Thursday Day 68

5.31.2018

Miles 963-977.7

***6/4/2018 Trying to keep the details straight with the photos. Thursday was a tough day I didn’t blog about but trying to get the words out now. I apologize if it doesn’t make a ton of sense.***

I do know we started early as we needed to cross Wilson Creek early in the morning. After the creek crossing we were back in the snow.

We stopped for lunch knowing we had to cross creeks to get back on trail. The miles had been slow and moral was low but we’d reached an elevation we thought would be snowfree. So As Justin looked for a spot to cross the creek where he wouldn’t have to take his shoes off, I crossed in a shallow direction. I second guessed myself and ended up making my crossing a two-part scenario. Stupidly, I ended up in the weeds trying to get out. One foot slipped and I fell forward. I wasn’t in a terrible situation but I was pretty well drenched. The worst part — which I laughed about later cause I was extremely forgetful — was that I thought I lost my phone when I fell forward. I had been keeping it in my side jacket pocket, which when I reached down, was unzipped. I hollered a loud profanity and reached back into the creek to see if I could find it. In my moment of panic of losing my little bit of “life line to the outside world” I forgot that I had safely tucked my cell phone into my sports bra for safety. Seriously, these are the moments I wonder why I torture myself out here.

Log crossings were prevalent this day too. There was one particular log that Justin crossed and knew that I would hate the crossing. He was nice enough to come back, grab my pack and take it over for me. You’d think that would have been enough help for me. Nope, not this time. This was my worst moment to date. I got 3 steps on that log and froze up. I just couldn’t do it. Justin came back over once again to help me across. I got to the end of the log and sat and shed a few tears. The fear is real for me–I know I’ve already said it but I’ll say it again. There’s a deep seated fear inside of me when it comes to walking across a log that’s no wider than the length of my foot. The sound of the water rushing below and the thought of falling in and being swept downstream…. That’s my fear and I can’t get over it.

This day we stopped short of Kerrick Creek. Kerrick is known for the unfortunate passing of 2 hikers last year. Those thoughts rattled through my head before falling asleep that night.

Seavey Pass–Below is a photo of the sketchy snow along Rancheria creek. Hardly a creek, it was a raging river and this photo does not even slightly show the terror in my face. We followed footprints in the snow but never had a clue as to where the actual trail was. One slip of the foot would have been swift dunk into the water.

Justin built a fire ring that night. Always a mood lifter to have a little heat at the end of a cold soaked kind of day.

I do remember this log fondly. Probably one of the longest ones I’ve had to cross, but probably one of the easier crossings only because it lay practically on top of the water and it wasn’t flowing fast at all. ***Fridays post will follow up soon. I was on battery conservation that day and wrote it in my journal instead of here. With the snowshoes on top of my bag I couldn’t charge my devices with the solar panel. Eventually I borrowed Justin’s battery pack to keep my phone going until we were out at Sonora Pass.