The usual morning…we left first, no idea how far ahead of Bear and Sassy, but I’m assuming a significant gap. We did reach Pinchot Pass first, but only by about 10 minutes. I will say, this was the easiest 12,000’ Pass so far.
Bunny set it in her low, slow, steady climbing gear. I couldn’t keep up. I think the altitude is effecting me, or the caloric deficit is too great. All we had for breakfast this morning was a packet of oatmeal. Even at the best of times, this is only about 150 calories. Do I regret giving my bacon jerky to Bear at Muir Trail Ranch? Not one bit. I’m about to swear off oatmeal as well. We need to find something good for trail breakfasts. I threw up in mouth with each bite of oatmeal this morning.
We did pass a mule train yesterday. “12 mules for pampered women” was the trail service name. (I made that name up. I don’t want anyone to be confused who takes my writing as gospel, so I like to call myself out on those rare occasions where I stretch the truth.) We asked the lead rider if there were secret paths around these high passes. I couldn’t believe these mule trains could handle these trails. I was assured they can, and do, go over all of the passes.
The back side of Pinchot was 8 miles downhill. Normally, this would be our sweet spot, but the trail bed was all lose rock. 3500’ rocky, relatively steep in places, slick in spots, all while dodging the evidence that the mules do, in fact, walk these trails. It was not easy walking. Bear and Sassy stayed with us all the way.
As we started leveling out, Sassy started to get hungry (actually, hangry) so she passed us. Less than 1/2 mile later, Bunny found her sleeping bag on the side of the trail and picked it up. We had agreed to meet at the suspension bridge for lunch so Bunny knew she didn’t have far to carry it. The plan was to not mention that we had picked up the bag at all. We’d let her sweat a bit. If she hadn’t noticed it gone by the time lunch was over, we’d set her up and make her sweat before we told her Bunny had it.
We had lunch with a couple of Hispanic women and a guy we’ve been crossing paths with for the last couple of days. The women are heading for Kearsarge Pass to exit and finish their hike. All through the lunch, Sassy didn’t notice her sleeping bag had fallen off her pack. We even made an excuse for her to get something out of her pack and she still didn’t notice. Finally, I said “Oh my god, where’s your sleeping bag? It fell off!” Sassy replied “No, I had lots of room so I put it inside again.” So whose bag did Bunny carry a half mile from where they dropped it? We’ll never know, but we left it at the bridge in case they come back.
We had an easy afternoon on the agenda. Just 2.1 miles uphill with a bit over 1000’ of gain. Knowing that, we were able to keep pace with Bear and Sassy for almost 1/2 mile. There was a creek near the trail that we were aiming for, so we let them shoot ahead to assess the situation.
Surprise, surprise, surprise….they had spots all picked out and had found the creek by the time we arrived. We set up camp and headed to the water. It felt wonderful to soak our feet in the stream, but I was sad to see all the dead fish drift down once we stuck our feet in. They died for a good cause—Bunny’s comfort.
Our lunch time friends joined our campsite for the night. Bunny and I splurged and had a big supper of vegetable rice, beefish soup with mushrooms, spam, and olive oil (over 700 calories each) before the formal counting of the M&Ms. it’s become a trail side ritual which everyone stops to watch. No one can believe how protective Bunny gets of her “M”s. It’s gotten beyond counts being equal…we now have to do size comparison as well. I never understood why a bunny ended up as the mascot for Easter. If all bunnies have as sweet a tooth as my Bunny, I have gained new insight into life.
EFG