For those of you who have never been there, Cone Peak is an abandoned fire outpost located at about 5,000ft., and 80mi. South of Monterey. A few months after conquering Half Dome, I collected some gear for backpacking and went down the coast with Mackensie. The trailhead started right off the roadside and soon cut into the hillside and disappeared into the valley. It was a very sunny, thin trail with a hill on one side and a cliff on the other. I was outfitted with a proper backpack, but, being inexperienced, I packed more than I could handle. Mackensie, on the other hand, had a frameless behemoth of a pack, stuffed full to the brim, that loosely hung on her shoulders. Five miles in we came across our campsite that would act as a base for us. It was beautifully hidden in the redwoods and right next to a flowing river. Along our way there we met a trail rehabilitation volunteer, Mike, who showed us the correct way to go. He was a perfectly nice fellow, but, having been told stories about killers in the woods, we both assumed he might be one.
There is Mackensie sitting in a burnt out redwood at our campsite.
The next morning, we woke up and took off hiking our 12-mile round trip day hike to cone peak. It was a treacherous up hill trek in the beating sun with absolutely no tree cover. We had hardly enough water to take us to the top and no place to refill our bottles. Finally after a few hard hours we made it to the cool shade of the outpost. The sight was spectacular.
The hike down was pretty uneventful. It was easy going, a tired hike. We returned to camp, ate some dinner, and slept our last night in the wilderness. The next morning we set out bright and early to hike back in. We arrived way ahead of schedule and instead of waiting around for a ride, we hiked up the road until an old man offered to drive us north. He dropped us at the River Inn in Big Sur. There, we called our ride and waited to be rescued.
That's all for this trip.
Tune in next time for: Sykes: The rainy nightmare.
i miss this
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