We just got back from a 17 mile, overnight backpacking trip in the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness. Whewwwyy! Trenton and his friend Nate went with us. We parked Trent's truck up at the Mill Canyon Trailhead and then we all piled in Kyle's truck and drove back around to the Whipple Trailhead, up above the Pine Valley Campgrounds. The trail from Whipple Trailhead to Whipple Valley is 6 miles of steep uphill switchbacks and took us about 4.5 hours. We arrived in Whipple Valley at about 6pm and spent another hour refilling our water bottles in the spring and having a refried bean & tortilla snack. We dropped our packs and hiked down to South Valley, a smaller meadow 1 mile south of Whipple Valley, hoping to see some deer. We didn't see any though. We hiked back up to Whipple Valley and got our packs, and then continued hiking north another .5 mile into North Valley. We hadn't ever seen this meadow before and it was beautiful! We walked the perimeter looking for a good campsite, and settled on one just inside the treeline, close to the stream. Trent and Nate built a stick shelter and then "harvested" some water hyacinths from the meadow for their mattresses. We had brought a lightweight tent and slept in that. After a quick dinner of bean & bacon soup and cheese sandwiches, we went straight to bed. The night was chilly, but not miserably cold as in years past. After breakfast the next morning, we continued on the worn trail trail, but ended up in a dead end meadow, about 1/4 mile east of North Valley. We backtracked and picked up the fainter trail, which headed north out of the Valley and into the trees. Five more miles north through the trees brought us to Ted's Pasture, a drier and less lush meadow. We then turned northwest and took Mill Canyon Trail for 5 more miles along the stream, gradually descending into Mill Canyon. It got hotter the lower and lower we got. We reached the Wilderness Boundry, and a mile later, Mill Canyon Trailhead and Trenton's truck. Everyone was worn out and hot, but it was a fantastic hike! After we got home, Kyle found a tick on the back of his calf while showering. Luckily, it hadn't quite attatched itself and he was able to scrape it off. The best thing about this trip? We didn't see one person, the whole time! The mountain was ours.
