This entry starts just like every entry from the Sierra…We were beat from yesterday. Forester with a heavy pack took it all out of me. Bunny’s hip kept her from sleeping peacefully, and, by the law of transitivity, I didn’t sleep well, either. We didn’t set alarms which allowed me to sleep until 8.
The commotion started while it was still dark. We heard people getting ready while well before the sun was up. It wasn’t to the level of Koreans on the Camino who packed everything in plastic trash bags and then forgot which bag was which so they had to go through every bag (Camino de Santiago 2017) but it was close. It was still dark and we needed our beauty sleep. Ask anyone from my high school, I’ve been in desperate need of beauty sleep all my life. Need I say, we were last out of camp. The last ones to beat us out were the family of 5. We hit the trail at 10.
We took lots of breaks. While on one, we met old lady at the first creek crossing out of camp. She had just come over Forester this morning and she laughed that we were tired and taking an easy day. She took off and we never saw her again. I hated that old bitty.
Rain clouds skirted us all day. I had no energy on climbs, but my pack was beginning to feel better. After today, we’ll lose another 2 days of food before we have to hike with packs again. (We will hike up Mt Whitney tomorrow so we can leave our camp all set up for the day-long side trip.) We’re hoping that will help us turn the corner.
The later part of today’s hike was across a high volcanic plain…shade was at a premium and water was scarce. We finally caught up to a couple of women who found both and were taking advantage of it. There was enough room for us to join them. I was a bit concerned because I recognized one of the girls as the blond that Bear wouldn’t pick up when we were driving to Onion Valley. We ended up playing hopscotch with them the rest of the day.
When we made it to Crabtree Meadows, we asked if they were finishing up at Whitney. They said yes so we pulled the ballsiest move of or entire trip and asked if they had left over fuel—we misjudged how much we had and were very close to empty. I’d already made peace with them and explained how the people we were traveling with at the time didn’t like to pick up hitchhikers. (If your not with us, being thrown under a bus isn’t too painful.)
We also ran into the “family” setting up camp when we made our final turn to Ranger Station. They are finishing up on Whitney as well but they don’t have to be done until the day after tomorrow. We said our goodbyes just in case we miss them.
Camp was all set up by 4. I organized food for over an hour to get breakfast and lunch ready for tomorrow. Tonight’s supper was a colonic bonanza consisting of 3 Ramen, 2 Spam, and 2 fun size Snickers (sad size is more appropriate).
By gawd we’re doing it. We are setting alarm for 5 in the morning. We’re not hoping for sunrise on Whitney, but we do want to make it before the rain shows up. If we pull this off, this will be our earliest start since we made the foolish mistake of getting up at 4a on the AT to avoid hiking in the heat. That day was a bust because it was too hot to sleep and our schedules were messed up for several days after that. I’m sure everything will be fine on the highest mountain in the lower 48.
EFG