Author Topic: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True  (Read 25888 times)

Brad Young

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The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« on: August 07, 2013, 08:50:07 PM »
Our trip went perfectly.

This was the type of backpack that I've always wanted to do with the girls. It was my dreaming about just this type of long trip in the Sierra in the first place that started the idea of doing the whole PCT with them.

We went just over 99 miles in nine days. The weather was perfect. We saw about 20 mosquitos the whole time. We laughed a lot, ate well, made two good new friends, and saw some of the finest scenery that the Sierra has to offer. Vicki met us yesterday at Vermillion Valley Resort and we enjoyed that. Now we're in Santa Barbara ready to start Katie's university orientation tomorrow.

I'll start with photos (we got some good ones) tomorrow after I get them downloaded to Flickr.

mungeclimber

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2013, 09:04:34 PM »
Glad to hear it!

Good luck at orientation
On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2013, 08:32:24 AM »
One wheel shy of normal

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2013, 10:48:00 AM »
We started this trip with some issues that we all hoped would work out OK. They did.

Katie's knee was a big issue, as was the weather. The weather had been very thundery/rainy for a week before our departure date. It turned out that we left on the last day any rain fell (and then only a few drops). We scored a wonderful weather window.

Because of Katie's knee, and because of our need for lots of food, and of a ride to the Onion Valley trailhead, I looked for help from two climbing friends. Brian and his girlfriend Whitney drove us down to the trailhead and then helped carry packs and weight 7.3 miles over Kearsarge Pass and all the way to the PCT (they hiked back out the same day).

Here's four of us getting ready:




The girls have been hiking in ultra-lightweight gaiters now for years ("Dirty Girl Gaiters"). These keep trail dust and small pebbles out of the shoes. I finally joined the club this season, letting Tricia pick out for me my own "Dirty Girls:"







And then we were off, Katie and Tricia in the lead, Brian and I and Whitney following:







We took a water break at a little over halfway up (we had 2,500 feet of gain to Kearsarge):




And then we were at the pass (where we took a series of photos, including one designed to match a similar one we took on the way out last year):






Beyond the pass is easy downhill to the PCT itself. Once there we knew the work would begin. Katie put on her pack, Tricia took the stove fuel and water from Whitney, and I took 18 pounds of food from Brian:







Although we'd (really "I'd") planned on getting over Glen Pass by the end of the day, it didn't work out that way. The combination of a later start and slower hiking than I'd intended meant that we didn't start our hike on the PCT until 6:00 p.m. Big loads and uphill toward Glen slowed us down enough that by the time we got to the last half-mile, steep uphill section leading to the pass itself, we were pooped. So we made camp at a small lake on its south side:







This was a late arrival and a chilly camp, but we got the tent set up, water treated and dinner going. Everyone felt OK (but tired), and we were back on the trail. We'd had a much better start than last year's. We followed up dinner by eating one of the eight packs (one per night) of a special treat that Vicki had found and sent with us: freeze dried ice cream. If the reader hasn't tried this amazing concoction, there is nothing I can say here; it must be eaten to be believed (it is that good).

Next up: over Glen Pass and into the Rae Lakes basin; can we make up milage tomorrow that we didn't do today?

mungeclimber

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2013, 12:35:50 PM »
Glenn was a tough one for me as a teenager. But as we dropped into Rae Lakes and I saw Fin Dome and realized that Royal Robbins had done an FA there, I was excited to be back there. Later as we dropped down to the Kings and I became sick with appendicitis, and a case of some protozoa, I was not so happy.

Looking forward to the pics connected to the story!
On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2013, 12:41:44 PM »
Yes, Fin Dome is very dramatic! (And not hard to identify).

Off to another parent thing at this U.C.S.B. orientation. They're keeping us hopping (and Katie is sooooo excited).

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2013, 03:35:55 PM »
Day two started out cold, but the sun peeked over the ridge as we started hiking:




We'd camped half a mile from Glen Pass and reached it quickly (I saw climber David Wilson and his daughter coming down from the other side - it's a small world, you've got to behave yourself no matter where you go):







Next was a descent to the well known (and beautiful) Rae Lakes. This is a multi-thousand foot descent, so Katie put on her knee brace and took it easy:







From these lakes the trail goes down Baxter Creek to its junction with Woods Creek:




Woods Creek is a big flow, so there is a suspension bridge over it:







From this junction we continued, now uphill, almost three miles more before finding a nice place to camp near the creek. We'd done 12 miles even for the day, and thus made up some of the shortage of yesterday. The bad news was that, since the descent off Glen Pass, Katie's knee had been hurting. She was also pretty tired by the time we rolled into camp:
















Of interest to us too were the number of people we passed (hiking in the opposite direction) during the day. As most of you know, the PCT is the same trail as the John Muir Trail is here. The tradition with the JMT is to hike north to south, so it was safe to say that most of those we encountered were JMT hikers. Katie made a game of counting; on this day we encountered 89 south-bound hikers, and passed six stationary people. Also, near the end of the day we saw, yet again, "the guys with the yellow packs," who were also headed north. We'd been seeing these two for most of the afternoon; we'd almost catch up to them and then we'd stop for a rest and they'd move out of sight. Just before we reached camp, we passed them (then they passed us to camp a little farther upstream). In subsequent days we'd get to know these "yellow packs."

After getting to camp, we relaxed some; Tricia and I did most of the camp chores to give Katie a chance to rest.

Day three would bring another big pass. Katie commented that she wasn't sure she could keep going for nine days. Tricia had been carrying all of our stove fuel, some food and one to two liters of water (in addition to her own gear). Could she continue this with no slowing down? We agreed that tomorrow would be another day, and that these issues would be there when we woke up. We ate our ice cream, gave Kate some "vitamin I" (ibuprofen) and went to bed early.

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2013, 04:13:04 PM »
If you did just over 99 miles can we just say you did 100 miles?
:)

Sounds like a really good time.  Nice pics, and Congratuation to all.
Here's to sweat in your eye

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2013, 05:12:59 PM »
Day three started out with a nearly five mile hike and 2,500 feet of elevation gain, to Pinchot Pass. This was a hard day for Katie. Her left knee hurt and she felt like that same leg was getting a shin splint. She was also tired from trying so hard on days one and two:




We kept the hiking steady. The "yellow packs" passed us and we talked for a while. They seemed like good guys, they were concerned about Katie and offered some extra ibuprofen in case we needed it (we eventually did). Tricia kept going like the Energizer Bunny. Here she is with Pinchot Pass in the background:




Here we are as we climb up Pinchot:










At the top of Pinchot Pass the girls and I decided to do something that we never wanted to do, something that I would give everything I've ever owned or controlled or ever could own or control to not have to do. You see, our friend Luc Gruenther died in  January, in his F-16, in a training accident over the Adriatic Sea. Luc died ten days before his first child was born (Serene Gruenther). The girls and I have known and loved Luc and his wife (Cassy) for, in my case many, many years, and in the case of the girls, their whole lives. Luc was a great person; always upbeat, kind, generous and gregarious. For those who never knew Luc, here's a link to a Supertopo thread about Luc and about the tragedy:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2059191/Missing-US-Pilot-in-Italy

Luc started a "life list" when he was in high school. Many of the items on the list were checked off, but many weren't yet. The list included crazy stuff like "ride in a car that is going 150 miles per hour" (checked off). It included trivial stuff too, like "give my kid an ant farm" (not checked off - we think Serene will get 20 ant farms for her second birthday). One of the unfinished items on his list was to hike the John Muir Trail.

At his funeral, Luc's mom (Romel) and his widow Cassy had asked the girls and I to spread some of his ashes at a place we liked on the JMT. We liked Pinchot Pass:







It's a beautiful, serene (yes, a play on words) location. Here's looking southeast from this pass:




The "yellow packs" (Bill and Reid, we'd learned their names by now) were at Pinchot (they took the photos for us). They were a great comfort to us as we gave a part of Luc a home on a beautiful pass in a mountain range that he always wanted to know better (Reid had lost his own father in Vietnam when he was eight years old).

After Pinchot we still had several miles to hike before making camp for the night. Here's Tricia hiking down off the pass, on its north side, past a series of wonderful lakes:




We continued our hike over and down, passing the South Fork Kings River:




The day was getting late and we made camp only a mile further on, along the same river:







Little treats are nice when one is going without so many things; so tonight we treated ourselves to (again - it doesn't get old) freeze dried ice cream:




Mather Pass beckoned for day four (it can be seen behind Tricia and in front of Middle Palisade in the photo just above showing Tricia near a lake). Katie had had a tough time on Pinchot and on the descent from it. How would Mather be for her? Could she keep going or would we have to bail from our trip early? Only time would tell.

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2013, 09:32:45 PM »
This fourth morning was the coldest we were to experience. As usual, I got up and had breakfast before the girls. But before long they got up too and soon we were ready to hike. Tricia loved my "hat hair:"




The approach to Mather Pass involved much less elevation gain than that to Pinchot. It is also much more open. Here's a shot of the pass with Middle Palisade right behind it:




And I took this shot too, from the same area, looking back on Pinchot Pass; it's a very pretty area, part of the heart of the Sierra Nevada:




Tricia flew up the pass (Bill and Reid were mostly hiking with us by now and I think they were still a little blown away by this little girl who flew up trails - they were blown away again later when they realized that she wasn't just carrying fluff - she had 15 to 20 pounds on her back the whole trip):




Katie had shin splints in both legs by now, and her knee was troubling her too. But she gamely held on (the hiking poles helped). Having started hiking a little before us, she continued hard toward the pass and we didn't catch her until we were nearly there, miles later:




We rested at the pass with Bill and Reid:




The hike down from Mather Pass to Palisade Lakes was a little slow, and perhaps the low point of the trip for Katie. Tricia and I forged ahead (mostly because we needed to find water); Katie lagged and, at one point was in tears when she caught up to us (tears from pain, from frustration, and, I think, from having been left behind?):







Eventually we stopped at the north-most Palisade Lake for lunch. Something happened to Kate here, the pain didn't go away, but her reaction to it started to. Her attitude started to pick up. It was here that I started to believe that, pain or not, Katie would be able to finish the hike.

We wanted to hike a little further, so the girls sunscreened up. Katie helped "T" with her hair:




Once we started hiking again, we came right up to the edge of "The Staircase," a long series of tight switchbacks that lead down into the lower canyon of Palisade Creek. Although these are not optimal for a hiker with a knee problem, Katie put on her knee brace and we all took it easy:







Although hiking down "The Staircase" was hot and hard, we made it down to creek level. A cool, slightly downhill trail led from there to a nice campsite about two miles further downriver. We got there with daylight to spare. The girls washed up and we made camp:







And, finally, with the day coming to an end, we all practiced proper oral hygiene:




The only disappointment about this camp/evening was that Bill and Reid didn't show up. These were two really nice guys; it was obvious that they'd taken an interest in the girls welfare, and that the girls enjoyed their company. I did too. At Mather Pass we'd let them try our Instant Breakfast trail milkshakes. They loved them. We talked about letting them try freeze dried ice cream, but it was buried and so we suggested that we'd see them when we camped. As it turned out, they got to the bottom of "The Staircase" and then camped fairly close to it, so we didn't see them. Both girls were quite disappointed.

Well, tomorrow would be day five, and we'd likely see them again. This fifth day would, in another way, also be crucial. I'd arranged for another climbing friend (hero maybe?) to hike in a food resupply for us on this day, coming over Bishop Pass. We'd have to be sure to meet Phil at around the time we'd planned or... or what? We'd just have to plan on meeting him, so we planned to be up and on the trail relatively early in the morning.

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2013, 07:42:18 AM »
So here we are at Katie's U.C.S.B. orientation. She's pretty excited. And like good parents we're paying some attention to some of the stuff designed to orient us. And last night, in the middle of a presentation by one of the university deans (a wonderful lady with a proper English accent), a mom asks, in essence, "if you're such a prestigious school why can't you guarantee that my son will be accepted to med school." I'm not making this sh#t up; it can't be made up.

Am I allowed to throttle people down here? Was it OK to guffaw? Will there always be such clueless people out there, whose stupidity is matched only by their unjustified sense of entitlement? Maybe I like climbing so much because, in Darwinian fashion, it tends to weed out most such idiots.

Anyway, back to the PCT. Hair maintenance is always easy for me, but takes the girls some time:




Once done with such chores, we headed out quickly down Palisade Creek and then up LeConte Canyon. On the way up we passed under The Citadel (what I'm pretty sure was the Edge of Time Arete was very easy to see - wow!) and past Grouse Meadow:




We only had a little over six miles to reach the Bishop Pass Trail junction where our friend Phil and I had planned to meet. We made it by just before noon and were a little worried that Phil wasn't there yet. Still, we'd talked about a time range, not a specific time and so we settled down to wait. We watched the North Face team jog by on their way to a just-over-three-day, 211 mile speed record for the JMT. We made sure our water supply was full. We ate lunch. We visited with another backpacker who was hiking in to meet his brother. And then, just as promised, 12.5 miles from the Bishop Pass Trailhead, Phil showed up:



He had with him another 15 pounds of food (my girls eat a hell of a lot). This was obviously good, but it meant that I was back up to full weight now and the hiking was harder.

We visited with Phil for quite a while (he brought good messages from Vicki and we sent one out to her too). Then we swapped loads and saddled up. And, then, just a minute before we set off, Bill and Reid showed up, hiking up the trail behind us. The girls were visibly pleased to see these two and they were happy to see the girls too. Now we caught up with them, made introductions (to Phil) and then finally set off up the trail (this time hiking as one group by consensus).

Little and Big Pete Meadows were very pretty:







By the time we'd made two more miles, we were coming to the end of the day. All of us knew we'd have to tackle Muir Pass in the morning, and we thought we'd like to get up a little ways on the trail as a head start, but it was getting late enough to camp. We started looking at possible camp sites. At one point we asked a south-bound hiker about camp sites. We got a strange answer from her to the effect that "The Rock Monster" had good camping and it was only a quarter mile ahead. OK, we liked the quarter mile part, but what is "The Rock Monster?" All she gave us was a quick "you'll know it when you see it," and she was off down the trail.

We wondered at these seemingly less-than-helpful directions, but we thought we'd keep an eye out. And, a quarter mile later, there it was, we DID know it when we saw it and we knew immediately that it would be home for the night:







We set up camp. The girls did some "laundry" by rinsing out shirts and pants in the stream (Katie almost lost her pants downstream which caused her to laugh and me to choke - she did finally find them). Meanwhile Bill got out his fly rod. Bill almost always catches and releases, but when he and Reid learned that Katie had almost never eaten fresh-out-of-a-stream trout and that Tricia never had, they offered to keep a few:







These fish were golden trout and were prepared perfectly. Three fish among five people are really only appetizers, but they were ideal in the circumstance. Although Tricia's always been a bit picky about her food, we've never indulged this and always encouraged her to try new stuff. She's lately become much better about this and, in here on the PCT, willingly tried the crisp tail fin from one fish (she liked it - similar to a potato chip):




And with that we got ready for bed. This had been a lighter day (in terms of milage at least). It was one where we got plenty of rest, and on which Katie seemed to get caught up emotionally. She was hurting, but the pain was manageable; now we were past the only trail where she could exit and she seemed committed to finishing her days on the PCT in good style. We'd also linked up with two new friends who added a lot to the conversation and to the fun, and who we enjoyed thoroughly.

mungeclimber

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2013, 08:58:04 AM »
Moby Rock Monster seemed to have eaten Katie-hab there. :)


I would have bailed before the trip started. Both the girls are rock stars!

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Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2013, 09:23:46 AM »
Yes, it does look somewhat like a "great white whale."

Day six started with a big hump up Muir Pass, then included a gradual downhill to Evolution Lake, ending there early in the afternoon. This may have been the most fun of the nine excellent days.

On one early break we decided "the hell with it," and broke out the new can of Pringles that Phil had carried in. Man those things are good on the trail:




Another break was at an unnamed lake just east of Helen Lake. This water body seemed to have a healthy population of frogs (and no fish - I guess there is a correlation?):










More uphill continued to Muir Pass and the stone Sierra Club hut built there in the '40s:




While resting at the pass we realized that, after this trip, the time will have come for one of our constant PCT companions. Those of you who have read a few of these reports recognize Tricia's teal colored pants from many prior trips. These have served well, and although early-on she wore holes in the back cuffs, she's grown many inches since then (including more than two inches this year alone). Worn cuffs are not a factor anymore:




No, the real issue with these old friends is with the butt; it's just worn out, and these pants will likely be replaced before our next trip:







From the pass we hiked down through fields of talus and past several lakes:




After four of the six miles that remained we passed Sapphire Lake and then stopped to refill water. While there I suggested that the huge overhanging boulder up off the trail looked like a "klingon warship" and might present some fun photo ops. The girls thought the rock looked like the one in the movie "The Lion King," but agreed that the photos might be fun (Bill and Reid agreed with me - it must be an age thing):
















After the fun we continued down to Evolution Lake and then along its east shore to its north side. We found a perfect camp site with plenty of time for taking swims, sun-bathing, goofing off, snacks and relaxing. Of the several hundred Sierra lakes I've hiked past and/or camped at, this north side of Evolution Lake has to be among the top 5% for sheer location and beauty:



















The evening was capped off by a wonderful show of alpenglow on Mounts Darwin and Mendel:




And so ended another dream day, spent again with my two beauties in some of the finest terrain on earth. I'm very proud of both girls: they are pretty, smart, tough, kind and also gregarious. They're being raised in a way that makes me doubt that they'll ever ask such stupid questions of a university dean (when they're parents themselves, if they ever decide to become such). Yes, sometimes in life we are privileged to dream and then to have those dreams come true.

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2013, 09:40:46 AM »
Bird of Prey? or different class of Klingon ship?

On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2013, 09:43:05 AM »

Bird of Prey? or different class of Klingon ship?


You've got me there - I'm not nerd enough to know any detail about these spaceships  ;D

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #16 on: August 09, 2013, 11:17:50 AM »
I love the big view pic of the three of you on the rock. Looks like an amazing place. Surprised the "fishermen" didn't prepare frog's legs at that froggy lake :)
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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2013, 12:33:57 PM »
On our Seventh day we continued down Evolution Creek to the South Fork of The San Joaquin River (all visible in the following photo):




We went through McClure Meadow on the way and across a ford of Evolution Creek (it's a creek but it seems to flow more water than the South Fork of the San Joaquin that it flows into).







About halfway through our hike I glanced at an approaching woman hiker; she then looked up and said hello to me by name. Only then did I recognize a high school classmate of mine who now lives above Sonora. Her husband is the Emigrant Wilderness guidebook author and one of the California PCT guidebook authors (and also a friend of mine). Wow, like I said above, you've got to mind your manners wherever you go.... Actually it was real treat to run into them (Ben was doing research for the upcoming new edition of the PCT book).

We reached a camp site on the San Joaquin with Reid and Bill. We ate, relaxed and mentally prepared for another massive uphill tomorrow into the John Muir Wilderness (and our friends would be diverting into the Muir Ranch nearby our camp site for a layover day - a "zero day" in the words of PCT throughhikers - and so we wouldn't see them after this evening).

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #18 on: August 09, 2013, 01:17:49 PM »
veritable freeway of hikers :)
On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

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Re: The PCT Volume 18: Sometimes Dreams Come True
« Reply #19 on: August 09, 2013, 06:34:37 PM »
What a great update thanks for sharing. Perfect way for Katie to move into college.
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