SeaLevel, the Sierra's, and THANK GOD for the John Muir Hut

Sierra Passes and Rivers – mile 744 to mile 907

Shane’s roommate and lifelong friend, Ari, decided to join me for the majority of this section, which is most of the John Muir Trail. He arrived from sea level to Lone Pine, where Maureen dropped us off at Horseshoe Meadows to start from Cottonwood Pass to meet up with the PCT.
As we were leaving, we met Billy Goat...the Icon and Legend of the PCT. What an amazing man. He lives on the PCT until winter and then hikes in the southern states, typically Florida. Billy Goat is a wise old soul who anointed Ari with the trail name, Sea Level.

Chief and Stagecoach

The Passes. So this segment has 7 named passes. Forester, Glen, Mather, Pinochet, Muir, Selden, and Silver, 5 of which are technically challenging and all about 12,000 ft or higher. Forester is the tallest and additionally, the highest point on the PCT standing at 13,180 ft. 
Additionally in this segment you have the potential for treacherous river crossing due to snowmelt and strong currents. Everyone is nervous and apprehensive about these passes and river fords. A lot of energy is spent on these issues. We are constantly asking other PCT hikers that may have heard rumor about the in’s and out’s the next 200 mile segment. “What about the ice-­‐chute on Forester?” “How about the potholing?” “River crossings?”

Calories. How many calories can I fit in my Bear Box? How many resupplies will I need to get from Kennedy Meadows to Mammoth? Do I travel fast to get more food at the difficult resupplies? Strategies all revolve around food. Conversation on the trail revolves around food. Food takes over our world. This was the longest resupply on the PCT – mile 702 to 907. No resupply on the trail for 205 miles. You have to make decisions on calories and food. And always with the limitations of that darn Bear Box.

Play time. We had a Pool Party in the late afternoon at Grouse Meadow. The middle fork of the Kings River meanders through a high sierra meadow, very similar to Yosemite, although on a smaller scale. The current runs at about 2mph. We floated down the river, ran upstream and jumped in again. There were nine, skinny, hungry, thru-­‐hikers as playful as elementary kids at a pool party.
First day we walked 16 miles leaving Cottonwood Pass. Sea Level needed a relatively easy day to get adjusted to the elevation changes. No big passes nor river crossings, just a day to get used to his pack, shoes, and my walking speed.

Muir Pass. Well, it was quite a day. Hard to really describe this event. June 10, 2013. We needed to crest Muir Pass before noon otherwise the post-­‐holing on both sides of the pass would be so difficult that we would expend 10 times the energy per mile. The problem was that the approach to Muir Pass was a long and steady climb. We started early, although it was still a climb to do before 11am. The rest of our “play-­‐mates” has started ahead of us. Muir Pass is actually an East-­‐West pass, so as we turned the corner to get a view of the pass, we see big, black cumulous storm clouds building over the pass. That is when my throat dropped in my stomach. I knew we needed to push the pace to get up and over the pass before the Storm hit. The problem is that we were now in snow and rock and couldn’t find the trail.

There were snow bridges that we needed to be extremely careful not to fall through. We needed to walk through snow fields that were steep and slippery and we needed to walk carefully that we wouldn’t fall into a rock pile or river and we were trying to navigate in a hurry to find the trail. I made it to about 300 yards from the crest of the pass, when grapple starting falling, where Muir Hut (a granite stone hut that the Sierra Club built in 1930 for a safe refuge from storms) was finally visible. My the time I reached Muir Hut, it was a full snow storm. Sea Level was still behind me. I had been continually urging him to continue to push to crest the summit. I couldn’t see him coming. All I could see was a horizontal flow of snow. I stepped into the hut to a cheering of 7 PCT hikers. “Yay Chief! You made it!” “Where’s SEA LEVEL?” “ It’s his Mother’s birthday. He has to make it. I don’t want anything to happen to him today!” They were encouraging and then I saw the top of his hat. Baxter ran out to get the heroic photo op of Sea Level cresting the pass, but he approached from the backside of the hut! The photo will remain in our memories. It was a great moment. 9 happy refugees from an early Sierra summer storm together in Muir Hut. Much to our shigrin, Muir Hut LEAKS A LOT! We put our raingear on to avoid the drips. We pulled out our stoves and made Mocha’s with our Starbucks and Hot cocoa mix.Best Mocha I ever had. Then the jokes started and we all acted like we were never scared. After about an hour, we settled down and Wild Cat read from her kindle the “Ghosts of Muir Pass!” A story from one of the PCT readers. So as she is reading, one of the possibilities of how the Ghost dies was a lighting strike. We immediately hear a loud thunder clap. We all closed our mouths, opened our eyes and exclaimed, “Did we really hear that?”

Birthday note to Michelle!

The storm slowed down after about 4 hours. 7 hikers decided to brave the wind and the cold to try and get down off the pass. Ari and I decided to spend the night in the Muir Hut, although it was damp and still dripping, it was the warmest and coziest night I have ever spent in the Sierra’s. We woke up to a cold blue bird sky with sparkly new snow and we were able to descend the pass on a wonderful, Sierra day. Quite a memory I will always cherish. I was extremely proud of Ari. He reached deep down and didn’t panic and did what he had to do.
The 7 that went ahead were worried about us and we were worried about them. When Ari and I walked into VVR (Vermillion Valley Resort) for our resupply, there is an outside bar. There we had a happy reunion -­‐ 2 different strategies that both had good outcomes. We cheered and hugged. It was great. Beers flowed and stories were told.

Muir Hut, after the storm

I am so thankful for friends and family. Greg and Tom who delivered my resupply at VVR (the “Indians!”), Maureen who has continued to make my food, prepare my resupplies, and to all of you that are following my walk. Thanks again to the Phelps who are getting ready for my next resupply, thanks to those Trail Magic cookies! It really all makes a huge difference. And a big thanks to ARI! You were amazing. I am so proud of you. I hope the magic of the PCT has given you some insight into your life.

Ari (SeaLevel) on Forester Pass ledge of death

SeaLevel

And now for a bit of philosophy. Something I don’t generally share but this trail has a way of doing things to you.


As you share your stories with fellow PCT hikers you eventually talk about the motivation behind walking the PCT? There is the youngest group just graduated from high school and don’t want to move further with their life until they have an adventure. There’s the “20 something’s” that have graduated from college and don’t want the choices and responsibilities yet. They are trying to decide what is important to them? The midlife’s who want to make some changes in their lives, either with their careers or their personal life choices or both. The latter years, like me, who are struggling to get one more adventure in their life!
I have been thinking a lot about what my motivation is. I think that some of my motivation was to reflect on my life and my career, my choices and questions the why’s of some of the decision’s I’ve made. Is my compass in the same direction that I can live with at this time in my life? I feel like my moral compass is in the right direction, but I think I question should I have taken different decisions or directions. Now I have time to reflect on the choices I have made and make possible changes if needed? I have always had the weight of “responsibility” on my shoulders. The day of Muir Pass, I not only had the responsibility of my survival, but also of Ari. I realized that that responsibility is part of my make up and although it weighs me down, it also empowers me. It is who I am.

Chief

It is who I am

Home Sweet Home

Lunch time

Pictures to follow...from Ari! 

The First 456

HI from mile 456! 5 Rattlesnakes, 1 bee-­‐sting, sore feet, 7 Blisters, trips but NO falls.

I walked into Aqua Dolce on Thursday afternoon after camping the night at Soledad Canyon. The KOA was not far off the trail and we all caught sight of a pool. Great stay for $5. Soaked in the Jacuzzi and swam in the pool. The trail comes under Hwy 14, such a long drainage tunnel that by the middle you can’t see anything. You come through Vazquez Rocks State Park. Quite nice. Taking a few “zero” days at our friends ranch. The MJF Ranch. My own personal “trail angels.”

Martin and Jackie's Ranch in Aqua Dulce

Welcome to the Saufley's

The official “trail angels” in Aqua Dolce are the Saufley’s.

 I took Maureen by their house so she could both meet all the thru hikers I have been telling her about for a month now, and just to first hand see what a trail angel house is all about. She took a lot of pictures. It was pretty amazing. This trail has so much more to offer than I ever knew about. This is why Shane had such a hard time leaving the trail. This is what is making this trail so special for me in so many ways. The Soufley’s are such nice people and when you check out the pictures, you will understand what I mean. To walk every day, 20 plus miles/day and then to arrive at the Soufley’s...wow. The hikers. OMG. All ages and from all different walks of life. Iceman and Kattywampus, Tumbleweed, Craig, Ducky, Tank, the Wild Boys, Smooth Operator, Buzz, Yoga girl, Happy, Yard Sale (the youngest so far, 18 year old from Washington, DC) and so, so many more.

The Resupply Boxes

Info Board

Laundry

Katywompus and IceMan

Saw people eat more food than I ever thought possible. Maureen was able to be a “trail angel” shuttling hikers and backpacks from Vazquez Rocks to the Saufley’s. She loved to meet and chat with all them. I know this made her feel more comfortable knowing that I am among all of them. We may not hike together every day, may not see each other for a few days, may hike together for 10 miles, or we may all sleep in the same area, but either way, we all look out for each other. We all go by our given trail names. Maureen called my name in the grocery store and everyone turned to see. “Chief” is that your name??? Trail names have to be accepted and some won’t get their names until a few more weeks. But, they are given on the trail by other hikers. Kevin was given Chief by our friend, Paul, who is a section hiker.

Some highlights of my 465 miles.

The coldest day – North of Big Bear Lake above Cougar Crest. Wind was blowing, light rain. Only got 15 miles in until I had to set up tent among the sugar pines. Cooked Spring Onion soup in my vestibule and pulled my spirits up and got inside my really expensive bag that I didn’t feel quilt about any longer. Woke up to 25 degrees. Condensation had frozen solid on the inside of the tent. No breakfast, no coffee...just started walking to get warm. At the end of 22 miles, I went to put up my tent and still had ice inside!

The hottest day – too many to decide from! One that was memorable was walking out of Cabazon (Ziggy and the Bear) climbed about 5000 ft – low desert, NO shade and you just keep walking alllllll day long. There was one stunted sycamore tree

along Mission Creek. Arrived to find Lion King and other hikers all hunkering down under this pathetic bit of shade.

A bad moment – arrived in Warner Springs. A great feel of hikers. Felt good. My first off trail experience with Trail Angels and showers and food. Now I had to say goodbye to Shane and Maureen and go back to the trail. I did two full circles around before I could find the northbound trail ...it was a hard day emotionally.

The wonderful people at Warner Springs Community Ctr

My biggest surprise about the PCT – Trail Magic and the people. Trail Magic is just an act of kindness, an unexpected gift. Shepherd is a trail angel. Walking through Deep Creek, coming down into Palmdale/Victorville. Mojave River overflow, looking very parched and sad. Coming around the corner in the sand. There is Shepherd with a camp stove. She cooks hotdogs, makes root beer floats, crackers, fruit and candy bars. Trail Magic.
Recliners with soda on the trail. Ice chests on the trail with fruit, veggies and cold sodas. Trail Magic. 

The Party under the Scissors Crossing

Cajon pass over a 600 ft climb up to Mt. Gregonia. 19 miles. HOT, exposed and waterless section. Come around a corner and there is a wooden cabinet with doors. Open the doors and there are gallon jugs of cool water and a sports illustrated with Kate Upton on the cover. 2 chairs in the shade. Sit and read Sports Illustrated with a cool cup of water. Trail Magic.
Picnic Table at Guffy camp. Dinner party with 8 PCT hikers. Sitting on a bench was so nice. No rock sitting. We talked about other hikers and strange things we’ve seen on the trail. Purple Haze had his tent set up with a WELCOME mat and a porch light (aka, head lamp strapped to his pole!). Amazing people.

Shane on Eagle Rock 

Water Cache - Trail Magic

The Trail –The intent in designing and planning of this trail was to keep it primarily on Public Lands to avoid easement conflict and private land owners, so, often it will wind around instead of a direct line. The trail may end up being i12 miles when it could have been a 2-­‐mile direct hike. Maintenance and upkeep is dependent on each land management agency. The condition of the majority of the trail in the Angeles Nat’l’ Forest is dismal to poor. (Makes the 40-­‐mile wall off of the Santa Cruz trail in the Los Padres look good!)

Trying to be Alone-­‐ Believe it or NOT, Its hard to walk and camp alone on this trail. Although I like to walk and chat with people, I do enjoy some private time. One day, I stayed on the trail instead of going down to a trail angel. I camped by myself. Met up with Catawampus a couple of days later. She was upset. She looked for me, was worried about me. When she and Ice Man finally found me, they were so happy. I just told her, “it’s okay Catymompus, I just needed bit of alone time, I will never do it again!” Nice to know everyone is looking out for one another. Maureen would be happy about this.

Zero Days = Zero Miles -­‐ This might be a campground, a resupply town, just a place to be with no miles. It might be a, much needed, mental health day. I had a sanity check on the trail a few days back. Some days are very long and you begin to

question your sanity. This happened to me coming out of Cajon Pass. I saw 2 guys walking in white cotton thermal underwear (the old kind). So at the “dinner party”, I did a survey and out of 10 people, only 2 of us saw them. So I figured I was 20% sane? It was a strange site.
Zero days may be needed for sanity, sore feet, blisters, mental, sunburns, or you just might come across a cold creek and decide this is the place to rest. Feet and water are huge in the desert. You have no idea. Feet aren’t meant for this much pounding, day after day. No water to wash or soak in. Hot, rocky, trails. Everyone learns to deal with his or her feet through these early sections.

Things I thought I would never do -­‐ Walk into somebody’s backyard that you never met. Some 81-­‐year-­‐old man (Bear) brings you a hot, Epson salt bath for your stinky, dirty feet. You take a shower in their shed/shower room, eat a big bowl of wonderful, green, crisp salad provided by Ziggy. Then at night you lay down on a carpet in their backyard wedged in with 20 other hikers, like you did during preschool naptime. Meet Ziggy and the Bear – Cabazon, California.

Sleeping in the backyard!

The Best Graphic – please check out the elevation profile (picture) that includes the San Bernadino and the Angeles Forest. I never expected this in the Southern Calif. Mtns. I know about the Sierra’s, but this was a shock. Hot and up and down and up and down. A bit discouraging. You just keep looking down, not ahead. I have learned NOT to look at my elevation maps.

Up and Down and Up and Down

I miss Maureen and Erin and Shane. I don’t miss Bodie! I’m surprised that I don’t miss my home, the beaches, my trails, my life. I am having a great time. I’m off to Canada! Thanks for all the support at home. Maureen tells me about all the emails that she gets, concerns, diligent map followers and phone calls. I am so grateful for all your support both for myself and for her. 

This is what friends and a community are all about. Thank you.

Ouch.

Chief 

"Dad? What do you think about all day?"

PCT – Section D, Cajon Pass to Lake Hughes

Map update. You will notice the map looks a bit different. It is coming directly from Kevin’s DeLorme site. Unfortunately, it defaults to the ROAD filter. So if you click road and then click TOPO...you will see him better. The dots are his tracking points, which I have set for every 2 hours (to conserve his battery). If you want to check out the elevation gains, etc. just click on the dots. If you see him in the Indian Ocean or in Africa, his GPS didn’t get a good satellite reading and it will default to the ocean. He’s not drowning. He will come back to the PCT, once the GPS picks up the satellite again.

Kevin (aka...Chief) is at mile 342! Trail Angel is the Best Western on the I-­‐15 at Cajon Pass. It’s really all that is there, other than a Circle K Mini-­‐mart, McDonalds, Del Taco, Subway and the hotel! And he couldn’t find one darn Twinkie or Susie-­‐Q anywhere! (a blessing in disguise) His resupply box arrived in good shape.


Despite his disappearance from the map, he is alive and well! Thanks for all your emails, phone calls and concerns! Just some map issues. Some of you ‘mappy’ geeks have asked why he ventures off the PCT at times...well, few reasons.

• Trail re-­‐routes, due to slides, rocks, trees down, etc.
  
• Endangered species (i.e.; frogs, etc) got to walk around them!
  
• Upcoming “Poodle Brush”. Google it. ICKY.
  He is going to take a zero day tomorrow to rest his weary body. Was favoring a left foot for about 40 miles and now has some ouchy hips on the right side. Just normal wear and tear on the body after the trail conditions so far and the big miles he is doing day after day. Nothing a little Advil and hot water won’t help.
  Our daughter has asked him what he thinks about all day walking 20 + miles. He put it this way. “What do you think about when you are driving in traffic or just on the road for hours?” I would hope you focus on the cars and road conditions, etc. around you and ahead of you. That’s what he’s doing. In the last 2 days he has run into 3 rattlesnakes, ice, death-­‐defying trails, rockslides and trail re-­‐routes. So there you go Erin.
  The pictures he has been sending look so much better to me than that desert. I did read in one of his many PCT books a little blurb about Section A-­‐C. “If you look at the desert as an obstacle before the High Sierra’s you’ll likely hate it!” That’s sort of where my focus was going. I like trees and lakes and that great high Sierra smell. But, it’s all part of the PCT. You have to take all 2, 668 miles just they way they are.
  I think he may be a bit homesick, but has a great PCT community surrounding him. Today he had breakfast in Cajon with 15 other thru-­‐hikers. They chatted for 2 hours, which if you know Kevin, is a lot of talking! He feels better about the water issues for then next 7 days as it seems the Trail Angels are really keeping the water cache’s stocked (this news came from a hiker coming North to South). Makes a huge difference in your weight as you don’t need to carry 6 ltrs of water if you know the caches’ will be there.
  
  Thanks again for all your well wishes and support. Maureen