Day 11: Winter is Coming

Part 1; The Desert, Day 11

Winter is Coming

Miles: 16.35

PCT Mile: 190.55

April is the cruelest month... Thanks Mother Nature, very funny; now can Summer start please?

I woke up in the Inn bedroom at 6am and  didn't know where I was. It took a few minutes to realize that I'd retreated from the storm last night. As I comfortably spent my early morning getting my stuff prepared, I felt nervous about going back out there and didn't know why. I left at 9am, a very late start, and walked to town. It was sunny and gorgeous out, so I thought I had nothing to worry about. Before I could even stick my thumb out, a guy pulled up and offered to drive me the 3 miles to the trail head. HIs name was Herk, and he was an old timer with some good stories about the area.

He dropped me off and I was ready to hike. My first order of business was to hike up the steep Devil's Slide Trail 2.5 miles to the PCT.

The surroundings were beautiful! The prettiest scenery of my hike so far, and the air was crisp and vibrant with the smell of Cedars. I could barely hike because I was stopping to admire everything.

There was even snow from the storm last night! I was really excited.

I built this adorable snowman:

I smelled the trees, which had a vanilla scent. Don't judge me.

By the time I reached the PCT I was at 9,000 feet elevation. There was a lot of snow too, and it was new and fun..at first. As I kept ascending, I enetered a massive cloud. 

I think the forest was confused, because it looked like a winter white-out, but the snow was melting fast, which turned the trail into an ice-river, and the iced over trees into death traps. All around me large chunks of ice were crashing to the ground, and the snow melting in the trees essentially made it rain. 

So, in what is becoming a trend on my hike, I was once again soaked, cold, constantly running past trees so ice wouldn't fall on me, and completely alone. At this point I got a anxious feeling in my stomach. I'm headed very far out and I started late in the day and the conditions were actually kind of freaky. Below is one of the chunks of ice that was falling from every tree, but I steeled my nerves and kept moving forward.

I'm not used to snow, so this was all quite new to me. I knew I'd start descending in elevation in about 6 miles, so maybe if I could make it there I'd be ok. To be honest, there were moments when I wanted to turn back or set up my tent and just wait till the bad weather went away, but I kept pushing on, for better or worse. 

I was walking in this crapiness for hours and hours, and at one point the sun came out and low and behold, I saw hikers, and I knew them! It was Liz and Davis from OK, Jake from OR, Grapefruit,  Wandering Bison, Chin Music, Snow White, Wall Street, Barista, and a few others. I knew all these people from the trail, as we all have about the same pace. They yelled at me to come eat lunch with them, and we all talked about this crazy weather. It was great to know I wasn't alone out there. 

We all needed to make some miles, so I left first. My goal was to get to a creek 4 miles away so I'd have water for the next 20 mile dry stretch. The trail climbed back up and the snowmelt rain, fog, and falling ice were even worse. The conditions were horrible and very dangerous. I found this footprint in the middle of no where in bad conditions:

could it be Bigfoot? You decide.

I could hear helicopters flying over head all day, and in the late afternoon, I ran into a search and rescue team. It was so foggy and wet that they were surprised to see me. They asked me what I was doing out here in these conditions all alone It was a good question. They were looking for a missing hiker who'd been lost in the storm last night. He had minimal gear. They described his clothes to me and told me to call 911 if I found him. I would run into 2 more teams in the next hour, and the mood was very somber. Sadly, the conditions were so bad that it is unlikely they were would find him ok. For the next 2 hours, I couldn't see anything and as I shivered in my wet clothes and trudged through the snow, I heard people calling his name, over and over again, as it echoed through the canyons. It was one of the most unnerving times of my hike, and reminded me how formidable nature is. It was very depressing. I finally reached my water source and the trees were dumping so much ice water on me, I kept dropping my bottles; my fingers were numb. 

I finally saw some more hikers, and learned of a good campground in 5 miles. That would be my goal.

My pack was so heavy with 6 liters of water and 5 days of food that it was oppressive, but I finally broke through the fog and started to descend. I probably missed alot of great views today, but I was still rewarded.

I had not eaten all day because of the weather, and although it was sunny, ice was crashing down all around me. I had to dance around trees to avoid being struck, and sure enough a baseball size chunk of ice smacked me right in the head. I laughed it off, more concerned about my pack digging into my shoulders. It was such a hard day hiking through all the sludgey snow, and i didn't make as many miles as I wanted. All I wanted now was to get to camp and crawl into my sleeping bag.

As I rounded Fuller Ridge, I could see the desert I'd descend into tomorrow:

It was my hardest day mentally and physically, but also my most rewarding. It's a great feeling to face fear and come out on the other side, and I'm sure it will happen many times on this hike.