Since we had decided there was no camping to be had at the lake, Patrick brought up the idea that we could probably make it back to the car by 7:30 PM if we hurried. I thought he was nuts, but he reassured me it would be mostly downhill and that I would be surprised by how easy it was. I had my doubts,to be sure, but we decided to shoot for the cars.
As we started back down the trail from the lake, we passed multiple groups of people (we had seen only 1 other person up until this point). Some with backpacking gear and others just up for a day hike. We realized we must look pretty badass to the day hikers, since they were huffing and puffing and stopping us to ask how much further to the top. Little did they know, we were actually idiots that had just carried unnecessary gear for 2 miles. Never the less, it made us feel good to see people struggling up the mountain with nothing on their backs (if that's evil, I don't care. You would have felt the same way at that point).
When we came to the waterfall that had flooded the path, I walked right through it since I still had my sandals on from the lake. Patrick picked his way across the rocks and we continued down. It definitely felt better than going up, but the descent at this point was so steep it really strained Patrick's knees. All the same, our time coming down was much quicker and soon we were back to where we had seen the bear paw print, only by now, the sun had melted the snow enough that the lines of the print were blurred. Looking at it now you wouldn't have realized it was a bear print. This made us realize that the print must have been really fresh when we had seen it earlier. I had been hoping maybe it was left a couple days ago, but obviously not, since in a few days time that patch of snow would be gone completely.
An hour total from the summit, and we were back to our campsite. We had made it back to the campsite in less than half the time it had taken us to get to the summit. Yes, going down was much better, and from here on out it was a more subtle descent and less painful on the knees. Continuing on, we crossed the river and made good time through the forest and alpine meadows. In one of the meadows, I saw movement above us on the mountainside and realized it was deer. We stopped to watch them, until they must have noticed us and hopped off up the mountain further away.
In another meadow, walking on a particularly narrow portion of the trail bordered on both sides by thorny bushes, I heard a crash behind me and Patrick yell out in pain. I turned around to find him laying half on the trail and half in the thorns. Of course, I was concerned but I have to admit it was pretty hard not to laugh. He had stepped on an uneven portion of the trail, sprained his ankle and fallen into the thorns. Really, nothing unusual for Patrick and we were surprised he hadn't pulled this stunt already on our trip. Now that he had sprained it, though, it was much weaker than normal and he was in fear of spraining it again to the point of not being able to walk. We still had a good 3 miles to go, so we agreed he should walk in front to set his own pace and this way he wouldn't feel hurried to catch up to me if I got too far ahead.
Another river crossing, by now we had this routine down, and I went first across while Patrick took off his shoes. Half way across, I realized the river was higher and definitely stronger than yesterday so I took my time finding my balance and footing. Once on the other side, I let Patrick know the status, and carefully he made his way across.
We were back to where the giant redwoods were more prevelant and huge pinecones, bigger than my head, littered the trail. We'd had little to eat but we were feeling good and determined to get back to the car. Another hour and we were to our last river crossing. Shoes off and across we went. From the river, the trail went up. I remembered going down yesterday to get to the river, but it hadn't been a very long descent so going up shouldn't be too bad. Wrong!!! By this time, we were exhausted from carrying our gear and having hiked a good 8 miles already that day. Plus, we were sore from yesterday. Up, up, up. I was so angry, this just couldn't be right. I didn't remember going down this long yesterday. How could we possibly go up for so long???
My legs were in such pain from carrying the extra weight of my pack. Patrick was getting further and further in front of me and, at one point, when I caught up to him we both thought I was going to lose it and burst into tears. I took deep breaths and he reassured me we were close to the car. In actuality, we were only about 20 minutes away, but it felt like eternity. When we saw the car, I thought I was going to cry again but this time from relief. I looked at Patrick and said, "At some point I'm sure I'll think this was fun, but right now I just want to die."
We were both so sore. We had hiked a total of 10 miles that day. Patrick with about 40 lbs worth of gear on his back and about 27 lbs of gear on my back. We had seen giant redwoods, walked through snow and rivers, forests and meadows. We had seen some sort of rodent, a snake, fish, deer and a bear paw print. We were sunburned, scratched, scraped, sprained and filthy. It may not have been what we set out intending it to be, but I would say we had an adventure.
Through all this, I finally came to the realization that I, Jennie Sears, am a day hiker. I have fought this for years. I've always wanted to be a backpacker. I have been on some great backpacking trips and I'm sure I will continue to backpack, but today I embrace the fact that I am a day hiker at heart.
As we started back down the trail from the lake, we passed multiple groups of people (we had seen only 1 other person up until this point). Some with backpacking gear and others just up for a day hike. We realized we must look pretty badass to the day hikers, since they were huffing and puffing and stopping us to ask how much further to the top. Little did they know, we were actually idiots that had just carried unnecessary gear for 2 miles. Never the less, it made us feel good to see people struggling up the mountain with nothing on their backs (if that's evil, I don't care. You would have felt the same way at that point).
When we came to the waterfall that had flooded the path, I walked right through it since I still had my sandals on from the lake. Patrick picked his way across the rocks and we continued down. It definitely felt better than going up, but the descent at this point was so steep it really strained Patrick's knees. All the same, our time coming down was much quicker and soon we were back to where we had seen the bear paw print, only by now, the sun had melted the snow enough that the lines of the print were blurred. Looking at it now you wouldn't have realized it was a bear print. This made us realize that the print must have been really fresh when we had seen it earlier. I had been hoping maybe it was left a couple days ago, but obviously not, since in a few days time that patch of snow would be gone completely.
An hour total from the summit, and we were back to our campsite. We had made it back to the campsite in less than half the time it had taken us to get to the summit. Yes, going down was much better, and from here on out it was a more subtle descent and less painful on the knees. Continuing on, we crossed the river and made good time through the forest and alpine meadows. In one of the meadows, I saw movement above us on the mountainside and realized it was deer. We stopped to watch them, until they must have noticed us and hopped off up the mountain further away.
In another meadow, walking on a particularly narrow portion of the trail bordered on both sides by thorny bushes, I heard a crash behind me and Patrick yell out in pain. I turned around to find him laying half on the trail and half in the thorns. Of course, I was concerned but I have to admit it was pretty hard not to laugh. He had stepped on an uneven portion of the trail, sprained his ankle and fallen into the thorns. Really, nothing unusual for Patrick and we were surprised he hadn't pulled this stunt already on our trip. Now that he had sprained it, though, it was much weaker than normal and he was in fear of spraining it again to the point of not being able to walk. We still had a good 3 miles to go, so we agreed he should walk in front to set his own pace and this way he wouldn't feel hurried to catch up to me if I got too far ahead.
Another river crossing, by now we had this routine down, and I went first across while Patrick took off his shoes. Half way across, I realized the river was higher and definitely stronger than yesterday so I took my time finding my balance and footing. Once on the other side, I let Patrick know the status, and carefully he made his way across.
We were back to where the giant redwoods were more prevelant and huge pinecones, bigger than my head, littered the trail. We'd had little to eat but we were feeling good and determined to get back to the car. Another hour and we were to our last river crossing. Shoes off and across we went. From the river, the trail went up. I remembered going down yesterday to get to the river, but it hadn't been a very long descent so going up shouldn't be too bad. Wrong!!! By this time, we were exhausted from carrying our gear and having hiked a good 8 miles already that day. Plus, we were sore from yesterday. Up, up, up. I was so angry, this just couldn't be right. I didn't remember going down this long yesterday. How could we possibly go up for so long???
My legs were in such pain from carrying the extra weight of my pack. Patrick was getting further and further in front of me and, at one point, when I caught up to him we both thought I was going to lose it and burst into tears. I took deep breaths and he reassured me we were close to the car. In actuality, we were only about 20 minutes away, but it felt like eternity. When we saw the car, I thought I was going to cry again but this time from relief. I looked at Patrick and said, "At some point I'm sure I'll think this was fun, but right now I just want to die."
We were both so sore. We had hiked a total of 10 miles that day. Patrick with about 40 lbs worth of gear on his back and about 27 lbs of gear on my back. We had seen giant redwoods, walked through snow and rivers, forests and meadows. We had seen some sort of rodent, a snake, fish, deer and a bear paw print. We were sunburned, scratched, scraped, sprained and filthy. It may not have been what we set out intending it to be, but I would say we had an adventure.
Through all this, I finally came to the realization that I, Jennie Sears, am a day hiker. I have fought this for years. I've always wanted to be a backpacker. I have been on some great backpacking trips and I'm sure I will continue to backpack, but today I embrace the fact that I am a day hiker at heart.
Last river crossing. Thank goodness.
Amazing view. This was one of my favorites.
Another favorite view. If we hadn't known better, we would have thought we were in Oregon. 
No comments:
Post a Comment