Week 3: The Whirlwind

Wow… these past few weeks have been a whirlwind of events and emotions! I lost my trail friends, lost some mileage, climbed a literal mountain, did my first 20 mile day, saw Jaason again, cried for a week, and then rejoined my trail friends who soon became my trail family.

After my stay in Idyllwild, I hiked back up Spitler Peak and summited Mt. San Jacinto. The first two days went much slower than I was expecting them to go. With 7 miles one day and 9 the next, I was feeling like I wasn’t going to be able to get back to my 15 mile a day pace I was at before Logan had joined. This was both discouraging and motivating for me to, “pick it up.” I decided the people I was hiking with were at a pace that was maybe holding me back, and with the common phrase, “hike your own hike” on my mind, I made the decision to move on without them. I ended up going 10 miles that day and setting myself up perfectly to summit Mt. San Jacinto in the morning before everything began to thaw. I camped with two guys named Cougar 0 and Tumbleweed. Cougar 0 got his name by fearlessly fighting off a cougar, coming down from the mountains leading up to Scissors Crossing. (I heard he actually just saw one on trail and backed off when it growled, but nonetheless, he saw a freaking COUGAR!). I don’t know exactly how Tumbleweed got his name, but he smokes a lot of weed so maybe that has something to do with it. I left them pretty early and didn’t really see anyone again until I ran into Cougar 0, 20 feet from the summit. Turns out he’s a super fast hiker! We took photos for each other and had lunch together looking at the tremendous views. This is the first mountain I’ve ever summited and it was the coolest thing ever! The most amazing things to me were not only the amazing views, but actually looking back up at the mountain the next day and being able to say, “Wow, I was on the tippy top of that!” I felt comfortable in the snow with my spikes and axe. I feel bad for the people who weren’t, and ended up skipping that portion because of the snow. It was so beautiful and a great way to see what might be waiting for us in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After our bellies were full, we headed down the trail and ran into the rest of C0’s tramily. I hiked with them the rest of the day and ended up making lots of new friends. With 15 miles done that day, a mountain view, and a dude named Optimist Prime, it was hard to see anything that could have gone wrong. 

The day after the summit, it was 20 miles straight downhill in the blazing desert heat with only two liters of water. All of the water sources this stretch were either dry or frozen, so we often had to melt and boil snow for water or carry at least four liters just to make it through the day. This day was rough for everyone. Like I said, I had two liters but some others had less. We all woke up with the determination to reach the 200 mile marker by midday and once we did, we celebrated with shots of whiskey… until we realized that some people were completely out of water with at least 6 miles left to go. I kept pressing on because I knew if I sat still in the sun, my energy would completely drain almost immediately. Others shared extra water they were willing to spare and sat in the shade to rest a bit. I’m still sipping on what I’m assuming is less than a liter now and just keeping my head down until I get to the water source. I get passed by a few people and try to keep up with them because someone shouted, “It’s 1.6, we can do this guys!” I was exhausted and my feet were killing me. The leather on my boots were tight, my toes were rubbing on each other and my clothing was so dripping wet in sweat that I think I could have filled a small pool. I slowed down more and more, this last mile started to feel like five and I just wanted to take a break. FINALLY, I rounded a corner and could see the spigot that everyone was standing around. I filled my bottle, dumped in my electrolytes and chugged the entire thing. About 30 minutes goes by and we all started to get concerned that our friends weren’t doing as well as we had hoped. A person named Chief, who is by far the fastest in the group and 19 years old was the literal hero of the day. This man hydrated up and then proceeded to walk back up the hill for two miles to give water to everyone who was out and struggling. Apparently he came across someone who was eating their pasta sauce because it was the only thing they had to keep their mouth wet… smart thinking. I kept hiking about an hour later with only four miles left and the excitement that Jaason was waiting at the interstate for me. This time went by so fast and next thing I knew, I was in Jaason’s arms again, getting the biggest and best smelling hug I had gotten since I said goodbye to him 20 days earlier. 

20 days doesn’t really seem like a lot when I think back on it, but it was the longest time we had spent apart since we started dating over three years ago. He was picking me up because that weekend was his childhood best friend’s wedding. It was beautiful and dancing all night to celebrate two people in love was the best way to take a triple zero off trail. The weekend with Jaason ended too soon and before I knew it, he was dropping me back off at the trail so I could continue walking towards Canada… Oh brother.

I got out of the car, took three steps onto the trail, and immediately broke down into uncontrollable tears. I just had this awesome one month adventure climbing mountains, meeting new friends and bathing in rivers… then I got to see my partner again and celebrate our friend’s marriage… and all of a sudden, I am tossed back into the desert, in the rain, with no friends, no family, and no plan other than walk until I can’t anymore, sleep and do it again tomorrow. It felt awful. I no longer had the pre-trail jitters or the adrenaline of starting this huge adventure… I wanted comfort, more hugs and kisses, my warm bed, my animals, my parents. Jaason ran over, gave me one more big hug and sent me off with words of encouragement. Okay, I guess I just need to get back into the groove of things. The first night, I went 9 miles before I couldn’t control my emotions anymore. I set up my tent, took off all of my soaking wet clothes and sobbed myself to sleep. With no service, I couldn’t even call to say goodnight. The next day was not much better. I walked again with my head down, looking up every once in a while to see the mountains in the near distance. I was feeling more and more depressed and couldn’t figure out how to turn my mind around. I listened to the entire book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to try to distract myself. When I tried to listen to the playlist Jaason made for me, for some reason none of the songs were downloaded. More tears. 10 miles. New day, sad face, no service… DING! All of a sudden, at the top of a crest in the dead heat of the day, my phone dings with a text message from Dad. Something along the lines of, “Helloooo Dolly, we all love you, we are cheering you on and you can do this thing.” Ugh, more tears. I instantly called dad to hear his voice and tell him how much I miss them all. Even just a 10 minute call revived me enough to smile and walk with a little pep in my step! I did 11 miles that day and ended up running into a group of wonderful women who kind of took me in and made me feel a little more at home.

I was two days from town and got a message from Rapunzel (my trail best friend) saying they were in Big Bear and got off at mile 150… I was 5 miles from there… I got so excited, I practically ran the next 10 miles to where I thought they said they would be camping. Hours went by and I never saw them. The next day, I had to go into town because I was out of food and so dirty from literally laying flat on the trail and crying everyday. When I got to the hostel I would be staying at, I was able to talk to Rapunzel about their plan and where they would be in the next few days so that I could catch up to them. She had told me that they wanted me to be a part of their tramily, I was so excited! We all had about the same pace, similar senses of humor and hit it off right away when we first met that day I had nightmares… I knew these were my people. My hopes and spirit were now overflowing with the prospect of joining my tramily, I decided to let loose, drink some beers and sing early 2000s pop punk at the top of my lungs while dancing on the fireplace with a cue stick. 

The next morning, I woke up with immense anxiety that I had dreamt the whole plan to meet up and join my friends. I felt so rushed. I had told myself I need to be up and out of bed by 6:30am to get on trail and hike 25 miles to catch up to them by sundown. At 6:34 I hobbled into the bathroom, sat down and asked myself WHY? Why do I have to rush? I still have to resupply, I still have to eat breakfast, I still have to find a ride to the trailhead! I instead told myself that this is my hike and I can do what I want with it. I took my time in the morning, drank some lavender tea, video chatted with Jaason and then mosied on down to the grocery store.  I resupplied with enough food to get me to Wrightwood, ate a big fruit salad and veggie sandwich and set off to get a hitch to the trail. I quickly got picked up by someone who was willing to drive me to the access road that led to the trail and had a great conversation along the way. It has amazed me, how many people from these tiny towns were born and raised there and haven’t really been anywhere else. Maybe it's just because I was raised in an adventurous, always traveling, kind of family that I assume everyone explores the world too… Most of the people I’ve met in different towns have lived there their whole life and have no desire to see what's outside of the city limits. I guess in a beautiful town like Big Bear City, I kind of see the appeal. 

I got dropped off at the access road after about 30 minutes and started walking down to the trail. I was giddy with excitement of seeing my friends again. When I turned a corner, I could see all of them just sitting there… off trail, taking a break and refilling their water. It COULDN’T be them! This is too perfect! I basically ran down the rest of the hill! Once I got right behind them, I lifted my voice and said, “Well isn’t this just the best day ever!” Rapunzel, Cali, and Junior Ranger, all turned around, obviously confused. Once I came into view a bit further, they all got big smiles on their faces, realizing who I was! After my morning anxiety of “do they actually want me to join them or are they just saying so to be nice?” I felt hesitant about catching up, but in this moment I felt so loved and welcomed! We continued hiking about 8 more miles that night and once we all set up camp and ate, we each took an edible and climbed into my tent. Yes you read that right… With our Belgium friend Jakob also being a part of the tramily, we had five people all pretzeled into my one person tent. Of course, we all had the giggles and talked about the stars for what felt like hours, it was so nice to be together again. 

The next morning, as we (the ladies, because the boys headed out earlier) were finishing packing up, we met a dude named Magic Oats. Apparently, he has a delicious oats recipe that can get you through a 16 mile day?!?! We all hiked together that day and caught up to his friend, Sing Song, around lunch. We chatted and listened to ABBA and eventually made our way towards the Deep Creek Hot Springs. The evening was pretty uneventful, we just ate and climbed into our tents to go to sleep. The morning at the hot springs was where it was really at. I woke up first, grabbed my food bag and sat by the river for some meditation and hot cocoa. Jakob woke up next, joining me by the river to make his breakfast. Slowly everyone was sitting together on the river bank, just sitting and eating our food. It was so warm and sunny, the girls decided we wanted to trail shower and skinny dip! We moved over to a more secluded area, took off our clothes and dipped in. The water was super cold! It was hard to believe that we were living real life. We laid out across the rocks like we were mermaids and laughed about all of the people who had to go to work that Monday morning… what a life I get to live!? While Jaason and Mom and Dad (and maybe Tuscany) are all at work, I’m out here in the middle of the wilderness, pretending to be a mermaid… haha. We continued the day by walking a few miles to a big dam where we wooped and hollered to hear the long echos that would follow. I am very disappointed in myself because I neglected to imitate the echo scene from The Grinch, which Jaason brought to my attention when I told him about it later that night. After the dam shenanigans, we walked into a nearby town and to a bar called the Joshua Inn. They are very early in starting to transform their property into a hiker hangout. It was a great night playing games, drinking, and laughing!

I’m out of time here in this town. Our ride is on the way to pick us up to take us back to the trail. I’m so happy to be back with my tramily. I hope to update in another week but WIFI has been pretty unpredictable. 300 miles down, 2300 ish left to go!