Week 13: Lone Pine to Bishop

Note: It's March 2018 and I'm just now finishing my blog from my last week of hiking on the PCT from July 2017. I had some notes from my cell phone that I took down each day but I hadn't yet put it all together and edited the posts for coherency. To be honest, I don't think I wanted to relive that week again until now.

Day 89

2 miles

We hit the trail in the evening (after a beer at Jake's Saloon and picking up sandwiches at Subway for dinner). We only walked two miles before stopping to camp. We got a ride from Mike, who is the brother of the man who does the Trail Magic at Mile 549 before Tehachapi. What a small world! He is one of eleven siblings, and more of his siblings also serve as PCT Trail Angels.

Day 90

18 miles

Today was beautiful with a lot of elevation gains and losses. We had to do a scary river crossing on a log at the end of the day. We saw Country Gold and other hikers crossing upstream from where we crossed as a group. It made me nervous because he (Country Gold) had mentioned that he doesn't know how to swim. The hike today was beautiful but also very wet from snowmelt. We saw lots of twisted, gnarled trees today. I took lots of pictures of how twisty they looked while the sun was setting.

Day 91

10 miles

Today we had 3 scary and fast river crossings. I was crying before or after each one and getting very anxious. I ended up scooching along a fallen log to cross Wright Creek. This isn't a great alternative because the water is rushing so rapidly and so high right under the log. It started to get to the point where I was getting anxiety if I heard the sound of a river that we were soon to come across on the trail in front of us. I'm noticing that Easy wants to congratulate me and hug me after these crossings and I'm totally shaking and reeling with anxiety.

Day 92

12 miles

Today (on the Fourth of July) we went over Forrester Pass, the highest part of the PCT. The snowy slope was terrifying. I kept thinking about the chute (one section on the way up to the top of Forrester) and how Amanda fell and had to get lifted out by a helicopter. Luckily that part wasn't too bad today. I listened to music on my phone and talked to myself in order to calm my anxiety on the way up the pass. There were these beautiful little purple flowers that looked like pansies peeking out of the rocks. Seeing them thriving in these circumstances helped keep me going.

We did have our scariest water crossing yet - Bubbs Creek. Then another multiple crossings at the end of the day that I wasn't at all prepared for. Easy thinks it's helpful to go on ahead and cross the river so I can see how deep the water is. I'd so much rather we come up with a plan together rather than him cross the river I'm afraid of and leave me back on the other side to do the same. It's awful. And the sound of the river rushing is so loud we can't possibly communicate with each other over the noise when we're on different sides of the same river.

I was so frustrated at the last river crossing I opted out of dinner. Had an energy bar instead in the tent while Easy made food outside. I'm sad and scared and want to be to the parking lot already.

Realized today that there are four types of snow out here: icy, slushy, slushy on bottom and icy on top (which is dangerous if you're over a river or sharp rocks), and soft.

Male thru-hikers seem to be marching like zombies onward, even after these harrowing river crossings. When I'd see groups of men (My friend Jess might call these "wolfpacks"), I can't help but wonder if any of them allow themselves to feel scared. Do they just keep it inside and carry on? Feels pretty lonely.

Day 93

8 miles

Today wasn't the best in terms of our getting along as a team. I was needing more empathy and Bill was upset that I got so mad after the last river crossing. I felt conflicted about stopping to camp before the last river crossing because I wanted to be able to cover as much ground as we could do be back in a town and far away from those rivers ASAP. But I also didn't want any more river crossings. Catch 22 I guess.

There were some scary and steep cliffs with snow and ice on them today. I was so grateful to have Freefall's microspikes for my shoes. Maybe it's a total placebo effect, but I feel safer putting them on. We weren't getting along too well today, at one point we had some glicades (sliding on your ass down a snowy hill) and I noticed Easy was sliding down wearing a frown. Then that made me laugh, which didn't help.

As we got closer to the parking lot we passed what looked like a boy scout troop starting out on their journey. We were seeing some clouds and hoping they were prepared. I had never been so happy to see a parking lot as I was today. We got a ride from a vet in a blue truck who took us down to Main Street in Independence.

After the post office we went to the Chevron for food. One of the other hikers sitting outside of the at the Chevron mentioned how tough the last couple of days have been for her - she mentioned that she may have to "flop" North. The thru-hiker term is actually "flip-flop" but my internal response when she said "flop" was "I'm about to FLOP on a bed and never hike again in my life!"