Day 20

Palisade Creek to Palisade Lake Camp Site (prepare for Mather Pass)

I had a fitful night of sleep.

When the morning came, I realized I slept past the sunrise and didn’t want to get out of my semi warm tent and sleeping bag.

“I don’t want to hike today.”

Then my body chimed in…” but you have to use the wilderness restroom”.

So I got up anyways.

Once up, it was easier to imagine hiking. Then I remembered I had Spotify and off line music! Weird for me to think that the past five days I haven’t listened to any music. It’s really curious to me how different of a mode I go into when I am around other people.

Technically I am an introvert.

I think I resist thinking of that term because of how trendy it is and how I feel it’s been abused to justify crappy social skills. I am really happy on my own and leave alone time recharged and ready to go.

I wonder if that’s how I was raised as a kid. I spent a lot of time alone entertaining myself. Maybe introverts are just kids that got used to playing on their own.

My good friend Cathy grew up with a lot of sisters and she thrives when she is around a lot of people. I feel drained when it’s constant stimulation of people.

An ex of mine and I used to enjoy using MTBI ( Meyers Briggs) to type people. I am an INFJ (the idealist introvert) something that the report cites as rare. I laugh every time I see that. I see Pinterest pins and people who take the test with that result brag how rare the type they got is. What goes through my mind is the following…

Evolutionarily there is a reason why these types are rare. It likely means they couldn’t find a mate (as I think of my own marital status), got killed off early (I could see that if you have a habit of saying awkward things at the wrong time), didn’t have the ability to survive (hard to when you are an idealist) or worse are like alpha fish and can’t tolerate one another and scheme to get rid of each other. Truthfully INFJs are closest to the ISFJ which are also the most common type. The only badge that INFJ has is that the inventor typed himself as that… so potentially there is a bias.

Our culture has an obsession with rarity. Almost like a trendy restaurant or having a golden ticket… you are special if you possess something no one else does. In some ways I get it, but in others I wonder if we get specialness wrong. My blanket is just a standard blanket but because it is mine and it comforts me, it’s special. Just like Keiko is just like any other dog, but her relationship with me is what makes her unique. I love my MacBook Pro because it’s endured falling, getting rolled over by the Prius, late night googling and crying over projects. It’s a standard laptop but because of the memories I have with it, it’s special.

Trying to be special and set apart but also aware that every human is an image bearer… ah, Christianity is full of seemingly conflicting concepts.

Back to introverts and extroverts…

I’m often curious if much of the worlds best combinations is that we celebrate the qualities of both energy types. A lot of my best stories is because an extrovert insisted I experience something rather than hide in my apartment. I credit Talesa to helping me get out of my depression after a significant break up and introducing me to my now best friend, Katie. Both extroverts that saved me from myself.

After I finished pondering introversion and extroversion, I went to get my bear can. It’s nice after several days of eating my food that my bear can is finally opening and closing normally. I’m a tiny bit worried I didn’t pack enough calories for the type of energy that I’m expending, but I choose not to worry too much until I’m closer to the 17th. The worse thing that could happen is that I leave the trail a day early and hitchhike into Independence before my hotel reservation.

“Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” came on my phone. The song isn’t that great of a message but ever since I watched a documentary about Marilyn Monroe, I’ve loved her. I found myself dancing around in my camp site. After all, why not? When the song ended, the dark cloud of not wanting to leave my tent was lifted and I was ready to get the day started.

I love spontaneous bouts of dancing, it really has the power to completely change my mood.

The day is about 7 miles to get past the Golden Staircase (basically a lot of uphill) and get to a camp site that sets me up well for Mather Pass. I’m planning to attempt a cowboy camp (camping without a tent) so I can get out of camp before 5AM. We will see.

I started to pack up and I realized how particular I am about the order of how I pack. I am normally a person who eschews routine (look at my chaotic life outside of this hike), but something about being here on the trail makes me really appreciate the order of things.

The first is I wake up and deflate my mattress pad. It stops me from wanting to go back to bed. The hiss of the air leaving the mattress is my signal that the day is starting. Plus it deflated better with my body weight on the pad. Once I can feel the cold ground, I put on my puffy coat and long pants (if I am not already wearing it).

Next I check if my sleeping bag is damp. If it is, then I move on, but if it isn’t then I stuff it into its stuff sack, unzip the tent and put it outside. It’s at that point I’m signaling to the world that I’m up.

Next I deflate my pillow and roll it up and put it in its sack. I then collect everything in my tent and put it outside of it so it’s ready to pack. Before I get out of the tent and after I make a check nothing is left in the pockets, I take off my sleep socks, put them into my sleeping clothes bag and then replace them with the socks I’m going to wear for the day.

Unzip the tent completely and put on my shoes (when I had camp shoes, I would do those and put on my real shoes later… but woe is the right flop that is lost somewhere between Red’s Meadow and Bear Creek). That’s the time I take care of my morning body check in.

Then I come back, retrieve the bear can, cook pot and get my ditty bag (basically a wilderness purse). Out of that I get my long handled spoon and open up the bear can (there is a technique to opening the bear can and having leverage helps). Then grab the water filtered from the night before and heat two cups for coffee. While its heating I pick out what I eat for the day. Then, before the pot is boiling I grab the water, dump the packets of coffee into the baby nalgene with the mostly boiled water (I don’t like my coffee boiling hot just mostly hot). I usually hold the nalgene for several minutes soaking in the warmness before sipping it. I have the coffee with me while I keep preparing for the day.

Usually after coffee is when I pray but today I had a dance session.

I then go to pull down the tent.

If it isn’t windy, I walk around and pull all 6 stakes out. The 6 stakes go into its bag. Then I unclip the fly and shake it, checking it for moisture. If it’s too wet then I’ll need to air it out during the day. If not it goes into the stuff sack. Then, I shake out the tent body to get out all of the rouge dirt and bugs that may have made itself in last night.

Next, I unclip the tent from the poles, right then left, the cross bars, shake out the tent body and put it in the stuff sack. The poles go next, into their own, but I wait to put them in my pack until after I get the bear can in (so I don’t bend the poles). I leave the footprint down so I can use it as a changing station so my feet don’t get dirty. The footprint is the last thing in my camp to get packed because I use it as a seat pad for most of the day.

Then, I turn my attention my hygiene. Brush my teeth, brush and rebraid my hair, change out of my sleep clothes into my hiking clothes (which potentially can smell foul, so I quarantine them into a different stuff sack during the night). Washed underwear, shorts, pants if it’s too sunny and then my shoes (since I already have my socks on). I put my sleep pants into the sleep clothes stuff sack. Then I take off my puffy and sleep shirt, put those in my stuff sack and replace them with my sports bra and hiking tank top. I find my buff and put it on my neck. The pink hiking shirt goes on after and I put the bug net in the front pocket and sunscreen in the zipper section. Then sungloves, hat and sunglasses.

Once I’m dressed then I go to pack my bag.

I start with the main compartment:

Miscellaneous items I have to carry but don’t access much and I don’t mind if it got wet from a water crossing (compass, extra KT tape, feminine products, laundry and first aid kit) goes in first. Then my sleep clothes bag and sleeping pad. Then the sleeping bag, tent stuff sack and stakes. Then I wedge my cooking pot (with the fuel and lighter in it) next to the tent. The bear can goes in next sideways and then I try to fill whatever I can around the rounded edges (no wasted space) like my hiking pants if it’s just a shorts day. Rain jacket, my ditty bag, the food I’m eating for the day. Then I close up the main compartment and start to pack the sides.

Left side pocket is the tent poles and at least a half liter of water in a smart water bottle. Snacks for the first half of the day go in too.

Right side pocket gets the water filter, empty smart water bottle and a full liter with the hose that goes to the hydration tube. That gets clipped in. I slide my phone into that pocket when all the water is done.

GPS unit gets turned on and clipped onto the left shoulder strap. Hankerchief goes into the trekking pole loop on my bag. The Kula cloth gets clipped on one of the loops on the side of my pack.

Then I fill the front pocket.

Microspikes, rain cover for my pack, wilderness bathroom bags and then I fold up the footprint and put it in. Once I clip the front close then I grab my solar panel and battery it’s charging. Battery gets wedged into the front pocket and the solar panel gets clipped onto the top of the pack somehow.

Trekking poles, a once over the camp site, sunscreen on the face and ears … and then I’m ready.

Ironically I’ve noticed the routine helps me free up thinking about what needs to happen and it gives me more freedom to think rather than less. It’s like I can put a portion of my brain on autopilot. I think this is the Steve Jobs Black turtleneck concept.

I got out of camp around 9 and got to the Golden Staircase around 10. It took me a few hours and I finally cleared the uphill slog. Beautiful but tough. While I was climbing I was making promises to my body.

“We are going to do laundry so you have fresh shorts on tomorrow.”

“I’m going to massage your feet when we get to the campsite.”

“At the end of this segment, we are going to go and find fries to celebrate what we’ve done.”

One of the last promises was deciding that I’d swim in the lake… that would help me rinse off my clothes and cool me down.

I got to lower Palisade Lake and chatted with a NOBO woman. She told me the pass wasn’t horrible but there were definitely sketchy sections. Microspikes would help but so would going slow and steady.

I continued onto to upper Palisade lake regretting a bit that I hadn’t just jumped into the lower one when I had a chance. Hopefully upper would have the same opportunities that I saw at lower.

I came around the corner and saw a pink jacket and heard a laugh. It was Becky, Diane and Marilyn!

They had arrived about 45 minutes before me and decided to take the first campsite by the trail. We caught up on the night before and then Marilyn asked me how much extra food I had. I wasn’t totally sure but would check. It turns out Becky and Diane were a day short and were worried about making it until their mule resupply showed up. Although I was worried I didn’t have enough calories, I was sure that they needed it more than I did. I had a leisurely pace, a good 20 years younger and a lot of extra fuel stored in my body. I started to dig through my can and find extra food. In the end it actually ended up that I had close to a day and a half of extra food I could spare. Helping friends out and getting a lighter pack. Win-win.

While we were swapping food, I got to hear stories of Becky’s niece and a time when Becky needed help. She was a social worker and often times was the one dispensing help. It was rare that she received it. I told her it was a gift that we got to participate in this with her.

It was close to 3PM and I had a lot of promises to keep my body. I grabbed my laundry and went to mosy down to the lake.

Once there, I got down into my underwear and attempted to jump in…

Got about half way before the icy cold deterred me. Maybe waist high was enough to ice my knees, feet and give my shorts a rinse. I gingerly stepped out (since I don’t have flip flops) and decided to sun myself on the rocks instead.

After a few minutes I remembered my laundry and gathered my ziplock bag and soap.

If you do laundry in the backcountry, like with a wilderness poo, you need to be 100ft from a water source (even if you have biodegradable soap). The same reason, you don’t want to contaminate the water sources with things that we have big waste water treatment facilities for. I filled my ziplock with water and then headed up about 150 feet from the lake. Then I dropped my clothing and Dr. Bonner’s in, zipped up the bag and let it sit for about ten. Afterwards, I swished it around (spin cycle) and let it sit another five. Then I pulled out each piece, scrubbed some problem areas, squeezed it out and laid on a rock to dry.

While the clothing was drying I went back down to the lake to sun myself. Figured it was worth trying to even out my horrendous hiking tan.

Around 5PM, I came up from the lake with my mostly dry clothing to have dinner with Becky, Diane and Marilyn. They invited me to camp with them but I wanted to try something called cowboy camping and was afraid I would keep them up if it went poorly.

Cowboy camping is basically camping without a tent. Just you, your pad and your sleeping bag. I’ve never been so exposed before… and my tent has always been a source of comfort and safety… so I wanted to test this concept out and push my comfort level. So after dinner, I grabbed my things and went to find a place to cowboy camp for the night.

We will see how it turns out 🙂