Cache Creek Wilderness Backpacking

We went backpacking in Cache Creek Wilderness in April 2016.

I didn't know that the Cache Creek wilderness area was only two hours away from San Francisco. After 1.5 hours of crazy story time, we arrived at the trailhead. However, there were no signs or even a clear trail. Anyway, we started hiking. Two minutes from the trailhead, there was a river crossing. It was only ankle high, but my shoes got wet. This deepness was no longer annoying for me. When I crossed the river, I understood why this place was not very popular, even though it was nice. No clear trail with a river crossing at the very beginning is not for normal hikers.

The area was very pretty. The grass was all green. The hills were light green but transparent and shiny at the same time. Being windy, all the grass was blown in the same direction. The movement was beautiful. In the grass, there were purple, light purple, and red wildflowers. Occasionally we saw small ponds and rivers in the distance. I thought I could sit on the grass surrounded by cute and pretty flowers from sunrise to sunset. It would be a nice day. However, we headed for our destination.

The trail signs in the area were unclear. For example, there were two directions at the junction, but only one trail had a sign saying "trail" and the other didn't have anything. If we had not had a map, we could have gone down the path with a sign. It was confusing. Due to this, we once went off trail and wandered for a little bit, which was fun. Whether it was intentional or accidental, hiking in the real wilderness seems to be our destiny. I learned from Mr.N that this kind of vagueness was well known in the area operated by the Bureau of Land Management.

We reached our destination, Wilson Valley around 7 p.m. Luckily, 7 p.m. was not dark at this time of year. The entire valley was ours. Nobody else was there. It was very quiet and peaceful. The combination of a meadow and a creek is always perfect. The Cache creek was right nearby and the sound of the stream was pleasant.

I drank all of water on the way so I went to the creek to get water. As I got close to the water, it got stinky. The water was a little cloudy, but we didn't have a choice. When I came back to the meadow, Mr.N said that he found the cause of the stink. He went to the creek to swim but he decided not to, because he found a dead fish. He showed me the place where the fish was. I was stunned. The fish was really big. Also there were a lot of big bear footprints around the dead fish. It was spooky.

I think that the carcass was the highlight of this trip.

The night was quiet and pleasant. I like sleeping near the creek at night. The flowing sound was peaceful, even if the water was cloudy. The next morning when I woke up, I thought "What?" A lot of condensation had gathered on the tent, and even sleeping bag inside was wet. I put the fly under the sun and tried to dry it, however, it seemed hard to dry it completely.

We saw several eagles during the trip. Their flying style was very free. Looking at the eagles made me feel like I was absorbed into the sky, or nature.

Overall, the Cache Creek wilderness was very pretty. It consisted of pretty green hills, beautiful and colorful wildflowers, and a scorched area from the recent wildfire. The combination of these aspects created a unique scenery. During our trip, we only saw three day hikers and a group of boyscouts. It was very remote. Unexpectedly the trail was somewhat faint and the signs were not perfect, but I actually enjoyed it. I realized that I could be very happy at a clear junction, if every other junction was unclear.