At first I fell asleep last night. Then about 2:30am, my throbbing, aching foot and big toe would not allow me sleep. I took 800 mg of ibuprofen and was able to sleep peacefully until the wake up call from my trail buddies (the sounds of packing up and eating). It was obvious examining my foot that it was going to be a very painful day, so it began with another 800 mg of ibuprofen to go with breakfast.
Those first moments trying to get the foot in the shoe and the first few steps outside my tarptent heading to a tree to relieve myself were excruciatingly painful. Once I actually started hiking I was able to maintain my normal hiking speed, except with the addition of a noticeable hobble. I withstood about a mile of hiking then began feeling the impact of the altered gate, feeling a tightening of the other foot and leg that were trying to take the load off the painful foot. I resolved, however painful, to hike with my normal gait from that point forward using all the focus and intent possible to do so.
Our first challenge was indeed the fording of Evolution Creek, often referred to by former thru-hikers as their most challenging and difficult ford on the entire PCT. Fortunately Batteries had talked with Weathercarrot 03 who was at Kennedy Meadows for Meadow Ed’s party. Weathercarrot recommended a crossing about a mile short of the current PCT crossing where the now faint old PCT used to cross the creek at a meadow.
We arrived shortly at the location of the old trail junction and saw the faint trail leading off at an angle to a meadow. The meadow itself was waterlogged, Evolution Creek was out of it’s banks and was spilling over into the meadow, but there were obviously two channels with some land in between to safely take a break during the fording. We forded the smaller channel first. It wasn’t a scary crossing, simply deep and cold. The second ford was across the main channel, but it too crossed placid terrain and was devoid of the torrential whitewater both up and downstream. It too was deep, reaching our waists and even higher on the Wisconsin gals.
Once successfully across, we searched for a clear path along the banks to get downstream to a junction with the current PCT. Batteries once again located the PCT and we hiked from there on clear descending trail to the Piute Pass Trail junction where we took our first break. I was able to walk in discomfort, but the ibuprofen was doing a great job masking the real pain. For miles the trail paralleled another whitewater river which had steep canyon walls that contained any water from leaping outward onto adjacent terrain. We bottomed out at a trail junction leading to the Muir Trail Ranch, a privately owned ranch a couple miles off the PCT that is apparently rented in summer by the super wealthy, complete with their entourage of cooks, maids, horse keepers, and security guards. I had been tempted while reading about the ranch in my tarptent last night to try an exit of the Sierras here but my peers convinced me that the Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) would be a much better option.
From the trail junction there was a 3,000 foot climb up to Selden Pass. I was in no mood to stop hiking with my foot in it’s painful condition so I began working my way up the ascent while my trail companions took a break. I figured that hiking slow and steady and not stopping would be the best option for the foot so I kept climbing, alone, taking breaks over the next seven miles only for water resupply and to take additional ibuprofen for pain. Eventually I reached the Sally Keyes Lakes where the trail split into two different directions. By this point on the climb I was at 10,200 feet and the intermittent patches of snow drifted snow returned. There were no discernable footprints either direction. I stopped briefly to study the maps then proceeded. Of course, the correct direction was across the lake outlets and I forded the outlet of the first lake then forded several inlets, outlets, and runoff streams as I climbed beyond the twin lakes up to Heart Lake another 300 feet higher.
The trail had disappeared into snow fields on the climb beyond Sally Keyes Lakes so I followed previous footsteps on snow then my intuition across several exposed rock outcrops. Each time I reached the next snow field I was right on target finding the footsteps and I finally reached a bare stretch of steep switchbacks near the summit of the pass. Reaching the summit, I looked back from where I climbed and could see one hiker far below working his way across the snow fields between the lakes. Figuring it was Batteries or Freight Train leading the rest of my companions, I decided to begin the snow covered descent to get out of the snow fields as soon as possible. The snow was very soft and slushy but I was following the freshly trampled tracks that Hilgado had made. I could see him below and beyond working his way along Marie Lake, though he was a tiny speck in an ocean of snow. I made good progress down to the Lake Marie area without a lot of postholing despite the hot afternoon.
Once by the lakeside, there were intermittent snow fields with some exposed ground and the footsteps became much more difficult to find and follow. It took some good sleuthing to figure out the direction my predecessor took but I got back on track and found a 30 foot section of exposed trail near the outlet of the large lake. I decided that I had gone far enough without my group so I found a high rock outcrop to watch for them to emerge at the lake’s outlet.
An hour passed (which seemed like forever) and I watched and listened in anticipation. Now almost 5:30pm, I began wondering if they had decided to stop short of where I was to eat dinner. Then I wondered if maybe they were side slabbing around the lake at a higher elevation. Could I have missed seeing or hearing them pass by this piece of wilderness? The clumps of trees, rocks, and snow in late day sun with lots of shadows….there was so much contrast and so much open land and humans look really small in these surroundings. Maybe they were searching for me back at the pass? Hmmm….maybe I should have waited for them at the summit of Selden Pass. I kept wondering as I sat.
My foot ached with pain even though it was getting a well deserved rest and was elevated and dry for the first time in many hours. Just minutes later I heard a human voice yelling out a hooting sound. I hooted back. It hooted again, then I hooted. I saw no movement for another 10 minutes and didn’t get a response to any noises I made. Then I saw in the distance all five of my trail buddies traversing the snow field and hiking directly toward me. When they arrived they greeted me then picked on me a little bit about pulling a “Brian”, referring to Hiker Bum who disappeared after we crossed Forester Pass and hadn’t been seen by us since. Intruder noted that they had been off line coming out to the lake outlet and my voice had gotten them back on track to the general trail location.
Putting back on the shoe and resuming hiking were both excruciatingly painful. We hiked three miles to a tricky ford after which I announced that I needed to stop and eat dinner and take another 800 mg of ibuprofen for the pain. I was running a fever and feeling achy by now and really had had enough for the day. A dinner of double Mac & Cheese and some Echinacea Tea plus the ibuprofen gave me some renewed strength and the resolve to keep hiking. We hiked on another couple miles and I was walking on pure determination because this time the ibuprofen wasn’t cutting the pain. My foot was so swollen there was no room for it in the shoe so every step pressed on all the tender swollen tissues.
It was almost dark when we reached a twin set of rivers to ford. Freight Train took the lead crossing the first river. It appeared safe so we all took our turn and successfully crossed. The second ford had more whitewater at the crossing and appeared to be deeper. I was skeptical that we should even attempt the crossing and watched with anxiety as Freight Train struggled to get across. Bloody Knuckles and Pepper Jack made a statement that they were both afraid to go across in the near darkness and I echoed their sentiments. We wisely decided to backtrack across the previous ford to the campsite along the banks of the river. Since Freight Train had already successfully crossed the second river, we agreed he would camp alone somewhere along the trail and we would catch up with him tomorrow morning after fording both rivers.
We re-forded the first river then claimed space on level ground adjacent to the river for the night. With active mosquitoes pestering us, we all set up bug free shelters as quickly as possible and climbed inside for respite. I was too worn out and in too much pain to do anything other than toss all my gear inside the tarptent and crawl into the sleeping bag for the night. What a long painful day this has been!
Today’s weather: Partly Cloudy. Low: 32, High: 80. Today’s mileage: 21.6 Cumulative mileage: 869.0
