Day Sixty Three

Today's miles: 18
Total miles: 900

Today started out poorly and went downhill from there.

It began when I woke up and started going through my morning routine: change into hiking clothes, pack up gear, have breakfast, go down to the river to gather water. As I stepped onto a rock to dip my water bladder into the river, my foot hit a slippery patch and shot out from under me. Before I could blink, I had fallen directly on my tailbone on a sharp rock. The impact knocked the wind out of me, but the first thing I remember thinking was, dammit, I got my shoes wet!

I was soaked from the knees down but didn't even realize how much pain I was in until I tried to stand up and stumble back to camp. My body didn't appreciate the sudden movement, and I was overcome by dizziness, pain and nausea so severe that I collapsed in the grass near Papa Bear's tent.
Papa Bear saw me fall and hurried over to kneel beside me.
"Are you okay??" he asked.
I had my head between my knees and all I could say dumbly was, "I fell in the river..."
He gave me a concerned look, but I promised I was okay, and after a few moments I was able to stand up and hobble back to camp where everyone else was packing up for the day.
They quickly learned about my bruised tailbone, and how difficult it was for me to walk around without some sort of pain and dizziness.

As we left camp, Rotisserie wouldn't let me hike in the back, making me walk in front of her in case I fell down again. I felt badly about it, though, because my injury made me hike much, much slower than usual and I'm sure it was stunting her pace. Every step hurt, and I began to be overly cautious on rocky stretches of trail, for fear of falling again. My paranoia didn't seem to help, though, and in fact made me more clumsy than usual, stumbling over little rocks and making myself irritated and frustrated. While crossing one patch of snow I lost my footing again and fell. This time my pack took most of the impact, but it served to make a bad morning even worse.

We hiked through beautiful lake country, but I barely saw it. I was frustrated and stuck in my own head, angry at my pace and the pain. I finally put in earphones and listened to some interesting RadioLab podcasts on my phone. RadioLab was one of Katie's favorites, and she had recently gotten Rotisserie and I hooked on them. We loved listening to the different episodes and then discussing them afterwards at dinner.

Sansei was hiking fast today, so he took off and we barely saw him all afternoon. Rotisserie, Katie, Papa Bear and I stopped for lunch together and afterward I let Rotisserie and Papa Bear hike in front of me so I didn't hold them up. I was feeling somewhat better, but my steps were still slow and bruised.

We had some unexpected steep hills to climb today and a heat wave came through the area, making it hot and humid as we hiked. I felt like I was back in the desert, sweating as I dragged myself uphill. Katie and Rotisserie were far ahead by this point, making me feel even slower. Halfway up one of the climbs, Papa Bear stopped for a water break and I was glad for the excuse to rest. The two of us sat together, admiring an amazing view of the mountains and contemplating trail life.

When we felt better, we finished the climb and dropped down into another basin of lakes. As we came around the bend, I heard the high pitch shrieks of two girls, and I knew immediately that it was Katie and Rotisserie, and that they had jumped into a lake. This made me a little sad and grumpy, for I wished I had been hiking fast enough to join them. I was feeling particularly sorry for myself today, which was not a flattering attitude, but the more I tried to shake it, the deeper I got. When we finally caught up to them, they were already out of the water and drying off, so I pushed on alone for a bit, listening to RadioLab and trying to ignore the mellow thoughts in my head.

They caught up to me very quickly, and I fell behind again, hiking on my own. After a few hours of hiking solo, I was feeling more at peace with myself and thoroughly enjoying the podcasts I was listening to. I caught up with everyone later in the evening, just as we reached mile marker 900. Sansei had found a good campsite a few hours earlier and was making a bonfire for the evening to keep the mosquitoes at bay. We ate a quick dinner and I gingerly got into bed.

Day Sixty Two

Today's miles: 5
Total miles: 882

Today is our two month anniversary on trail!

We tried to sleep in today, but there were so many hikers camping at Vermilion Valley Resort that we were wide awake with the noise at 6am. It was still drizzling a little, but it soon cleared up, so we left our tent pitched for the morning to dry.

We had a nice, lazy morning at VVR. Sansei, Rotisserie, Papa Bear, Katie and I had breakfast at the restaurant in the store and then took naps in the sunlight. Katie and I did laundry and took showers, and then hung out with Bird Haus, Tapper, Games, Reason, Lighthouse, Sunset, Pony and St. Alfonzo for most of the afternoon. We packed up our stuff around lunchtime and then ate another big meal in the restaurant before heading out.

Rather than walk the four miles around the lake, as we had to get here, we opted to take the ferry back. Even though the water level was still really low, VVR was running a few skiff boats across the lake to shuttle hikers back to the trail. Each skiff could only hold four people, so Rotisserie, Sansei and I rode over first, followed by Katie and Papa Bear. It took long enough that we didn't start hiking until 5pm.

We tried to get as far as we could in a few hours. It was an uphill climb, headed toward Silver Pass, which was 3,000 feet higher than VVR. This time, though, I had headphones and my ipod that Tanner had sent me in my last resupply box. It was wonderful listening to music for the first time on trail, jamming to my favorite songs and making the hike go by more quickly. Unfortunately, I forgot how old my ipod was, and how terrible the battery lasted. After thirty minutes it went from fully charged to dead and now I had a useless paper weight instead of music. Bummer.

We ended up hiking five miles and reached a nice tent site beside the rushing Silver Creek. We were starting to get mauled by mosquitoes, so we put on our headnets and set up tents quickly.
I joked aloud about my broken ipod and the thirty minutes of music that it had offered me.
Sansei said, "you know, I don't like that you have music now. You don't make nearly as many funny noises while hiking! I kept waiting for an original Bramble song or your silly squeaks when you do river crossings, but there weren't any. It was too quiet."
I laughed. "Well, you're in luck, then, because I don't have any more music!"
"Yay!" said Sensai. "Er... I mean... awwwwww, too bad."

We dove into our tents to avoid the bugs and talked to each other through the mesh. Katie and I went on a mosquito killing spree inside our tent, laughing as we shrieked and killed the nasty buggers. I was in a silly mood and began bellowing a song from South Pacific in a deep, operatic voice, "Some enchanted evening!"
Everyone laughed and then we heard the distinctive sound of Sansei crunching on some oreos that he had bought in VVR.
"We want some!!" Katie and I yelled at him.
"No!" he yelled back. "I'm already in the tent!"
"Room service!!" we hollered. "Room service! We need oreos!!"
"Ughh, fine," he groaned with a laugh. We heard the tent unzip, and then his voice saying in a high, squeaky tone outside our door,
"Housekeeping? Housekeeping?"
"Yay!" we grabbed the oreos from him, happily crunching, and heard Sansei go next to Papa Bear's tent with the treat.
"Housekeeping?" he squeaked. "Me love you long time?"
We were giggly and happy and laughing ourselves to sleep.

Day Sixty One

Today's miles: 5 (on PCT) + 4 (side trail to VVR) = 9
Total PCT miles: 877

Since we had gone so far yesterday, we only had nine miles left to Vermilion Valley Resort, our next resupply, so we opted to sleep in a little. We woke up to the sound of rain on the tents and Papa Bear's voice, yelling to us as he passed: "Canada won't come to you!"
We were so stunned that Papa Bear was passing us that we were immediately awake. He so often slept in, and we were so sure that he was at least ten miles behind us last night. In fact, he had gotten on trail at 6 this morning and did enough miles to catch up with us by 8:00.

We stumbled out of bed and into the soggy landscape. My shoes, which I had hoped would dry out overnight from yesterday's river fords, were still really wet. We packed up our sodden gear as quickly as possible and hit the trail. It was drizzling all morning, a cold, damp rain, but I couldn't stand to have my raincoat on because hiking was making me overly warm.

We soon hit a climb that went up 2,000 feet in two miles, and between the rain and sweat, I was completely soaked by the time we reached the top. The rain got harder and harder the higher we climbed, and once we stopped I finally had to put my coat on because the chill was sinking into my bones. We reached the trail junction for VVR and took the four mile detour to get to Thomas Edison Lake. There was supposed to be a ferry to take us across, but the water level was so low that the ferry wasn't running, so we had to walk further, instead. It took longer than expected, and we were so eager to get to the resort that we didn't stop for breaks, so by 12:30 I was starving and cranky.

Once we rounded the lake we came upon a group of older men car camping. They were eager to be trail angels for us and shared some beer and stories beneath their tarps to escape the rain. They called themselves the "Assholes from LA" even though they weren't assholes and they were no longer from LA. In fact, they were hilarious to listen to and we enjoyed hearing them tell tales of their yearly trips to Edison Lake. One of the men was a father to two other grown men, and he seemed particularly interested in our journey north, telling us over and over what an amazing experience it was and how he wished he could do something similar.
"You can!" we promised. "We've met a lot of retired men and women on the trail who are doing really well!"
He sighed wistfully. "Maybe some day. I'm just so proud of you guys for chasing your dream. How impressive to travel so far on foot! If only I had kids who would do something that great!"
At this point he gave his two sons a sharp, narrow-eyed look, and they both shrieked,
"We're not hiking the trail, dad!! Give it up!!"
We all laughed.

After chatting with the men for a while, they offered to give us a ride the rest of the way to VVR so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain. The resort itself was small and hidden in the trees, made up mostly of a little store, a campground, and a bathhouse. We started a tab inside for all our supplies, set up our tents and spent the evening with friends who were already there: Games, Reason, Sunset, Lighthouse, St. Alfonzo, Pony, Bird Haus, and Tapper. Games's mother was in town and visiting her and Reason at VVR, so she had brought some real clothes for Games to wear. We were all immediately jealous of her soft, cotton jeans and blouse.
"And look!" she shrieked, for what must have been the hundredth time in glee, "my bra has an underwire!! I have boobs!!"

We spent a very enjoyable evening having dinner with our friends and playing board games and charades. Our games were pulled to an abrupt halt, however, when we noticed a JMT section hiker fall over behind us. As it turned out, he had taken some bad medication and passed out straight into the rocks, bashing in his nose and breaking his cheekbones. When we reached him, he had blood all over his face and was going into shock. Both Bird Haus and Rotisserie were studying to be nurses, so they hurried over to the gentleman and did what they could for him before the paramedics could arrive. Unfortunately, VVR is a treacherous, five hour drive from the nearest town, so it took some time for the ambulance to get there. When the EMTs arrived, they took one look at the hiker and realized they would need a helicopter to fly him to a hospital. They carted him to the lake so the helicopter could land, and he was taken to safety. It was a very humbling and somewhat frightening evening, but we were told the hiker was okay and would recover well. It was nice to see so many helpful and attentive people rushing to his aid, and it reminded me how selfless and good the people I hike with are.

Day Sixty

Today's miles: 24
Total miles: 872

With not many options for resupply in the Sierras, we had to carefully time our mileage between stops to make sure we didn't run out of food. It was a six day hike from our last town, Bishop, to our next: the small resort called Vermilion Valley. There was a ferry we needed to catch to reach it, which only ran at certain times of the day. In order to make it on time, today's mileage was essential. We figured if we could do at least 18 miles, we would only have 11 left for tomorrow to catch the 4pm ferry. But since we had been averaging 14-17 miles per day lately, 18 seemed like a bit of a stretch.

We were determined, though, so we got up at 7 and were on trail by 8, leaving Papa Bear and some of the Chain Gang sleeping in camp. For once we didn't have a mountain pass to climb first thing this morning. In fact, we had ten miles of downhill through a canyon, so they went by fairly quickly. We also had our first big water ford - usually we can rock-hop across rivers, but this one was too wide and deep and had no rocks to skip across. As we stood on the bank, changing from our shoes to sandals so we could wade across the river, we saw Sunshine standing on the opposite bank, yelling something to us.
"What did he say?" I asked Katie.
"I think he said, 'look out for frogs'," Katie translated.
"Well, that just sounds adorable," I said.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Katie yelled across the river.
"Look out for bugs!!" Sunshine yelled back.
We groaned: mosquitoes.
We sloshed through calf-deep water until our toes went numb from the cold, and as we tried to put our shoes back on, we were swarmed by millions of mosquitoes, covering every inch of our clothing and skin. We shrieked and swatted and ran in circles, but the little pests wouldn't leave us alone.
"I wish it had been frogs!" I wailed.

We hurried on through the canyon, trying to leave the bugs behind. We noted that today was overcast and the air was particularly muggy, forecasting rain. It made the air hot and sticky and unpleasant to hike. We stopped for lunch with the Chain Gang just before the trail began climbing up to Seldon Pass. Sunshine was making a Nutella tortilla and told us that if we ever bought Nutella to save him the gold wrapper from the jar.
"Why?" we asked.
"I can't tell you, then you won't give them to me!" he said.
"What could possibly make us want them?" we laughed.
"Ok, ok," he sighed, and then told us in a conspiratorial voice, "see, if you collect enough wrappers, you can trade them in for cool things!"
"Like what?"
"Like Nutella t-shirts! And stickers! And an awesome spoon that's shaped like a Nutella jar so you don't miss a single inch!"
We were rolling with laughter. "Sunshine, why would we want those things?!"
"And how do you know about all these prizes anyway?" Sansei asked.
"There's a Nutella website!" Sunshine said, as if it were perfectly obvious.
"Sunshine," I laughed, "don't you think it's a little bit asinine that a thru-hiker is trying to collect things to carry?!"

After lunch we climbed the eight mile Seldon Pass. It was apparently the "easiest" pass and well graded, but it was hot and buggy to the top. We stopped at a water source half-way up to fill our water bottles, and I made a caffeinated drink mix to get me through the afternoon. It kicked in really quickly and pretty soon I was a jittery mess, running down the trail as the landscape flashed by me in long streaks. I told Rotisserie that "everything is moving so quickly; I think I can see the future!!"

We got to the top by 5pm and stopped for dinner. Having calories in my stomach made me feel stronger and I was charged up as we tackled the backside of Seldon. We dropped down into a chain of lakes and I kept everyone's spirits up by loudly singing Disney and camp songs and getting Katie and Rotisserie to sing along with me. We had a destination of 18 miles for the day, where there was supposedly a campsite near a lake at the bottom of the pass. But unfortunately the mosquitoes were so bad that we were forced to move on. We forded a few rivers and I opted to keep my shoes on, walking in soaking wet sneakers for a few miles. We put on our mosquito nets and practically ran along the trail, trying to find a decent spot that didn't have any bugs. But it was so muggy that it wasn't cooling off as the evening approached, and the mosquitoes were out full force.

We kept pushing and pushing, desperately trying to find a bug-free spot. Eventually the sun set, but we kept moving. On and on, until it was 9pm and we had gone 24 miles. It was cool enough then that the bugs weren't as bad, so we found the closest campsite, quickly pitched our tents, and fell exhausted into bed.