Wednesday Day 53

5.16.2018

Mile 766-774

Looking at the mileage it was a short day. The reality is at these high elevation everything seems to take longer. Dude and I both woke up around 7am with no plans to hurry out of camp. We both made coffee–a luxury for me and man did I enjoy it. We hoped to see Luc stroll by as we had been told late in the evening he had camped a mile back. Unfortunately we never saw him so he must have gotten a much earlier start and passed us while we were still asleep. We didn’t catch up to him all day.

Dude and I started the day with a water crossing. Right out of the chute I was nervous but this log was wider than yesterday’s crossing at Rock Creek. Dude crossed then watched as I nervously made my way too. I did scan for a better crossing but it was the best way. I changed up my steps and slide my feet instead of stepping one after the other and that seemed to help my balance. River Crossings: 1 Karen: 1

From there we climbed, luckily it was warm enough to hike in shorts again and just a fleece jacket. The sun was shining… it was off to a great day. And THEN we made it to the Wallace Creek ford. This was a straight across trek through the water no way around it. Dude changed into his camp shoes and I changed to my BedRock sandals–my camp shoes as well. I followed Dude as he crossed a few feet in front of me. There was a line of rocks to follow and honestly it didn’t look that deep. For me, it was well up to my knees in the middle of the creek and it was FREAKING COLD. If it took us a minute to cross, that was 59 seconds too long for anyone’s feet to be in water that cold. Rivers: 1 Karen 2 …. I survived…. but wait!

So the NEXT crossing was .7 miles down the trail. Hardly long enough to get your toes warm again. This was the Wright Creek ford which our information said “look for some rocks, then an island and a log .1 downstream from the trail.” Well, once we found it I really started thinking about how dangerous these crossing can be any why having a buddy is completely necessary–which I already knew. This log was more like a huge tree which had much more surface area to cross on. I did take a deep breath in the middle to calm my fears. Probably one of my most scariest moments thus far, I will admit that. Again I survived without going for a swim and back to hiking we went. To my dismay, it would be 3.7 more miles before we crossed Tyndall Creek.

Without Dude this would not have been possible. The rocks that we crossed on were largely spaced. He was able to jump the rock, stabilize himself and then extend his hand to me as I jumped across as well. Eeeeek. Seriously…. these are the moments I wonder why I’m doing this!!! So 2 large jumps like that and again we were back on dry land and headed to the campsite. Rivers: 1 Karen: 4 (The photo above is Laura and Andrew crossing exactly where Dude helped me over.)

Laura and Andrew were a mile behind us when we got here and we waited for them to discuss plans for tomorrow. I chatted with the two guys who were already camped here (Jason and Dan) and they are planning to roll out at 330am. We will be shortly behind at 4. Tomorrow is Forrester Pass which is the highest point on the PCT. It’s best to get an early start as there is snow on both sides up and down. The hope is to get up and over before the sun starts to turn the snow to slush on the backside. Again, new territory for me so I’m not 100% confident in my abilities going forward but I know I have plenty of people surrounding me and we are planning on giving ourselves the best opportunity to get up and over in a safe timely manner.

I talked with Andrew about sticking with them through the next few passes and rivers. Safety in numbers. Dude will leave the trail once we get to Independence on Friday. Hopefully Luc has found someone to hike with. I’m bummed that we lost him yesterday but I also know he’s not excited about the snow right now so I’m not sure how far he will continue either.

For now, there’s 9 of us camped here. The setting is beautiful and I’m looking forward to another day of challenges and new experiences. Goodnight.