Couple seasons ago I had two very different fall backpacking experiences.

* An October trip into Desolation Wilderness--reputedly the nation's most heavily traveled--and mine was the only car in the parking lot, I saw nobody on the trail, I camped two nights without seeing or hearing anybody, and I finally met two people when I was a couple hundred yards from my car on the walk out. Camped on a small creek at a canyon lip and had a glorious, quiet time. Even the critters had all fled for winter.

* Weather held and I took a November trip into the Grouse Ridge area with a couple friends. Because of the late date we presumed we'd have the place to ourselves. We would be wrong. We got stuck behind a caravan of what turned out to be UC Berkeley students headed for a day hike on the very crappy trailhead road in (pro tip: leave the Camry at home). We left them behind on the trail but when we got to our destination lake, there were a couple DOZEN parties already camped there. We found an overlooked hunk of rock to camp on and cooked before the sun set, then listened to kids yelling until about midnight. Was this November or August?

Yeah, I like soloing.

Cheers,