Location: Junction up Bubbs Creek
The good news is that today I summited forester pass, the highest
point on the trail. The scenery is amazing. It was a intense pass
and it was crazy sitting on top. That's where the good news ends. Of
all my days hiking, today was bar far the worst ever. The kind that
really makes one reevaluate hiking. Let me take you through it...
I started my day fording a raging Wright Creek and my trekking pole
slipped. I went in completely and it was terrifying. I frantically
grasped for plants growing on the farside and managed to stop myself
about 20 feet downstream. In the process I lost a trekking pole, and
most importantly my 300 dollar GPS. This was devastating. The snow
is insane here and I had all of the trail waypoints on it. Luckily I
was smart enough to pack my camera and iPhone into my pack before the
ford. I crawled out of the creek at 5 am completely wet in 40 degree
weather. Hypothermia was coming quick. I put on dry clothes fast and
crowdog lent me his extra fleece. I warmed up but was miserable. The
entire day today involved hiking on snow...it was terrible.
Postholing, sunburn, bruised shins, all around nasty. I ripped my
rain pants, and had my alcohol fuel spill in my pack onto my sleeping
bag. Seriously, today nothing went right. I'm now in a very bad
place mentally. I've decided that I'm going to go into the town of
bishop tomorrow with the 7 people i've been hiking with. It was not
part of my plan, but I need a mental break, I need new trekking poles,
and I need high quality topo maps since I don't have a gps now. I
also need better food, a hot shower, and to desperately make some
phone calls to people that i really need to talk to. Today was a 13
hour day and it was after doing Whitney. My body hurts.
There are still four 12,000 foot passes to do, and they will all be
snowy. There is solid snow everywhere above 9500. Bishop is a tough
town to get into. It requires hiking 7 miles on a side trail, and the
hitching to independence, and then taking a bus to bishop. I don't
care. I need to get there.
1 comment:
Cmon John -- take a break and keep it going. On the positive side - you are not going to have any day as bad as this -- what say?
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