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September 23, 2003
Trans-Sierra: Physical Summary, Part I
For those that are interested in some of the details of what happened, I offer the following in as brief a form as I could muster.My first day out, I said goodbye to my wife and started hoofing up towards Bishop pass. I knew it would be one of my most difficult days just because I was at my peak physical weight (both myself and my pack) and I hadn't actually trained at all. As I huffed and puffed up the final switch-backs, I couldn't help, but smile at the thought that I really had no idea why I was doing this. I just knew it was something I wanted to do. After descending over the other side of Bishop pass, I ended up overshooting the lakes I wanted to reach, so I had to run around and climb a little ways back uphill. When I reached what I thought was the right lake, I promptly sat down and passed out in a wave of fatigue. At 70lbs, my pack was way too heavy. A little later, I realized that I had developed a bad blister on my right heel. The boots I wore were like old friends and had never given me trouble before, so I was a bit frustrated thinking of the miles I had to hike over the next few weeks.
The next day I realized I wasn't at the lake I wanted to at either. So I started hiking, sans pack, South over a little ridge. There was the lake. A group I'd seen the day before was camped there, so I hiked down to say hello. One of them saw me and held up a nice fishing rod, asking if it was mine. The four of them had all brought rods of their own, but had found this rod, with a good Kastmaster lure on it and had found it to be quite the lucky rod. I told them it wasn't mine, but I wished I'd brought a rod. I half suggested they leave the rod as that lakes lucky communal rod. I decided to go back, get my stuff and move my camp down to the lake they were just then leaving. By the time I got back they were just about to leave and I didn't see the rod anywhere. Then one of them, in a guilty voice, said, "We decided to take the rod after all." Made me sad.
That day I decided to tape up my blister and day-hike up to Knapsack pass. Actually, I'd wanted to climb N. Palisade, but I could tell by the pass that my blister wasn't doing well. The view from the pass was ecstasy. All of the immense Palisades on one side and the Black Divide on the other. I sat for a while and triangulated the position of the peaks around me, to figure out where they all were. Shortly thereafter, I had an encounter which would become a regular occurrence throughout the trip. I saw two men bounding up the talus that made up the other side of Knapsack pass. They reached me quickly, without appearing to be winded at all. They were hiking the, "High Trail", or something like that. It was around 200mi long and avoided as many established trails as possible. It was going to take 1.5-2 weeks. Alone, it wasn't that astounding. What was astounding was their packs weight under 30lbs each. For the first of many times during the trip, I heard about "Beyond Backpacking: Ray Jardines Guide to Lightweight Hiking". Certainly, one of the lessons I started to learn on this trip, was the importance of going light. By shedding comfort, and going light, you have more energy to go further and explore more places. It also helps to be in excellent shape, which I did not feel was an accurate description of myself at the time.
When I got back from the pass I took a dip in a frigid lake at 11,300'. The feeling of the air in your lungs decompressing is insane. You just can't breath. I tried swimming for warmth, but it ended up just stinging as my body fought the cold. I didn't stay in for long.
That night, I knew I wanted to move on the next day, but still had my blister to contend with. Luckily I had brought Tevas (sandals). I knew it too would be painful, but I worked on rigging a separate heel strap for my right Teva. I used some webbing I'd brought to make a heel strap that went above my blister. So in another one of my most difficult days, I lugged my still near 70lb pack from upper Dusey Basin down 3000 vertical feet to LeConte Canyon, then back up camping just a few miles from Muir Pass. The uneven trail for 11-12 miles with nothing but sandals to support my heavy pack was somewhat brutal, but at least my heel blister was beginning to heal. My first two nights I'd set up shelter due to cold, high winds, and what looked like imminent rain. By my third night, and for every subsequent night, I just slept on my tarp. I didn't bring an actual tent, just a footprint and rain-fly that set up sorta like a tent that doesn't go all the way to the ground. I went to sleep that night at 10,800 to clear skies, but woke up hours later to dense fog, completely obscuring my surroundings. The next morn, the weather was mixed, but as I walked towards the Muir pass it kept getting worse.
On my way to the pass I met an interesting character who goes by Boogiecat. He was a 50+ yr old dancer who supposedly was the inspiration for the movie Flashdance. He lived in Ely, MN where he works in an Iron mill. We talked for a good long time.
By the last few switch-backs I was racing to get to the infamous Muir Hut as the weather was looking ominous indeed. I ran into the hut with 50mph winds outside and the entire sky covered by low dark clouds. Within a few minutes, another party appeared, and then a father, daughter party who'd I'd met the day before near LeConte Canyon. They generously offered to cook me lunch and tea. I accepted. So we all stayed hunkered down in the hut for a while waiting to see what the weather would do. Finally, after it looked like the weather might hold, I struck out towards Evolution Basin. I had originally intended on staying at Saphire Lake, but decided to continue on to Evolution Lake, where I knew I'd be staying for a couple days.
Evolution lake is one of the most beautiful places in the Sierras. The Evolution Range towers abruptly to the North with other peaks and ranges all around. I've never seen a place with so much 'hidden' camping either. You could walk around for days and find amazing places to camp. I camped on a Peninsula jutting into the lake, near the water. I stayed there for 4 nights and 3 days.
Posted by wonko at September 23, 2003 11:52 AM
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Comments
Did you get the chance to meet Bilbo? You know the guy who inspired the book "The Hobbit"?
Posted by: Obigabu at September 24, 2003 09:14 AM
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