High Sierra Trail - Day 4

Day 4 - Big Arroyo to Kern Hot Springs

July 24, 2017

The trail out of Big Arroyo, though an incline, was glorious compared to black rock pass. We passed a few backpackers; I never exactly knew why they were headed the opposite direction. From here until we collided with the JMT, we'd see the same people, exchanging help and advice regarding creek crossing, the hell we'd endure, critter encounters, and good camping spaces. After the incline, there was an amazing flattish few miles. Rain threatened, reminding M & I of a hike in Yellowstone in which we gave each other "Nemo" names. Remember "Sharkbait oo ah ah"? I was "Bear Cloud", M was "Sunshine Moose" and we named K, "Wolf Lily".  Mosquitos were very little. I enjoyed this part of the hike.

Crossing creeks (with shoes)

\

Oo ah ah

Nearly missed the trail

Enter "log vahalla".  This is apparently where logs go to die, and there was no way around it - trust me - we looked. A graveyard of fallen logs lay before us. As a vertically challenged person, these presented quite a difficult task with a top heavy pack on. That group of bathing folk passed us here, playing "Love Shack" and some Donna Summers on their phones. {Tall people, pffft.} Some of the logs were burnt, leaving our butts blackened, adding to the sap already splattered on our behinds. (At one point, M pulled a chunk of pineneedles stuck to my butt because it was "driving her crazy looking at it.") Log vahalla behind us, we came upon a meadow. I was hellbent on making up lost time this day, so as lead hiker I missed the trail junction. I noticed our "Love Shack" fellows on the other side of the meadow and stopped. We backtracked, thankfully only a short ways, to the trail split.


We finally came upon the Kern river valley - a poster child of a U-shaped valley, and began our descent to the Kern river. The trail dabbles in the Funston Creek, eventually causing us to cross it, twice. (dammit, more creek crossings). Finally the skies began to weep. I knew if I put my rain gear on, it would stop. Had I not, it would pour incessantly for hours. Sure enough, it stopped, and we spent some valuable time covering packs and swapping out waterproofs. Still thankful it was downhill, we reached the Kern River  and the gate to the wilderness. No, really, it was a gate to the wilderness. The sign said "Close this gate to protect wilderness", and it was latched. Any critter could have gone under or around it - there was no fence attached to this gate. We laughed hysterically at this, but diligently closed the gate the wilderness, just in case...

The gate to the wilderness (photo courtesy of M)

Enter rattlesnake territory and "trail under water". Remember I stated that sharing sandals would not prove to be a very good idea? Well when you have to trek through 1/4 of a mile of water, sharing sandals is not an option. M took one for the team and hiked through barefoot while K took point. M was petrified of snakes, one of which we encountered immediately upon entering the Kern river valley. The trail meandered in water then on the west side of the valley, up and down steadily, with only one more snake encounter. This was a juvenile rattlesnake. K tried to get it to move off the trail more; eventually we had to run by it like our lives depended on it, which they literally did. A bridge to cross the Kern came into view. At least someone, somewhere, had the good sense not to allow hikers to traverse the Kern river, should there be more drownings and deaths attributed to the backcountry and lack of hiker sense.

Rattlers still a threat, but the Kern now to the left of us, we weren't out of the woods yet, literally and metaphorically speaking. Another creek crossing and a final one (possibly Rock Creek?). I had thought this would be the easier part of the day's hike. Instead, this part would take the longest with all the obstacles.

Hot springs privacy; Kern to the right

Glamping. Kern Hot Springs was, by comparison, glamping. Pit toilet. Flat campsites. Multiple bear storage lockers. Mosquitos, oddly, not an issue. A fire pit, which we utilized to dry M's shoes out. A HOT SPRING. A glorious, 150 degree, spring. Oh we were on it - we pitched tent and divvied up the campsite tasks in record time, and worked out a 2 girls at a time rotation at the hot spring. The hot springs were supposed to operate in a fill up/drain sort of way, but the plumbing and plugs were a little worse for wear. We made due; that bucket for cold water was rusted and super leaky. I didn't care - 150 degrees was tolerable and I got in, all the way. I cannot express the feeling of a four days of layers of sweat, deet, dirt, and sunscreen on the body, despite sponge baths, and the euphoria of hot water on said layers of nastiness, followed by a warm fire and dinner. This was truly a special place - the halfway mark a day late (but not a dollar short).

Useless bucket

View from the hot spring bath

This was a peaceful evening. I had a dream, though, one that would seem so real, I questioned reality the next morning. I dreamt of the next morning. We clearly had three days to exit the wilderness, either way, so not moving forward was not an option. In the dream, I had lost touch with reality. While we were still in the Kern River valley, I believed myself to be at home. K & M would ask me where I was, and I'd say I was in the bedroom, or in the living room. They kept saying they didn't know what to do. They kept telling me I was in the Kern river valley, on the High Sierra Trail, and I kept arguing that all I could see was the house. They'd point to a rock; I'd say it was the couch. They tried to shake my psuedo-reality, but it would not work.

When I woke, I was clearly in the Kern River Valley, with some major creek crossings on the radar for the day.


Miles:  12.5
Elevation start: 9520

Elevation end: 6880
Elevation gain/loss: +1030/-3670
Campsites: LOVELY
Water: Creek very near by
Toilet: Y
Bear storage lockers: Y
Privacy: Definitely

Hashtags for the day:

#sunshinemoose
#bearcloud
#wolflily
#logvahalla
#sappants
#pineneedleass
#straddletheblacklog
#loveshackbaby
#closethisgatetoprotectwilderness
#rattlesnakeswamp
#machetetrail
#perfectcampsite
#kernglamping
#hotspringbath

High Sierra Trail - Day 3

Day 3 - Pinto Lake to Big Arroyo

July 23, 2017

No more late mornings for us; from here on out we set alarms for 5 am to make sure we were making good progress on the trail before nightfall. We knew this to be especially important if we were going to make up for a lost day. This would be my bad day. I was feeling discouraged that we had not made it further than Pinto Lake, and that we had this enormous climb (3200 feet in 2.6 miles). The packs were not very much lighter, and we knew we had to have a full three liters of water for black rock pass.

Leopard Lily

K on the switchbacks in flowers

The trail immediately began with a meadow; we thought maybe this was Pinto Lake dried up? We finally saw the lake, which looked like a little pinto bean,  to the north, away from the campsites and the meadow. As we ascended, we struggled to discern exactly where we would "pass" through. There was very little shade, but a multitude of flora. Identifying the corn lilies, the paintbrush, shooting stars, leopard lilies, and other delicate flowers, helped us pass the time on the lower switchbacks. I was very sick to my stomach, struggling to eat small bits of Clif bars without vomiting, and definitely overheated. I cursed myself for not losing weight before the trip. The two lakes opposite us, Spring Lake and Cyclamen Lake, were mostly ice covered, and the views were amazing, had I cared to look. I dubbed any tree that provided cool wind and shade a "Jesus tree", as only God could have provided these on this awful mountain. It became clear which direction we were headed, and I would have never pegged it as a "pass". We joked that if Cajon Pass were like this, people would drive above Wrightwood and Big Bear. The snowfields on this southwest side of the pass were mostly melted away, which was a blessing given how steep the switchbacks had become. M & I were betting on number of switchbacks to a particular rock; she couldn't fathom that we'd reach it in 3 so she bet 5. It was three. Soooo steep!

Spring  and Cyclamen Lakes

M on the switchbacks

I pushed myself and began taking one breath (in and out) with one step. I was slow, but steady. I knew my body needed fuel, but I struggled to keep even small bites of food down. Finally, after I think 5 hours, we made it. M was first, I was second, with K right behind. The views were spectacular and we took in some lunch (which I again struggled to keep down the rest of the afternoon). Lunch consisted of tuna in sunflower oil, mayo, and left over cheese in a spinach wrap. Let me pause for a moment here and say, I will never eat Clif bars OR spinach tortilla wraps again. M also struggled with acid reflex on the way down, a difficulty we'd share for the remainder of the trip.

M & I on top of Black Rock "pass"

Moving on, we flipped off the southwest side of the pass and looked towards the snowfields on the northeast side. The first one was easy to get around, but the rest would involve a lot of trail spotting. We never needed the microspikes but a detailed map would have been oh so useful. (I purchased a 7.5 minute map for Kaweah Gap... not really helpful for our detour. Should I burn this map? Maybe not, since I share a deep, passionate love for maps.)
K took the lead here, and I staggered behind just wanting the day to be over. M & K diligently trail spotted; sometimes I would just wait until they found it before I made an effort. Like I said, this was not my day. Thank God K was on point and we found the trail after some time and made it into Little Five Lakes. Here we met some guys that wanted to head up black rock pass; after our conversation, they elected to stay the night and tackle it first thing in the morning.

Little Five Lakes

Enter mosquitos (emphasis on the first O, courtesy of Tom from the UK). M wears contacts and as we covered ourselves in Deet, she accidentally sprayed it in her eyes. Stuff went flying and she cried as she threw her contacts on the ground and begged for reprieve. K moved out of the mosquito area and I tried to help M (Did you try water to flush them out?) Eventually we moved out of Little Five Lakes and towards Big Arroyo. I knew we hadn't made up any time, but I didn't want to press on beyond Big Arroyo (this was the only time I'd concede to a shorter trip). The trip to Big Arroyo was mosquito ridden and fairly uneventful, except several creek crossings that required boots off. Actually, entering Big Arroyo required us to cross one last creek (One more? WHY???). Several women were bathing on the other side of the bank, and I could not fathom how they did it without being eaten alive. It was here, in Mosquitogeddan, that we all were chewed up. We surmised we would have been better to cover ourselves in mosquito blood, like the Walking Dead. Should we farm mosquitos and sell their guts to backpackers? K & I were covered in bites while M wore a Gore-tex to fend them off. Her butt, however, did not fair so well (see #lumpybutt).

While at Big Arroyo, we met the groups of people we'd see to the end of the HST, including the bathing woman. They had all managed to get through the #icetunnel, a day later than we would have encountered it. They all agreed it was scary and crazy and I knew my husband would be proud that I had not tried it. My adventurous spirit can sometimes overwhelm the sensible side of me. I can't remember dinner, but it was probably beef stroganoff and corn that I had difficulty eating. We made it to bed by dark and set our alarms for 5 am.

Overall
Miles:  6.9

Elevation start: 8400

Elevation end: 9520
Elevation gain/loss: +3200/-2080
Campsites: many, dirt/rock, fairly level
Water: Creek very near by
Toilet: N
Bear storage lockers: Y
Privacy: Some

Hashtags for the day:

#blackrockpeak #jesustree #inhumanepass #inadvertantwhitneytraining #wrongturnatAlbuquerque #snowfields #trailspotting #mosquitogeddon #pmsd #katiesgotthepox #lumpybutt #highsierrasexy #mosquitozombieblood #mosquitowarpaint