July 11th, 2007

Manning Park Buckhorn Camp / Photographs

It took me 2 and a half hours to hike up to the viewpoint. It was hot and tiring and I felt out of energy. I also got cramps in both my calves forcing me to stop once in a while to stretch. I think my new camera and tripod might be too heavy for me. My backpack could be 50lbs for all I know.

After a short rest and a few pictures, it's on to the gravel road, not very pleasant because cars passing me raised alot of dust although some of them did slow down.

2 hours later, I arrived at the trailhead. From there, the trail is almost all downhill and I was in the shade most of the time, a nice walk through trees and meadows. At 5:30pm I arrived at Buckhorn Camp, 7 hours total including breaks.

The camp located in a meadow with some trees and couple of streams is very nice. My plan for tomorrow was to hike to Brothers Mountain but I was so sore and tired I decided to rest at camp and just hike out the day after.

After a day of rest and just taking pictures around camp, I felt much better. On the hike out as I was coming around a corner towards a large meadow, I saw a black bear. It was staring at me from about a block away. "Oh shit, it's a bear", I walked back a few steps and decided to wait. Fortunately after a minute of staring, it turned and walked back to the trees.