Skipping Fires

Alright so I admit that I have gotten behind on blogging. Usually I would just write on the section I missed, but this time there is too much to think about currently to worry about the past. So I'm picking up where I am now, which is not on the Pacific Crest Trail at all. I'll explain in a bit.

My partner and I got it Old Station in personal best time. Pulling our first 30+ day and feeling ready to night hike the waterless section. We had been smelling fire for a while but didn't think much of it. We pull in Old Station, eat some food, and while hanging out we see a big plume down the road. With no service and no internet we were forced to rely on people's word. Some thing which is hard to trust because we meet so many people in towns that over react. People who wouldn't camp in the wilderness because the bears will eat them...

From talking around we collected that Hwy 89 had just been closed because of two fires. A fellow hiker had a bit of service and downloaded the incident report. From that and an area map we figured the fires were on either side of the trail, one was moving toward the trail. Instead of night hiking we stayed over in a room that lost electricity to figure out what we could do. The next day, the trail closed and Pilsbury and her friend gave us a ride into Redding. 

What is a girl to do. A lot of people were skipping up to Ashland and hiking from there. That seemed like cheating some how. I couldn't wrap my head around just all of the sudden being in Oregon without walking there. I was looking at the options. There are fires around Etna and Seiad Valley, Ashland, Fish Lake. I didn't want to have to hitch around fires every couple days just to walk the trail that was open. Some people just went ahead and walked closed sections and took the chance of fire spreading. Me, I have asthma. The last thing I need is to have more trouble breathing so walking through smoke didn't seem enjoyable. Then again I didn't want to skip that much trail. 

I came up with a plan to walk the Coastal Trail from the same latitude as Old Station to the same latitude as Crater Lake and then getting back on trail at Crater Lake.

So here I am. It's odd walking on sand and not trail, or road, sometimes we walk a highway, or staying in motels/official campgrounds but at least I'm moving north. It's been a nice change in a lot of ways, demotivating in others. It's hard to not look at the beach as a vacation. To walk big miles on sand and not loose focus on the goal of Canada.

I've had injuries and an Uncle pass away, fires and thunderstorms and I'm still moving north, but the coast is the only place where I have had the idea of quiting cross my mind in a serious way.

I think because it reminded me of all the fun an adventure can bring, or life before 20-35 miles a day became the goal. The rocks make me miss rock climbing. I miss being in shape and I miss feeling young; my knees make me move like an old person whenever I stop waking. 

I'm not saying that I am quiting, I'm getting into Oregon today after all, but I'm being honest about how hard this is mentally. I've been lucky so far. I haven't had many doubts, I haven't broken down and cried, I've felt pretty good, so this is just a little hurdle in the journey.

Tuolumne Meadows to Echo Lake

By the time I finally left Tuolmne Meadows I was ready to get out of Yosemite. The amount of people in the park freaked me out. I thought for sure we would get out of day hiker territory soon. I like day hikers, but running into 25 people a day was getting old.

Although my breaks are controversial, meaning I have taken too many, it did make us go through perfect flower time of year. The wild flowers were beautiful.

Mile 1000 was a great accomplishment. Next goal is half way and then the end. I just keep walking until I can't anymore.

The terrain went through just a crazy shift from Yosemite lush green meadows and granite to dry choosy lava rock. 

It was a geological wonder. I would love to research the history of this area in depth. How are black peaks a pile of rubble on top of granite? It's beautiful.

Around Echo Lake the confir forrest comes back but it is still quite dry. Echo Lake has amazing ice cream that I would suggest getting twice. It is such a treat right on trail. 

Forrester Pass to Tuolumne Meadows

I've been so bad about updating my blog in the Sierra's that I feel like I can't even remember what happened.

The High Sierra's are tough. We hit them feeling strong from the desert and concurred 20 miles a day for the first few days with a plan of summiting Whitney and getting from Kennedy Meadows to Mammoth Lakes in 12 days. That is a massive carry. With over 37,000ft elevation gain. My pack was the heaviest I have ever packed it.

I'm proud to say that I made it 10 days. The breaking point wasn't snow covered Glen Pass (view of Rae Lakes pictured below) but the day we did Pinchot and Mather in the same day. Pinchot was not difficult as long as you navigated I correctly, but it took longer than expected to get from Pinchot to Mather. Starting the climb later in the day, Mather was a steep scree field. The backside was a postholing mess. We made it down and to the first campsite wet, exhausted, hungry (we were running low on food), and 5 miles short of out mileage goal. The next day we came to the realization that we couldn't make it to Muir Pass before the snow would turn too soft. This would add another day to the trip. Food wise, we couldn't make it. I was already suffering from symptoms of altitude sickness. I was dizzy, low energy, unable to breath with ease. We bailed out through Bishop Pass. 

Not to be dramatic, but whether it was the lack of food or the altitude or just exhaustion I had to concentrate on every step. I have been backpacking my whole life, running long distances, sea kayaked, climbed until I felt like I couldn't move anymore and this was the worst I have ever felt. I decided at the advice of my partner to take a week off of trail.

Once we headed back to trail, I felt strong again. Crushing the section from Bishop to Tuolomne Meadows.

Leaving King Canyon we headed into the land of the lakes and mosquitos. 

I decided to finish the John Muir Trail as well. After which I took several days of to visit friends in San Fransisco. I know it's not typical to take so much time off, but I needed to harden my motivation and give my body a break. This just can't become a job. For me, this is not a race, it's about enjoying the outdoors. Anytime that I am not doing that, I will stop and take a break until I can love it all again.

(Above it Cathedral Peak on the JMT)

Kennedy Meadows to Forrester Pass

I'm not sure if I can even begin to describe the beauty of the Sierra's. I'm not a writer, you'd have to ask my brother to put it into words that aren't clumsy and straight forward. Let's just say the alpine environment calls to me. On trail we bounce from 8,000ft to 13,00 ft. A typical day is traveling from 9,000ft to 11,000ft and then back down. Our total elevation gain and loss between Kennedy Meadows and Mammoth is over 33,000ft; over 37,000ft if you summit Whitney which I think everyone on the PCT should do.

The views from each ridge, pass, or summit are epic and magnanimous. They kindly reward me for all the energy put in to see them. The layers of mountains devide every skyline into multiple shades of blue, alpine lakes line the mountains base with turquoise gems, and snow makes me feet as wet as my armpits. It's lovely.

Whitney was at sunrise; I just have no words for how amazing that was.

Forester pass is not bad. The snow is minimal and there are feet cut in.

The backside is why you want to finish the pass by 12 at the latest. Otherwise this can be messy or icey. It was fun to dig the heels in and run into the snow.

Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows

From Tehachapi the trail follows the highway for a mile and then cuts up into he arid hills. We did most of this hiking at night or close to it. The moon as close to full and it was easy to walk by.

We found this little guy along the trail. Usually I would just find rattlers but this time it was a pretty snake.

There are several burn areas from Tehachapi into Sequoia National Forest. They are quite beautiful areas because the wild flowers go crazy. My favorite are the Lupines. They smell so strongly. In this area there was a rock with a mini natural arch :)

We switched from night hiking into day hiking when the trail shifted into Sequoia National Forest. You can see here the desert meeting the tree line. A storm was brewing when we were rolling through so you could feel the humidity immediately. It was very windy. I mean can't walk forward in head wind type windy. 

As we enjoyed walking on duff instead of sand, we crawled our way toward snow capped mountains in the distance. Each vista made me more and more excited for the Sierra's and for the end of the water report.

I thought that coming into Kennedy Meadows we would have less sand and more trees, but it was more arid than I expected. The granite out crops called my name and I would love to go back and explore the area with some gear and rope.

Kennedy Meadows General Store was about what I expected. Good food, slow service, funny characters, and people spending way too much on booze. The area behind the store in which they allow people to camp was fine but small. The 4 privies were gross and overflowing from a crowd that gathered there over the weekend, but all in all it was a place that had Ben and Jerry's and burgers so it was a hiker heaven. My favorite was getting a ride from the owner of Grumpy Bear's son to get breakfast. Grumpy Bear is a restuarant from a different time. They have what they have and you get what they want to give you. The only question I was asked was 'how do you want your eggs?' They gave us bacon, two eggs, and two pancakes. They also give you more pancakes without charging you extra so we all ended up getting more pancakes. I loved the place. They work hard to even get food up there; there is no delivery truck, so you get what they have until they run out. All in all a good place but really my mind was on Whitney.

Agua Dulce to Tehachapi

The Saufley's have a great operation at Agua Dulce. My friends and I could cut down on weight by sending food ahead to hikertown and to Kennedy Meadows and some gear to Tehachapi. By gear I mean my tent, the forecast was nothing but sunny for days and so I took the risk of sending it forward. They have a mini post office in there. 

The hike out of Agua Dulce was beautiful. We started around 5:30 and saw sunset through the most beautiful part of the mountain, hiking until 12am or so.

Headed into Green Valley the next day we decided not to go to the Anderson's. We had already taken enough time in Agua Dulce so we were in the mood to move. 

From the ranger station there onward to basically HWY 138 there is a Powerhouse fire closure. I decided to walk the road to Lake Elizabeth and then catch the Aquaduct off of Munz Road. Made it into Hikertown that night after a very long haul, but we had water from the open Aquaduct the whole way. Hiking into the night to keep the temps and sun exposure down.

 Hikertown is cute and the right kind of dumpy for hikertrash. We hung out there until 5pm the next day. Ate breakfast and chilled out of the sun for our afternoon naps.

The section after hikertown into Tehachapi was the most boring. It is walking territory, not backpackers territory. Yeah sure you can cover major miles on road but the views which start being beautiful turn tedious after they haven't changed for miles. Wind mills look like dancing ladies and their humming purrs you to sleep until you have been walking by or around them for a few days. 

The best part about this section was night hiking with a close to full moon through the burn area. The white bark looked eerie in the moonlight. One tree was upside down, trunk up style, and we had to walk under it. How many times do you get to walk under a completely upside down tree?

Everyone got into Tehachapi and recouped in the Best Western hot tub. That thing heals. The Mediterranean restaurant in town, Petra's, really hit the spot. Most people crave pizza and beer, I crave Shwarma's and Coke. It was delicious and not super heavy.

Let me tell you I have been talked into a fried chicken meal by some friends of mine, worst idea ever. I'm sticking to my non fried foods (aside from French fries.)

Wrightwood to Agua Dulce

The hike out from Wrightwood is gorgeous and strenuous. It takes you up Baden-Powell, which is a beautiful climb. The switch backs are for days; they seem never ending but make it a gradual steady endurance race. My friends and I decided to summit, it's only 300ft off the PCT and totally worth it. Limber pines curl up everywhere making the views quite surreal. People don't know places like that exist. It's not tall enough to be considered a peak you would bag, but the 1500 year old tree and 360 amazing views make it well worth the effort.

From there the trail goes like a roller coaster until Little Jimmy Spring. 

This spring had seats and a pipe and a trough and a huge red cedar that you could stand in. I loved this water resource.

From there we started our long decent into the more arid regions. There is an endangered species closure, most people walked the road. If you continue walking the road past Three Points Campground down HWY 2 a mile you will reach the best burgers on the trail so far. Newcomb's Ranch has been open since World War II and does there burgers the right way, over a fire. Don't miss it, but call and check the hours. They close at 6pm.

We had a bit of a stormy day headed out of Three Points. The cloud cover was a relief, these sections through the burn areas are very exposed. From the ranger station, most people took the road detour around the poodle dog bush warning. My friend and I just wore long sleeves and pants and decided to do the trail. It was mostly avoidable and actually my favorite section of trail so far.

The mountains kept rolling and the wind kept blowing and we made our way to Agua Dulce.

I was happy to see the rocks popping up in the background, knowing these huge sedimentary rocks were a sign that the section was coming to a close. Let's just say I was pretty excited to see Vasquez Rocks.

My crazy friend and I decided to hike from the KOA (where we stopped for hot food, now serving until 8pm) to Vasquez Rocks. At 9pm making that day a 27 mile long walk around. The moon was bright as the temp was perfect. Two more of my friends hiked out at night and camped before the tunnel under the Hwy. We continued and got to see sunrise over Vasquez. Something I would highly recommend.