Below Silver Pass to Lake Edison Junction
Today’s climb up Silver Pass actually wasn’t bad at all, compared to some others. To date, Donohue Pass had still been the toughest, mentally and physically. The climb from our campsite to Squaw Lake was a little rough, especially since I’d noticed my coughing tended to be worst first thing in the morning and then taper off. But, we made it. We stopped to get water, and Omar said I should guzzle down a 24-ounce berry electrolyte drink. I drink a lot of water and can chug it like a champ, but am not a huge fan of flavor infused water. So, I chugged it, but my stomach felt uncomfortable and sloshy afterwards. We continued up Silver Pass. As with most of our days, we separated a bit and Omar pulled ahead of me. Along the way, I ran into and chatted with a lovely Australian couple that were hiking the JMT North Bound. That meant they had already done Whitney, and had the highest passes already completed. But knowing a couple of the horrid descents we’d made, I knew they had to go up that in the next few days. Then again, I’m sure we had some pretty gnarly terrain ahead of ourselves as well!
Close to the top of Silver Pass, I ran into a couple heading down, in the opposite direction. They asked how the mosquitoes were on ‘this side’ and I said, unfortunately, they were pretty terrible. Sucked for them, but they told me that there actually weren’t a ton of mosquitoes on the other side of the pass. Definitely something to look forward to! I had basically given up on deet, since I didn’t really see it making a difference, but Omar was practically taking a bath in the stuff every morning and afternoon, so he’d be thrilled.
I made it to the top, where Omar was waiting and working on his JMT video with his GoPro. I took off my pack and looked around. It was definitely a pretty pass, with a lot of alpine scenery. Meaning, a lot of rocks and small lakes, but not a lot of greenery. Alpine scenery definitely has its own type of beauty! Ready to go, we both went to put on our packs. The sudden movement made me realize my stomach was churning. Whoops. Although we’d been at higher elevations than 10,900, the elevation, combined with asthma and possibly that sloshy stomach from chugging that disgusting berry flavored water, made me feel like I might lose it. I told Omar he needed to wait, took back off my pack, and ran over behind some rocks. I noticed him taking off his pack, and out of the corner of my eye, walk towards me. I hadn’t gotten sick yet, and still couldn’t tell if I would, but I didn’t need an audience. I said he didn’t need to get any closer, but he kept coming. I thought to myself ‘boy, he’s being such a gentleman! coming over to make sure I’m okay, pat my back, hold my hair…something. how chivalrous!’
The next thing I know, I look to the right and Omar is right next to me. Being anything but chivalrous. He has his phone on video waiting to capture the moment on film. Nope. Not going to happen. When I protested he said he’d missed it when I was sick, but it was all part of the experience! No way. I’ll write about being sick, or tired, or crying….but I don’t need it showcased in HD video. That immediately helped me calm my stomach, I think out of fear and sheer stubbornness more than anything, and said I was ready to move on. Omar looked disappointed but didn’t say anything.
We had a long, slow, uneventful slog down the back of Silver Pass. We went through some pretty varied terrain, not surprising since we were dropping down about 3,000 feet. I did finally have my first fall. It wasn’t a huge deal, and I landed on my butt/mostly my pack, so it was fine. But still a little unsettling. And I decided it had been Omar’s fault, clearly, even though he was nowhere near me. He had made it a goal throughout the hike to make sure I came out of this a better and more efficient hiker. And apparently I suck at going downhill. I lack the strength, or the confidence, to properly decelerate, which means when I get to steeper areas, I’ll go down facing ‘sideways’ instead of just stepping down like I’m walking. So he was having me focus on that, when I slipped on a rock and took a not-so-graceful slide right down on my rear end. His fault, right? Yes, I thought so too. So, what did I do when he said it wasn’t his fault, and I just needed to practice and get better hiking the ‘right way’? I got offended, slightly annoyed, played up how badly my slip had hurt (of course when I went to show him my back there wasn’t even rub burn…not helping my case), and lived up to my cry baby name. But sympathy wasn’t something I was going to get from him, so just moved on.
What I did notice, though, was how my feet were starting to take a pounding with all this downhill. I think I really started to notice it because I was trying to concentrate on how I was walking, and how I could improve my form. With a 3,000 foot drop in about 5 miles, on fairly rocky terrain, by the time we reached our end point for the day, I couldn’t wait to get my shoes off. The bottoms of my feet definitely needed a nice long soak today! We crossed over the Mono Creek bridge, and found a nice place to set up camp. While Omar set up the tents, I went down to the water to soak my feet, get some water, and rinse off some clothes. Omar came down to do the same shortly after. The water was cold, but we finally had some direct sun, so it felt nice. We each found a deep, slow area of the rushing river with some natural blocks so we could sit, protected from the current.
You become a lot less paranoid about your looks in the wilderness. I refuse to wear two-piece swimsuits at home, self-conscious of my body. And yet, I had no qualms about tearing off my shirt and walking around in my sports bra and shorts when I was out in the wilderness, and neither did a lot of people we saw along the trail. Several days later, we would even see a skinny dipper in a lake (I don’t care about the person swimming naked, but I can’t IMAGINE how cold that was!). So I laid out to dry off a bit, and we hung up all our clothes to dry.
We saw an older gentleman making his way towards the bridge from the opposite direction, looking for a campsite. We could tell he was likely a PCTer, but looked exhausted. I asked Omar to go see if he needed help finding a site, since it was a bit later in the afternoon and a lot of sites had filled up already. Omar went over and chatted with him for a while, and ended up finding him a site across the trail from us. At one point the gentleman waved to me and said ‘congratulations!’ – I guess Omar had told him my ‘story’ that he and I were working on my bucket list. Omar came back and said he loved that guy and his story. The man had recently lost both his wife and his son – at different times and under different circumstances, but I believe both within 6-12 months. He decided he couldn’t be around home anymore, and just needed to get away for a while. So had gone to the store, bought a backpack and other supplies he would need, and started along the Pacific Crest Trail. Pretty heartbreaking, but a very powerful story nonetheless. I sincerely hope he makes it, or at least makes it as far as he needs to to get a sense of closure or comfort for his situation.
We were starting to think about dinner, when I looked over to the bridge, hearing someone coming to cross. Squinting, I thought ‘no….it can’t be….’ although I guess I said it out loud because Omar asked what was wrong. I pointed and said “That can’t possibly be Joey, can it?! There’s no way!”
He looked and sure enough, it was Joey! Incredible, he’d caught up to us yet again! It turned out he had made it all the way from Red’s to Duck Creek, but had camped out before the bridge, where we were after, so we never saw him. So he was actually right along with our mileage the last 2 days. He’d come from much further back, all the way at Virginia Lake that day. So another incredibly long mileage day for him, but he made it and we were certainly happy to all hang out again! He said when he got to the bridge, he saw my pink top and had the same thought we did – ‘no way that’s Omar and Ally!’ So he set up camp near us, and we hung out for the night. We decided to stay up and watch the transition from day to night, waiting for the stars to come out. I would finally be conscious to try my hand at some night photography! We suddenly realized how bright it was. The moon had come up from the back of Bear Ridge (a ridge we would all need to tackle the next day), and it was almost full. I had looked up full moon dates before leaving, but had totally forgotten about it. The next day would be a true full moon, but this was pretty darn close.
Now we’ve all seen full moons before, but nothing like this. I think without all the light pollution, you truly realize what an amazing light source it is. The moon cast huge shadows through the trees, and looking across the way you could clearly see the granite walls that were easily 1-3 miles away from us. Absolutely insane. The next day we all planned on making it to Marie Lake, just below Seldon Pass. That would be a more alpine zone, which meant nothing to block the full moon. We were all really excited to see that! We made a campfire ring and finally had our campfire – but decided not to try and use the firestarter, instead using a lighter.
It had been a gorgeous day, we were again sleeping next to a raging river, and had great company. We may have lost Nina and Grace to VVR, but at least we still had Joey as our trail family, and seemed we would get to all spend time together at least two more nights – tonight and tomorrow. Trail life can be a pretty amazing thing that you just can’t replicate in the front country. I mean, where else are you so likely to make such fast friends? To meet such a variety of people and actually stop and talk with them, instead of *maybe* smile and nod before speed walking by, trying to get to work, an appointment, whatever. Really, there’s something special about it that you just can’t explain unless you get out there an experience it yourself. Yes, Omar and I were hooked. We started talking about other trips we could take in the future, whether they’d be together or not. The Tahoe Rim trail, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim, the Northern Sierras, Montana…the options were suddenly becoming limitless. I was suddenly very jealous of Omar and how easily he could take the time to do some of these things. It would take me quite some time to recover my vacation time after this trip. But, it would give me something to look forward to!
Tomorrow would be a LOT of climbing, up Bear Ridge first thing in the morning, down into a valley, and then climbing again towards Seldon Pass. A long, probably tough day, but I was still looking forward to it.
