Days 94&95 Miles 976-1018.1

Day 94

Start: 976 End: 1003.6 Total 27.7

I woke up, packed up immediately then hit the trail. I was camped by a lake so I needed to find a better spot to go poo and a better water source. I stopped early on to take care of those chores before continuing up and over the pass. 

I had climbed up most of it the day before so not too much of it was left. Forcast and Grateful passed me while filtering water and I was tailing them on the way down. 

We passed a sketchy snowy traverse slowly then continued on downhill along a stretch of river. I trusted a log fully when stepping over a muddy creek but slipped off of it and my one foot was fully submerged in mud. 

There were a few river crossings, nothing deeper then the knee but my feet were wet pretty much the whole day. The first one I crossed on a log but the river was rushing over a part of it so my feet got wet anyways. The second river I crossed through the water then to my disappointment saw another hiker go a bit downstream and cross a log that I had not seen. 

There was a climb out of that river then a big descent followed by another big climb. I had heard a hiker come up behind me and picked up the pace. I didn’t want to be passed just for them to go slow in front of me so if they wanted to go past, I wanted them to prove they’d be faster than even my fastest pace. I was cruising uphill very fast and strong and noticed they slipped a bit behind me. I kept up this pace for maybe a mile until I realized I couldn’t sustain it. The hiker had gotten a bit closer so I decided I would just let them pass. 

It turned out to be Bombadil, “oh I was using you as my pacer” he told me as I let him pass. I told him I unfortunately couldn’t sustain that. He was out of sight within seconds. I crossed over what I thought was the top as it descended steeply. I took a drink of water and prepared to eat a snack before I noticed the trail going up one last steep hurra. I trudged through that last part before making it to the down and passed Bombadil sitting on a log. 

I pushed on a couple more miles before getting to Wilmer Lake for lunch. I arrived and Grateful was there as well. He has also hiked the Appalachian Trail and is from New Hampshire. Chaps soon arrived as well, he took 10 days off to go back to Chicago for his university graduation. He got a degree in math and plans on getting his PhD. 

The mosquitos were awful at this spot and I almost didn’t want to stay. But I was hungry and I told Rocky I’d be there for lunch. I took a dip in the lake and then put my head net on as I prepared my lunch. They seemed to settle down a bit but there were so many of them. I ate my lunch and Rocky arrived. She would be going to the next resupply a day later than me, she had enough food and had plans of meeting her boyfriend in South Lake Tahoe on the 20th, so our schedules differed a bit. So we would be splitting up that day and I would be going a bit further then she. The mosquitos got quite bad again and I had to leave. 

I walked along the lake and then had a super gradual 10 mile ascent up to Dorthy lake and pass. I walked through a meadow for a mile that had the worst mosquitos yet on trail. They would swarm my entire body and attack my face. I couldn’t reach my bug net and couldn’t stop to get it without risking me swarmed even worse. I listened to my audiobook for a while and got to & over Dorothy pass. 

Bombadil came up behind me and we hiked and chatted together for the rest of the afternoon. He’s from the DC area and got a degree in Philosophy. After college he joined the army and was on a special ops mountaineering team for 5 years. He then learned Greek as his family is from there and lived in Greece for a year working at a dog shelter. He is a super nice guy and we got along great. We were so engaged in our conversation we missed the 1000 mile mark. I noticed .4 after and we went back to get our photo with it. We then came across a different more official one. Since the trail changes every year the official 1000 mile mark does as well. 

We kept pushing on and arrived at a campsite just before the sunset. The mosquitos were horrendous and we had a quick dinner then retreated to the safety of our tents. 

Day 95

Start: 1003.6 End:1018.1 Total: 14.5

I was out of my tent by 6:15 and was surprised to see Bombadil had already packed and left. I quickly packed my own thing and prepared my coffee and got the heck out of there as the mosquitos were already awake and looking for food. 

It was such a pleasant morning walking through the pine forest and seeing the mountains in the background. Chaps soon passed me and we leap frogged a big early on. I got some water at a stream and then began the big climb for the day. 

Part of the trail was still covered in snow so I took a steeper and more direct route that was snow free. I took that back to the trail and then took really long switchbacks up the mountain. At the top I followed along the ridge line for a while. There were a couple snow covered parts but it was mostly snow free. It was so windy up there but beautiful to see all the surrounding mountains. I went up and over and thought I would descent but just took another big long snowy traverse around to a different ridge. 

I got up and over that and could finally see the road. I had been on the ridge for 4 or 5 miles. I checked to see if I had service and I did so I called my dad to wish him happy Father’s Day. I then descended just a bit on some more snow before climbing back up and over just to follow one last ridge line to the final descent. I finally got to the last part of the pass and crossed over. To my dismay the whole descent was covered in snow. 

I carefully started making my way down and saw a very steep, sketchy, snowy traverse with slide marks where someone definitely slid down 40 feet to the rocks below. I thought about taking my spikes out and putting them on but I thought I’d just move very slow and carefully. I noticed two other hikers just past the sketchy part getting ready to glissade down. There was about 15 feet of a no fall zone then you could get to part where you could safely descend on your butt without risk of hitting anything. 

I made a couple slow careful steps before my foot slipped on the slushy snow. I was soon speeding down the side of the mountain going way too fast and out of control. I could do nothing to stop myself but I just tried my best to steer myself a bit to the right to miss the giant rock jutting out from the snow. After about 5-10 seconds and 40 or so feet I came to a bunny halt on a bed of muddy rocks, my hands dragging through them to slow my speed. It was terrifying. The man ahead called out and asked if I was okay. I was so shooken up I couldn’t respond right away. He asked again and I muttered a yes I was okay.  I took a couple deep breaths to try to calm myself. That was so stupid. I am carrying microspikes and an ice axe and I put myself in such a dangerous position out of lazyness. I was so thankful to be okay. 

I put on my spikes and traversed a bit more to where they glissade down. They were speaking a foreign language to each other, it sounded French. I followed their glissade path and then followed them down as the man navigated through the snow chute back to the trail. They stopped to assess the best route and I introduced myself. Their names are Beaver and Blister. I gave them some space but followed them down, not having the energy to do my own navigation. 

We made it down and there was man, bearded frog , doing trail magic! My first real trail magic experience. It was awesome he had candy, pop and other treats. I went to the other side and after about 5/10 minutes I got Beaver, Blister and I a hitch to Kennedy Meadows. It was a man in his 90s that had been going to Kennedy Meadows North with all of his sons and grandsons (no women allowed) every year on Father’s Day for 32 years. 

We got to Kennedy meadows and I charged my things, made some calls, got a shower, washed some clothes, got my resupply box, and organized my food. My wonderful mom sent me some money to treat myself to dinner so I got the roasted chicken dinner that came with soup, salad, corn, a roll and desert! It was jam packed for Father’s Day weekend but Bombadil and I got it to go and ate on the picnic tables while chatting with Beaver and Blister. 

A former thru hiker named Oblivious offered to let some hikers stay on his site so I agreed. Kennedy meadows was charging people $40 to camp there which is crazy but I got away with just camping near Oblivious for free and went to bed soon after dinner.