Day 5 - What a Day! — Walking People Out of Poverty

Start Time 6:30 am

End Time 4:30 pm

Start Mileage 806.7

End Mileage 815

Distance Walked Miles 8.3

Elevation Gain Feet 1071

Today we were heading up Pinchot Pass, which stands at a height of 12,142 feet in elevation. So, it was an early start as we had a big climb ahead. I had been up Pinchot Pass back in 2018 and my walk finished several hours later when I postholed through the snow and severely cut my leg. This necessitated my being rescued by helicopter.

There was no chance of that happening today as there was not a snowflake to be seen. The walk-up and over-the-pass were vastly different from 2018 as well, as it was pretty straightforward. In 2018, due to all the snow, the last little bit of the climb was achieved by placing each footstep in a snow hole created by the hikers who had gone before. It was pretty dangerous because one slip would have sent you sliding down a slippery slope into the rocks below. This time it was pretty straightforward.

I should mention that on the way up I met a young lady coming down the pass and we stopped and chatted for a couple of minutes. The young lady actually lives in Vancouver and goes by the name of Mixed Tape.

At the top of the pass, I was enthusiastically greeted by Scrubs (Liz) and Relentless, but couldn’t determine if they were a couple or not. Scrubs, who lives in San Francisco, was heading out that day to go home and very kindly offered to take my garbage with her. I kindly thanked her but said my garbage was packed way down in my backpack.

After a short break, and some photos, we set off down the backside of the pass and the footing was the same as the previous climbs and descents we had experienced. Scree and loose rock were our constant companions until the steepest part of our descent was behind us.

A little further along the trail, I saw a backpack and hat sitting by the side of the trail, which I thought strange. That is until a little further down the trail, on a switchback below me, I saw three women and only two had backpacks. The third lady had her arm strapped to the side of her body. It turns out the lady had fallen and dislocated her shoulder. Fortunately, her two friends were trained nurses, and, after several attempts, they managed to put the shoulder back into place. Then, they applied strapping to immobilize the arm and the patient was stoically moving forward. All 3 ladies were in good spirits. I passed them and wished them well and further down the trail, maybe a mile or so, I came across the Park Ranger working his way up to the 3 ladies. Trail Ranger Quinn was the name of the young man and I was able to fill him in on the details and think he was relieved to know he didn’t have to reset the lady's arm.

We were making good time and reached a river that we had to ford. Before doing so, however, we decided it would be prudent to have lunch first. As I was snacking on my lunch I noticed several hikers on the opposite bank and during lunch kept my eye on them as it was obvious they had to cross the river as well. Eventually, a young lady decided it was time to go and into the water, she stepped. I watched intently the route she was taking because if it was safe it made sense for us to follow her route. The young lady finally made it across and I was surprised, as I thought she had come across barefoot but it turned out she had kept her shoes on. We chatted for a few minutes and I was pleasantly surprised that we shared the same surname. The young lady was called April Thorp and her trail name was Hot Spring.

A few minutes later it was our turn to leave and we all made it safely across the river without any issues.