[at-l] (a different kind of) Hike Report - JMT (long)

[pudscrawler at aol.com]

Beautiful report, TinMan.
 
Kinnickinic 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: tinman at antigravitygear.com
To: at-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 5:42 PM
Subject: [at-l] (a different kind of) Hike Report - JMT (long)


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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