Folks, I'm out of time. We have been in Mammoth almost a week and a half, eating sleeping, healing and sorting out gear issues and, somehow, I have managed get behind on my blogging.
I'll get back to the rest of the Sierra story in later posts but, for now, here are a few photos from the Sierras and our time in Mammoth to hold you over.
Left to right, $inyk (face down on the bar), Pounce, FedX, Shiny, Half-Double
New plan...more food
June 20, 21 miles
At this point we were beginning to realize that our food was getting thin and we were behind schedule to meet Wayne.
So, from the summit of Whitney, we hiked back down to guitar lake, packed up all our stuff and got back on the trail.
We now had another 3.5 miles to get back to the PCT, then another 22 miles to the rendezvous with Wayne. Oh yeah, that distance also included Forester pass at 13,200ft (the highest we would cross in the Sierra). So, we put in about 7 miles or so from Guitar lake, which left us about 18 miles and a pass.
We made the rendezvous, fell into our tent, ate our last meal and settled in to wait for Wayne to show up the next day with our food.
Folks, this is Wayne. Wayne rocks! Wayne brought food, wine and Makers Mark. It was a good day.
Shiny on the approach to Forester Pass
Flowers growing out of the granit at 13,000ft,
Pass 1 of 9
June 19 & 20
18 miles to Chicken Spring Lake
20 miles to Guitar Lake
The plan from here was to meet at Guitar Lake. At this point we all had begun to hike at different paces, so decided to just do our own thing and meet up at the approach to Mt. Whitney. 3D had the idea to summit Whitney at night and thus be standing at the highest point in the continental U.S. At sunrise on summer solstice.
Great plan....but we were all so exhausted by the time we got to Guitar lake at 10pm, or so, on the night of he 20th that we all waited till morning to hike.
Pano from Whitney summit
June 18, 16 miles
The scenery is getting greener and higher, but we are stil having to be careful with water. We hadn't yet reached he lake strewn meadows and cascading rivers of the high Sierra. Many of the seasonal streams have dried up. We are still depending on our PCT water report to help us find springs and seeps.
This spring was marked with bones !??
Most of these water sources are marked with stick arrows or piles of rocks by other hikers. One such spring we found by walking through a field until we saw a "tripod" made of branches sticking up. Upon further investigation, her was a small trickle of water in a cleft, about two feet below the surface of the tussocky lawn. Someone hade made a spout out of two sticks and some duct tape. This night we camped just up the trail from one such source called Death Canyon Creek. Yes, sometimes irony runs thick even out here.
Looong day...pretty much how we all felt
Namaste chill'n
June17, 14 miles
Headed out from Kennedy Meadows with 3D, Namaste, Stealth, Eleven and Waterbug.
Our first days were a steady climb through sprawling meadows of sage that slowly began to give way to ridgelines of granit. As we climbed, the water became more plentiful and we began to enjoy the company Seqouia and massive Cedar trees.
Our plan was to reach Whitney in about four days, summit the peak, then move on to meet our friend Wayne at the junction to the Kearsarge Pass trail. Wayne would be hiking in over the pass to deliver our resupply.
The rendezvous actually worked perfectly...more on that later.
Here are a few pix from our first day out from Kennedy Meadows.
Moonlight & starlight
Mini Stone Henge at our first camp site
Namaste's home entertainment center on the fly
So, here we sit... in Black Velvet Coffee... in Mammoth. We've been here for six days.
The story of how we got here is a bit more interesting, maybe, than what we have been doing since...
"In the desert". That is how most of us now refer to our first 700 miles of this trail.
"In the desert", we mostly ticked off our days by the passage of dusty hot miles, town stops and the disparate pursuit of shade or the next muddy water source.
We were longing, all of us, for the cooler air and flowing rivers of the Sierras.
Up here, we mostly ticked off our days by the passage of, well...passes. Mountain passes, that is. They are supposed to be the low spots to cross, though most measured in at 12-13 thousand feet, and most required any where from 1000 to 2000 feet of elevation gain to cross.
Shiny and I, in particular, felt like were coming home. We have been here before. We know this place...it knows us. We had no illusions of how rugged and unpredictable it can be.
The Sierras are fiercely beautiful. They will take your breath away today. They will give you respite in gardens of flowers and gently flowing streams tomorrow. The next day, they will demand every last ounce of mental fortitude and physical stamina left in your body.
Even so, knowing all of this, we were still unprepared for the toll those thirteen days would take on our bodies. We flat out underestimated the number of miles we would be able to hike in this environment, and the calories we would burn doing it.
We had planned 5 days of food to get us from Kennedy Meadows to a trail junction just past Mt. Whitney. I say "just past", but what that meant was that we had 26 miles to hike from where we had camped below Whitney, to the point at which we were to pick up our food resupply.
This scenario pretty much sums up our miscalculation. By this time we were realizing that our bodies would only do about 14 to 16 miles a day, and the calories we were carrying weren't sufficient to sustain even that pace for long.
That meant, at this point we had almost two days of hiking on the single day of food we had left. So, we hiked faster...aaand we hiked longer.
So, although this story eventually finds us happily sipping cappuccinos at Black Velvet Coffee, it was far from just a pretty picture getting here. Suffice it to say that, by the time we reached Lake Edison (Vermillion Valley Ranch, a 35 mile hike over Silver Pass to Mammoth by the usual route), we were so exhausted, under nourished and yes, sick, that we opted to hike out over Mono Pass (a 20mi day hike). Our friends Hannah and Kalen picked us up there and drove us to Mammoth.
We are pre paring to leave Mammoth today, Monday July 7. We will be taking a bus back here on Wednesday to pick up some gear that is being shipped in (another story).
So, there is much more to write and many more photos. I will be posting more about our Sierra adventure in the days to come, but right now we need to get back on the trail or we may never leave...stay tuned.
Also coming soon...I will be trying my hand at some gear reviews (see GRAM WEENIE) and some foodie reviews (see SUNDRIED SCOOTER)
Cheers, Half-Double
Mt. Whitney
Yesterday, as we passed the 700mile mark on our way into Kennedy Meadows, We both began to realize that this was far more than just a mile marker.
There are some places on earth that have made such a singular imprint on my soul that mere proximity to them stirs something at the very core of my being. The High Sierras is such a place for both Myself and Robin.
Kennedy Meadows is, to the PCT hiker, as Everest Base camp is to the climber. It is where we all make final preparations for our 2 week journey through the mountains. We eat to pack calories, we tweek gear, we talk about passes and river fords.
From the first days of our planning, the experience of past 700 miles was never something we looked forward to. It proved to be every bit as long, hot and painful as we imagined...some places, more so. Some have dubbed it PCT boot camp, for the trails ability to train into us the endurance, grit and sheer the muscle strength needed to complete the journey.
It was also the crucible in which remarkable friendships have been galvanized. People we now love and care for...people we would most likely give our lives for if it came to it.
These are the people we hope to be hiking with when we set out into the wild tomorrow.
You will most likely not hear much from us for the next two weeks. Think of us often. We will post again when we get to Mammoth Lakes.
Sooo, I'm lying under the shade of a Joshua tree in the middle of the desert, doing what all sane desert dwellers do in the middle of the day...hiding from the freakin sun. I gotta say I didn't quit see this coming. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but well...dammit we were in the pine trees this morning! We hiked 11 miles before lunch and somewhere around mile 5 or 6 they all went away. So here we are hiking through the desert again, timing our marches between water sources.
Right out of Tehachapi it was more wind farms and, of course more wind. Our first march started with a couple of miles walk next to hwy 58 where it was Shiny's turn to get chased by a rattle snake...a near miss. It even took a swipe at her...fangs out and everything.
After that, it was dinner by the freeway, then a night assent up the wind swept shoulder of the mountain. When I say wind swept, I mean that he wind blows so hard and continuously that ther is nothing living up here except what is too knarly and pissed off to get blown off the mountain. Seriously, it was impossible to walk a strait line in some places. We finally camped at about 10 pm, gratefully finding shelter behind one of the few Junipers trees to be found on the hillside.
What followed was four more days of the most grueling hiking we've done yet. Yes, there were some beautiful forests once we got some altitude, but no water. We routinely had to carry 4-5 liters of water each (at 2lb per liter that's 8-10 lbs of extra weight) and planning our days simply from one water source to another, hoping it still existed by the time we got there.
Some of our most reliable sources were mere trickles coming from a pipe stuck in a spring. Some were caches of bottles left by trail angels.
The last two days were the longest and the hottest. Sunday we hiked 23 miles, much of it in the Mojave at the wrong time of day, hiking toward a water cache that we were praying was still there. It was, mercifully, because we had only one liter left between us and another 7 miles to he next water source.
Monday we hiked 21 miles, most of it with few trees, little shade and rising temperatures, into Walker Pass where we would hitch a ride into Lake Isabella.
We have been here a day and a half eating, sleeping and drinking (water and electrolytes) trying to heal from the last five days.
Next up...the high Sierra!
LA Aquaduct, 18 miles...11pm to 6:30am
Sleeping under a bridge...hiding from the sun. We'll hike another 24 miles at night to get out of he desert and into Tehachapi
Finally in Tehachapi, Pounce gets her first taste of American BBQ
Aahhhhh..Casa de Luna, our last refuge before cross the Mojave desert. It is the home of the trail angel couple, Terry and Joe Anderson. They have tent sites neatly trimmed into a shady manzanita grove called "The Forest".
Upon arrival, you are cheered on by the other hikers and asked to choose a Hawiian shirt to wear for the duration of your stay. That's about as structured as it gets. There are couches in the front yard where hikers eat, sleep, drink, reunite and various other forms of recreational activities. There is a table where one can paint rocks. There is frisbee golf in the back yard, outdoor showers and, of course, the taco salad feast in the evening.
We will have to get a ride from here to the Hiker Town Hostel because the trail is closed due to fire damage between here and there. We will most likely hike at night across the flat desolation of the Mojave. Fortunately, this section is only about 25 miles, then we start heading up into the hills toward Tehachapi. We are now,many of us, hiking with images of the spectacular Sierras on our minds!
Today we rolled into Hike Heaven. This is an amazing place. It is the home of the trail angels Donna and Jeff Saufley. Here one may rest, heal, cook, mail stuff, play, sit by the fire, borrow a bike...Shiny and I were given a private room in the guest house...a seriously cool place...seriously cool people!
Reworking some padding on the packs.
Turns out there was a shoot scheduled for the series "The Bridge". They were using the Saufleys house for a location. Kinda wired for me...felt like a piece of my work life serendipitously crossed paths with my hiker world.
I was inspired to make a tripod out of hiking poles.
The mountain yellow-legged frog or southern mountain yellow-legged frog is a species of true frog, endemic to California in the United States. It occurs in the mountain ranges of Southern California up to the southern Sierra Nevada. It is a federally listed endangered species.
Turns out this little guy is responsible for a three mile road walk around his habitat, just outside of Wrightwood.
Yes, we finally got out of Wrightwood...after realizing that the package we were waiting for was actually sent (by me) to Tehachapi...sigh.
Poodle-Dog Bush: Eriodictyon parryi, is common in parts of Southern California. Touching it can cause a significant allergic reaction.
Significant allergic reaction!? Here air the rest of the description...
"Touching the plant can cause anything from a mild rash and blistering to severe
respiratory distress. It is a contact dermatitis and can be transmitted in the same way that poison oak is transmitted. For many people, symptoms are worse than a reaction to poison oak. Symptoms generally appear hours or days after touching the plant. All contact should be avoided."And this from Wikipedia:
It can raise blisters lasting as long as two weeks. This contact dermatitis is due to prenylated phenolics exuded by hairs (glandular trichomes) of the plant.[2] The principal irritants are derivatives of farnesyl hydroquinone and 3-farnesyl-P-hydroxybenzoic acid. (The same stuff that's in a fire ant bite by the way)
Soooo, we spent the better part of 3 days either hiking roads around this infernal plant, or doing a little limbo twisting type of dance to avoid it on the trail. You can smell it coming (a little like pot). This made for some long, tedious days. O yeah, ther was poison oak also.
Yes, we even had to camp surrounded by the stuff...ran out of light that day & had to stop
Here are some other photos from this part. Next stop Hiker Heaven, home of the Saufley's.
Fitting end to a poodle dog bush
The "Golden Spike" monument where they connected north bound and south bound PCT
We ended up in Wrightwood on Memorial Day weekend. Problem: we had our bounce boxes sent here and we didn't arrive until after closing on Saturday...thus, we were stuck till Tuesday.
For hikers this is the town to get stuck in. Everyone there is friendly and mind bogglingly helpful to hikers. We stayed in a bunk room at a Methodist camp, $10 a night donation, with showers, wifi and places to sit and watch movies.
We spent our first evening watching the Kings/Blackhawks hockey game, played pool and drank White Russians (our official zero day drink when we can get them.
Lunch: Ramen, olive oil, herbs de Provence
Passing mile 400 on the way to Wrightwood
Well, once again I have been really lame about posting regularly so...once again, I will attempt to catch you all up on the last weeks hiking adventures.
We are now in Wrightwood waiting for the Post office to open up on Tuesday after the holiday weekend. Here is what our hiking was like between Big Bear and Wrightwood:
May 18, did 9 miles, camped at PCT mile 275
Hiked with Levels, Immortal Lobster, Pounce and Katsup
Happy 10%... We passed mile 266 which is about ten percent of the total 2660 mile trail. Great day...see my previous post.
May 19, did 20 miles, camped at PCT mile 295
Hiked with Levels, and Katsup
Immortal Lobster & Pounce
Pounce had to get a ride back into Big Bear from last nights camp site. Lobster waited for her, and so did not hike with us today.
May 20, did 14 miles, camped at PCT mile 308, Deep Creek Hot Springs
Hiked with Levels, and Katsup in the morning.
Soooo, about mid morning, my camera starts flashing the message "No Card", Aaaaagh! It turns out ther hasn't been a memory card in it since I sent the other one off in the mail at Big Bear...and the camera waited till now to give me the message?!!? ...Aaaaaaaagh! So, you won't see as many photos as usual in this entry...
Stopped for lunch at Deep Creek Bridge where Levels caught a trout on a home made hook and line made from dental floss.
Pounce and Immortal Lobster caught up to us and we had a great time eating lunch together and swapping food. Immortal Lobster had so many great foodie things in her lunch, we appended her name so she is now known as Immortal Lobster Bisque.
Deep Creek Hot Springs, amazing place, hot bath in the river, clothing optional
May 21, did 22 miles, camped at PCT mile 330
Shiny and I left the hot springs early, 5:30 am, because we were low on food and had to make up some miles. Ate dinner at Silverwood Lake and kept hiking.
Dusk...we were running out of options for a camp site, then saw camp fire to our left.
Shiny takes a rest at a water cache left by a trail angel
We went to investigate and found Moglie there with a roaring camp fire. He had met the ranger and received permission to camp there for the night. Discovered he had been there all day with a bum ankle and was getting really lonely and bummed out. He was so happy to see us
Lunch...ramen noodles, olive oil, parm & herbs de Provence
May 22, did 12 miles, camped at PCT mile 342
Food left for two days...oops
Oops...out of food.
Had to stop at Cajon Pass for food
Big Bear is...well, big. We spent two nights at a friends cabin then checked in to the Big Bear Hostel so we could reconnect with some of our friends and catch a shuttle back to the trail on Sunday morning.
This ended up being a short but great day of hiking. We spent the day walking through the pines with Levels, Pounce, Immortal Lobster and Ketchup. We passed the time singing old TV theme songs and playing movie trivia...loads of fun. Camped early at 9 miles.
Robin at the Hostel...that's "Sarg" in the back
Burgers and salad at " Get The Burger" in big bear.
First of all, let me thank all of you for your comments and emails. We are always excited to get them and read them with relish. Please keep them coming!
Here is a brief recap of the past few weeks:
We are now known on the PCT by our trail names. Gregg is known as "Half-Double" and Robin "Shiny".
The weather has been mostly cooperative. We have dodged most of the heat (except for one or two brutally hot days), but have been battered by high winds almost daily. Mercifully, we will be hiking through pines and cooler weather for the next week or two as we head through the San Bernardino mountains toward Wrightwood.
Critter count stands at three rattlers, one king snake and a red racer.
We have been hiking with our friend "Levels" for about two weeks now (you will see him in many of our photos.), and have met many outstanding people.
After passing our 100 and 200 mile marks, I think we might be past most of the blisters, shin splints and bruised feet now and are beginning to feel really strong.
Here comes the next phase. Stay tuned.
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