Cherry Creek 2010
By Rebecca Wahlgren
There has been a lot of change in 2010 and little time to slow down and reflect. Greg and Chrissy tied the knot and moved to the Lake Merritt neighborhood of Oakland. Charlie and I moved to the Haight in San Francisco. Charlie bought a CNC mill and has dedicated countless hours to making self designed and manufactured pole aerial photography rigs, and I started nursing school at UCSF. All of our lives have been a bit hectic as we adjust and still try to maintain a sense of self that was once so deeply rooted in our old neighborhood in Rockridge. I thought this weekend of backpacking in Cherry Creek would be a much needed opportunity to reconnect with ourselves and each other. And so we embarked!
Cherry Creek is a place very sacred to Charlie. He has many childhood memories of camping here with his family as a youngster. Charlie has not returned since high school and was both excited and nervous to share the landscape with us. Nervous because the route to our destination involved miles of unlabeled dirt roads to drive down followed by six miles of cross country-style (map and compass) terrain.
Day 1: Hike to Cherry Creek Valley
Day one was the most memorable for me. After navigating our way down the treacherous dirt road and waiting patiently for some loggers blocking our path to load up, we started our hike, backpacks loaded, to the creek. We encountered a story books worth of wilderness including a lake full of lily pads, free range cows, bear poo (full of berries), lots of fallen trees and a wonderland of granite. All was going well until my altitude sickness erupted (literally) and Charlie and Greg so kindly divided up my load so I could continue the trek in some comfort. Descending into the valley, we were faced with many obstacles: forests of Manzanita brush, dead ends, and lots of scrambling down rock cliffs. After several wrong turns our resolves were weaning, and my nausea gaining, but despite the difficulty we were determined to make it to our campsite.
And we made it just in time to collapse into our sleeping bags!
Good Morning Chrissy!
Day 2: Exploring Cherry Creek
We camped two nights under a blanket of stars next to a stream surrounded by granite and trees. The entire landscape was breathtaking with a sentiment similar to Yosemite minus the crowds. We were the only people within eyesight! We spent our day visiting fishing holes, lounging on granite slabs, jumping into water holes, and exploring a nearby lake lush with vegetation. We ate very well having brought enough food to feed all our families combined (always better to be over prepared I suppose). We had options at every meal, which we were grateful for, especially when I managed to mix our dehydrated hummus with tequila! Who knew hummus could be so spicy…. We also had our share of freshly caught trout (sometimes served with pesto!) several caught by Charlie and the biggest fish yet caught by Greg. It’s amazing how elegant a rainbow trout can look even after its head has been chopped off!
That night Charlie made a fire on a nearby island of sand just steps from our campsite. We spent the night under the stars chatting and playing tic-tac-toe and three letter hang man in the sand.
View of our Valley
Greg's Big Catch!
Exploring the Moon
Timed Group Shot
Chrissy's Impressive Frog Leap!
Playing in the Cold Water
Close up of the Moon
Chrissy Casting
Day 3: Hike Out of the Valley
Almost to flat ground!
A Scenic Lunch
View of the Valley
Out of the Valley surrounded by Lake Reeds
Some Friends we found along the way...
(not shown: water snake, blue jay, chipmunk, cow, mosquito, and bee)
Now done with the hard part (hiking out), over come with joy and happiness Greg, Chrissy, and I bathed in one of the Chain Lakes while Charlie snapped pictures and kindly pumped water for our dinner of Ramen, Miso Soup, and Beef Stroganoff. One of my fondest memories is when Chrissy brought out the St. Ives Apricot Face Scrub (biodegradable of course) never have I been so delighted to clean my face!
Mermaid
Love at first sight! Greg and Chrissy swimming
Now that we had made it out of the Valley we could all relax. Even Charlie who had taken on the responsibility of leading us into the wilderness now let his guard down because he knew we could all find our way back to the car if needed. So the night started with setting up camp and making dinner on top of yet another granite slab.
If anyone ever goes back to Cherry Creek, campsite 12 by one of the Chain Lakes is awesome! Plenty of space, secluded by a large fallen tree and granite walls, steps from the lake and a full fire pit with four sitting logs. As night fell Charlie set his camera to long exposure and we took turns writing messages with our head lamps ( see the first picture of the blog).
Three's
We spent the rest of our night sitting around a growing fire nibbling on chocolates and playing Greg’s all time favorite camping game: Threes! Greg carried an entire Nalgene of Casadores Tequila, limes, and salt out with us just to make his dream a reality. Somehow I got blessed with the power to rarely lose at this game granting me the power to maintain my sobriety while witnessing the giggling and joking of everyone else escalate.
Starry night over the lake
Day 4: Return to the Bay
The remainder of our hike back to the car was short, sweet, and rewarding. Our weekend had been a success and I think we were all feeling ready to go home to the luxuries of showers and mattresses. We safely cleared the dirt path without any loggers in our way and stopped in Sonora for lunch at a local brewery. After the waitress more or less got our order right after about seven tries and two hours, we enjoyed our hamburgers and veggie sandwich. Charlie ready to stop driving and take a back seat to the trip enjoyed some Sierra Nevadas and Greg kindly drove us back to the Bay painstaking as it was with all the Yosemite traffic intruding the whole way.
It has now been a week since our return and life is back to normal, more or less, my school starts up next week. I feel like I was able to take a little bit of the creek’s peace and serenity back with me, and I’m feeling more grounded and ready to tackle this next quarter of nursing school! As for Greg and Chrissy, they just finished the Tour de Tahoe this weekend (a 75 mile bike trek) and are back at work, getting ready for a weekend celebrating Greg’s brother’s wedding. Charlie and I celebrated Ned and Jaque’s wedding this weekend as well as our own three year dating anniversary. Life goes on, but it’s important to keep sight of yourself and remind yourself of your roots.
Mountain Man Charlie after four days in the woods!
Can’t wait for Cherry Creek 2011!!!
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