Bull Frog Toes - Adventures and Stories: Part 14 - The Lost Coast Trail - Day 2 - Rattesnake Ridge

START HERE - THE LOST COAST PART 1

Story continued from Part 13 - Spanish Flat

After making it to Miller Flat - we were happy to have the beach behind us and head into more traditional mountaineering - climbing up. Our goal was to reach the top of Kings Peak - 4088ft (1246 Meters) the next day. From the top of Kings Peak the view would be incredible. To the West the ocean would look like it is licking at the base of the mountain just a few miles away. To the North, we would be able to see the Mattole Valley as it makes it way toward Petrolia and the trail head we started from. To the Northeast, if we were lucky, Mt Shasta would be visible a hundred or so miles away. To the East, over the tops of the coastal range mountains, the central valley of California would have its beginnings. And to the South, Shelter Cove, our take out point, and the rest of the coastline would be visible. To get to Kings Peak we had some elevation to make and it was up Rattlesnake Ridge. Our target for tonight was Bear Hollow Camp - not really a great name in my opinion.

We headed in on Rattlesnake Ridge trail, taking the turn in off the Lost Coast trail. The trail paralleled Miller creek and several times crossed back and forth over the water. One of these crossing would impact the rest of my trip with the results leading to the name of this blog. But I don't want to get ahead of myself.

Miller Flat / Big Flat

It is big!!!

Kings Peak in the Distance

We found the trail - Rattlesnake Ridge - Thank you BLM Rangers and trail crews

Off we go into the shade and some easy walking - for now.....

It was refreshing for the first time to hike in the shade. This helped cool us down and renew our spirits. I think we were all excited about the new challenge that showed up on the topo map - 2 miles in from the coast we would hit the switchbacks. They looked like the stitching on Frankenstein's skull; a half mile long section with 1500+ feet of elevation gain. The only good news was that camp was just about 5 miles away. Over the first two miles on the trail, the flora changed dramatically. It became tropical and thick. With abundant water and cool shade, the plants grew huge. We stayed on the trail that hugged the hillside and creek; the air had a faint scent of sulfur, like the earth was cracked open. There were some snakes, ribbon snakes -harmless, and rock cairns leading the way. We truly were heading into the belly of the beast - like Stanley looking for Livingstone.

Whitey adding to the Cairn - we crossed this creek several times.

Ribbon Snake - Harmless

Kings Peak

I suffered an unfortunate incident on one of the creek crossings. I did not have walking sticks helping me balance on the rocks over the creek so I took a step into the water. Funny thing about my waterproof shoes; if water goes over the top of the shoe, then all waterproofing is null and void. Since we had just stopped for a late lunch, I did not really feel like stopping again to take my shoe off and replace my sock. The shoe seemed to have drained the water and I figured I would be fine. I think you know that was not a smart thing to do.

Start of switchbacks

Sun going down.

Do you think this is enough water?

We started up the switchbacks in earnest. Each switchback runs about 100-200 feet and then folds back onto itself only pointed upward toward the sky. It was a steep drop off the edges. We could make about two or three of them before we had to stop to catch our breath. My shoe was squeaking like a cheap detective during the climb as I got into a rhythm. Our water was going down pretty fast and sweat poured off all of us. Light colored shirts turned dark, and skin glistened with a sauna-like bloom. Time as it turned out was not on our side. It got darker and darker. We realized that at our rate of climb, we would not get to camp before dark.

Sweat-hogs

Once the switchbacks let up somewhat - we celebrated that we just had easy distance to make now. We were on the top of the ridge and our camp was perhaps another 3/4 mile away. We were hungry and anxious to settle in after a long day on the trail. The sunset provided another glorious show of slowly decaying light and robin's egg colored twilight. We still pulled on the headlamps, posed for pics and began to whistle the theme song from the Andy Griffith Show - Dada-da..daaa..Dada-da-daaa...der-der-der-der-der-der do.... This was a tactic to alert the bears that might already be playing poker up at Bear Hollow Camp that we were on our way. They had already left a huge trail of crap on the trail - so we were expecting a party.