Salt Springs Reservoir
Hike Review:
The plan was to hike the trail that hugs the north shore of Salt Springs Reservoir for 5 miles, and to raft the length of the reservoir back to the start of the trail.
The trail was in good condition, but because of the heat (65 degrees at 7:30am), the bugs were relentless through out the entire hike.
The trail was hard-packed dirt and single-track width for the most part.
There was no reception available on Verizon or AT&T.
Lake Review:
Salt Springs is a gorgeous reservoir with calm waters that’s perfect for boating.
The water temperature was perfect. Not too cold and not too warm.
The boat ramp was nice and solid.
It wasn’t too busy at all. There was a fellow kayaker, but that’s the only other boat we saw this morning.
What I Learned:
I really wished that I had brought head nets for Harmon and I, as it would have saved us from much annoyance. It would have been great to wear permethrin treated clothes.
I was glad though, that I had worn a hoodie shirt. The hoodie made the bugs less annoying and protected much of my head. Unfortunately, Harmon was not wearing a hoodie shirt.
It was my first time using the mini-inflator for the packraft and it worked wonderfully. It attached via a friction adapter and once it was finished, I just needed to manually blow a couple more times to fully inflate it.
Friends Made
Harmon accompanied me on the trail and he was a trooper. He gave it his all, and I appreciated him for it.
What Happened?
Hiking: 1 mile, 1 hr, 300ft ascent. Boat: 1 mile, 1 hr, 0 mph N (wind)
When I bought my packraft last year, one of the main reasons why I bought is that I wanted to go hiking with it, then whenever the opportunity arose, to use the packraft to traverse across a body of water. I had looked at a few lakes in the Desolation Wilderness as possible candidates, but I ended up deciding on the Salt Springs Reservoir. Harmon was interested in joining, so he came along.
We arrived at the Salt Springs Dam and after a quick breakfast, we started hiking with the packraft and two kayak paddles. At the start, Harmon wasn’t feeling too well, so we took it easy. But even with a couple of rests, Harmon just could not shake feeling ill, and so we decided to cut the hike short at around the one mile mark. We went off-trail and made for the shore, where we could blow up the packraft and get on the water.
We inflated the packraft while battling fire ants and couldn’t get on the water fast enough. As we started paddling, Harmon started feeling a lot better, and so we took the long way back to the trailhead.
The view of the reservoir actually reminded me of Hetch Hetchy Valley, with the granite walls jutting right out of the water on the south side of the reservoir. We had a great time and slowly made our way back.
At the boat ramp, we threw our gear on the opposite side of the locked fence and jumped it. Harmon took quite a while getting his courage up to jump the fence, but he eventually got it and overcame a few of his fears doing so. Actually, while he was building up his courage, I jumped back on the ramp side and swam a bit in the not-too-cold waters of the reservoir. I also climbed a granite feature for fun and cannonballed into the lake.
Even though we had to cut the original plan short, we still had a great time. And, adjusting to various circumstances (in this case, Harmon feeling ill), is what being on an adventure is all about.