2 Night Endurance Fastpack – Marble Mountains Wilderness

A 2 night 3 day guided fastpacking trip showcasing some of the best trails in all of the Marble Mountains Wilderness

Only 3 spots left on this trip date for 2021

Route Overview

Our endurance level fastpacking trips cover approximately 40-50 miles over the course of three days. The vertical gain and loss will vary depending on the exact route but you can expect between 10,000-12,000ft over the course of the weekend. There may be options to do a bit more for those who feel like they just aren’t tired enough!

Who is this trip for?

You do not need to have multi-day backcountry experience or fastpacking experience to come on this trip. Your guides will be able to teach you all you need to know to move through the terrain smoothly, safely, and with confidence. A base of fitness and experience hiking or running on trails is highly suggested for our endurance trips. Being able to fairly comfortably cover 15-25+ trail miles in a single day without a pack is a good litmus to know you should be able to handle this itinerary.

What is included in the price?

2 nights and 3 days guided wilderness fastpacking experience. You will also be provided two nights dinners and two mornings breakfast during your fastpack. We can accommodate most dietary restrictions.

Wilderness Fastpacking will provide the following fastpacking specific gear:

Gateway Cities

Yreka, CA is approx. 1 hour drive time from our trailhead meeting point. Medford, OR is the nearest airport and is about 2-2.5 hours drive time from our starting trailhead.

We will also provide our guests with information about many of the other outdoor adventures there are in the area, if you care to extend your trip on either end.

What We Love About the Marble Mountains Wilderness:

The Marble Mountains are not popular by California wilderness standards, but that does not mean they are any less worthy or wild. dozens of high mountain lakes dot this rugged landscape. Old growth forest, and rich biodiversity are certainly another major highlight. But for us the biggest thing about the Marbles is the feeling you have when you stand atop a wind whipped ridgeline and look out in all directions and all you can see is truly untamed uninhabited terrain that has been protected since back in 1931. It’s hard to explain why this is so great, it’s better just to come feel it yourself.

Detailed Logistics

Day 1: We will meet at the specified trailhead at 9am. (to be determined based on current conditions. All trailheads can be reached with a normal passenger vehicle) If you are traveling from out of town you’ll likely want to spend the night before our trip in Etna/Fort Jones, CA, or a bit further drive but many more lodging options in Yreka or even up in Ashland, OR.

You will arrive at the trail with all the gear and food outline in your pre-trip packing list. (You will always be free to contact us during the lead up to your trip with any questions). We will all get acquainted, your guides will hand out all WF gear and group food. Then we’ll all dive in and pack our bags together. Learning to to be efficient and dialed on packing your bag is a key fastpacking skill you’ll be acquiring.

We’ll aim to set out on the trail by about 10am. Our plan for the day will be to cover between 12-18 miles depending on the specific itinerary. Each participant will have been given detailed pre trip briefings on navigation and mapping with an app on your phone. Your guides will help you learn to hone this skill out on the trail. We will have planned regrouping points throughout the day.

We will arrive at camp in the late afternoon to early evening. There your guides will help you set up your shelters and we’ll all get the kitchen prepped for a hearty dinner. We will all cook dinner together, but in small groups of 2-3 people who will be sharing a cook set. This is the optimal way to cook even in large groups with the nature of the weight and size of ultra light cooking equipment. Plus, we want you to LEARN! Cooking in the backcountry can be so much more than simply pouring boiling water in a plastic bag! Our meals are made with real ingredients and are quite simple to prepare. After dinner we’ll have plenty of time to relax, watch the sunset, converse, and generally rest up for the next days adventures.

Day 2: During the summer months first light comes early. We’ll get water on for coffee/tea around 6:30am. Breakfast by 7:30am and have camp packed up, out on the trail around 8:30am. We do hot breakfast at Wilderness Fastpacking. If you are worried about getting moving on s full stomach don’t. We make sure everyone knows to start out the first couple miles slow and easy to loosen up stiff muscles.

We will cover between 14-22 miles on the second day. We’ll likely pass by lakes that we can stop at to cool off, and we’ll cross over at least one or two passes with ample opportunity for world class photo ops. Much like day 1 we’ll arrive in camp in the late afternoon to early evening and repeat our evening ritual. It’s always bitter sweet on the last night in the wilderness.

Day 3: On our final day we’ll begin with a similar time frame as day 2, though potentially with a little later starting time depending on how many miles we have left to cover to exit the wilderness back to our cars. We’ll likely have between 8-12 miles to cover on the final day. It’s our goal to have everyone back to the trailhead in time to make part or all of their drive home or to your next nights lodging without having to press too hard.

As we wrap up our grand adventure and arrive back where we started we’ll make sure we have time to debrief, exchange phone numbers to photos can be shared. We’ll do a gear inventory to make sure everything gets back to where it needs to go.

We want everyone to leave the Marble Mountains feeling accomplished, tired, and inspired, with a bunch of new tools in your fastpacking took kit, to use on your next wilderness adventure whether with us, or out on your own.

Have Questions? Send us an email here: ryan@wildernessfastpacking.com

Ready to take the plunge and get yourself hooked on fastpacking in some of the best wild landscapes America has to offer? Hit the link to our sign up form below. We can’t wait to share the Trinity Alps with you this summer!