Day 5 - Squaw Valley Conundrum

 July 16

Start  Mile 1129.48

End Mile 1141.85

Miles Walked 12.37

 Marvin and I had to share my tent last night as it fit perfectly on the site we had chosen to camp, and because there was no other sites big enough to accommodate Marvin's one man tent.The wind was blowing pretty good but we were able to secure the tent so that it would not blow away!! As a result we had to leave some gear outside the tent due to a lack of room, and when we awoke in the morning I discovered one of my shoe laces had been completely chewed through. Also, one of the straps on my pack had been chewed but thankfully not in an area that will affect my ability to carry my gear. There was also a pin size hole in one of the pouches I use to filter my water rendering it useless.Marvin had also suffered as one of his socks had been chewed up pretty badly.

We set off at shortly after 8 am and the walking was pretty decent 

 The PCT had been sharing the trail with the spectacular Tahoe Rim trail which now departed and snaked its way into a different valley and we started with a pleasant walk which soon gave way to more snow fields and more way finding. It is incredibly frustrating and very much a war of attrition! Just a week before departing for the trail I had the results back of a colonoscopy that had been performed the previous week, and they had discovered a bacterial infection in my gut and my doctor had prescribed me with 4 different drugs to combat the infection. One of the side effects is diarrhea, and the combination of this and the heat has certainly made this a testing walk to say the least, and I have not felt anywhere near as strong as last year. Having said that I'm feeling more and more like I'm getting into my stride and hope that by this time next week I'm able to be up to full speed. Marvin, my hiking companion is registered nurse who has worked in the Emergency Wards of several major hospital's and told me the doctors have decided to hit the infection hard with the drugs they prescribed and I'm hoping that now the medications have all been taken that I will soon be back to normal. It is both comforting and reassuring having Marvin alongside me, knowing I'm in safe hands in an emergency, which hopefully will not be the case.

The first part of the morning was very nice but we suddenly hit upon yet another snow related problem which appeared impassable. There was a huge snow field that was very steep with tracks leading down. Some people had glissaded down the snow, (this is where you sit on your backside and slide downhill feet first before arresting your slide by rolling onto your ice-ax. Unfortunately neither Marvin or I had one. We could clearly see the trail below us and going uphill on the other side to where we were but how to get there was the problem. Fortunately, salvation was at hand as there were 3 hikers coming up from below and they were angling to the left of the steep snow bank on the dirt. We then decided to stay on the dirt and climb up the side of the snow to the top where we could see the father and teenage sons coming up to meet us. We started down and met them about half way and shared stories on what each group had to look forward to. After that we carried on down and resumed on the perfectly dry trail. The walking for the most part was very nice and we managed to get some good miles in until we lost the trail again. It was getting tedious but we stuck with it and eventually saw a hiker coming down towards us and who pointed us in the right direction. We followed the directions the young lady gave us and we soon rejoined the trail. It was not too long before we came to another hurdle which was far and away more dangerous than any snow crossing we had previously encountered. The father and sons tea we had met in the morning had warned us of the snow at Squaw Valley and which we had now reached. Marvin and myself dropped our packs and edged forward to survey the trail. One trail led straight down, which was evidence of glissading, and the other was a dubious trail that went across the snow-face and down the far side. Neither prospect was appealing. After 10-15 minutes of deliberation we strapped on our spikes having made the decision to go across the snow which seemed to be the safer of the two options and I took the lead. The first 2-3 steps were nerve wracking, and I leaned into the hill and stamped ny spikes steep into the snow for a better grip. After what seemed an eternity I was safely at the bottom closely followed by Marvin. Our next problem was to descent through the trees and to refind the trail that had disappeared. It is at this point that I would let you know of some of the comments I had read on Facebook 2-3 weeks ago when people where saying spikes or crampons where not required beyond South Lake Tahoe. Both Marvin and I think this kind of advice is grossly irresponsible, and in fact Marvin was telling me just yesterday he had seen a photo of a young women who had been injured as a result of sliding down a snowy slope.

On our way navigating down through the trees we met an older gentleman, (in our group I'm guessing), who was working his way up the mountain and he provided some good advice on route finding and even with that we ended up lost. We eventually found the trail and went on for a couple of miles before calling it a day and camping by the trail. It had been a long and rewarding day and I believe we achieved our biggest miles to date.

Wanderer.