Back on trail

Everything is so green

Its hard to walk away from someone with whom you spent every day and night of the last four months, hiked nearly 800 miles through the desert and snow, took a three week road trip across California and made some the best memories of your life with. Even harder when it is your husband. This is the very struggle I went through. Daddie Gizmo and I discussed the very real possibility of one of us sustaining an injury while hiking before we even left Dallas to begin the PCT. We agreed that if one was injured, the other should finish. When it came time to put this thought into practice it was much easier said than done. I am in love with the hiking lifestyle, the simplicity and peace it fills me with, the beauty I am constantly surrounded by and the camaraderie found on the trail. DG and I shared some of the best moments of our entire relationship while hiking this year and grew in ways I never expected, both individually and as a couple, a team. Last week we decided that I would go back to where I feel more at home and myself than I have in my entire adult life, to trail, and Rob would go to LA temporarily. He would work on buying a vehicle and I would continue north to Canada. Early morning on Friday we put our packs back on for the first time in a month and traveled the mile from our campsite to the bus stop in Mammoth. Here we would each board a separate bus. Rob would go south and I north to Reno. I opted to begin the trail again in Sierra City, skipping any snow. Our farewell at the bus stop was quick as we were both getting emotional about parting ways. A four hour bus ride and 90 minute drive from a trail angel later I was dropped off at the trailhead at 3. It only took as long as getting out of the car and sitting on the side of the road to put my hiking shoes on to begin to feel a deep sense of heart break that I was going back out without my partner. All the memories and feelings of what we have experienced together flooded me as I hiked that afternoon through tears. I know I am capable of completing the hike without him, but I had not expected to be so emotional about being apart. Not knowing when I would see him next made it even more difficult. I hiked five miles in that afternoon straight up the mountain and set up my tent where I had a wide view of the Northern Sierras and could watch the sunset while laying in my tent. As I lay there I felt so comfortable and at peace feeling the wind blow on me, watching the sky turn pink and listening to the chatter of birds. That didn’t alleviate the pain in my heart I felt being there without Rob.

Stunningly beautiful campsite

The next morning I was roused by a fierce wind that indicated it was time to get up and moving. On trail and climbing by 7:30 I was still missing Rob terribly. I am not usually the sappy one in our relationship and my overwhelming emotions were actually really surprising. I thought I would get out and be so happy, hike my heart out and call him in four days when I got to Quincy to say I was continuing north. That’s how I envisioned it, but the reality was as I hiked that morning I was beginning to doubt that I should continue north. I turned south to head off trail then north again as I struggled with what to do. Finally, I sat in the corner of a switchback looking over the valley and Sierra City.

Sitting in the corner of a switchback

Taking in the scenery as I hike off trail

I bawled and thought long and hard. An hour later I had made a decision to turn back, hitch back to Reno and somehow – by bus, flight or car – return to Rob and meet him in LA. I told the trail goodbye for now and that I love her so much but I want to come back to it it with Rob. I hiked very slow back to town, savoring the last moments on trail and stopping often to just soak in the quiet and scenery. This really is a beautiful part with how lush and green everything is. The mountains are covered in manzanita. I saw a massive deer ten feet from me munching on some grass before I popped back out on the road at 1:30. The way things fell into place from there made me believe I made the right decision. As soon as I got to the road a passing car offered me a ride for the mile into town. Within that time I mentioned I was going to Reno today and they replied that they are going to Truckee after eating some lunch and I am welcome to join them. Amazing! Truckee is an hour drive from Sierra City and only 30 minutes from Reno. I didn’t even have to hitchhike which was a great way to start the 491 mile journey to LA. We arrived in Truckee at 3 where things continued to go my way when I was able to hop on a 3:50 bus to Reno. While I waited for the bus I looked to see if I could get a flight that very evening to LA. With all stars aligning I booked a 6:40 flight from Reno that would have me in LA and in my husbands arms by 8:30. I couldn’t believe how all the pieces fell into place so effortlessly. I had fully expected to have to stay in Reno Saturday night and get back somehow Sunday or Monday. When I told Rob I was coming back he was really really surprised but very very happy. We are turning our PCT journey into a section hike now. We won’t be able to complete it this year, but with any luck we can get back out there together before the season changes. There is always next year..and now that we are living on the west coast (though currently homeless) it will be easy to go back. So now we choose the next step of our adventure and continue to make memories together.  Today we are looking for a place to rent for a month anywhere in the country that is out of the city. We want to cook, relax, rehab the knees and be connected to nature and each other. Life is good 😊

Gizzie’s pen pal, Hawk

Figure 8:

We were up much to early this morning for our liking. Since we couldn’t fall back asleep and both woke up starving, we rolled out of bed and into the Alabama Hills cafe at 8:30. Daddie Gizmo had a massive chicken fried steak for breakfast. He is losing weight again on trail so it was great to see him eat what looked like a breakfast that could serve a family of four. We sat at the counter and drank several cups of coffee while discussing what to do this weekend and where to go for a few days to rest and figure out our game plan going forward. Originally, we thought that we would camp in Independence but it’s over 100 degrees there and doesn’t seem like a good idea. We have to go to Independence to pick up 2 packages and it’s only a 15 minute ride down 395 so should be an easy hitch. Since there is a bus that runs to Manmoth tonight and it’s only 80 degrees there we decided to do laundry at the laundromat next door and then head that direction. Clean clothes and all (what a treat!), we stood in front of the gas station and quickly got a ride to Independence. It’s a good thing because it was so hot that my toes were burning in the sun. We were brought to tears when we opened another special package from our great friends, Sam & Kalynn, in Dallas. They always pick the perfect hiking goodies and include great notes. I was smiling before even opening the box because it was decorated in a hiker theme! The boxes were shipped to the Courthouse Motel and we were going to kill an hour there until the bus arrived to take us to Mammoth. I immediately saw they had Scrabble and we were thrilled to play a game. Noticing that they have a bunkhouse that is completely empty, I asked what the rate is to stay. At $25/night per person to have a bed, kitchen, bathroom and tv it seemed like a no brainer. Again we lucked out having the place to ourselves. Later in the evening we walked one block to the only cafe in town. We were both laughing at how strange it was to have a French restaurant in this little desert town, but they served damn good escargot, so there were no complaints! We love having the flexibility to change our plans at a moments notice and go-with-the-flow whether on trail or not.

Awesome package!!

Daddie Gizmo:
Our bodies were feeling the after effects of climbing Mt Whitney yesterday. Sore, tired and hungry. All in a good way. After our massive breakfast, I proudly walked over to a souvenir shop and bought a geomarker pin of the mountain and our accomplishment yesterday. Since we have been cramponing over so many miles of ice and snow, climbing more rock trails and doing more bouldering than ever before, I’ve had a pretty sharp pain in my right knee. I can’t tell exactly when or what happened but it’s not very much fun. It seems different from the meniscus tear in my left knee that we took 3 weeks time off trail to rehab. That has actually been very successful with only a little bit of regression. We made an appointment with an Orthopedic MD in Mammoth on Monday just in case a rest weekend doesn’t improve things. Later, we hitched a ride to Independence from a Mother/ Daughter pair that were the support crew for their Husband / Father on his PCT hike this year. It remains a great community of people along the trail. We couldn’t do all this without them.

Daddie Gizmo:

We woke up early from our campsite above Guitar Lake on the west side of Mount Whitney. Not hiker early like many people who start this leg of trail at 4 in the morning, but early for us at 6:30. There were already a number of people who had gone by our tent as early as 2:30 am on their way up to Whitney. (Betcha they had camp site envy 😉).  The goal today was to crampon through several more miles of snow and ice while it was more firm in the morning before too much sun turned it softer and slushy. Our crampons are truly evil looking but the 2–3 inch long claw-like spikes really give you a lot of confidence going across the ice. We’ve learned to use them and move quite quickly with them thanks to some YouTube videos on techniques. It’s pretty different from regular hiking. Higher steps and landing the main 8 bottom spikes at the same time flat footed. When we are climbing, we stay on our toes and front ball of our feet and use the main front claws to kick our way up steep slopes.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the junction where the east side of the trail meets the west side of the trail just 2 miles below the peak.

Nice to be on rocky ground overlooking the snow

It was about a 3500 ft gain in elevation overall to that point.  The trail has turned from snow to rock as we get closer to the peak where it has had long sunny days up to now to melt. We met up with Duke again at the junction. One in his group couldn’t make it up further so they were just going to head out the east side portal trail.  We were at 13,400 feet now. 1150 ft to climb now on broken and jagged rock. There was some trail via ground down gravel paths but you mostly knew where to follow by seeing people ahead of you and just climbing rock ledges around the edge of the mountain. Figure 8 had some fears and frights along the way. Not that we were in real peril or danger but the trail loomed ominous in front of us and was steep but several mini passes along the way were 2000-3000 ft drop offs just a few inches to our left.  I put my hiking pole down into nothing but air a few times along the way which chills your stomach quick as you catch yourself leaning the wrong way. I was eager to reach the pinnacle but every time we came around a ridge line, we saw nothing but rock further ahead. We hadn’t seen the top of the mountain since early yesterday when we were still about 6 miles and 5000 ft below the top. The more we climbed, the less you could see straight above you.  Now just 400 ft away, it was sunny, hot and our legs were burning. The other hikers congratulated us as we neared the top and gave us encouragement to climb the last few hundred feet. We didn’t need it since our adrenaline kicked in as you could see some of the people and flags at the top.   A long grind up to 14,508 ft was worth it.

Giz take in the view a the 14,508

We did it! We climbed Mt Whitney!

The 360 degree view was stunning. There were about 20 people at the peak when we also reached the tip of the mountain. Smiles,  sighs, deep breaths, lots of photos, several different languages, a snack, some water and a rest to soak everything in was the routine for just about everyone. The sun was intense and the air was thin so we enjoyed our 10 minutes of sightseeing and began the very technical trek down. It was so much more difficult to boulder down the top 2 miles than it felt going up. A different type of hike down than up over the rocks was just the beginning of the story. As soon as we made it back to the east / west trail split, we saw our next challenge. 3000 of the 6000 foot decent was right in front of us and nothing but snow. 

This little guy was eating peoples snacks when we descended Whitney

There were about 10 of us resting at the lead out of the trail down.  I was eager to begin the glissade but scared shitless at the first step. A snow shoot dropped 10 feet straight down and then there was nothing to stop you for 1200 feet. I was the first to go. The initial drop wasn’t so bad because I landed in soft snow on my butt. However, I took off down the mountain a little faster than I expected. The speed came on quickly as I leaned back on my butt and the back bottom of my pack. I held my feet just a little above ground and used my two poles, shortened and in my hands, as a bit of a rudder and brake. A few times I dug my heels into the chute to shed some speed. It was a tough balance between being safe and the sensation of speed coming down such a steep slope so fast.  I’ve skied down slopes like this when I was at my best, but never imagined myself coming down on my ass on purpose. At the bottom, I could finally turn and look back up the mountain to see Figure 8 and several other people coming down behind me. It was the first time I could catch my breath and was really happy to see the excited smile on Figure 8’s face as she caught up to me quickly.  1200 feet and about a mile or more of switchbacks saved versus coming down this way in the snow. As great as that was, we had many more miles to cover to reach the bottom trailhead. We had options of trying to follow the regular trail via gps or to use the snow and glissading to short cut some of the crisscrosses and zigzags on a much steeper decent. 3 more shorter glissades of several hundred feet each were connected by bouldering over exposed rocky ridges and traversing snowy hillsides. We passed several postcard worthy alpine lakes on the way below the the snow line and back into the pine and fir trees. We also needed to ford a few streams but nothing like the ones higher in the mountains.  We connected with several day hikers as we came down and Eric and his buddy were great to offer us a ride into Lone Pine when we finally reached the trailhead.  We piled in their car and I had a hard time not just passing out from the whole day’s events.  One thing that helped me over the last few miles was knowing that we had a shower, warm bed and likely a margarita or three waiting for us in Lone Pine. Sure enough, we made it to Seasons in time to have a seat in their little bar and chat with Terri and Rod. Great couple to share stories with.  Hope we see them again along the trail or in our travels. I’m minus one pair of beat up Revo Sunglasses but plus an experience that we accomplished together and will never forget. True survivors have a way of gaining greater confidence and respect for all things after being tested as we were in the last 7 days.

A beautiful scene to recover by…at the banks of Wallace Creek that I will need to cross tomorrow, like it or not.

We watched the sunset over the mountains from our sleeping bags

Figure 8:

I woke up with an emotional, mental and physical hangover from yesterday’s events. Fighting to make it out of that creek alive yesterday was one of the most terrifying experiences I have ever had and certainly the closest I have ever been to thinking I was going to die. Daddie Gizmo was laying next to me in his little 25 inch side of the tent. I immediately layed on his chest and started crying a little. The trauma from yesterday was setting in and I knew I did not have the strength to hike out today. Since the sun was blazing on our tent we decided to pack up and move down the trail to some shade and figure out what to do. My right thigh that took the brunt of the beating in the creek is really hurting me. The rest of my body seems to be ok except maybe my neck. Feel like I have some whiplash. By far the worst part of this is not having my hiking poles to get out of here. I’m really concerned about the lack of safety now going up and down the snow. My new pole was a whippet and meant for ice climbs since it has an ice axe on the end of it. Hiking without poles is a pain normally but in the snow it seems dangerous and my tolerance for risk right now is pretty low. That aside, I am still feeling a wreck this morning. We can’t keep going north to cross Forrester Pass because you need an ice axe and mine is somewhere in Wright Creek. I feel terrible that I didn’t make it across the creek and now we have to turn back. I keep apologizing to DG and he keeps telling me I’m being silly. I hate seeing other hikers passing by to keep going north and knowing that we aren’t. It hurts my heart. I’m disappointed we won’t be traversing the highest pass of the PCT today, as planned. Missing those views and experiences make me feel like I let my teammate down. We hiked a half mile down back to Wallace Creek to set up camp for the day since I need a day to rest my mind and body in order to have the confidence and strength to climb back up over this snow and ford through another creek to make it out safely. Admittedly, I shed a few tears down that half a mile. I picked up a big branch and used it as a walking stick to relieve some of the pressure on my right leg. It hurts but I’ll push through it to get out of here. We are in the middle of nowhere and need to figure out the best way to exit in our current situation. We scouted out a couple places to cross back across Wallace and retrace our steps to a road and civilization. My heart sank looking at the rushing water. I had told him I might be able to do the crossing today if we found a place that is calm enough, but it’s not calm enough for me after yesterday. I just don’t have the guts to do it today and that’s what I told him. Tomorrow morning, nice and early when the water is at its lowest, we will cross. And I will be scared out of my Fing mind. But what else can I do? My view of the Sierras while I am writing this is absolutely breathtaking. I love being here. I’m going to enjoy the next few days as much as I can because I don’t know when we will be back. At this moment, I don’t think right away, but I definitely want to experience natures beauty here again. With hiking through snow and ice and the melting snow making the creeks dangerous, the Sierras are a like a chick you date that is simply gorgeous and great to look at but manages to make everything more complicated somehow. In the afternoon Sauce and Giggles, who we had stayed next to at the Timberline motel in Lone Pine, crossed the river to our side. They gave me a really really great hug and chatted for a while which made me feel a little better. They hiked Whitney Mtn yesterday and shared the trail conditions up Whitney Portal which is the path to the mountain from the PCT. Hearing that the trail that way seemed better and less icy than we expected we decided to get out of theses mountains via that route tomorrow. Early evening, by a stroke of divine intervention another group crossed the creek later and came to ask us if we had lost a pole. The pole they had was not the one I lost but we very gladly took it. Wow – getting that pole is HUGE! DG and I felt a lot better getting out of here tomorrow and crossing the creek in front of us having three poles between us. Now for some rest under this beautiful starry sky.