Figure 8:

I woke up this morning with a feeling of dread. We could hear more people crossing Wallace Creek next to us as we lay in our sleeping bags and I knew that would be us soon. Damn, another crossing after going down in Wright Creek 2 days ago. I told Daddie Gizmo I wanted to pack up and get it over with as quickly as possible. This was only one of the challenges we had ahead of us today that worried me. I dressed in everything but pants and we went to the creek edge. The water was moving much faster than I was comfortable with and I was really really nervous, but I put one foot in front of the other and stepped in the water. DG waited in the middle for me and as soon as the high pressure water hit me I started to get so nervous and scared that I told him I was going back. I started screaming over the water “I can’t do it”. DG said I had to and he would help me. He stood in front of me and broke the pressure of the water flowing at me and then pulled me to the other side. Feeling the rushing water up to my mid-thigh brought back all the fear from two days ago and I froze up. Thankfully DG was there to give me the kick in the ass I needed. When I got to the other side of the creek I sat down and cried. I let out all the fear that I had and the flashbacks of going down Wright Creek that came back. We had a big day ahead of us to get out of these mountains so we dried off and set out. Unfortunately, we had an icy climb ontwo north sides that morning which we had already descended days earlier. It’s a little defeating going back over the steps you already took. I was not feeling good about the ascent because I only had one pole, but we put our crampons on for the first time and kicked those climbs asses. The crampons are great and we went straight up with ease. Easier than coming down even. And with one pole! We were feeling good that we had accomplished the creek crossing and climbed the north faces but knew there was lots more to go.

On our way to climb Mt Whitney tomorrow

Hiking the John Muir trail to get to Mt Whitney

We thought if we stopped at the ranger station on the way to Mt Whitney we might be able to get another hiking pole for me. Down the mountain we went only to find that you had to cross a large creek to get to the ranger station. As luck would have it, we ran into another hiker, Duke, who was heading that way. Sweet guy. When we explained the situation he offered to bring us back a pole if the rangers had one. In the meantime we had a little lunch, chatted with other hikers and rested. An hour and a half later Duke came back and put a huge smile on my face when I saw he had not two but three poles in his hand. My hero. Yes – back to two poles and feeling like a million bucks!! Knowing we were going to climb the highest mountain in the 48 contiguous states the next day, we wanted to cover more miles today to make the climb easier tomorrow. These were not easy miles ahead of us. Again we were using crampons to get across slushy snow. We were both exhausted and wanted to be done but knew every step we took now made tomorrow easier. And tomorrow is already going to be hard. Finally we got 4 miles through the path to the Whitney Junction and found a tiny spot without snow where we could camp. It wasn’t flat and we slid down the tent all night but it was worth it! The view was sensational!! We felt really good about what we accomplished today, a day we were calling our survival trek out of the mountains. My leg wasn’t bothering me too much from the creek debacle, but Daddie Gizmo’s other knee is really hurting him. Together, we are making it. We snuggled in our sleeping bags, watched the sunset and listened to an audio book. Life is good 😊

DG cracks me up

We love watching the sunset over the mountains from our tent

Figure 8:
We woke up to the shrills of ppl crossing the creek in cold water. We packed up our tent and pack but didn’t put on any pants so that we could cross in just our underwear and sandals. While the lower part of the creek is a raging waterfall, the upper part we are crossing is very calm. From there we went straight up the mountain . Thankfully it was still early, 7:30am, without the hotter sun, but it was an intense climb. This morning, we really started to feel the difference of hiking in the Sierras. The trail was completely covered in snow and we were following other peoples snowy steps through sun cups while checking the map to make sure we were actually on trail. It was taking forever to make miles. Fortunately, there have been cute little chipmunks running around the past few days while we hike that make us both smile. As we were following tracks and trail, we noticed that the people in front of us started glissading down the steeper snowy parts and we didn’t hesitate to do it either. Sitting on our butts with our packs on we slid down the mountain and gained some mileage. We were already exhausted by 10am when we got to Wallace Creek. I told DG I needed a break so we had some tortillas and peanut butter and I began to realize, at this early part of the day, that doing another 8 miles would take us all day in these conditions. Daddie Gizmo forded the creek first and then me. The water was fast and up to my waist, but we both made it through just fine. We climbed straight up the mountain another half mile to cross Wright Creek. As we approached Wright Creek it looked just as fierce and unwelcoming as it sounded when we descended that side of the mountain. The water was rushing so fast in the section near the trail that we needed to go up and down the creek for a while to find what appeared to be a suitable place to cross. Even here, the water was fast but it appeared to be shallow enough with slightly calmer water to be a safe crossing. We were wrong. Daddie Gizmo forded the creek and made it across safely to the other side. I started my crossing and hit a spot where the water had so much pressure I was struggling to keep my poles in the rocks at the bottom of the creek as I sidestepped across. I could feel one of my poles repeatedly slipping back which was in turn pulling my arm and that side of my body back that direction from the force of the water. Suddenly I was swept away by the water and caught on a nest of young trees in the middle of the creek. I still had both poles in my hands but I couldn’t stand because the force of the water was pushing so hard on me. I could barely move an inch. Plus I now had the weight of a soaking wet pack on my back as I am plastered to the little trees holding on for dear life to their branches. I had worn my hat while crossing the creek and now it was blocking my vision. DG, on the other side of the creek, wanted to come get me but there was no way. I was stuck in the middle of a fiercely rushing creek and he couldn’t make it to me. My hands were slipping on the branches. I was still holding my poles because I knew I needed them to have any chance of making it out of this. I was becoming really scared because if I lost my grip I knew I was heading down the raging white water creek with no definitive safe way out. Even as I held on, i couldn’t move. I was stuck! I yelled to DG that I was scared. Really scared. He looked scared. The water was so much more powerful than I could fight against. Finally my fingers let go of the branches and I was swept away down the creek. I was terrified and literally fighting to survive as I was tossed and turned upside down in the narrow, rushing, tumbling white water area of the creek. I kept waiting for my body to be thrown against the rocks and each time they did and it didn’t take me completely down I bought another second. Another moment to keep my hands up and reaching for anything to grab or hold on to stop me from being pulled down the creek and against more rocks. My head was being forced under and I thought I might drown. I kept reaching out for anything to grasp onto to save myself from drowning or hitting my head. Somewhere between 200 and 300 feet down the creek I managed to grab some branches on the bank. In a complete and utter state of shock that I have never before experienced, I pulled myself to a standing position and saw Rob on the other side. Looking down, I saw that my shirt was completely torn open. Rob ran down the creek bank, scared as hell, and was so relieved to see me safe. I had no energy to move and barely mustered what was left to lay my body on the snow shelf on the edge of the creek, legs still in the water. DG was yelling for me to get out, take my wet clothes off and get warm. The shock wore off right then and there and I started to bawl, standing in the creek. I was so scared. I thought I was going to die in that creek today. I had to move, though. Tapping into whatever energy and survival instinct I had left, I dragged my body up the snow and onto dry ground beyond it. It was so difficult because my pack was also soaking wet. Shivering, I removed my wet clothes and could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the damage that the creek had done to nearly every part of my body. Foot to wrist, chest to back, I am covered in massive bruises and lacerations. My right thigh is incredibly swollen and hard to walk on. Both knees banged and bleeding. Up and down my arms I’m scraped. DG still had to cross the creek back to me so I managed to pull my mostly dry sleeping bag out out of my soaking wet pack as I fought through hypothermia and wrapped it around my naked body. I lay there shivering until DG made it back safely. He immediately set to getting me warm, drying everything in my pack, tending to my wounds, giving me his dry clothes and sleeping bag to use to come back to a normal temperature. I was still crying a lot, recounting to him what happened and telling him I really truly thought I was going to die in that creek. My hiking pole, Whippet, hat, silicone wedding ring and thermarest seat were all washed away down the creek. A small price to pay to have survived. My whole body hurts. I’m concerned about getting off this trail with the pain and without my poles. But, thank God I am here with my husband right now. He is taking such good care of me after having one of, if not the most, scariest moment of my life.

Daddie Gizmo:

I forded our third creek of the day and it was harder than either of the other 2 but still doable. We had walk a half mile up from the regular trail crossing of Wright Creek to find a spot because it was absolutely a raging white water torrent until that point. It was still very strong but it was in an area where the creek was just simply wider than before so it spread the force out further. After I made it across, I turned to see Figure 8 already in the water coming up the ford area. She made it through the upstream crossing area well but as she begin to sidestep I watched her lose her balance and roll sideways and backwards 20 ft into a pile of brush and trees. Half of me was freaking out, but the other half was calm for some reason. I don’t know why but I just went into crisis thinking mode. We tried yelling back-and-forth but the creek drowned out most of our words. After a few minutes of jostling around she began to slip further towards the deep and powerful rushing area of the creek in the center. I could hear her say she was scared and I’m certain she was also freezing cold in the ice-water. Much much colder than my stomach had gone in about the last three minutes. I rushed down the bank and jumped in the edge of the creek on my side and waded out to where the water was splashing up on my chest. I was using a rock for leverage to keep me from going down stream but I was still 10 feet away from her and no way she could reach the pole I had in my hand. I lost my own balance once and barely put myself back into the shallow area. Without even a sound she was immediately 20 than 40 then 80 feet down the creek. I saw her blue legging, then white water, her pink shirt, then nothing. I climbed over snow banks and ran as far and as fast as I could. All I saw was water. Finally a glimpse of her pink shirt and then she passed around the bend where I couldn’t see her at all anymore. I thrashed my way through the brushes on the other side and climbed a few more snowbanks in a mad scramble to try and keep my eyes on her. I saw her tumble once more and she was gone again from my view. She was in the fiercest and most white water area of the creek and it took no time at all for her to get out of my line of sight. The current was deep, strong and easily enough to whisk her downstream faster than I could keep up even with my eyes. It took me two or three more minutes to get down far enough to see her finally clinging to a sapling Pinetree coming out of a snowbank on the far side of the creek. We were easily 200 or maybe 300 feet down through some of the worst and most raging area of the creek. I was scared again for her but so happy to see her upright and clinging to the tree. I yelled and she could hear me now. She seemed frozen but thankfully clinging to the little sapling. It took her another three or four minutes to gain composure and begin to pull her self up the other side. It was a sharp drop of a snowbank but she was now attempting to pull herself up. I could see so much fear, pain and fright in her face. She must’ve used all of her strength and willpower to get herself up and out of the water. I had some relief knowing that she knew how to take care of herself when she got up and over the snow. I was thankful we had talked about what to do in situations like this before. I began to race back to where I had dropped my pack maybe 100 or so yards up the creek. There was really no way I could ford back across the creek to her at that point because it was an upstream diagonal crossing. To go backwards at that point would have been too dangerous. Just above that turn the creek narrowed again and was raging as I ran climbed and push through trees to find a new spot to get back across the creek. It took me over a mile and every moment I was thinking of my dear sweet beautiful wife who was freezing cold on the other side of the bank nearly a mile and a half away from me now. I finally crossed at another wide spot but now had to make my way back through a very large field of snow that was soft and nothing but sun cups. It felt like forever to go track back down the other side of the creek now to get to her. I finally reached her and saw nothing but a bloody sleeping bag and her pack open and clothes strewn everywhere. She was still shivering very strongly and crying. I think we were both still very scared at that moment but glad that I had reached her and we could start working on getting her warm. She’s already done everything correctly by stripping her clothes and getting into her down sleeping bag. When she came out of the bag to put on some of my warm clothes all I saw was serious road rash and bruises all over her body with spots on her hips, legs knees, ankles and wrists bleeding. We tried to cover those spots up with big bandages as best we could so the clothes wouldn’t stick to the open wounds. She had my thermals, fuzzy socks and thick shirt on as she climbed into my dry down bag. We got her into the sun but she was still shivering quite a lot. I got out some Advil and she took that with a lot of water to rehydrate. I steadied my nerves and my emotions by going through everything wet and getting it out in the sun to dry. She had fallen asleep from exhaustion in the sun but had also stopped shaking for the first time. I set up camp so she could be more comfortable. She is battered and bruised all over but I’m so thankful and grateful she wasn’t hurt much much worse tumbling so far down the rocky rapids. I went to sleep as the rain started to fall and finally cried, hiding it from her as best as I could.

Snowy tracks

Daddie Gizmo:

The first five hours today we were up about 3000+ in elevation. Unlike yesterday, it wasn’t total up elevation but in up-and-down total. I’m now at a mid-height pass in the Sierras and when you climb 1600 hard earned feet from a creek up to a pass, I think it should have a name. Just too many bigger mountains and passes here, I guess.

Going above 10,000 feet

A little trail sign to the log

The uphill took it out of me!

There’s a lot more open trail than snow than we expected but the former snowdrifts are now just obstacles in the way of the trail that you have to climb over or get around. They slow you down, quite a bit, but they are just part of this section of trail especially on the north facing slopes. One more obstacle was a big one. Rock creek was about 15 ft wide and you couldn’t see the bottom or even any rocks to show you how deep it was. Solid raging angry water. The side-by-side logs that made the summer crossing point was totally submerged in the water causing a big wave over them and huge deep eddy behind them. The only way to cross was a tree that had fallen across the creek but was about 15 ft up in the air above the white water creek. It was perched on our side up the bank a bit and had fallen on to a huge boulder on the other side.

The raging white water in Rock Creek

The fallen logs to cross Rock Creek

I was so nervous with the water raging below

DG crossed like a pro

Thankfully the top of the tree broke on the boulder and acted just like a ladder to climb down once you braved the height of the log crossing. We both made it across safely and decided that would be a great time for some breakfast tacos. Second breakfast for us Hobbits. Later, and after another climb, Figure 8 and I glissaded down a few snow fields. Basically you sled down on your butt with no sled using your poles like a rudder and feet for brakes.

Glissading down the mountain

Snow chunk in my crampons after glissading

We came to a wide part of Whitney Creek crossing and decided to camp. It was next to a large rock and boulder field in the sun. We began watching 2 Marmots play which turned into hours of watching them and their friend pop up, scurry after each other and munching on the brand new grown grass near us.

I’m not as exhausted as I look here, but the mid-day sun and the snow

Marmots!

This lasted all night as we cooked up some smoked meat, mashed potatoes. We also saw a group of 8 decide how to cross creek. The group included Sauce and Giggles who we met and chatted a lot with while we were in Lone Pine. We all decided to ford through a 25′ wide but 3′ shallow area about 100 ft in front of a double waterfall that had about a 40 foot drop in the morning and settled in the watch a blood red sunset.

Another wonderful campsite

The waterfall by the site

♥️

We are officially in the Sierras!!

beautiful

Wow!

Where is the darn trail???

Figure 8:

I’m currently sitting next crystal clear creek running over its small banks from all of the snow melt. We are in a pine forest with many small medium and large snow drifts in every direction. There are lots of little baby pine trees too growing in and around the creek, helping to give it form as well as it’s beautiful and curvy shape. This is a good rest spot because today was exhausting. Good exhausting. The altitude stated to affect me before we even got to the trailhead. As we were driving up the mountain I rolled my window down to get some fresh air. I was getting queasy. The altitude has affected me before on trail, but today the effects hung around all day which was a first. We were both a little nauseous when we started hiking but that passed pretty quickly.

Starting out for the day!

Couldn’t agree more

And we are off!

In the snow already

What set in later was just a light headedness that is still with both of us, making us both pretty tired. Being 5:45 and having the tent set up and dinner cooking means we should be asleep soon. We could both use it. Today was stunningly beautiful though. There are creeks and streams everywhere which is a welcome change for both drinking and hearing the sounds along the path. And speaking of path, we lost it a lot today in the snow. We are going to need to get better at that because we wasted a lot of time and energy losing the trail. But even when we lost it, we are still wandering around this postcard like scenery. Today was hard, but it was fantastic too.

Daddie Gizmo:
It feels really great to be back out on the trail this morning. Couldn’t get a ride as early as we wanted at 6:30 but we’re still in the cooler part of the day. At least 20° less than it would be if we would’ve left late yesterday afternoon. I write this as we’re hiking up the hill. We should have trees between 8000 and 10,000 feet. That helps a lot with some shade as we gain altitude under bright sunny skies. We climbed up a snowy ridge above Chicken Spring Lake which had just begun to thaw but was still mostly frozen over. The view from the 11,400 ft ridge was our first true sense that we were in the Sierras. For the first time we were looking at snowy valleys from a few thousand feet above. We sealed it with a kiss. Along the way today we managed to have a hiking pole and tent pole malfunction. Duct tape, paracord, and a bobby-pin later we were back to normal. We made lots of rice and lentil curry for dinner. Hiking with a huge bear can full of 7 days of food was lighted a little by eating our heaviest food first. Cookies of course for dessert.

All this snow is just melting away

Our campsite by the creek.