High's and Low's of my JMT Hike 2014.

As we raised our family, we did not share a prayer at the dinner table, but we did do our High's and Lows.  So every evening, I would do my High's and Low's on the trail.  Just to have a bit of normalcy to my crazy days.

Highs

• Alpine Meadow between Donahue Pass and Island Pass - a "storybook land"
• seeing Bodie and Kevin on the trail from Red's Meadow
• weather change on Day 11!
• clear, blue dramatic Sierra Sky
• Muir Trail Ranch resupply
• Kevin's trail angel at Onion valley
• Getting clean
• smelling clean
• Muir Pass Bourbon Party in the Muir Hut
• Mather Pass High-Five Party
• our little JMT group
• Hanks stories
• fly fishing with Sadie and Kevin at Wallace Creek
• seeing my friend and neighbor, Dan the Postman
• Aleve
• the Bear at Bear Creek
• Walking alone
• Walking together
• when my Bear Can was EMPTY
• when my Bear Can was FULL
• Lunch Bunch with "turkey boy
• so thankful for my Salomen shoes that barely held out to the finish and not ONCE did I get a blister!!!!!!
• that I did NOT have to use my WAG BAG in the Whitney Zone! 
  
  

Lows

• weather for first 11 days
• Muir Pass Storm - the Mother of all Storm's
• going for an unexpected swim with my backpack on
• being cold and wet 
• freezing for 1 morning
• going Cross-country to 7 Gables!
• missing my family
• my aches and pains, most of the time
• split fingers
• saying goodbye to our JMT friends
• sorry that my friend Susie had such a rough start/finish to her JMT hike
• wishing that my bestie, Dana could have come along......

Our "Kevinism's"....kept us going many times

• Remember a Sierra mile is different than a regular mile
• Situational Awareness
• Camel up
• Camp as close as possible to the base of a pass
• Your stomach makes the best canteen
• Walk you own Walk
• You're do'in it Man
• It's all about Tent Placement
• Stop everytime the sun comes out and dry everything out
• "listen to me Maureen" (my favorite!)
• Quit tomorrow, always say tomorrow, even when tomorrow comes, you quit tomorrow

The Little Dwarfs off to summit. Final Day. 17.5 miles. 34,218 steps.

Whitney Portal with the whole GANG!  JMT COMPLETE :)

Joan and I slept together, Kathleen cowboyed as well as Hank and Xan.  It was an interesting night as we all knew it would be a short one.  Plan was to get up and be on trail no later than 3:30.  It sounds like most of the others here are doing the same.

With Petzyl's on, we bundled up for the cold ascent up from Guitar Lake.  It was kind of strange doing this big climb to Trail Crest in the dark.  You had to just focus on your footing, because falling was not an option.  We all looked like little dwarfs from Snow White climbing up the mtn with our head lamps on.

After, what seemed an endless climb, we reached Trail Summit.  It was really cold now as dawn was just approaching.  Needed some sunshine for sure.  Dropped our packs alongside with many others and started our last 1.9 miles to the top of Whitney.  Joan and I walked together.  She didn't feel so good. Saw a few other hikers that were in the same predicament as Joan.  She pushed on for quite a bit and then decided it was best for her to turn around and drop in elevation.

I summited around 7:15 and the sun was shining.  

Made my phone calls!!! to my family.  Sorry not to be able to talk with Shane as he is still on a fire in the Klamath.  So excited to be up here and DONE.

What a grand adventure this has been.  But still have to get down off this BIG MTN.  I remember the last time I hiked down and it's not a pleasurable experience as you drop 4000 ft over a period of what seems like endless walking.  Not too mention that I feel like a ZOMBIE from being awake since 3am.

Whitney Portal can't come soon enough.  It does and Kevin and Bodie greet me at the scale.  Weighed in at 24 lbs!  Pretty good for my first Lightweight backpacking experience.  I think Rik and Paul would be happy!!!!!

After a lot of story telling and meeting up with all the others, we headed down to Lone Pine to stay at the Dow Villa and eat and drink and be merry.  Too bad I'm sooooooo tired.

Pizza and the Saloon was a great spot to bid our farewell's to all.

What a trip.

Now it's time to go GLAMPING in our Airstream as we head off to British Columbia for a road trip.  It will include a visit to the Trout Lake Valley Buddist Monastery that helped Kevin with his knee issues last year on his BIG PCT walk. Then back to his finish line in British Columbia.

and maybe just a little bit of hiking ............................

The Sky Pilot

Good Beginning, Low Midday, Good Ending. Day 17. 26,449 steps.

Guitar Lake.

Left Wallace creek at 7am. Very cold morning, freezing fingers.  Left with lots of clothes on. Climbed up and up and up through Sandy Meadows towards Crabtree Meadows Junction.  We had to pick up our WAGBAGS (ick) at the Ranger station junction.

Joan and I met up at the junction around the same time.  Hank came about 30 minutes later.  But NO Kathleen?  That was odd.  Hank had last seen her at Sandy Meadows but went off for a potty break and never saw her again?  We waited for 1 hour and then I became nervous.  Where was she?  We started a well planned search and after about another hour we met up with a Park Ranger and she began initiating a radio search as well with other Rangers.  We talked to everyone we saw and inquired about Kathleen.  Most of us are familiar with each other at this point in the hike.  No one had seen her.

Long story very short.  We found her.  She mistakenly took the wrong junction and got on the PCT. As she was doing the loop to get back on the JMT, we must have just missed her as we circled around also?  We were all so happy to see her.  Your mind goes into weird places when you think someone might be hurt, or something???

Walked on through the afternoon to Guitar Lake. Now the focus is on eating lots of food to get rid of any extra weight as we will be doing the BIG summit of Whitney tomorrow.  The storm does look like its building up, so the consensus is to leave at 3AM with headlamps.  We should be off of Whitney by 12ish noon to be safe.

Guitar Lake is a trippy place.  Very barren, but lots of hikers all with the same idea of summiting early morning.  No real coverage from the elements so people get creative in their little sites!!  Hank was ready for any invasion of critters, and such!

 

                                                              

Whitney Portal here we come.  Burgers, Fries, and Beer.  Yah!

The BIG Nasty - Forester Pass. Day 16. miles - stopped tracking, too many. 25,577 steps.

Wallace Creek.....

3 Chicks and a Hank!

Left our camp at 7am, pushing hard to get up and over Forester.  We are so delightfully surprised to see the approach to the Pass not covered in SNOW, as it was the last time I did this. (remember Dana?????)

It was truly a different experience, one that I was happy with.  It is a looooong pass to climb, but not being hip deep in snow is so much better.  We made it to the summit at 10:15.

Cisco and Tasmanian

Started our big downhill walk through the moonscape below.  The barren, rock valley below Forester Pass is quite something.  

We all decided to put in a long day today and push towards Wallace Creek.  The Bighorn Plateau was so dry it looked like pictures of Afgahnistan, but I'm happy to report that the BIG Horn MARMOT that I spotted so many years ago is ALIVE.  He greets you as you enter the plateau.  The first time I saw him, I yelled that it was a Bear!  He must be 100 years old now, but big and fat and still there!  He lives on.

At Wallace Creek by 3pm.  Wow.  Normal kind of backpacking day.  Short day, lots of sun, dry weather....yes, the Sierrra's.  

It was just lovely.  Sat by the creek for hours washing and doing my laundry (all of my 4 items!!!! skirt, shirt, underwear and socks)

It was nice to see our lil' gang arriving also.  When we had to go out at Onion Valley, we saw nothing but "Day Hikers" and missed our JMT buddies.  We caught up with Sadie and Kevin, Cisco Kid and Tasmanian Devil, and Geology Boy.  The German boys are now 1 day ahead of us, so I'm not sure we will see them again :(  I love all of the hikers and the instant camaraderie that you have with each other.

We saw a National Park Ranger today and I chatted with her a bit.  She did ask me for my permit and to see my bear can.  I also spotted a fire in the furthest mtn range, she said they were aware of it and were letting it burn.  It is far enough away from the trails.  Possible lightening?

Xan is a pleasure to have along.  It's very sweet for Joan and really makes me miss Shane.  They grew up together as babies, toddlers and into their early years.  Their personalities are so much alike.  Very calming and charming.  

Dinner party tonight with Sadie and her boyfriend, Kevin.  Entrees included -

• mashed potatoes with crumbled bacon bits
• mashed potatoes with salmon
• mashed potatoes with veggies and parmesan
• chicken and rice
• salmon couscous
• pita bread
• akmak crackers
• beef stroganoff
• miso soup

dessert!

• dried pineapples
• twix bar
• rice crispy treats
• Kathleen's good cookies

yum.  You hungry yet!!!  BTW.  I ate over 800 calories at lunch.  

Went fly fishing with Kevin's 3 ounce fly fishing rod.  So much fun, the fish just kept jumping on the fly with every cast!  Sadie's job was to get the fish off and back swimming.  It was great fun.

My weatherman (Kevin) is telling us that another storm system is scheduled to arrive Tuesday afternoon.  Well, that is our Whitney summit day.  We will have to plan accordingly.

The NO COUNT Pass, AGAIN? Day 15. tooooo many miles. 20,000 steps.

3 miles south of Vidette Meadows somewhere.

uugh.  Awful morning getting out of Onion Valley to get back on the JMT.  Kearsarge Pass again.  I really didn't feel too good and lost my stomach twice going over the pass.  We promised ourselves a relaxing morning and that we wouldn't leave until 9 or 10.  That part was nice, except for trying to get over the pass in the heat and totally exposed.  It was looong.  It was hard.  and I dropped one of my walking sticks down about 5 switchbacks?  Had to go back down and get the darn thing.  crazy.

Xan

Finally got to the agreed Vidette Meadows to find a note from Kathleen and Hank that they decided to push on further south to get closer to Forester Pass, as we were tackling that Nasty tomorrow morning. All great, except we were DONE.  3 miles doesn't seem like a lot, but believe me, Sierra miles are not like street miles and going over KPass already....it was long.

Finally met up with them at a really nice spot right along the river.  Was so tired, set up and went straight to bed.  Well, we did carry a small botabox of wine in from Onion Valley.  My back hurts, my inside shoulders hurt, everything hurts.  Love my new bestie, ALEVE.  sorry Dana.

Tomorrow BIG day with Forester Pass and the very much dreaded ice chute.

Rocks that Walk. Day 14. long miles for sure, lots of miles....32,716 steps...uuugh

Onion Valley for resupply.  Left JMT, over Kearasarge Pass

Attacked Glenn Pass today with everything I had.  Was very challenging, but we all had a hoot n' holler when we made it of the pass.  I just love these "Pass Parties!"

 

In our JMT book, the author says this is our best place to spot Big Horn Sheep, but they are very difficult to see, as they are shy and hide.  She mentions that you must "look for rocks that walk!"  Unfortunately, the only thing I saw were the holes expanding in my shoes from all the rocks we were hiking over and the extreme dedication to concentrating on where the heck you can put your foot without falling over a 12,000 ft mtn.

We came down to Charlotte Lake/Kearsarge Junction sign and said our quick goodbye's to the German's and Hank.  Hank decided he didn't have it in him to go over KPass and then back over again with his resupply, so we told him to wait at Vidette Meadows for a zero day and we would get his food back to him.

K.Pass was super long and we were doing it in the middle of the heat of the day. 1pm.  Only way it worked today.  I was so excited to see Kevin and Bodie and Xan (Joan's son that would be joining us for the last 3 days to Whitney).  Joan was super excited about that.  Made me miss Shane.

Kevin was TRAIL ANGEL extrodannaire!  He had a shower setup, wine, ice chest full of cold beer, apples, more fruit, big chunks of cheese, spaggetti and meatballs and bread.  OMG.  Heaven.  oh and the much needed Lotion for our cracked fingers.  Did all of my laundry in the camp faucet, charged all of our devices from our solar charger and had a spectacular evening watching the night sky from our sleeping den in the truck bed!  Big, full sky of stars and a milky way that was gorgeous.  Bodie was super excited to see me coming down the trail and if you know that dog, you can imagine the scene.  Poor Kevin, I talked his ear off the entire way down to the campsite.

 Good Night.