Days 129&130 Miles 1528-1575

Day 129

Start: 1528.1 End: 1551.2 Total: 23.1

We woke up a bit later than usual, around 6:45. It felt like the world was burning down, we were surrounded by smoke. It was such a cloudy haze, it was so unnerving. It was pretty scary to start walking in it, it couldn’t be good for your health to be out there in it, let alone breathing it in while huffing and puffing up hill. 

We stopped at a spring and ran into Blister and Beaver whom I had met before Kennedy Meadows North. We kept going and stopped at porcupine lake and went for a little swim. 

We then went another 5 on a rocky ridge with great hazy views then stopped at another lake and went for another swim and had a quick lunch. We went another 2 miles, then filtered some water and went another super chill, flat 7. It cleared up a bit during the day but the smoke was starting to come back. 

I waited at the stream for Mantis who had stopped at a privy in a parking lot a few miles before. We then went another 2 miles up and 1 down to our campsite for the evening. Another female hiker named Robo was also camped there. 

Day 130

Start: 1551.2 End: 1575.4 Total: 24.3

We woke up at 6 and had a beautiful and still smokey walk along a ridge. We saw a herd of cows with bells on them that ran away at the sight of us. 

We leaped frogged with Robo a bit. At one of the streams we stopped at I went to go behind a tree to pee. I nearly had my pants down when I heard the forewarning rattle. Startled, I looked to my side and saw a rattle snack coiled up. As I leaped back in fright the snake lunged at me. I don’t think it was a very close call but I was so startled. I ran screaming back to Mantis and he comforted me as I was pretty hysteric at almost getting bit. 

Likely it would have been fine, most bites are dry bites but with the story of someone being evacuated recently due to a non dry rattlesnake bite in the same area, I was on my toes. 

We got going after that and shortly passed highway 3. Highway 3 was a potential bailout point if the smoke got too bad but it had been so off and on that I didn’t really consider bailing at that point. It wasn’t too bad at the moment so I didn’t mind. Mantis wanted to bail a bit more and even jokingly called after the passing cars to pick him up. There was a burn zone coming up and we didn’t know how long it would be. He was welcome to try to go to town and I would meet him there but we didn’t really discuss it much and kept going. 

There was a bit of an uphill climb for 4 miles after that. It wasn’t the burn zone yet but the terrain didn’t have much tree coverage so it was pretty warm. Near the top you could see awesome mountains through the tree tops then we walked along a cool ridge with great views. 

We got to a small river and had lunch with Robo before beginning another long climb. It was really cool following uphill along the side of the mountain then entering into rocky terrain. We went up and up and after 4 miles and a thousand plus feet of elevation we crossed the summit. 

We went another mile or two before taking a break, then began the burnt section. The smoke had started to make its way back and was getting worse and worse. The smoke mixed with the blackened trees and many wildflowers made for an interesting mix. 

We walked a bit further found an area that largely had escaped the burn and set up camp there. Miraculously there were two live trees that Mantis could set up his hammock. There were some dead ones around and we hoped they wouldn’t fall that night. 

Our friend Dapper and a couple other hikers walked by and informed us that Kiki, Fish Fry, Bushwhack and Toro had all gotten off at highway 3 due to the smoke and went into Etna. He debated it too but wanted to keep his continual footpath so will keep going through it. I began to kick myself a bit for being so stubborn but still thought it might be okay for us to keep going. 

We had dinner with a view into the smoke filled valley and played a game of cards before turning it. I checked the wether to see if it would rain and it said all clear but for the first time I saw the AQI (air quality index) which showed nearly 200. And at this point I didn’t think it was that bad. We must have been walking through 300 at one point. I really started to doubt my decision and how smart it was to be out there. But the decision was made and we had no choice but to get through it. We decided we would try to do a 26 mile day the following day to get all the way to Etna. That would be a big day for Mantis though so we would see how it would fare. 

I did notice there was a remote paved forest road 6 miles out so I started to hope that maybe if it was bad enough we could get out there. The map said that not many cars drove that road though so hitching wouldn’t be easy. I went to bed a bit stressed as I couldn’t ignore the constant smell of bonfire around me.