Day 14

Bear Creek Ridge to Heart Lake

I woke up and watched the sky turn pink and purple. I really could never get tired of watching the sun wake the world up.

Marilyn and I got moving around the same time. I learned more about her over dinner last night and breakfast. She had connected with Becky and Diane because she was worried about doing the major hazards of the trail alone. She had two sons (late 20’s) and really was a backpacking guru. She played violin at the Ft. Worth symphony full time and took all of her colleagues backpacking too. We both enjoyed finding secret campsites and were a bit concerned about the water crossings. We hashed the ones we were needing to keep an eye on. Up ahead was Bear Creek crossing. It, after Evolution Creek is cited as being one of the most worrisome ones on the JMT.

After breakfast we bid each other goodbye. Potentially we wouldn’t run into each other, or we would see eschother at the crossing. Didn’t know but it was nice to say goodbye just in case. I checked the Cairin app and realized that this spot on the trail would be the last time I got signal before Kearsarge Pass (17 August). I decided to call Ryan, check in and potentially hear Keiko stories. Plus, I needed a bit of a boost before facing Bear Creek.

The call went weird. I caught him on his way into poor signal, my own signal was weak… it was right before he was going to work… I had a timeline. We just couldn’t connect well, literally and emotionally. I find when I have expectations of how a conversation will go… it goes poorly.

The result was I felt off my game as I was hiking.

I think it’s really easy to get wrapped around the axel when someone doesn’t act the way you expect them to. There is an unkindness when I limit someone to being only a certain way. Almost like telling them, “your messiness isn’t welcome here.” Which isn’t at all what Jesus says to us. He welcomes our messiness and helps us navigate it.

I often wonder after the temptation in the desert, what did Jesus do in the leper’s colony. I wish those stories were included.

I suspect he engaged in the messiness of the excluded and unclean.

I got a ring on the inReach. It was Ryan asking if we could just do the conversation over. That was a relief. “Of course.” Things seemed to right itself. I felt better about leaving signal and more confident.

Then, Bear Creek came into view.

It was raging. Like scary, Kayaker commercial scary. I pulled out the map and to my relief saw I still had 2.5 miles to the crossing point. Maybe it will be better farther up, I thought to myself, otherwise it’s a big “Nope” on that crossing.

I kept hiking.

I decided I had lied to Melissa.

When we were at Tuolome Meadows she was trying to find ways to convince Eagle to stay. I told that I like to think about the hike as a series of mini backpack trips eg. 3 days here, 4 days there… I realized as I was hiking that wasn’t true. In a lot of ways every day I come to the trail like it’s completely new. That every day is almost like day 1 of a backpacking trip. I trust my gear is what I need and I just keep an open mind… wondering what is behind the next river bend *cue song*.

In this case, I turned and Bear Creek seemed to split into several smaller creeks. I needed to cross a few. “Guess it’s practice.” I successfully crossed them and kept hiking. It seemed every hundred feet, Bear Creek’s personality would change. I started to compare it to what my mood would be like during the day.

In the morning I’d be sunny and amenable. After I had my coffee and started to gain momentum… I could be really powerful and scary. Same person, different personality. Same river, different personality.

Then I noticed that aspen trees look a bit like confetti. I was delighting in that when the trail ran into a calm, flat portion of the river… and Marilyn was sitting on the other side (like Gandalf).

She has promised her husband she wouldn’t cross any of the major streams on her own. She had gotten to Bear Creek Crossing and had only been there for ten minutes before I showed up.

The crossing looked calm, but deep. I went first and made it through easily.

Marilyn followed suit.

Once on the other side we both marveled at how manageable that felt.

“Oh, that wasn’t that horrible,” Marilyn said, “I think I want to go do it again and get a photo of it. Would you mind?”

I laughed because I was thinking the same thing. “Absolutely not, as long as you get mine too.”

So we both waded back out to half way and re-crosses the river, but documented it this time.

We were laughing at ourselves on the other side. Marilyn had candy she was going to use to bribe someone to watch her cross and we shared it. Then, said goodbye again and kept hiking.

I had a goal of making it over Selden Pass and then to find a place to camp that would put me in good position to hike into Muir Trail Ranch.

The day was mostly uphill, but the terrain was spectacular. Alpine lakes, rocks and marmots, the view was ever changing. There was this one moment when I cleared the pass and the entire valley opened up to green, waterfalls and wildflowers… I felt like I was walking into a slice of the Garden. I keep uttering, “wow…” and tried to capture the moment on my cell phone.

The best part was when I would see someone else on the trail with the same awestruck expression as they too were moved by how beautiful it all was.

The day got closer to 5PM and I had met my goal of clearing Selden Pass, so I needed to find a place to camp. I was at Heart Lake and noticed a flattish area across the creek that I was sure was a campsite I had read about.

To get there I needed to scramble off the trail, through a tiny snow field and cross the creek. I looked ahead and wasn’t impressed with what I felt the options were… so I decided to go for it.

Gingerly I picked my way through the rocks and snow until I got to the bottom. I learned that the pink snow stains clothing (particularly grayish white hiking pants). I eventually ended up on the other side of the creek on top of the rock. There, I found a single camp site over looking Heart Lake.

I set up the tent and started cooking right away. I wanted to eat, go to bed and then wake up to see the sunrise. I got into my tent to blow up my mattress pad when I noticed something.

There was a tear in mesh of tent, where the clips meet the tent poles ( structural). It felt a bit demoralizing. We weren’t even half way and a tent failure was looming. I needed to find a way to prevent the year from getting bigger but also to still be able to clip it into the pole structure. I dive through my bag for something I could use. Eventually I decided on KT tape. It was cloth, stretchy and very sticky. I made the field repair and found myself wishing I could contact Nemo’s customer service ASAP. Instead I settled for dinner and going to bed early so I could wake up for the sunrise.