July 21st, 2018; Tyndall Creek – Bubb’s Creek Junction: 13.3 miles
Any guesses as to where I currently am?? 3…2…1… if you guessed camped out inside the tent waiting out another monsoon, consider yourself correct! Ugh. This is getting annoying. At least the thunder isn’t nearly as bad as yesterday!
Today started early. I was anxious to cross the river creek and meet with the pack mule. So I packed up my wet gear and set out a little before the girls. I knew the first 5.2 miles were all uphill, so I wanted to get a head start. Within the first mile, I crossed the stream. Though narrow, it was extremely deep. I crossed in water shoes and used my poles to steady myself. Nothing like thigh high freezing cold mountain water to wake you up at 6:30am!
And what a beautiful morning it was. The meadow was stunning and got my mind off the gentle grade climb. I passed a group tour led by a young guy who was telling the group that this time last year the whole meadow was covered in snow. Thankful that isn’t the case now. One of the women in the group called me the girl who looks like Heidi (I’m assuming because of my braided pigtails), I’m glad that name didn’t stick! I slowly but surely made it past alpine lakes, waterfalls, and countless marmots. I lost count after 5 – I wasn’t really into keeping count of potentially cannibalistic rodents.
Then, from around the corner, I spied it. Forester Pass. What everyone describes to be the second hardest climb, the first being Whitney. And I already climbed Whitney, so Forester should be a piece of cake! Except it looked way intense. I recognized it from pictures. They made it look gnarly (I’m picking up local vernacular) and treacherous, but in person it looked way worse. It looked like I was about to embark on a journey to throw the one ring to rule them all into the fires of Mordor. How the heck was I supposed to get up that thing?! I couldn’t imagine how anyone could make a trail up such a steep mountain. Thank goodness a couple was camped right before the switchbacks so I could ask them. They pointed me in the right direction. The also told me how they got stuck in yesterday’s thunderstorm going over the pass. They were terrified but made it thankfully.
And so I was on my way up. I passed by a marker indicating the death of a young man who was working on building the trail. I stopped for a minute just thinking of the magnitude of what that marker represented.
Switchback after switchback fatigued me, but I had music playing to keep me going. A few of the sections were narrow with sheer drop offs that were dizzying and quite unsettling. Caution was taken with every step. Then suddenly, by surprise, I found myself at the top! It was quite crowded with other celebratory hikers but I was too distracted to really notice them. The views. I was in shock. Facing north, I can’t even describe the beauty of what I was looking at. Nor do I want to – it’s something that has to be experienced in person. I was completely awe struck.
Soon Mary Beth and Sam joined me, along with the guided tour. “Okay guys, we got 3 minutes up here then we gotta go. We have to get to below tree line as soon as possible!” we overheard the guide barking. We looked up and saw why – dark doomy clouds were crashing the Forester party. Since it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, we decided to follow suit. We snapped a few pictures and off we went.
Hikers typically hike the JMT from North to South. So naturally, I was going against the current. The views going North down from Forester Pass makes going the “wrong” direction worth it. I was in Heaven. Cause surely, this is what my Heaven looks like. The 3 miles down into the tree line were phenomenal. I feel bad for SOBO hikers who not only have to go up the pass (they had it way worse than us) but because they don’t have that view in their face the whole time to distract them.
Still super paranoid about missing the pack mule, I jumped again of Mary Beth and Sam. I basically ran to where I believed the meeting spot was. I arrived before I knew it at 2pm. I was told “anytime in the late afternoon”, so I knew it could be a while. So I just sat and was left dwindling my thumbs, cause I had already chewed down my nails in a nervous frenzy. The dark clouds followed me, making me nervous that I’d be waiting in the rain. Soon I heard thunder… but I also heard the clomping of hooves. I looked up and saw a beautiful sight. I saw a cowboy with a fully loaded mule! A mule fully loaded with our resupply!! What a relief that it had all worked out! If anyone is embarking on the JMT and wants a reliable pack service, look into Cedar Grove Pack Station. They’re easy to communicate with, reliable, and even bring in fresh fruits and vegetables for you! When I told him (he looked EXACTLY like Mitchell from Modern Family) I wasn’t sure if he’d make the delivery in bad weather, he retorted, “no ma’am, we’re like the USPS. We delivery rain, snow, or shine. ”
Because where we met didn’t have water or a bear box, we back tracked 1/4 mile to a campground that did. Along the way we ran into the girls and we all went back together. Just in time too. As he was emptying the panniers, it started to rain. We gathered up our goodies and quickly set up camp. Today’s storm wasn’t nearly as bad, I evaded any tent flooding.
I have entirely too much food. I haven’t been eating nearly as much as I thought I would (I eat way more in my real life than I do in Trail life!). So I’m leaving a lot of food in the bear box, free to a good home! I’m sure a hungry hiker will find it useful.
Sam’s knee isn’t getting any better. We considered making tomorrow a zero day, but logistically that would make the next 6 days pretty tough mileage wise to make sure we’re good with food and resupply. We’re going to carry on and if her knee isn’t better in the morning, she’s going to exit via Kearsarge Pass. Really hope it doesn’t come to that.
Considering I did 13.3 miles and made it to 13.5K’ and felt fine, I think I have my trail legs and I’m finally acclimated! Now if just these storms would give it a rest!!
Emilie Bikes and Hikes 