confused, August 15, 2011

Confused, August 15, 2011

How can something as straightforward as a hike to Pine Mountain Lodge create an existential crises? The ugly truth is this: if I was deep enough to have an existential crises, I could probably answer that question. But this I can say with all due candor : when I arrived at the top of climb up the North Fork of Piedra Blanca Creek on August 15, 2011, the walk into PML beyond the trail sign was not at all what I expected. I believed at the time this confusion was the result of physical changes. Later, as I thought more about the hike, I began to consider the possibility that some of the problem was faulty memory. How could that be?

From 1978 to 1988 I hiked to Pine Mountain Lodge at least five times a year (that number is most likely closer to 10 some years). Before 1978 I walked from Lion Camp to Pine Mountain Lodge at least another ten times. So, conservatively, I visited PML 60 times before my 1988 to 2011 hiatus. Whereas Gridley became my default hike during my infrequent visits to Ojai between 1990 and 2010, Pine Mountain Lodge was my standard hike from 1978 to 1988. I used it as a training hike, as a mind-clearing hike, as a “to hell with it I’m going for a hike” hike.

It occurred to me that at some point before 1980 I turned my brain off during my PML hikes and left awareness floating above the Ventura Freeway somewhere between Valley Circle and Balboa in the San Fernando Valley. Yes, I drove it that much. I seldom took a camera on those hikes; generally I went as fast as I could uphill (sometimes timing myself if the purpose was a fitness test, something I no longer do. Ever.). It is hard to register and commit details to memory when the brain is that thoroughly disengaged. And, in retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do. I had an opportunity to document in detail an iconic location in what was to become the Sespe Wilderness on what was to become the Gene Marshall Piedra Blanca trail from what was to become the Piedra Blanca trail head. I could have produced a visual record from Pine Mountain Lodge through Three Mile to Haddock and beyond to Beartrap. I could have made the trip every other year (at least) during the lean years from 1990 to 2010. I failed. So, while I may not be deep enough for existential angst, I do “pissed-off with myself” perfectly well.

I had intended to leave very early in morning to start the hike from the Piedra Blanca trail head. That did not work out as well as planned; my life in the east intruded a bit and I had to attend to that first. There had been little abatement in the heat since the exercise in heat stroke avoidance on the way to Ant Camp on September 15. By the time I began the hike the heat was building. In order to allow for better heat dissipation I carried my camera in my backpack rather than in a chest pack. I had no intention of shooting along the way; I brought three prime (single focal length) lenses appropriate to producing the photos and videos of the camps as well as a tripod and panoramic kit (about 10 pounds of gear).  I also carried four liters of water, a Steripen to purify more if required and a subset of “ten essentials” paraphernalia.

And so I put my head down and hiked from the Piedra Blanca trail head bound for Pine Mountain Lodge. After a time I looked up and noticed a cut in a slope in front of and above me. Odd, I thought, I do not remember this. And then that voice in my head I have described often in this blog weighed it: “Dude, you don’t remember it because it isn’t on the route to PML; Piedra Blanca is about 90 degrees clockwise and you have hiked mindlessly on to the Middle Sespe trail.” It is absolutely and utterly impossible in any universe that operates according to a predictable set of natural laws for me to do this. But I did. Which brings into sharp relief the problem with operating with a disengaged brain. When I do that, the universe is free to act in as whimsical a fashion as it sees fit. Or perhaps my lack of attention introduces a randomizing factor that produces an instant stochastic local reality distortion field (which might be something like instant karma, or not).

Back on course I finally crossed over the Piedra Blanca formation and passed by Piedra Blanca and Twin Forks camps. Piedra Blanca Creek had a strong, surprisingly deep flow. Soon I was on the climb up the North Fork of Piedra Blanca Creek in heat approaching 90 degrees. I would not be setting any personal bests this day, but then again I would not be gathering performance data. I was here to observe and photograph.

After a time and without undue distress (which is not to say no distress: it was hot), I reached the top of climb. I went first to PML prime for a photo session as well as to drop some heat in the shade and re-hydrate. There was no water available in close proximity to this site.

Pine Mountain Lodge Prime, September 18, 2012

Set up in the shade to shoot a panorama at PML prime, September 18, 2012

Panoramic view of Pine Mountain Lodge Prime, September 18, 2012

Shooting completed at PML prime, I gathered up my gear and headed to the offical Pine Mountain Lodge camp. At the crossing into the camp there was a reasonably deep pool of water but I had a sufficient remaining supply so there was no need to gather more. But I did take a picture of the nonetheless reassuring pool.

Pine Mountain Lodge water supply, September 18, 2012

PML official: deadfall and sign

PML official: deadfall and sign, September 18, 2012

My goal is to untangle the relationship among PML Camp prime (ice can stove and picnic table site), the official Forest Service PML camp (where the sign lives), the routes between these camps and the continuation of the trail north to Three Mile and northeast to Fishbowls relative to the fragments of how I remember them (as described in my first Pine Mountain Lodge post). Fortunately I have two resources to help in this endeavor. One person still in Ventura County who accompanied me on several trips to PML in the 1980s and the ranger who put the Pine Mountain Lodge Forest Service sign in the tree.

The day after the hike I had a chance to review the photographs and videos from the Pine Mountain Lodge hike with my consulting team. After thinking for a while about these conversations and reviewing the images and videos yet again I believe I have fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Predictably, I suppose, I did not shoot all the angles and vantage points that would allow me to confirm as much as possible my conclusions and to illustrate those conclusions in a manner that would be appropriately definitive.

Panning video of Pine Mountain Lodge official FS site, September 18, 2012

Panning video of Pine Mountain Lodge prime, September 18, 2012

I’ll be going back to Pine Mountain Lodge as soon as I can get back to Ojai to continue the process I started 40 + years ago. At that long ago time I did not realize I had started a process; that only became clear after the August 15, 2011 hike. But that is perfectly fine; it is a good thing to find hitherto hidden purpose in life. It is my experience that the Los Padres is helpful that way: providing a source of creative inspiration in a unique, often bizarre and always challenging setting.

 

 

4 thoughts on “Pine Mountain Lodge, September 18, 2012

  1. Great story, look like some great places to camp, even in the heat. I hope to read about your conclusion(s) once made. If you do have an existential crisis you can always fall back on rationalism 🙂

    • I’m pleased you enjoyed the story; this is great fun, and I’m looking forward to heading back up Pine Mountain to continue this peculiar mission.

      I tried rationalism after my empiricist phase, but quite frankly I didn’t understand either one. Then I realized I was a “sinatraist” – you know:

      “To be is to do” – Socrates
      “To do is to be” – Jean-Paul Sartre
      “Do be do be do” – Frank Sinatra
      (thank you for the clarity, Mr. Vonnegut)

      • I don’t really understand either of the three philosophies myself – I looked up existentialism to get a greater understanding of the meaning and the best I remember it is in opposition to rationalism and empiricism – except on a superficial level. In the end I guess as long as we are feeling well about where we are at neither really matter. For me the mountains and forests greatly help to bring about that feeling of wellness as I imagine they do for you.

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