This is the second day in a row I’ve had poop anxiety. We were all packed up, but I still had to go. We have been camping in rocky areas. The only soft earth to dig has been right under our tents. That’s pushing the limits…even for me. I headed up the trail and climbed to the left. When I came to first clump of trees, I saw an opening. Problem was, there was a stick straight up to the left, and a rock that obviously didn’t belong here on the right. Both clear poop sign. I had no choice. I had to thread the needle. Time was running out.
Today is the model we’re going to following for the next 10 days or so: climb in the morning, reach the pass, descend in the afternoon and position ourselves to reach the next pass tomorrow. Some of these passes are 4000’ and 4000’ down. It’s like being on the GR10 again. The biggest difference is that we believe in switchbacks (or zigzags as the French would say). The French are straight line hikers.
Our day wasn’t nearly that bad today, just 2000’ up and 3000’ down. We just needed to get close to Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) where we had mailed resupply buckets. We had heard there might be hiker buckets and I was hoping to score enough food for supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow. I don’t remember what I put in the bucket (it’s been over a month and a half since we mailed them) but I think I put in 6 days worth of food. We might need to stretch it to 7 because Bunny’s hip bothered her all day today.
What bothered her more than her hip was the storm clouds forming above us. We didn’t really want to try to go over a pass if there’s an electrical storm. Bear and Sassy passed us with 1.5 miles to the Seldon Pass. I told them I wanted to take a break at Marie Lake which is just below the Pass. Bear said “weather permitting.” This really got me thinking. Is there any condition where 5 minutes would make a difference in me going over a pass. If 5 minutes means trying to outrun a storm, you’re already cutting it too close and should just hunker down until the storm passes.
They went over the pass and we took a 5 minute break. When we were heading up, we were following a group of 4 and another group of 8 was ahead of them. The sky was dark, but not threatening. If we’re in a risky situation, at least we’re not alone. It didn’t help matters that a nobo hiker told us that someone had gotten struck by lightening yesterday near MTR. Bunny has a fear of lightening. Fear doesn’t really get close to Bunny’s phobia. She says it’s a healthy fear, just like her “healthy” fear of snakes which causes her to scream and run away no matter what type of snake or it’s size. Her son witnessed this when we visited him in CO last month.
Bunny tries to blind herself and block her hearing in storms. Not the best maneuver when driving a car, and just about as equally effective when hiking on the side of a mountain. Get down as quick as possible doesn’t mean walking off a cliff. I tried a new approach today. I’ve been telling her thunder means the danger has passed. The storm didn’t roll in until we were well down the other side of Seldon Pass, but we still had 4 miles of hiking to complete. The lightening wasn’t visible to us. It was either in another valley or it was a cloud to cloud discharge. Whatever the case was, every time the thunder came, I yelled “ALL CLEAR.” It seemed to work. At the very least, I couldn’t hear her gasping over my yelling.
I should have put an * on today’s mileage. The four of us made it to the upper junction to MTR. It’s 1.8 miles to the lower junction. If we take the upper junction, it’s a steep trail that only runs 0.5 miles down to the Ranch, but IT’S NOT THE PCT. No one is willing to climb back up this trail on the way out. Nor was anyone willing to walk the 1.8 miles of PCT to get to the lower trail which is 1.5 miles. Mathematically, we will walk 0.5+0.1+1.5=2.1 miles to go to MTR vs 1.8 miles of PCT. We’re putting in the mileage, but not hiking the trail. This will be the first section of AT or PCT that I have actually skipped. Will my trail be complete?
Technically, the PCTA says you’ve completed the trail when you have “a continuous footpath from Mexico to Canada.” This is to help ease the conscious of those hikers who have to walk around forest fire closures. With the abundance of fires out west, it isn’t always possible to walk around one. Many hikers have to hitch. In Oregon this year, there’s a 15 mile closure that requires 150 mile hitch (or road walk). If the hiker hitches around that closure, has he/she/chosen pronoun completed the hike? There’s no fire we’re hitching around. I blame Bear, Sassy, and Bunny for all the sleepless nights I’m going to have over this one.
I’ve got to spill the beans on Bear and Sassy. It won’t help in this situation, but I’ll get smug payback. They skipped 5 miles of the AT. There. It’s off my shoulders. I’ve been carrying this burden for 3 years. They got trail magic which included a night’s stay. When the Angel (or rather, Devil) brought them back, it was to the next road junction. Had that been me in that situation, I’d have had a nervous breakdown. Ask Bunny. She’ll tell you. I nearly had a heart attack when she tried to get me to take a bad weather blue blaze on the AT. Out of love, she told me “Go back if it bothers you that much. I’ll have a clear conscience knowing you died of your own stupidity.” I showed her. I lived. Who’s sorry now?
We took the half mile cutoff. I’d already agreed to it this morning, but I was hoping ONE of my friends had a pure heart. I can tell you, right now all three of them are snoring (or breathing heavy, it’s a fine line) meaning no one is losing sleep over this breach of trail purity. I’m hiking with soulless people.
This brings me back to the bad drugs Bunny gave me the other day when my plantar fasciitis was acting up. She forced me to buy CBD/THC laced gummies for trail pain (specifically, her hip), but she wouldn’t try one. She gave me the first one to make sure there were no ill side effects and that they worked. It did on reducing the pain, but ever since then, I catch movement of people out of the corner of my eye as were walking, but when I look directly at them…they’re gone! She’s given me “hiker sixth sense” where I see hikers that have died on the trail. I KNEW it was a bad gummy.
One good thing to come from all this (the trail shortcut, not the hiking with soulless people, or seeing dead hikers) is that we got to MTR in time to dig some food out of the hiker box for supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow. Since we made it so early to camp, Sassy and I went over to the hot springs across the River from where we camped. Bear was going to go with us, but when he found out he had to get his feet wet to get there, he was out. If any real bears hear about this, they will revoke the professional courtesy they’ve extended us because we’re hiking with Bear. Bear, who won’t get feet wet, they’ll beat us up, take our food, and smash our iPhones. Everyone knows, real bears use androids.
EFG