[at-l] (a different kind of) Hike Report - JMT (long)
George (Tin Man) Andrews
tinman at antigravitygear.com
Thu Sep 21 16:42:30 CDT 2006
A couple of pretty cool cats:
www.antigravitygear.com/images/packcat.jpg
www.antigravitygear.com/images/whitney.jpg
This hike report has been the hardest thing to write I've ever attempted.
Ever. There is this hopeless feeling of impossiblility accompanied by a
blank stare at the monitor whenever I've attempted to write it. It's been
more than 3 weeks since I summitted Mt Whitney to complete the JMT and I'm
determined to press through so maybe it will finally happen today. If not
there's always the trying tomorrow. The thing is though, it feels like I
might somehow lessen or profane the hike or break the afterglow magic by
putting it down in ink or electrons. Having said that, I again attempt the
impossible.
I started hiking almost 35 years ago in New Mexico and was hooked for life.
Since then the dream of a long distance hike has never been far from me.
The years flew by and marriage, kids, career, business and life in general
have always edged out a long hike on the priority list but the certainty
that it would someday happen has never been in question. Retirement this
year finally made a long solo hike possible and I started plans to hike the
John Muir Trail. The AT in one season is out of the question for now with
my business obligations and my 92 year old mom needing tending to. So the
JMT seemed like a good candidate for a few weeks to get away from it all and
finally scratch that itch. I hiked on a tiny portion of that trail last
year and that cinched the deal. The JMT it is. Solo. Just me and the
bears. And maybe the lions and tigers too.
All my years of hiking have never been produced a hike of more than 5 days
out at a time. I've always hiked with or for other people. Scouts.
Friends. Family. The longest I ever hiked in one day was 12 miles. Double
digits and I thought I was going to die because I was carrying all the extra
gear needed for a Scout outing. Consequently I had no idea of what I was
capable of doing on a solo hike and this was an opportunity to open 'er up
and see what the old bod could do.
August 10th I flew to Salt Lake City to attend the Outdoor Retailers show
and see all the new and exciting gear for next season. An awesome
experience. One microscopic tiny shift in attitude that may be in it's
infancy is the big boys and girls are finally starting to talk about
ultralight gear. It's just talk for the most part now but at least they are
mouthing the words. Who knows, maybe they will start believing themselves
someday! I saw a lot of gear like 3 or 4 pound tents being described as
ultralight. 3 plus pound backpacks etc. Sigh. The industry still has a
long way to go but they are at least starting to talk the talk. Departed on
Saturday for Fresno and met a friend at the airport who drove me to his home
in Yosemite Nat'l Park. He has a pretty nice 'backyard'! We went by the
Ranger station to pick up my permit for a Monday morning Happy Isles
departure and found there was one permit available for a Sunday am departure
from Glacier Point. I took it rather than stay there wasting an extra day
waiting to hike.
The next morning I left Glacier Point for the Panarama Trail alternate JMT
trailhead and hiked nonestop to Nevada Falls. Last year that hike kicked my
butt. This year it was a breeze after a couple of months of training hikes.
Before leaving the Point, we watched some Sunday morning hang gliders
launch. How graceful! They would slowly glide toward Half Dome and then
bank left and fly down the valley. That felt like a good omen and so I
breakfasted on a cup of coffee, a Mountain Dew and a Nestles Crunch ice
cream bar from the tourist shop and off I went.
I wanted to get a few things out of this hike. In no particular order the
list included: *I wanted to create a significant marker in my life that
placed all that had transpired on one side and the clean slate of my future
on the other. *I wanted to detox from my carreer in the FAA. *I intended
to hike lighter than ever before and learn some new lightweight techniques.
*I also wanted to plan how the next 3/4 of my life was going to play out.
*I wanted to test some gear at high altitude and complete my tent designs.
*I wanted to get reaquainted with the God of my youth. It had been a long
time since I felt close enough to Him to put the rear pegs down on my Harley
and take Him for a ride. *I wanted to sleep out on my own in bear country
with all the other things that creep and crawl and go bump in the night and
conquer those fears simply because they could be and should be conquered.
*I wanted to see if I could physically and mentally handle the challenges.
*I wanted to catch the grand slam of High Sierras trout. *I wanted to be
changed in ways I could only guess at but had the faith to know the changes
would be significant and good. *I also wanted to evaluate who I had become
over the years and see if I even remotely liked the fellow.
In all these things my goals and expectations were exceeded by several
orders of magnitude. Except for the trout. I caught Golden, Brook, and
Brown but no Rainbow. How odd and disappointing.
Instead of a mile by mile report, I would like to try to report on how the
trail affected me. I returned knowing my life has been changed in some very
profound ways. Some of them I even think I understand. Most I do not but
know some significant 'core-stirring' has occured.
Physical challenge: I turned in some mileages that impressed me a lot.
Without trying to set a land/speed record I hiked terrain that previously
would have greatly intimidated me and with speeds that I would have bet were
not possible. The hiking became a joy and the end of the day disappointing
when fatigue or daylight made me stop. My base pack weight was 12.39 pounds
and with my luxury items was 13.9. The luxury items I took were an MP3
player for the FM radio. There was no reception on the entire hike but I
listened to Nora Jones while going to sleep a couple of nights then it sat
in my pack for the rest of the hike. I also took my fishing rod and tackle
and my bible. There is no comparison between hiking light and hiking with a
pack that weighs 30 40 or more pounds.
The first day was about 12 miles and the second half of that day almost
killed me. I could not eat and had become dehydrated with a touch of
altitude sickness. There were several times that first day where I had to
stop and hold very still to keep from puking my guts out. Praying all the
time that I would not start heaving because there was nothing in my stomach
to get rid of and that would have been very very bad. I was on the ragged
edge of the total physical limits of ability and endurance and was angry
with myself for getting in that position. I was also fairly concerned about
the possible consequences. I stopped for the night and was too tired to
eat. After an hour I ate a small dinner and felt better. There were two
other hikers met along the way at the same camping area. One a JMT thru
hike and the other was his friend going about half way. Rauel "Muleskinner"
had a cribbage board and some cards so we played 3 handed cribbage and by
time to turn in I felt much better. Nothing like kicking some serious butt
in cribbage to lift one's spirit. I repeated their butt-whipping cribbage
education several more times over the next 4 days. Note: They might describe
the game results differently but this is MY report. Day 2 I felt better and
stronger. By day 5 I was flying down the trail and felt completely
acclimated to the altitude and trail conditions. I had planned on 20 or 21
days and did the trail in 16. The last 4 days were: Day 13 - hike of 17
miles including over Mather Pass (12,080). Day 14 -14.8 miles over Glenn
Pass (11,980). Day 15 - 7 miles to Forrester Pass ( highest on JMT @
13,200) then another 11.5 for an 18.5 miler day. The last day of the hike I
'strolled' 6.6 miles before breakfast then another 6.2 to the summit of Mt.
Whitney then a stampede of another 10.5 to Whitney Portal and a hitch to
Lone Pine for a cheeseburger and cold beer. 23.3 miles for the day. I feel
better than I have in decades and lost 26 pounds on the hike.
Coming into Evolution Valley while crossing a small creek a mouse jumped
into the water and started swimming very fast underwater. This was about
the oddest thing you could expect to see on the trail and it was swimming
fast and well. It swam under a rock and hid there with it's little tail
and tiny hind feet sticking out from under the rock. I told the Ranger at
McClure Meadow later that evening about it and he was impressed. He said I
had seen an aquatic shrew and they were very rare. A biologist had been
there earlier in the year and said there was no way those animals were this
far up the valley. Guess the little guy never got the memo.
Spiritual: I told Gypsy in an email after she lost her 7 year old grandson
that I would pray for her and her family on my hike as often as I could
remember. I intended to say a prayer for her family at every stream
crossing but didn't remember for the first few crossings so purposed to talk
with the Man at every Pass. The first pass was a short prayer that had what
I considered the necessary mechanics but I was clearly a little bit rusty at
this. By the second pass I upped the ante and decided I might as well
include my wife and kids and business. A couple more days and Passes and I
was into a running dialog with God about anything and everything. By the
end of the Trail I found I had spent a couple of entire days in prayer. I
had never done that before and my soul feels refreshed and better for having
done so. Conversational prayer is a skill that needs to be practiced. I
returned home to find a number of difficult situations I had been very
concerned about and had prayed long and hard about were resolved in ways
better than I would have ever thought possible. I remember before Silver
Pass seeing a little rock cove with snow pack and green shrubs and a small
waterfall. There were some small birds flying and tiny insects floating in
shafts of sunlight hitting the snow. It was a very bright and lively and
beautiful spot. I had the thought that somehow Gypsy's grandson was there
or in a very similar place playing 7 year-old type games with the angels.
And laughing. It was a good and comforting thought.
One thing I like most about sleeping out under the stars is that I wake up
every so often to turn over or readjust the sleeping bag etc. I always look
at the position of the stars. Even though I only rise to partial awarness,
it awes me to watch the stars march across the sky with a stop-action slow
motion strobelight kind of effect. This gives me a very real sense of the
rotation of the earth and a feel for just how small I am and my place in the
universe. Cool perspective. I am now completely comfortable hiking on my
own, sleeping by myself in the woods and taking my appropriate place in the
wilderness. There is a sense of confidence and ability to meet any
challenge I now have that I somehow did not possess before. My abilities
are no different, just my trust in my abilities.
Another thing that was cool and unexpected was that during about the second
half of the hike I was able to look at the map and mileages and pretty much
know almost on a gut level what time I would be at a certain point. I would
often hit a trail junction or stream crossing within a couple of minutes of
when I estimated. It was way cool to be able to trust my judgement and
navigation skills an to learn to trust the trail.
Mental: Perhaps the most surprising thing of all on the hike was the lack
of voices in my head. Before you call the guys in the white suit with the
nets hear me out. It was completely unanticipated to experience the
silencing of those random thoughts that seem to always bounce off each other
and create a sort of mental 'white-noise'. I didn't realize all that
low-buzz clutter was there until it was gone. I think the noise eventually
just ran out of energy like fading ripples on a pond. After about 8 days or
so I found myself able to think unimpeded, clear, real and original
thoughts. I can not remember another time in my life when that has
happened. That probably sounds crazy to you but there were no
bring-home-a-loaf-of-bread-did-I-pay-the-power-bill-I-MUST-have-the-tires-rotated-on-the-truck-tomorrow
ripples on my pond. Now that I am back the noise is back with the minutia
of everyday life but for a while the silence was golden. That silence is
one of the things I will most look forward to on another long hike. .
This hike was much more than mileage or incredible beauty or swimming mice
or the people I met or the fish I caught. It was about challenges met and
overcome, relished and consumed. Life on the trail is reduced to basics
that matter like gear, trail conditions, weather, how do the feet feel and
much food remains in the bag. I was able to consider what the real basics
that matter in my life off the trail are. God. My best friend and wife
Carolyn. My sons and daughter in law. It was about realizing in quiet
times what the most important things in my life really are and how I have
sometimes taken my blessings for granted. What was I thinking- what can I
do to make up for that - how do I change? This hike was about de-fragging
my soul. This hike also introduced me to a guy who I determined after all
these years that I pretty much like a lot and feel very comfortable spending
time with. Me.
I think I'll go get him a beer. :)
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