- Today’s miles: 10.7
- Ascent: 2,740 ft
- Descent: 870 ft
- Total Miles on Trip: 152.1
I had the idea of unzipping our tent door slightly before going to bed to let in some cool and fresh air. It worked like a charm taking care of the smell in our tent that had been bothering me the past couple of nights. I keep thinking about trying a night of cowboy camping, sleeping with no tent. I’ve become somewhat a creature of habit at this point and it always sounds like a tomorrow night type of idea.
We have all of our stuff packed and are ready to leave when I hear Kevin ask “Where is my other trekking pole?” We look around and it’s no where in sight. It’s so inexplicable that I think this is Kevin’s weird idea of a joke. Kevin sternly replies he is most certainly not joking and does not know where it is. We scan our campsite again and it’s nothing but rocks and dirt. We kick around conspiracy theories as we look- a desperate PCT hiker snagged it? An animal went off with it?
After five minutes goes by, we are close to leaving without it. Kevin doesn’t relish the idea of hiking with only one pole for the rest of the trip and tells me he’s going to have one last look. He walks a good 40 yards away from where our stuff once was and yells “I got it! Here it is!” He has found the pole lying in the grass. We have no viable explanation and will never know how it got there.
We cruise this morning on flat and smooth terrain and cover five miles in two hours. I’m ahead of Kevin and stop at a spot on trail that parallels a river with a swimming hole. I leave him a note telling him I’m off to dig a hole in the woods. When I come back, he’s there and we wade into the freezing river. It’s a shock to the system but coming out feels amazing as the morning sun is high and the air already warm.
The day we have planned today is mellow as we are only going 11 miles. We do have 1,800 feet of climbing bunched in the last three miles of our day though. That will be a warm-up for what’s really in store for us over our last week. We are going to be tackling Mather, Pinchot, and Glen Pass, all which are within a 25 radius of one another. And then after that, the two highest points of the trail await us in Forester Pass and Mt.Whitney. I continue to take comfort in knowing that everyday that passes, my pack becomes 2-3 pounds lighter with the food that I eat.
As we hike on, Kevin and I talk about how we could wash our clothes in our bear canisters, if we felt so inclined. But I don’t know if we do. It would require us setting them out in the sun and waiting for them to dry. Also, we point out that we pretty much have jumped in a lake or river every single day out here. That’s got to count for something right?
As we are breaking for lunch, and I’m returning from a foot soak in the river, Kevin tells me how a big snake slithered up on him. “I was crouching while carving my spoon and all of the sudden I saw this big snake slither underneath my leg. It looked like it was about to crawl into my shorts.” He shows me with his hand that it was maybe 3 feet and black and yellow. I haven’t seen any snakes out here but Kevin tells me he has seen three. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled.
Our climb is 3 miles and steep, 1,800 feet, but the terrain isn’t rocky and I’m feeling good. Maybe I’m getting stronger? The ascent flies by. Towards the end, I jokingly tell Kevin that maybe we should just hike Mather Pass this afternoon. Kevin solemnly replies that tomorrow we will make this same climb not once but twice.
With a short day, we get to Palisade Lake at 2:45 P.M. We find a place to set-up camp and I head down to a beachy area on the lake. I make hobo camp, as I rig myself some shade with my umbrella attached to my backpack. I rotate between reading and listening to a podcast while Kevin fishes. A bit later Kevin and I are back at camp and we see a group of four guys who look to be in their early-20’s set-up camp a couple of hundred yards below ours. Their packs look like peanuts and when they set-up their tents, I can’t imagine how they’ll fit in them. I deem them the “ulatralight bros” and by the time I’m climbing into bed, I see that they are giving each other back rubs. I wonder what the conversation is like.
As I reflect upon being out here for two weeks, I realize whether consciously or unconsciously I have set routines. Dinner is pretty much always eaten at 6 P.M. and immediately after I’m finished eating, I wash the small plastic jar that I use as a bowl. My reward for doing dishes is dessert, which is a protein cookie or a low sugar pop-tart (although God only knows what replaces the sugar). I then stuff my bear canister, screw the lid on tight, and brush my teeth. It’s usually around 7 by then and I’ll rally Kevin for a game of Morels. The night ends with reading, listening to a podcast, and/or writing.
