June 16, 2018
Over the last month we have read numerous blog postings about hiking to Boccard Point from fellow local hikers and hiking clubs. All that psychological warfare finally took effect and we headed out for a 10+ mile hike along the
PCT and
Boccard Point trail to see what all the fuss was about.
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| Hobart Bluff TH of the PCT - notice the clouds in the background! |
One of the highlights of this hike happened before we even began hiking. As we drove the access road off highway 66 to get to the trailhead, we say deer cross the road and one remain on the road right in front of us. We also saw something trotting along and crossing the road behind the deer. As we got closer to the deer on the road, another animal trotted across the road ahead of us -- a wolf! Yup, we evidently got a rare glimpse of some wolves that are in the Southern Oregon/Northern California area. Amazing! The deer in front of us did quickly depart - opposite direction of the wolves and our car.
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| Hiking into the clouds and through the wind. |
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| Indian Paintbrush was everywhere on this hike. |
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| Columbine also made numerous appearances along the trail |
Ok, now to the hike. When we arrived at the Hobart Bluff TH on the PCT, we were immersed in clouds and the wind was really blowing. The first hour of our hike was like hiking at the coast. We had double shirts and jackets on and were still freezing! It also cut out the various views of meadows and valleys that are featured along this section of the PCT. Fortunately many portions of the trail went through forested areas which helped to cut down the wind.
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| Beautiful beautiful area! |
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| VIew of Pilot Rock from Boccard Point trail |
As we finished our cloudy & windy 3 mile hike south on the PCT, we connected to the Boccard Point trail which rambles slowly uphill for 2.2 miles, finishing as one might suspect, at Boccard Point. At times this trail was hard to follow as it appeared that no maintenance had been done recently, but as the sun came out we managed our way to the point and took time to enjoy views of Mt Shasta, the Irongate Reservoir, and Pilot Rock. We even had our own little stone bench slightly below the point where we took a break out of the wind and enjoyed the newly arrived sunshine and blue sky.
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| Our natural stone bench break area. |
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| View of Boccard Point with snow covered Mt Shasta in the distance |
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| Trail just below Boccard Point |
Usually on an out-and-back hike, the return hike is pretty much the same, just in reverse. But since we didn't get to see much on the hike out due to clouds, the hike back provided us with lots of opportunities to see the surrounding valleys, large meadows, and enjoy many many beautiful wildflowers -- a few that were new to us. The Soda Mountain Wilderness is an incredibly beautiful area with such diversity in wildflowers. Pictures just don't do justice, nor words, to depict how beautiful this hike was in regards to the flora.
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| Heading through one of the forested areas. |
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| Trail shot through one of many large meadows |
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| Another beautiful large meadow just off trail |
We both felt pretty good even after the 10.4 mile hike and no wolves were seen on the drive back out to highway 66. For those of you who enjoy wildflowers, we have included some pictures from this hike at the bottom of this posting for your viewing pleasure. Of course getting out and seeing them yourself before they are gone, is even better. Hope you get a chance to do so.
Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol
