Week Nine Wrap-Up

Week nine brought to you by Chris!

"It's not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it's a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her way with you." - Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Physical and emotional pain has become a familiar and consistent factor in our journey north along the PCT.  Ingrown toenails, poodle dog rashes, mosquito bites, and various other ailments have plagued us throughout our long walk, but as the quote above promotes, we’ve acknowledged its permanent presence and pushed through it up to this point.  Auti and I try not to complain too much in these blog posts as we mutually decided to undertake the challenge (she was the one who first suggested doing the PCT) and for the most part, have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and hope you have found our adventure amusing and insightful as well!  We are a few weeks behind in the blog so I will wrap up week 9 in an effort to help Auti get caught up.  Apologize in advance if my writing style is eh compared to Auti’s, she does have a way with words.  With that disclaimer, on to week 9!

Even after spending 2 full rest days in Mammoth, Auti and I were still smoked from the last 7 day section of the high Sierras.  We could’ve spent another week in Mammoth and would’ve still only felt 50% rested.  Whereas you can typically cure a hangover with drinking more, the same concept does not apply to hiking…hiking more only makes things hurt more…but the show had to go on.  We planned the next 7 day stretch with less miles in mind in an effort to “rest and recover” on trail.  Day 2 of 7 out of Mammoth was a comical and notable day for many reasons.  First, it seems that whenever Autumn is in the midst of going #1 or #2 in the tree line, a minimum of a marching band sized group of people hikes by (she is not the best at picking secluded spots…).   She rarely gets the privacy she deserves or needs in these vulnerable moments (read lasts weeks blog about the critter that creeped up on her) and one specific couple decided to hash out their most intimate problems within a couple of feet of Autumn answering natures call.  It must’ve been a newly formed trail romance as the couple were discussing very basic issues. A few snippets from their conversation: “I just don’t know how to talk to you. You are just so hard to read sometimes.” All this outpouring of drama happened as Autumn relieved herself.  They must've sorted their shit out (at the same time Auti did) because Autumn and I stumbled upon them fully embraced in a hug/kiss a few hundred feet down the trail.  Oh the things you see on trail.  The PCT is like a rolling reality TV show, full of all the juicy drama and excitement. The rest of the day wasn't as exciting but more tiring; after a long uphill hike up to 1000 Lakes, we ate lunch and Autumn, a vehement anti-napper, took a 10 minute siesta on a large uncomfortable boulder.  That is how you know we were tired.  The miles might’ve been shorter but there seemed to be a significant increase in the daily ascents/descents.  After a short but arduous 16 mile day, we got into camp around 5pm and hit the bed before sunset.

The next day started off with an early wake up as we wanted to cross Donahue Pass, the last pass above 11,000ft, in the morning as snow conditions are typically more stable then.  When we woke up, it must’ve been 50 degrees outside!  Unfortunately, the snow had not refrozen overnight and part of our journey over the pass was a sloppy, slushy mess. Luckily, there were no sketchy snow traverses and the trail was in decent condition.  Donahue Pass acts as part of the boundary between the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area and Yosemite National Park.  We had finally made it to Yosemite and the beautiful, distinguishing features of the park were apparent upon descending Donahue Pass. Massive granite domes and green lush meadows were spread out before us on the descent.  The PCT unfortunately does not go through Yosemite Valley which is where the most notable features of the park, such as Half Dome, Liberty Bell, and El Cap are located. It didn't matter though, the section of the park the PCT winds through still had us in awe. The 16 miles after the final descent from Donahue Pass were flat and quite cruisey. Day hikers were a common site on this section of the trail due to the easy access and proximity to Tuolumne Meadows. You can tell a PCT thru hiker from a day hiker by the distinct smell as you walk by. Auti and I stank, while the happy go-lucky day hikers smelled like walking car freshners. It was a nice break from our own rankness but I am sure our stench partially ruined these people's Yosemite experience. Oh well, we're not sorry! The last 3 miles to our campsite that night ended in typical PCT fashion: uphill. When we finally got to camp we were met by a new obstacle that we thought wouldn't be an issue until Oregon: mosquitoes. Hundreds of them dive bombed us as we searched for a tent spot in attempt to steal our sweet precious hemoglobin. Autumn and I had to quickly think of new tactics in order to accomplish our nightly tasks. We dawned our rain jackets and mosquito head nets as the little buggers were able to stick their blood sucking straws through our day clothes. This worked well but when it came time to enter the tent, a new standard operating procedure had to be developed on the fly. I would swat as many mosquitos off of Autumn prior to her unzipping the tent. She'd jump in and I'd zip the door behind her. This worked fairly well even though Auti miscalculated where the tent door was and slammed into the side wall half collapsing the tent; luckily only 5 to 10 skeeters were let in. When it was my turn, our synchronization was way off and I ended up bringing half the parks mosquito population in with me....We kept our hazmat style garb on and spent the next 30 minutes trying to kill the 50 to 100 mosquitoes I had let in. It was a delightful time. The rest of the evening was spent cooking and prepping for the next day in the tent. This operation would go on for the next 3 nights with the number and aggressiveness of skeets growing each day. After the initial mosquito debacle, we readied ourselves for bed and were somehow able to sleep with hundreds of them buzzing around our tent.

Day 4 and 5 were full of relentless steep climbs and descents. The trail was in rough shape with irregular sized rock steps 2 to 3 feet high that only a 7 foot NBA player could comfortably climb. At one point I ended up breaking the tip off one of my trekking poles, it's never a good thing when your tip breaks off... Loose rock and dirt seemed to make up the steepest portion of the trails and at one point early that morning Auti’s feet slipped out from under her and she abruptly landed on her behind. She was not amused and after collecting herself and rising to her feet, stated a very accurate and poetic quote, "Every step on the PCT is a fucking journey." She couldn't have said it better and I would later plagirize this wonderful saying in one of Paul and Amy's Youtube videos. With temperatures being the warmest since the desert section, we finally decided to take the plunge that day, literally, into our first alpine lake! We dipped our tired, achy bodies into the cold crisp lake and quickly got the hell out. Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, we knocked out the remaining miles and slept like infants that night.

Day 5 was almost a carbon copy of 4 except for the 10 more water crossings we had to navigate through...after every descent, we'd reach the valley floors which contained numerous swollen rivers from snow melt. We'd cross the same river at least 5 times within a 3 mile segment of trail due to the meandering nature of the trail and rivers...even the flatter sections wouldnt give us a break. Our shoes were wet most of the day as we found it safer to cross some of the deeper, faster flowing rivers with shoes on as it gave us more traction on the slippery rocks below the current. After what seemed to be the 100th river crossing of the day, Autumn and I emerged from the river to find a cluster of hikers drying their feet off to the side of the trail. Out of the blue, one of the female hikers called out, "Autumn! It's Leah! How are you!" Auti was a little confused and Leah stated, "We went to high school together!" Well sure enough, Autumn and Leah had gone to highschool together and were even in the same grade. It took Auti a sec to recognize Leah and process what was happening but she caught on and they reminisced on past times in Stewartville, MN. Leah's boyfriend was hiking the PCT and she was meeting him to hike sections of it along the way. Talk about a small world, I mean Autumn's graduating class had maybe 100 students. It's the small encounters like meeting old friends that keep us hiking north.

On day 6 we hit a huge milestone in our hike: 1000 miles. We rolled 500 miles and were luckily able to roll 500 more (Google lyrics to the song "I'm Gonna Be" by The Proclaimers). The weather was sunny and 75 as we hit the 1000 mile benchmark and our trek towards Sonora Pass, the planned camping spot for the night, seemed like it was going accompanied by a beautiful spring day. As we hit Dorothy Lake Pass, which is the boundary between Yosemite National Park and Hoover Wilderness Area, Auti and I noticed ominous clouds rushing in from behind us. Amy and Paul (our friends we've been hiking with since day 1) requested a weather report on their InReach GPS. Light rain was in the forecast for the upcoming 10 hours but sunny conditions were predicted shortly after that. Nothing significant to note weather wise, so we thought. As we continued hiking I started to notice lenticular clouds forming on nearby peaks. These particular clouds look like massive mushroom caps that typically hang out over mountain tops and are indicative of high winds aloft (and bad weather to come). I had had enough harrowing bad weather experiences on Denali and the Delta range in Alaska to know when a storm is brewing. Darkening clouds turned black and winds picked up to about 30 knots when we were 6 miles from our intended camping spot. Light rain began to pepper our face and the trail started to turn into a muddy slip-n-slide. Auti and I quickly dawned our gortex rain jackets and pants as the rain picked up and winds began gusting up to 40 knots. As we started our final climb towards Sonora Pass, conditions continued to deteriorate to the point where walking was a challenge. We saw Paul and Amy pitching their tent behind a cluster of trees midway through the slog uphill and walked towards them. They had decided to stop hiking and set up camp as the conditions were too treacherous to continue; It was a smart move. I thought Auti and I would be able to make it to camp and decided to push further uphill. I didn't think it was possible at the time but the wind and rain continued to worsen to the point where walking on the steep snow patches was downright dangerous and impossible without toppling over. We made it a quarter mile from where we had seen Paul and Amy when I decided to pull out my InReach and request a weather report for my location at 9400ft (we still had 1000ft to climb). The reply stated current wind gusts were 50 knots and to heavy rain, hail, and sleet for another 6 hours. With this new information, I made the decision to turn back around right there. If conditions were that bad at 9400ft, we could expect 60 to 70 knots gusts at our tentsite. That amount of wind can easily blow you off a snow traverses and collapse your tent. The walk of shame ensued back down to Paul and Amy's tent. Along the way, an older Dutch lady (trail name Owl), a young guy (trail name Day Walker), and one older gentleman followed us back down after I explained the horrendous conditions up top and how it wasn't smart to continue. After arriving at Paul and Amy's location we quickly picked what we thought was a protected camping spot and began to set up our tent. Autumn gets cold really fast and I could tell she was feeling the effects of the rain and wind so I was a little anxious and rude to her when trying to get the tent up fast. This obviously didn't make the situation any better but we finally erected the tent and got inside as it started to hail. Getting warm was the first order of business, this was challenging as the wind was so strong, the wet tent wall would flex a foot or two upon each wind gust. The condensation that had built up on the inside tent wall would slap my shoulder and back soaking my down puffy. We eventually came up with a system to stay dry and warm and knocked out our daily chores prior to falling asleep. The wind was relentless for the majority of the night; every gust sounded like a freight train rolling right above. Auti and I could hear the wind build miles away ending in a frightening crescendo as it battered and beat the tent in every direction. We barely got any sleep that night but luckily for us, our itinerary has us getting into Kennedy Meadows resort and packstation the following day. Hot meals and a warm bed awaited us.

When we woke up on Day 7 the weather had improved significantly. In an attempt to make up for the uncompleted miles, we skipped coffee and ate breakfast as we hiked the remaining 9 miles to highway 108. After packing up camp and starting the ascent once again, I quickly determined there would have been no way for us to have continued the day before. Numerous steep, icy snow traverses impeded our progress along the last few miles of trail. Some unfortunate hikers had made it to our intended campsite and relayed a harrowing experience up top. 70 knots winds had forced them to take refuge in a cluster of bushes while the violent weather battered them all night. At one point in the hike Paul heard a brief but shrill scream from behind one of the bushes. Come to find out, one female hiker from the Netherlands was so fed up with what she had gone through that a blood curdling scream was necessary to vent. It scared the shit out of Paul but everything was alright. The hike down to the highway was no cake walk. As we descended down the back side of the pass, Auti and I encountered some of the steepest and sketchiest snow covered traverses we had come across yet. One slip and a couple hundred foot slide down to jagged rocks below would be the only thing to stop a person. It was sketchy but we made it across and quickly finished the last few miles to our pickup point. At 1030am a white van from the resort pulled up and a man named Gary and his dog Jesse (a yellow lab) jumped out to greet us. Gary, a local of the area, stated that the weather had been pretty gnarly the night before. For a local to say that made us feel tough as we had endured what we thought was an apocalyptic event. Jesse, the lab, gave all the hikers hugs and kisses which instantly raised our morale and spirits. Nine hikers loaded into the van and Gary took us down to the Kennedy Meadows North where we would spend one night gorging ourselves.

Getting to Kennedy Meadows North is a significant achievement as it marks the end of the High Sierra section. Aside from the first climb out of KM north, we would not ascend past 10,000ft for the rest of the trail. Additionally, we are no longer required to carry bear canisters past this point (which are heavy and burdensome), so that was a huge win for for us. The hike up to this point has been extremely challenging but rewarding and I am amazed at how well our bodies (knock on wood) have adapted to the challenge. Autumn is typically always in front and is 100 times stronger than me when it comes to the ascents. Her cardio and overall resiliency is astounding and I find myself constantly trying to keep up. I am one lucky man as she seems to have it all: beauty, strength, intelligence, and compassion. I simply can't wait to see what our future holds after the trail. I want to say thank you to all our loyal followers as we see your comments but don't always have time to respond to them all. We love you guys and can't wait to keep posting and sharing our adventure with you.

Until next time, we'll keep on humpin north!