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Morgan Friday p.m.
Ahh, alpenglow above a beautiful alpine
lake. Three hours ago, I was convinced that we would call it quits. Only
one other time have I "quit", and that was the ill-fated talus slog up the
west slopes of the Kuna Peak with a full pack. Today's endless scree slog
drove me to the same dejection and I lost the topo map, and I could not
prove to Kim that the low saddle I wanted to cross was indeed Glacier
Pass. . . . Spring lake is lovely, if not for our time constraints, I'd
gladly camp here. We're planning on crossing Black Rock Pass by moonlight
to make up time. Hope we don't get into anything over our heads.
Kim Saturday a.m.
We camped on a ledge above the biggest of Little 5
Lakes. We basically picked the first flat spot we came to, after
descending Black Rock Pass, and collapsed into our tent. It was really
cold at night, but we both slept the sleep of those free of sin. Except I
think I had a dream that we were lost in which a high school nemesis made
an appearance. The night we spent walking over Black Rock Pass was one of
the biggest challenges I've had backpacking. The trail was good (as M
mentioned gratefully more than once through the night) and the moon lit
the way. The mountain seemed endless. We ate 2 oranges about 2/3 the way
up. I count those oranges as some of the most succulent, delicious fruits
I've ever had. I was so tired that I just sat down right in the middle of
the trail and ate them, with M sitting on a rock off the trail. We found
the Black Rock Pass trail (or should I say, M found the trail) to the
pass just as the sun was setting over Fresno. The haze made a brilliant
orange and red sunset. On the interminable hike up the pass, I started to
count my steps. I figure one set of left, right was about 1 ft. So I just
had to take 1500 steps to get to the top. I counted to about 25 before a
Dolly Parton song interrupted me. (Joshua, Joshua why you're just what I
been looking for! Joshua, Joshua, you don't have to be lonely anymore, no
nooooo, no nooooo).
Morgan Saturday p.m.
In a tent after another day. We descended
2500' from Kaweah Gap. Funny how we fully understand from the top that the
descent is 2500' but we forget just how painful it is. How many times can
we forget this??? Ditto, 5000' of climbing with a 60 lb. pack. Oh yeah,
5000'.
Last night's hike was cool - about as cool as a 1700' slog can be. The
trail was good. No sprained ankles. Little Five Lakes Basin was cool. The
third lake (along the trail, descending) was particularly nice. Very open
alpine, great views of the Kaweahs, etc. Lost my sunglasses at Spring
Lake, which made Big Arroyo tough whenever there was no tree coverage.
Why was there glacial scouring at the top of Kaweah Gap? What did the
glaciers look like? Precipice Lake is unforgettable; Adams' famous photo
does not do it justice. The granite peaks of the Great Western Divide look
very inviting. Virgin slabs lead to solid mountains. Kaweahs not so much,
though I found a nice ascent route up Black Kaweah. we covered a lot more
ground than I imagined. Our hike to Merton Meadows should be easy. Hope
there is water there. Also hope Monday's hike is short and easy. I'm done!
Kim Saturday p.m. Now it really does feel like Day 2. It actually feels more like week 2, but I'm feeling the weight of time more than yesterday. Day 2 of 4, which is to say, only half done! We had a really good dinner at this lake, (Hamilton Lake, M informs me from his sleep), that is ringed by incredible enormous granite faces. Though we are surrounded by these gigantic granite mountains, there is a friendly mood to this bower - the peaks are friendly giants, decorated with cedars and occupied by marmots, squirrels, chipmunks, bats, birds and probably Bears. I hear a bird chirping - a nocturnal bird or bat, probably using the animal version of sonar to find its prey. I heard chirping last night on our night hike yesterday (seems like much longer ago) but I thought that might have been my imagination, as my pack makes strange rubbing noises. My stretching exercises of this morning now strike me as incredibly na ïve. When I hike as much as we did today, I turn my muscles to mush anyway. So the whole idea of stretching becomes a bit out of place. You might as well have your huskies stretch before the Iditarod. But the pain was definitely worth it. I survived, physically, and I saw the most beautiful place I've ever seen. The Big Arroyo is Vogelsang Plus. Plus water, plus color and life, plus more. The surrounding mountains of the valley go up and on forever - all of it solid granite. At the Big Arroyo we played by the stream - I dunked my head in. The grasshoppers were everywhere. M kept throwing grasshoppers in the water but the trout weren't eating them. I saw grasshoppers swim to the shore and climb sheer rock faces the size of El Cap (to them). Can one get giardia through the nose? That is the 64 million dollar question. I will certainly find out, as when I stuck my head in the water the first time, my face was upstream and the water got up my nose. Kaweah Gap was mercifully mellow. some guy has a little nub named after him, according to a placard that is up there. After Kaweah Gap, we saw an enormous square boulder of pink granite. We also saw an incredible lake called Precipice Lake. This lake had a foreboding aura. Desolate, solitary. The water stains the sheer rocks black and points to a deep dark cold looking lake. Then there is another lake a little lower down and then there is a 2500' drop to Hamilton Lake. This descent just about killed me. I became bad-tempered about 300 ft from the from the bottom when we'd gone so far and it was still so far down and I had to pee and it was all hopeless. The moment passed, but not before I snapped at M. I think I may have referred to a "slave-driving" pace. My feet hurt pretty bad from blisters ("Is there a place you don't have blisters?"-M) I hope I will be enured to the discomfort for out next two days of hiking.
Kim Sunday written on Monday.
I had no time to write on Day 3, as we
quickly left campt at Lake Hamilton and set off for BearPaw. We had
abandoned our prior plan to hike the Tablelands due to the thought of
exertion. We have sworn to buy a
lighter tent, lighter packs, but we will probably not get light packs. I
can't think of what else I wouldn't bring. On an especially difficult hike
I'd dispense with the thermarest chair, and get an LED headlamp, and a
smaller canister of extra gas. No Leatherman, all you really need is a
swiss army knife. Leave the wallet behind. Despite cutting our trip down by
a couple of miles and one night out, we did manage to exert ourselves
nevertheless, as we hiked 17
miles in one day, from Hamilton Lake to Crescent Meadows. This hike, this
whole trip, was surely the toughest I'd ever done.
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Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
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