8/4/18 to 8/9/18 – Pacific Crest Trail Sierra Section/Yosemite
Crew – Kevin Judd, Anna Fehr, Ben Stormer
Picture Above (Left to Right): Ben, Kevin, AJ, me.
I normally don’t spend my Tuesday nights slamming my head into my bedroom desk and screaming (I save it for Thursdays usually) but my newest pet project, my backpacking trip, warranted it. At least Grace was willing to listen to the 13th critical “the trip will not run unless this can be resolved” issue in the span of a few weeks. This was some Scott Pilgrim level boss battles making this trip happen and I didn’t even get to see an evil Chris Evans.
I had wanted to go backpacking ever since I had read about the Pacific Crest Trail and the people who do the entire John Muir Trail (220 miles and 3 weeks give or take). I had two friends who had completed it and after a few conversations with them, I settled on a reasonable trip of 5 days and 4 nights. Seems simple right?
HAHAHA
No
Finding friends was a continual nightmare due to people confirming than dropping out or people taking months to get back to me with a hesitant “maybe”. My mom was originally against the trip which I still never understand (love her to death though). To be clear my mom had me commuting from West Oakland to 16th Street Bart, where people legitimately get shot, at 13 years old and I went to Egypt alone this summer. But either way, that took a while due to arguing and us each playing our cards to outmaneuver the other. God, I love a family of lawyers. Price was an issue because we originally had a guide that cost thousands, then finding a permit, add in an unexpected surgery and other nonsense and throughout the entire summer I continually wanted to just throw a chair out my window and quit. But I truly want to thank the three friends who came with me and put up with me working on the trip at 6 am in engineering camps before my breakfast and at 11 pm after activities.
In the end, my stubbornness beat out 17 critical trip-destroying problems (I counted) and we headed out to Mammoth Ski Resort, where we would start our trip. The entire trip was 27 miles of through-hiking (aka one direction) and there was a bus at the end that would take us back to our starting point. We had two mountains to go directly up, another to descend and a lot of up and down hills in the middle. Packs were around 50 pounds each and the weather was mid 70’s but nothing too warm.
First, though we needed a permit and thank God for friends who wake up early because AJ was willing to get up at 5:30 to get in line for the permit. Now the permit station for our stretch (and the PCT most of the time) reserves 40% of permits for walk-ins who show up the day before. The other 60% had been sold 9 months earlier. She was 2nd in line and besides making friends it turns out that not only were all the walk-in permits for the next day available, but there were also 22 walk-in tickets available for today due to an unheard-of cancellation wave. I have no actual answer why but if I had to guess it was because our section of the trail was caught between two horrific forest fires.
Oh yeah, there was problem #17. Reasonable professional backpacking guides and tours canceled because Yosemite Valley and the stretch behind us was on actual fire but luckily, we resembled a merry band of idiotic bards (we even all sang later on).
The first day was distasteful to put it lightly. 8.5 miles pretty much straight uphill with the most supplies of the trip. It did not help that I was contending for the least fit person on the trip. Kevin and Ben are both noticeably taller than me and naturally fitter. AJ while shorter had just finished three weeks of government-sanctioned hazardous unpaid hard child labor volunteering for the national park service. Plus, there was enough smoke that visibility was reduced, and that helped no one’s lungs or endurance.
Now an important factor in how good a backpacking trip will be looking back are people on it and the group meshed far better than frankly any of us expected. Even though there were only four of us on the trip our personalities and interests gave us a wide breadth of things to talk about. So sure, the first day might have been completely uphill in unideal circumstances but complaining will always bring people together. If the landscape couldn’t keep a backpacking trip entertained than our aspirations did. Ben currently studies music to try and become a music teacher, AJ has an interest in going into academia for English or physics and Kevin plays in a successful punk band, screw literal rock stars.
We also started the day at 12 pm due to having to take a bus to the starting point which meant that we reached our campsite around 7 pm. Was it magnificent? Sure. But we didn’t know that because it was nearly dark and we had to immediately make dinner and then realized after eating instant ramen (always amazing) that we couldn’t even fit the trash in bear canisters. Arguing over the issue at 9 pm when we all needed to sleep wasn’t ideal and AJ put an end to the problem by offering to sleep on top of our plastic scraps. She reasoned that anything smaller than a bear wouldn’t try to eat food literally under her. Ben then logically asked what happened if a bear showed up, unlikely at this altitude but possible.
“Then I’m screwed, but it’s unlikely and I wanna sleep.” – AJ
“Cool, I’m sleeping” – Everyone else.
For the record, I do not condone solutions like that.
The second day started out rough because of the night before but by 10 am (late start) we were on our way. Even when I was dehydrated sleep-deprived and altitude sick, I could not deny that the early morning at our campsite was unbelievable and we did debate staying at the campsite for a few days and just hiking around it was that pretty.
But we decided to keep moving and hit the road. The trail was ⅔ uphill for the beginning with the final ⅓ being mostly downhill. The smoke became significantly better and we quickly made it to the site. 3 pm compared to 7 pm like the night before. Those four hours were worth at least $100. We met Marvin, a cute little rodent, who greedily eyed our food. Ben busted out his ukulele with Kevin while AJ and I headed to the nearby river to filter water. Over dinner, we decided that with 15 miles of our 27 done in two of the five days, we could very reasonable finish off the remaining 12 miles in two days instead of three and after a unanimous vote, we decided to cut a day off our trip. That extra day meant we had two days off before senior year.
The 3rd day gave us the single loveliest day of the trip because we entered Yosemite proper. Even better the day was ⅞ downhill! The ⅛ uphill was at the beginning and represented the single highest elevation point of the trip. So high that the terrain resembled the Canadian tundra. To conquer the peak, we agreed to start early and just scream and curse while hiking it to be done early. Very similar to those of you who read my account of Masada in Israel just in Yosemite and 9:30 instead of 4:30. Honestly, I expected it to hurt worse and at the top, we took an obligatory Instagram photo.
From that point on it was rolling downhill in meadows and then through a classic pine forest. Breathtaking in all capacities and people hiking downhill alongside us were all in a great mood to make trail conversation. The folks going the other way however just glared or stared at the dirt. Too much of a good thing can become bad and we figured out why everyone going uphill was in a bad mood when Ben looked over a 2,000 ft cliff of switchbacks and mentioned that we have some elevation to lose. All that hard-fought elevation gain from the first and second day was just thrown away while trying not to fall off the cliff.
Common misconception: downhill equals nice. Almost falling off a cliff with every switchback cannot be described with the adjective “pleasant”. To pile on by this point every person but I was getting blisters on their feet or having their knees crack (hey Kevin). Odd note that I was the only one not wearing hiking shoes which exist to prevent those things. I’m a lucky bastard sometimes.
We hit the trail floor at 2 pm and consulted out maps. We had moved approximately 1/3 of the distance I had estimated. A few, okay many, curse words later we got moving and tried to make time to get to our campsite before our estimated arrival of 8 pm. Hiking in silence was no fun but in 90 minutes we covered ground, helped by the flat terrain around us. We were just hiking on the side of a stream and surrounded by a cliff on one side and forest that we stuck to for shade on the other.
Yet to our absolute surprise, by 2:30 we had arrived at the (stunning) campsite and realized that not a single one of us had accounted for topographic maps showing the switchbacks on top of each other. Turns out 3 miles looked like 0.3 miles because of elevation change, and they didn’t care to mark that detail. But hey pleasant surprise. Gave us time to filter water, play some music and make fun of Kevin was just eating entire salami sticks for snacks.
I somewhat regret the fact that the trip ended the 4th day because we were really getting into the groove. We had the campsite packed up by 8:45 am with all waters filled and backpacks on. With the end (and greasy food) within metaphorical spitting distance, we took advantage of the flat terrain with a solid trail and pulled out double time. 4 miles an hour with our thankfully far lighter backpacks and only a single stop in the middle. The conversation was flowing and only partially stopped between AJ and me when Kevin was in a heated talk with Ben and just yelled: “And that’s why I hate America!”. Just part of Kevin’s personality. Back when I hiked the Grand Canyon our guide told us that you can judge how close the entrance was by the other people you see on the trails. Americore volunteers doing road maintenance was a promising first sign. Quick moving day hikers was exhilarating. By the time we reached the hikers in flip flops and without water bottles it was party time. We had made it to the end!
The final hike related activity came from Kevin when he wanted to see if there was a half-dome permit available. Half-dome permits much like the trail are incredibly hard to acquire and Kevin wanted to aim for a walk-in. Half dome to those who aren’t into hiking and nature remains one of the most famous and gorgeous hikes on the planet. I’ve been to Yosemite a dozen times and never done it. When we arrived, the rangers laughed and told us that they admired our bravado but the entire dome was closed due to the raging forest fires. Almost forgot about the apocalyptic firestorm.
But we can turn a defeat into a victory when Ben brought us to the backpacker’s canteen, a restaurant serving chili, burgers, sodas, warm sandwiches, and actual bathrooms. I swore when I saw myself and asked AJ how she had looked at us all for this long, all three of us had fantastically bad facial hair. AJ then also bought a container of blueberries and an iced tea while hobbling about due to her blisters and we all gave her endless crap for both of those.
With the hiking portion done we took a bus to our starting point and jumped in my car. By hour 2 of the drive home, we were all starting to look a little ragged. Which makes sense because it was 7 pm and we did an early day of backpacking but still an issue. Especially for me since I was driving. Twenty minutes into this deteriorating situation Kevin promptly announced, “Time for some hype music” and took the aux. What hype music you may ask?
Legally Blonde
Start to Finish
Full sing along.
See I told you I would be caught singing.
Kevin, Ben, and I were worried that we were continually torturing AJ by singing along to the entire damn thing. I did stage crew for Legally Blonde my sophomore year, Ben played the “Jet Blue Pilot” (says one line and he literally screamed it in the car to our applause) and Kevin was Warren, a lead. We had the entire thing memorized and even timed our in-n-out break to the intermission of the musical. Made the trip home infinitely more pleasing.
Kicked everyone and all their gear out at their respective houses at midnight and promptly fell asleep at home. Almost forgot to shave and shower before leaving the next day, I’m pretty sure me remembering saved a friendship or two. After running around in the woods, damn social conventions.
Screensaver worthy? – 10/10. I still consider Yosemite the most beautiful place I have ever had the fortune of observing and while this trip wasn’t even the most famous part of the park (the valley) our campsites and views while hiking would cause us to just flat out stop and spend a minute admiring what was in front of us. That happened on the 4th day, far after any novelty had worn off. Just the sheer magnificence of the geography and forests.
Welcome to the Jungle? – 7/10. Not bad at all. Sure, the altitude sickness was god awful and we had to carry bear canisters for the entire trip but it was Yosemite at the most popular time of year because of the weather. The temperature conditions were always manageable, we didn’t lose the majority of our food and trails were up were well-marked and maintained. Perks of Yosemite and a mostly functioning national park system. Even better the people around us were always incredibly sweet and made great small talk.
“Hey boss, can I work more hours?” – 9/10. The entire trip became worth the mental pain when I saw the monetary gain. A curated backpacking trip with any camp will generally cost around $1,000 a person for 4-5 days of backpacking. On top of that, you must deal with safety regulations, censored language and a counselor. Due to us holding almost all the gear needed collectively, we only spent $100 at REI, $100 on food, $100 on transportation and $80 for other tasks. We walked out of the entire trip paying $98.13. My kind of deal.
Thanks Oakland Strokes –7/10. Was the trip painful? Absolutely. All backpacking will be if you make a pace equal to your physical fitness. I mentioned it earlier, but I was the least fit person on the trip, and we did go up and down sizable mountains. Bear canisters add a sizable weight to your backpack and if anything, we packed too much food in. But really all of this just comes down to Sam complains about manageable physical hardship. Perfectly fine and pushed my limits similar to how any good backpacking trips should.
Cooler than Middle Earth? – 6/10. If you read enough of my entries for whatever reason you will see a direct correlation between the score of this category and the geographic distance away from me. I love Yosemite. I said earlier that I consider it the prettiest place on Earth. But an American park system runs Yosemite and however much I love the Sierras; I’ve spent a large chunk of my childhood exploring them. I know them because they’re my backyard, which can be considered a double-edged sword. I’ve been so lucky to see them, but I’ve lost the novelty that comes with it.
I love backpacking, and this was my first trip with friends. I still consider it the hardest logistical project I have attempted and successfully pulled off. Sure, I wanted to quit many times throughout the entire process, but the end result was easily worth it. What doesn’t kill you makes you more stubborn I suppose.
Photo credit goes to three nice Japanese hikers, Kevin and google because all our photos corrupted.
Best,
Sam
Dead Man Travelling 