What a mind f@#$ this morning. How are we supposed to wake up without a hearty throat clearing? We set an alarm, but it didn’t cut it. We overslept. It was our latest start in over a month. The guilt ate me up inside. We didn’t leave camp until 9:39. Oh the humanity.
It’s 7.5 miles to Forester Pass with 3700’ of elevation gain. Astute readers readers might recall that Bunny and I have a daily limit of 3000’. Add in that my pack doesn’t really feel lighter from 1 night’s worth of food consumption. There’s only one possibility for us; every mile, to mile and a half, we had to drop packs and rest. Bear would be turning over in his grave at this (his death would be the only way this would happen if they were still hiking and hadn’t ditched us…again).
We kept an eye on the sky all day. There were dark clouds following us just like we were following a family up to the pass (I’ve often heard people describe me as a dark cloud on the horizon). In spite of our efforts to go slow, we did overtake the family about 2 miles from Forester Pass. It was a cute family of 5 with kids aged 15, 13, & 10. The youngest was a girl who was having a bit of difficulty with the altitude, but she was pushing on. She was often in back with her dad, but 10! This family is doing it right.
The dark clouds were getting more ominous. I warned Bunny to be brave for the kids sake. This was a mistake. Pointing out Bunny’s irrational fears only starts a fight. Her irrational fears are rational to her. Plus, I was telling her what to do (“be brave”). Only Bunny’s dad can tell her what to do. If she wants to be afraid and scare the kids who are being brave, that’s her right and NO ONE will tell her differently (coincidentally, Bunny’s dad is also afraid of storms but not nearly to the same degree). In spite of my “telling” her to be brave, she actually kept it together. In all fairness, though, the storm never came.
About a half mile from the top, the little girl and her dad passed us while I was taking a break. As soon as they were out of earshot, Bunny asked me “Are you going to let a 10 year old girl pass you?” I thought I might point out that my pack was near 50# and hers can’t weigh more than 10#. It’s hardly an apples to apples comparison when she’s not carrying an equivalent load. Instead of getting into it, I managed to gasp out a “yes.”
Needless to say, I was the last to the top of Forester Pass. The family was up there having a snack and Bunny was filming me stagger up. This is the most weight I’ve carried at the highest altitude I have carried a loaded pack. I did hike to 17,800’ in Nepal, but my day pack didn’t weigh 10#. I’ll bet I could have beaten a 10 year old up that time.
We stopped for a snack and a chat. The family was finishing up the JMT and are exiting the Whitney Portal in a couple of days. They were a very fun family that loved hiking in the Sierra (mainly because the mother grew up in the Sierra and couldn’t imagine hiking anywhere else). The father, Paul, was a police officer. The oldest son was Paul the 3rd or 4th. (My phone died where I had their names written down and I lost all the info.) The daughter, 10, Brooklyn, was incredibly mature for her age. Sadly, I can’t remember the mom’s name or the middle son’ (no wonder middle kids feel overlooked). I do remember that the kids had their own YouTube channel, Groms4life, because we both used the number 4 in our channel names.
Coming down was an entirely different experience. Had Bear been with us, he would have had to lead because he would have had a cardiac arrest behind Sassy. The exposure was well over 1000’ on a narrow trail. We let “the family” leave before us so they wouldn’t see us acting scared. We could see young Paul ahead of us leaning into the mountain to avoid standing up straight and looking over the edge. We were not alone in our assessment of the sheer drop. This lasted for well over 1/2 mile. The south side is much steeper than the way we climbed. I couldn’t imagine crossing this pass with snow on the trail.
A stop was required once we got to the bottom. I was in a post adrenaline rush fatigue. I needed a snack, and I needed to verify I wasn’t carrying an extra load in my pants. Bunny found us a sheltered spot off trail to get out of the wind. While we were snacking, the family passed us again. (We actually passed them coming down because young Paul was being more cautious than we were.)
The closest to describe what the hiking was like once we were off the pass was our experience in Brannock Burne Moore Scottish Highlands. We were on a high, windswept plain between mountains. There were just two differences: we were not on an old military road, and the rocks were a different color, and 3, no midges.
The clouds grew much darker once we were past the rock slide known as Forrester. We were, once again, racing a storm to camp. It was our kind of walking now…slightly downhill and a well used track. We were fast, but we couldn’t catch up with the family of 5. When we made it to camp, they already had their tents up. Once again, my butt got kicked by a 10 year old girl. You beat me today, Brooklyn, but watch out when my pack gets lighter.
It was a very crowded camp and flat spots were at a premium. There had to be well over 50 people here. We ended up climbing uphill into the woods to find a spot in what is, probably, normally the bathroom section of camp. We set up our tent and got everything inside before the rain started. It turned out to not be nearly as bad as the sky looked, but it was a steady sprinkle which got me wet when I got water.
A bear box in camp is nice, but with so many people in camp, it was beyond full. We slept with our food in the tent so we could cook in the vestibule as usual. There were so many fresh smelling hikers just starting out on the JMT that any bear with a modicum of self respect would leave us alone and go for the sweet, freshly scented hikers.
EFG