Hurricane Deck and beyond

We’ve been talking about doing Hurricane Deck with Jon’s buddy Andrew for the last year. Andrew has done the route several times and has an unofficial campsite that he likes to stay at that is apparently awesome. Since the trail can be faint at times on the Deck, it’s recommended that when you do the trail for the first time that you do it with someone who has done it before.

We finally had an opportunity to do Hurricane Deck over MLK weekend since all of our other options were either closed due to the pandemic or still closed due to fires or fire damage. Unfortunately, Jon wouldn’t be able to join us since he was recovering from eye surgery.

On Saturday morning we got up super early (5 AM) to make the drive out to the Nira Trailhead. It takes about 1.5 hours to get out there, and we were on the trail by 7:15 AM. Although it was January, we had warm weather in the forecast (in the 80’s!) so we wanted to beat the heat as much as we could since you’re exposed while on Hurricane Deck.

We would be doing the route clockwise, starting out on the Portreo Trail. We jammed the first two miles, then the climbing really started. Thankfully it was still cool and we weren’t directly in the sun (yet).

We made it to Hurricane Deck in under two hours and turned right, heading towards Lost Valley Trail. For the next 6.5 miles we’d be walking along Hurricane Deck, which traverses the ridge of the mountain. The first part was VERY steep, both uphill and downhill. At times, the trail was right along the edge of the ridge, and sometimes the “edge” was on both sides. Thankfully, just a handful of spots got me nervous, mainly because the ground didn’t look super stable. Other times, the trail was nonexistent and we had to find the best way to bushwack through the dense trees and shrubs. I was so glad I had opted for pants, and after while Andrew suggested I switch into a long sleeve shirt so my arms didn’t get too cut up from bushwacking. That was a good call since I still ended up scraped even through my clothes!

But the views! The views were insane. Epic. Incredible! I can see why this is a famous/popular hike – those views make it so worth it.

Although the weather was warm, there was thankfully a great breeze while we hiked. That really helped with the heat since we were totally exposed to the sun for most of the afternoon. We paused for a break on a knoll and enjoyed the views and the breeze. We opted not to do a full lunch break, since we thought we’d be to our campsite in about an hour. Whoops, nope – it ended up taking us over 2 hours to finish the final miles. We were getting tired, and there was lots more route finding as we dropped off the ridge towards Lost Valley Trail.

Finally, we reached the turn off and we knew we were getting close. The campsite was just a mile down the trail, and had a great view looking back at all that we just hiked along the Deck, with views of the valley below as well.

The wind was still whipping, and now that we weren’t hiking and were trying to setup our tents, we appreciated it a bit less. Ha! We were able to get both tents setup, but after a few hours the wind pulled one of my main stakes out, so I was on mission “find lots of heavy rocks” to ensure that my main pole (or any of the other stakes) didn’t succumb to the wind in the middle of the night.

Side note: this was the maiden voyage for my new 1 person tent – a trekking pole tent from Gossamer Gear, “The One”. OMG, I am obsessed with it. It is so light, and so roomy for little ‘ol me! It was pretty easy to setup, but the ground here is really soft so that helps. It’ll be interesting to see how it does in the Sierras this summer.

Otherwise, we spent the evening doing a little exploring around us and enjoying the views, which just kept getting better as the sun set. As it got dark, we saw a faint light in the valley below us. A hikers headlamp! We didn’t even know a trail went that way. Maybe it doesn’t and they were explorers. But then… they started a campfire. We couldn’t believe it. First off, fires aren’t allowed right now. And second of all, it was windy!! I can only hope that it wasn’t windy down in the valley, but man, that upset us! I’m so glad they didn’t start the forest on fire.

The next morning I was up early and got to enjoy the soft light of the sunrise. By 8 AM, we were packed up and on our way. We’d be splitting up here – Andrew was hiking out and I was heading back to the Deck and hiking further into the backcountry!

I hiked back up to where we had left Hurricane Deck the previous day, then turned right and hiked towards White Ledge. This section of the Deck wasn’t as impressive as yesterday’s section, with more time spent in the trees so less views. As the trail dropped down, I finally did leave the trees and got some views. At one point I really felt how alone and deep in the wilderness I was. It was a very odd feeling. Not bad, just a feeling of being very far away from everything and everyone. Especially since I hadn’t seen anyone all day since I left Andrew.

It was getting warm and I was getting thirsty. There is no water along the Deck, and we had dry camped the night before. So I was being conservative with my water, since I might have to wait all the way until South Fork to refill (which would be around mile 8). I’m glad I paced myself, since although there was water at White Ledge, it was stagnant and looked pretty gross. Thankfully, I wasn’t desperate enough to need to filter that water here, and I continued on the final three miles to South Fork.

South Fork left a bit to be desired. I had planned to possibly camp here tonight, and although the flowing stream was awesome, it was buggy and I couldn’t locate the camping area. I think it was likely beyond these “gates” but I was having trouble getting the gates open/closed so I aborted going deeper into the backcountry and decided to hike back out towards Manzana Narrows where I knew I would find a nice campsite near water. And that meant a shorter/easier day tomorrow! Yesterday had been a hard day – over 5,100′ of elevation gain over 12 miles, so I was tired from that effort and wasn’t sure if I wanted to do three double-digit days. This is supposed to be fun after all!

But first that meant that today I’d have to pay for the short final day. Manzana Narrows was still another 8 miles away. After drinking a ton of water and refilling my bottles, I retraced my steps back (uphill of course) to White Ledge, then turned towards Manzana Narrows. The next while was slow going since the trail was hard to follow. At one point, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find the trail and I’d be trapped and need to go back out via the Deck. Then I finally, thankfully, found the trail and could continue on.

The last four miles or so of the trail were quite lovely, but I was getting tired and this hike was turning into a bit of a death march. It’ll definitely be nice to come back here with Jon and enjoy the area some more. As it was, I was hiking as fast as my tired feet would carry me, as the day was getting late.

Finally I hit the switchbacks and knew I was getting close. Down, down, down and then – yippie – camp! I was surprised that on a Sunday afternoon of a three-day weekend that it wasn’t busier! I passed two gals who camped outside of the campsite area, and there was just one couple at the campsite itself. And I even got the cool spot by the mini-waterfall that Jon and I had stayed at last time. Awesome! I had been worried that I wasn’t going to be able to find a spot, but clearly I overestimated how popular backpacking in January was.

I took care of camp chores, got freshened up and made dinner. It was going to be an early night for me – I had hiked over 16 miles in 8.5 hours. A full day’s work! I tried listening to my audio book in my tent but awoke (at 7:30 PM, haha) to the end credits – I must’ve already been asleep for over an hour. Whoops. I gave up on “reading” and just went to bed.

Monday, my final day, and just an easy 7 mile hike out. Nothing too remarkable about the hike out. It was as lovely as it had been in December and I made great time, making it to the trailhead in just over 2 hours.

What a great weekend exploring Hurricane Deck, going deeper into the backcountry, getting in some solitude. I can’t wait to come back and try to make it to the waterfalls out by the Condor Sanctuary – and bring Jon along next time!