Day 13 - BEAST OF A DAY!
Start Mile 1194.5 (Sierra City)
End Mile 1112
Total Miles 17.5
I departed from my hotel at 6-10 am and met Brave Happy (Jim) on the road up to the coffee shop. It was closed, like everything else in town!! I have never been so glad to leave a trail town - goodbye, Deadsville. As we were walking the 1 1/2 mile (uphill) to the trailhead, a loud warning siren sounded and a short time later a snowplow drove by at high speed and shortly after several more vehicles went zipping past us. The siren sounded a 2nd time, and within a couple of minutes, another two dozen vehicles of varying sizes went flashing by including a couple of EMS ambulances. Something BIG must have happened up to the road, but we will probably never know what it was that caused all the commotion that we witnessed.
We started on the trail at 7-25 after the 1 1/2 mile uphill walk from the hotel. The first part of the walk was pretty straight, and ran parallel with the road, before bending uphill to continue winding its way up to the summit which was a distant 3200 feet away. The one good thing was the trail ran through the trees that covered the mountain, and for the most part, we enjoyed the protection provided by the shade. After a stiff 90 minutes of climbing, Jim called for a well-earned break, and I eagerly broke out a breakfast of granola which, after adding water, I ate directly out of the bag. At times like these, it is a very enjoyable treat!
After our break, we started back up the trail, and after about another 90 minutes, we broke out of the trees into the bright mid-morning sunshine. We had covered about 4 miles in that time, and considering the trail was up all the way we were happy with our progress. The trail stretched away in front of us and ran along the edge of the mountain. One had to be very careful with the footing as we were navigating large slabs of stones and boulders that were similar to the terrain that had sabotaged Marvin’s trip. The path overlooked the valley we had climbed out of, and we could see Sierra City 2500 feet below. From our hotel, we had traveled 1 1/2 miles uphill to the trailhead, then switchbacked up the mountain, and after walking the edge had arrived back at where we had started, albeit overlooking Sierra City from our perch in the sky!
After rounding the corner, we could see the trail stretch away, and up the mountain, it was not a pretty sight!! We also had the additional burden of being exposed to the sun, and although it was only mid-morning, the heat was devastating. It was a very long and grueling climb that we endured, but we finally reached the corner which signaled the end of the morning's work.
It was time for lunch, and we found some shade, cast by several large evergreens, and I wolfed down a peanut butter wrap and took a long pull on both my water and electrolyte drink. I should explain, every day I make up a liter of water laced with Ultima, which is designed to replace the electrolytes you lose due to the exertion and sweating as a result of the energy expended.
After lunch, we set off again, and for the first time today, we hit the ground that was level or headed down. After our morning endeavours, it was bliss! The walking was lovely until around 3-00 pm before we started to climb again. Jim checked his App, and it called for another 1000 foot + climb! What made today’s climb difficult was the added 6 days worth of food that had been added to my pack in Sierra City. Whenever you start a leg of your walk, your bag is always at its heaviest, due to the fact you have added enough food to sustain you for the journey to the next town.
In most cases, we are carrying 6 days worth of meals plus snacks. If you average this out, at a minimum of 2 lbs of food per day, you have an additional 12lbs that you have added to your base weight. Now if you factor in 2 liters of fluids, via water and Ultima, that’s another 4lbs. It’s only when you get to around day 4 that you start to notice a decrease in this weight, and on the last day, during your hike into town, it’s like you are carrying nothing!
It was about 3 pm when we reached the 1000 foot climb, and we started up. It was hard, tiring work but we persevered and towards the end of our climb saw a young couple sitting on a log up ahead. When we reached them, we discovered they were Trail Angels, and in fact, the young guy had walked the PCT in 2017 and wanted to give back. The couple were staying close by, in a cabin owned by a friend, and had decided to take a stab at being Trail Angels. Unfortunately for me they only had a beer to drink, but I gladly took a banana which was hastily consumed. After a short 15 minute break, we sad our farewells and made our way up to camp. On the way, we had to find water, and Jim’s App said we could get water from the headwaters of a lake that lay below. It was only supposed to be a short walk down a dirt road but after a mile or so the lake seemed to be getting further away. We decided it best if we turned around and retraced our steps back to the trail to have a chat around a plan to get water. After a lengthy conversation we decided to select a camping spot, from the nearby campsites, and then go back up the trail a couple of hundred yards to a snowfield we had crossed. There we used our cooking pots to gather snow before melting it prior to filtering it through Jim’s water filter. Unfortunately, both of my water pouches were useless. My larger one had been gnawed on after it was left outside my tent, the night Marvin and I were forced to share a tent at the top of one of the mountains.
Now my smaller one had developed a pinhole which meant I was losing about a 1/3rd of the water I had collected when I began to filter it. With the water collected, we now returned to camp to set up our tents and to have dinner. Due to the mishap with trying to find water, it was beginning to get dark when we started cooking our food, and to compound my day I discovered I had lost my spork? This is a utensil for eating your diet, and resembles a spoon and fork, with mine being made by the Japanese company Snow Peak out of titanium. I loved that spork and missed it. I now had to get creative. How was I going to eat my dinners and breakfasts? I decided my only option was to use a couple of tent pegs and try to utilize them as chopsticks. This proved a lot more difficult than I imagined, but I persevered and managed to scarf down my food. Based on the length of time it took, and the difficulty, it’s going to be a long 5-6 days before I can pick up a new spork?
It had been a long hard day, compounded by the water issues and lost spork, and easily the toughest to date, with about 75% of the walk being uphill, but it had been so very rewarding.
Wanderer.
