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

High Sierra Trail - Day 2

Day 2 - Bearpaw to Pinto Lake

July 22, 2017

We woke up slowly, giving a us a late start. We ate the heaviest of the breakfasts (granola + bananas) and had some Starbucks vias for coffee. The first day takes a while to load the packs, and mine was probably slowest because I carried the tent and rain fly. I really couldn't even start packing until both tent pieces were ready. K had the issue of the tent poles causing things to be off center, and M had mostly things that would not decrease at all in weight as we went on.

Hiking through Redwood Meadow

This was the first day of the southern detour, so technically not one iota of this trail is part of the high sierra trail. We descended (mostly) toward Redwood Meadow, a misnomer since it is a grove of giant sequoias. I had hiked to Redwood Meadow before via the Middle Fork trail; however, it was in the Spring and by a  slightly different route. The Middle Fork is a hot trail, which makes it ideal for Spring use, but terrible for summer. We met a few guys coming into Bearpaw who took the Middle Fork trail (and complained of the intense heat) but were able to give us a little information on trail conditions and such. Down we went, with some ups along the way. I was always thinking of how I did not want to descend anymore - the heat was getting to me, and the thought of going back up (in said heat) was disheartening. Still, we pressed on until we came to a rather large creek.

Cliff Creek feeder

This was probably the only creek we would cross that would require a significant amount of scouting to find a way across. There were no rock cairns to be found, but we did find evidence of previous crossings once we made it to the other side. Finally, K (my BFF) and I found a way, and  proceeded to mark our "trail" with sticks. As if something from the movie Elf, it went something like this: "Through the asparagus forest, past the lichen stick, over the fallen logs, past the water boulders..." We hiked as far as we could through pretty dense brush before putting on sandals. M(my daughter) & I were to share a pair of Keens - something that turned out not to be as easy at we had thought. I crossed first. While taking them off on a rather steep bank and finding a place to drop the pack, K would go to the "island" in the creek and wait for me to throw her the sandals. Then she'd toss them to M. The whole thing went well. The creek was wide and not terribly swift where we crossed. Once we all got our boots and packs on, we were then challenged to walk along a steep bank and head back to the trail. The brush was thick, the terrain rocky/slippery, and I managed to scrape and bruise my knee pretty good when a rock gave out.

switchbacks headed up to Pinto

We took inventory once we found the trail, noting the significant time we had lost trying to cross a creek that wasn't even on our radar. Coming into Redwood Meadow, we found the ranger station unoccupied, but had lunch near it in case he/she returned while we were there. We were looking for (but would never find) any intel on black rock pass. We ate the same thing for lunch (wheat things, summer sausage, cheese), but it was harder to eat this day due to the heat. Much of our trail was now uphill. We were counting "creek" crossings, but never quite sure if they were marked or not marked on the map with the record-setting snow season. We met a solo hiker who came out of Mineral King and was originally bound for Black Rock pass. The rangers had advised him it was better than Kaweah Gap due to the ice collapse and the 2.5 mile snowfield. He had injured himself crossing the creek, so he was on the way we had just come from in order to exit. He also indicated the junction was "just around the corner"; this was a milestone we would rest at and decide how much further to press on.

It was NOT just around the corner; in fact, it was probably 1.5 miles before we'd hit that junction. There we met another group of hikers who were familiar with the area. They said we'd be able to make Pinto Lake, but it was gruelling uphill.

Headed up to Pinto Lake (looking back) - sunset looming

Now, for some really dumb reason, we decided NOT to pump water at this junction. We decided we could do the next few miles without water, and resupply at Pinto. We'd already had 4-5 liters each; this seems like more than enough to sustain for the day. The uphill switchbacks to Pinto were intense, but M seemed pretty good and I felt okay. I snacked on almonds; in my mind they have a high water content (for a nut) and I had hoped it would help with the thirst. It did. This would be K's bad day. Trust me, each of us would have one of those days. K struggled up the switchbacks. She was pale, needing water and food. She scoffed at my suggestion of almonds. Darkness threatened us, and eventually overtook us before we made it up. M kept scouting ahead, hoping to find an end to the switchbacks or a water source. M eventually found a small stream and pumped some water for all of us. It was decided we'd leave K's pack and M & I would come back for it if she was unable to make it. She pushed on, and we made it into camp after 9 pm, all packs included.

I apologize now for pitching a tent so close to another set of hikers. I needed K to rest and get food/water ASAP. We pitched camp, pumped water, and ate dinner in the dark. None of us wanted that damned dinner; exhaustion breeds a distaste for food, despite the body needing the calories.
By the way, we never did see Pinto Lake itself until we ascended the next day.

Overall
Miles: 10.1

Elevation start: 7680

Elevation end: 8400
Elevation gain/loss: +2580/-1860
Campsites: many, dirt/rock, fairly level
Water: Cliff (?) Creek very near by
Toilet: N
Bear storage lockers: Y
Privacy: Some

Hashtags for the day:

#asparagusforest

#lichenstick

#nonameriver

#justaroundthecorner

#fuckpintolake