Day 79- Mile 906: A journey through the High Sierras

Greetings readers!

I hope we didn't have any of you too worried. The dangers of the sub-transient, hiker trash lifestyle are many and with not hearing from us for so long it would be easy to imagine us stuck at the bottom of some mountain chasm somewhere, sawing through our own arms. Luckily that isn't the case. I apologize for our aloofness, but for the last few weeks we've been in the wildest places of the trip, with fewer resupply stops and wi-fi in short supply.

But we're back now and eager to tell you about what's been going on in our lives. Last time I wrote to you from Lone Pine, a little town near the base of Mt Whitney. I didn't get to spend much time here because I had a lot of mountains to climb over and not a lot of time to do it. I had planned to take 6 days to go the 127 miles or so to Mammoth Lakes to meet Kim, my girlfriend, so time was of the essence. Off into the High Sierras I went. We've seen some pretty amazing views over the last few months, but the Sierras took the cake. Everyday was filled with picturesque peaks, towering waterfalls, cascading rivers and vast turquoise lakes so clear that you could seen the glimmering of the hundreds of swimming trouts. I'm talking postcard worthy stuff, the type of beauty you look up on the Internet and put as the background on your computer screen. This was my home for a week. It was unbelievable. But it wasn't all scenery and sunshine, I had to work my ass off to get through it. Most days I had to climb over 2 passes, which meant going up 3000 or 4000 feet, coming right back down, and doing it all over again later in the day. It really kicked the shit out ya, but as hard as it was, I really enjoyed the passes. Most of them were between 12 or 13 thousand feet above sea level, higher than the tree line, where its raw ad barren and there is nothing but rock, water and ice and the little tufts of plants that grow among them. It was absolutely worth the work it took to get over them.

I was pushing myself to my limit every day and a few days before Mammoth I hit my wall. I was sore, I was tired, the mosquitos were relentless and for the first time of the trip I questioned why I was here. There was a few days where I actually thought about quitting. One of those days was the first time I got lost in the mountains. Like I said In the last post, I went off alone to get to Mammoth to see Kim which meant leaving my friends and their maps behind. I was having a really bad day and in my despair I took a wrong turn down a side trail which brought me 6 miles out of my way. I would have been oblivious to this and would have been really screwed had I not been stopped by some section hikers who, after a bit of conversation realized I screwed up and told me how to get to the Vermillion Valley Resort. I had planned on putting in a bunch more miles and skip VVR all together, but after the shitty day I'd been having it was nice to get some beers in me and have a bed to sleep in. Even with my unplanned detour I managed to make it to Mammoth the next day, what a relief. I really needed to get out of the mountains by this point and even better was that I'd get to see Kim again after 2 long months. I ended up spending almost a week in Mammoth, which was an awesome little mountain town. The first few days I had a great time with Kim and her parents, lounging in the hotel, seeing the sights and eating real food and much of the rest of the week was spent celebrating, I finally reunited with the rest of the team, we celebrated Canada day, we celebrated America day and just had an overall fun time. But before we knew it it was all over and it was time to hit the trail again and for Kim, it was time to hit the trail for the first time.

Next stop Yosemite.

Happy Trails,
Mike