One of those Crazy People

I’ve been trying to think of a way to open this entry. Here’s what I have come up with:
The High Sierras are not easy.
I and the hikers around me regard this as something of an understatement, It is. But I must begin at the beginning.
Anne and I were climbing up Kearsarge Pass on her first day out. We had five miles of steep ascent and at the third mile a naked man came jouncing down the trail. He wore a multicolor backpack and a fanny pack over his dangly bits.
“HI! I’m Green Tortuga, what’s your name?” he saluted cheerfully.
We introduced ourselves and commended him for having the cojones to actually practice ‘Naked Hike Day,’ the backpacker’s salute to Summer Solstice.
Finally we summited the pass and dropped back into the domain of giants. Precipices look down from all sides. Only when perched in the passes themselves do we see as these Lords do. You know what they see? A whole bunch of other mountains…
We climbed through a second pass on that same day. Glen Pass was the first of our 12000 foot passes. The entire approach was blanketed in snow as we rose into the cirque bowls.No sign of the trail, only white and that incredible blue of frozen water. We made our way up and over, only to encounter three more miles of snow. On the descent I post holed (when the snow is so soft and deep that it will happily engulf an entire leg) and left a shoe buried under four feet of snow. Fortunately my shoes are bright orange, which helped with Mr. Mountain Goat’s excavation efforts.
Eventually we began to see trail in little spots and finally made our way down to Rae Lakes. As we hit the basin bed, thick, angry clouds began to gather overhead. We set up camp and veritably slumped into inactivity.
That next day, Anne and I slept, ate, and explored around the lake beds. Such a unique ecosystem. We climbed onto an out cropping of rocks and could see huge fish listing lazily some 20 feet under water.
The ground underfoot was positively buoyant. You could look back across the mossy, muddy field and watch your footprints disappear. By the end of the day, three other groups of hikers had come into camp. They were all out for week long trips. One group (three uncles and a nephew, had the boy out for his first big hike. As they planned to go through Glen Pass they were anxious to hear about the snow conditions. That evening one of the uncles, the nephew and a fellow from another of the groups came up to our camp to exchange notes.“How long would it take you to climb up this side of the pass?” the uncle inquired.
About two hours, was the answer.
At this the other fellow leaned forward and scrutinized me, “yeah, but you’re one of those crazy people,” he concluded.
I was about to protest but then realized that maybe I was. Certainly by his standards I would be.
The next day we packed up and marched toward the sunlight, which had begun to pour into the valley ahead and glided to meet us.
For miles the ground sloped downward to a T junction. Skeletons of Red Pines contorted in a limbless dance in the foreground as the face of Castle Domes reared up from behind them. Morning light’s reddish-orange lipstick mark still lingered on the granite face, even as a trickle, a tiny spill of water poured prom the precipices’ upper echelons.
As it turned out, up close, that tiny stream of water was actually a gushing mass of H2O particles flying about and dashing into rocks and one another at painfully high and powerful velocities. As such, our Federal and National Parks systems had built a pretty rad suspension bridge. Even though sturdy timbers were anchored and held us safe, the wires of the bridge bounced around as you crossed, making it safe for only one person to cross at a time. The frothing water churned dizzily some 15 feet below, forcing me to stare straight ahead.

As I came down on the other side I grinned at Anne, “good thing you’re not scared of heights!”
“I am,” she replied simply. This is one of the many reasons I consider her a personal hero.
At that juncture we made our goodbyes and Anne headed 15 miles downhill to Road’s End and the attached resort. I, being the masochist that I must be, turned up that same valley, only to climb higher and wander more deeply into the wilderness.

Where Purple Mountain's Majesty

Well, there should be an entry (some 60 miles worth) between my last entry and this. However, the only matter of particular note is the story I am about to tell.

Around mile 670 I was beginning one of the first serious climbs of the trail. Switch backing about on the mountainside, the trail dropped into a shady creek hollow some 3or 4 times. I was coming up the trail when I saw a figure shimmy across the trail in the shadows. Presuming it to be a fellow hiker, I made a greeting and came along the bend and found myself some 10 ft from a young bear. We both froze.
As soon as reason began again, I backed up. It was a small bear but not quite a cub, perhaps almost 2 years old or so. I began to sing loudly and badly and after a moment a curious little face peeked around the corner at me. The furry, shambling creature cocked its head and then ducked back. I kept singing and waited for few moments (hoping Rif- Raf and Frog would catch up). After a few minutes I pressed forward again but my new little friend was plopped right in the path. My voice quavered and I snapped a photo before backing off again. Two more times we took turns advancing on one another, neither being wholly sure what to make of the situation. Finally I clacked my sticks loudly and it scuttled down the hillside and in the thick brush.
Some 30 miles later, I came into Kennedy Meadows, at the edge of Sequoia National Park. We picked up our bear boxes, mailed resupply and snow gear before trooping off into the high Sierras. Over the course of a day, everything was different. We climbed above 9000 feet and the coniferous forests for which I had pined, were all around us. We were camped above 10,000 ft by the second night and Fuzzy Monkey built a beautiful fire around which Frog, Rif-Raf, Mr. Mountain Goat and I gathered. 21 mile days were now as exhausting as 26 mile days had been, as the air is notably thinner. For most of those first 2 or 3 days, any time I hiked reasonably quickly, I began to feel as if a heavy band were being tightened around my chest.

We moved over sandy floors and between redwood sculptures. Trees stood tall on thick trunks. Many were branchless and barkless and their cores glistened red and brown in the sun. Others seemed to have suffered incredible trauma, vertical rifts ran deep from the ground up, exposing hundreds of layers of shades of red. Still others bore massive tumors and countless other nuances. All so similar, each so unique.
The mountains began to sprout up all around us. Yesterday, Frog and Rif-Raf moved a bit while I summited Mt. Whitney with another group of hikers. We set out by 6:30 AM and were in the high, snow filled basins within two hours. Peaks and spires jutted up all around us. Walls of rock thousands of feet high, fluted like a pipe organ. We began to climb a steep talus ledge but quickly encountered even steeper banks of snow. Sometimes we scrambled straight up the rocks, other times we used our ice axes and braved the snow banks. As the air thinned we slowed. Five and a half hours later we stood atop the highest point in the lower 48 States. The sky all around us was clear, except a few fluffy cumulus near the horizon. The San Andreas fault ran parallel to the mountain, across a valley space. It promises to make these mountain beach front, given a couple million years. To the north, the snow clad Sierras ran. It was astounding and daunting.

By 2 PM we began to make our way back down. The snow made it challenging but we all arrived at our campsite in Crabtree Meadow that evening. A group of thru-hiker boys had camped just across the river from us and they stood in the soggy meadow casting fishing lines into the crystal clear river waters. The pink of the alpine glow graced the peaks which cupped around us and it was a truly wonderful evening.

Today I packed up and climbed several ridges, snow shoed across a snowy valley and dropped to yet another torrent by lunch. I crossed safely and stopped for lunch and spread my sock and some of my gear out to dry. As I ate, I began to calculate mileages and found that I am now some 6 days ahead of schedule. I have 4 days to make 25 miles. At this next town my friend Anne will be coming out to hike with me. I scheduled a few options for our week together and decided to call it a day.

It is 4:30 PM and the sun is still warm and I’m thinking about an early supper and bedtime. Tomorrow I tackle Forester Pass. At 13,180 ft, it is the highest point on the PCT. It is also reputed to be one of the most dangerous passes. Early mid-morning snow is still firm enough to not post hole but is also not too icy, so I’ll tackle it then. Right now all I can think about is tackling a box of Annie’s Mac and Cheese.

Through the Desert & Over the Hills, To Kennedy Meadows We Go

Fortunate to have found rides in and out of Tehachapi, Frog, Rif-Raf, & I made the quickest resupply yet. We were back on the trail by 4:00 and made it 3 miles up yet another desert ridge before pitching our tents. We quickly tucked in, as the wind was brutal. It battered us throughout the night but, with the aid of ear plugs, I slept heavily.

I awoke to find a whole encampment of new hikers around us, including, to my delight, 3 other young ladies. We all set off, up the open hillside, battling both gravity and the wind. The howling gusts did not permit to hold a thought for the span of even a second. I proceeded in something of a bewildered state. reaching the top of a ridge, we found trees and shelter from the wind and I spent our morning Union Break trying to gather my scattered and scrambled thoughts.

The next several days blurred into fog of tree-lined ridge walks and following jeep tracks. As it turned out, a couple of our new friends were suffering from what we have termed 'butt plague'. 5 days into their process of illness, I found myself out of energy and pukey. This, coupled with the shin splints I have been hiking on, made for less than easy going. By the second day, our trees gave way to open desert again, a very El-Paso-ish landscape called Kelso Valley.

Both of the boys were so kind and patient. Frog kept trying to convince me to let him have some of my pack weight. Rif-Raf kept close to my plodding pace and engaged me in conversation and stories. These shows of support made a world of difference for me.

All of the water supplies in this area were pretty far off the trail but, again, we were the beneficiaries of another's kindness. An older woman, by the name of Mary, carried hundreds of gallons of water on her motor bike up to dirt road crossings along the trail. Because of her efforts, we did not have to go ff trail at all. In my condition, this was significant. At 3:oo pm we sat at Mary's 2nd water cache, peering up yet another daunting, exposed climb. Thankful not to be encountering it in the middle of the day's heat, we began upwards. Rif-Raf's company and encouragement helped keep my mind from stewing and 2 hours later we sat atop a ridge, much like the forested part of the Tooth of Time Ridge at Philmont. he reminded me that despite my lack of appetite, I needed to eat, so I did.

As we walked the 6 miles along the ridge top, I thought about Philmont and thanked God for my experiences there, for they gave me the confidence I needed for this undertaking. I thought about my cousins, Brian and Travis, who are staff out there this year and felt so proud and blessed to have such an amazing family who understand how to celebrate the outdoors.

That night we cowboy camped (sleeping bag under the open stars) in a dry, sandy wash. I slept heavily and awoke the next morning feeling much better. I decided to grant myself an extra 10 minutes before getting up and rolled over. As I blinked my still sleepy eyes, I saw that my ground cloth was crawling with ants. While they hadn't bothered me all night, I could not consciously abide their presence and so gave up. As I reviewed what I had considered to be a dogged progress the day before, I was surprised to realize we had covered 21 miles and, despite my illness and heavy loads of water, had still been moving at about 2.5 mph. A pace of which I would have been very proud of only a month ago.

The 12 miles to Walker Pass were a largely gentle downhill slope and we tore it up quickly, at the rumor of a Trail Magic grill out at the Walker Pass Campground. We arrived at 1:oo pm, just as the day's heat was reaching it's peak. No rumors or even exaggerations could have prepared us for what awaited. Not only was there water and food, but coolers of an array of icy beverages, hot dogs on the grill and a collection of prominent characters from the trail.

Warner Springs Monty, whose emails back and forth had assured me that the PCT was the right thing to do. Yogi, whose guide had let me know I could do it. Meadow Ed, the first person to start leaving the water caches along the trail. I also met Okie Girl and Jackelope and Eagle Eye. These latter two having been previous thru-hikers and Okie Girl, a section hiker. Each having driven a significant distance from their home, were out here for several days, making us food and offering rides to town. After a yummy supper we sat around and told stories and spoke of this trail which we all love. I basked in the company and array of experiences. I can't wait to grow up and be just like them and they assured me they wished to be in my shoes.

A jolly good time was had by all. Tomorrow morning Rif-Raf is picking up a box at the Post Office and we will set out across these last 50 miles to Kennedy Meadows. Reports of the conditions are starting to leak out, but I will just see for myself in three days. Wish me luck!

Midnight Lunch and Other Matters of the Mojave

This trail is blessed by a marvelous array of Trail Angels. People who go out of their way to aid encourage and support the hikers. There was Marlene who served Orange floats to us through an arid section several hundred miles back. Christine who helped me get into new shoes at the kick off gathering. And many others who opened their homes and shared food and showers and laundry. A recent stretch put us in the home of the Saufleys; a couple whose home and property had been converted into an incredibly efficient complex to provide our filthy, weary hordes with all we needed and more.

Twenty -four miles later were the Andersons. A group of us hiked into the road and within 15 minutes as if by and acute, extrasensory understanding of our patterns, Terrie Anderson appeared in a minivan. She wrapped each of us in a heartfelt hug and ushered us into the vehicle and then her home. Upon arrival we were taken on a guided tour of the property and informed that there was a 2 day minimum stay. We pitched our tents in the “Magical Manzanita Grove “and were fed at each meal.

The next day it rained so we holed up in their living room with at least 12 other hikers and 4 dogs and watched movies. The next day the rest of my group had rolled out, but I stayed to journal and relax. That evening Terrie drove me back out to the trailhead and by 4:30 I was back to it. I hiked 14 miles and bore witness to the rising of a full, blood orange moon. She was mighty and cast shadows as heavy as one might expect under a mid-day sun.

Knowing that I was half a day behind my cohorts, I pushed a 28 mile day onto the edge of the Mojave. At yet another hiker complex, Hikertown, I found Frog and Rif-Raf. Two of Frog’s friends were visiting and we had supper at a little restaurant some miles away. We three spent the next day hiding from the heat and gearing up on naps for what was ahead.

At 6:30 that afternoon we headed out along and aqueduct which supplied L.A. with a portion of its water needs. Form there a dirt road led us into the heart of the flat arid land. A spectacular sunset burnt the clouds into all shades of wonder before clearing the skies for the cool of the night. An hour of headlamp hiking gave way to yet another striking moonrise. As she climbed into the heavens, casting enough light that we didn’t need our own, we began to gain a bit of elevation. At midnight we stopped and ate our lunches, watching the broad and mighty heavens overbear the spot of light pollution from a town some 20 miles off.

Around 2 AM we found a spot near water and slept until 5. Again we awoke and trudged on, up toward the mountains. The only impulsion to keep moving was the knowledge that sleep could be had ahead. We navigated the foothills and finally dropped into Tyler Horse Canyon, with a running stream and a few trees for shade. There we ate and slept through the hot part of the day. By four we were moving again and quickly encountered the most daunting climb yet, 3000 feet of absolutely exposed mountainside. I charged up that beast and 3 rises and 2 hours later I sat amidst the charred trunks of once burnt trees with green vegetation and millions of tiny purple flowers around my feet, a staggering display of the resilience of natural life. The boys caught up and we headed in and out of trees and exposed burn area.

Again, as always, the sun sank behind the mountains. First casting hues of blue and purple and then drawing a crisp silhouette of black mountain ridge against graying sky. We hiked on until the trees gave way to open windy hills. In the darkness, the hum of wind turbines reached our ears. We came to walk at the feet of these monolithic testaments to human ingenuity. Their massive blades chopped the starry sky and hummed a solemn hymn. That night we slept under a giant, hollow metal tube so as to hide from the wind. Looking back we realized we had hiked some 40 miles in 28 hours.

Early the next morning, we were up and moving through thousands more of the turbines. In the middle of a field I found a bag of oranges someone had left for us and I happily gobbled down the vitamin C and easy energy. By that afternoon we had made it into the town of Tehachapi for a quick in and out resupply… and a visit to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. A local trail angel found us at the grocery store and offered us a ride back out, we gladly accepted and so began the next leg of this grand adventure.