Day 21

Palisade Lake over Mather Pass to North of Lake Marjorie

Song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0mqDhUDKwpnDvIFoQYR524?si=n1cSu2DwQHqCnS4xPPrF0g

The cowboy camp ended up okay. The only issue was the moon. It was so bright it kept me up until past 1. Even through my buff over my eyes, I couldn’t block out the light. Around 4 the moon went behind the mountains and I could see the stars. I will always remember the stars from this trip. They really are spectacular. It’s the only plus side to needing to pee in the middle of the night. I get to stand outside of the tent and marvel at the sheer quantity of points of light. Beautiful. If I ever redo the JMT, I’ll bring my camera for Astro photography.

The only downside of last night besides not being able to sleep was watching someone camp by the waterfall (breaking the rules), on a meadow and lighting a camp fire above 10,000 feet. I understand breaking the rules once in a while, but it was almost a blatant disregard for any conservation efforts. I really get upset when I think about how consuming that behavior is. It’s only focused on a single use experience rather than anyone else.

Part of the reason why I wanted to cowboy camp was to see if it would help me pack up quicker. In general the entire morning routine (which I enjoy) takes about an hour without coffee and an hour and a half with. I was slightly faster this morning, but because I didn’t use my tent last night, the way I pack my pack was off and Baby Beluga felt off balance.

The top of Mather Pass was only 2 miles according to my phone GPS. It was about 7AM when I began hiking. I put in my earphones and listened to Endless Alleluia. The lyrics this morning really reached out to me.

“Only a moment to live this life.

There’s nothing better than this right now.”

I think it’s easy for me to adapt and start to take things for granted. I am a master at adjusting a story to make it fit the circumstances. I started to think of the places where I am willing to settle for less than God’s plan. Said another way, the places where I minimize the sin in my life and complacently takes over.

This life is a gift.

My one life is here to glorify our creator.

I started to ask God to search me and bring to light the things I most needed to hand over. Things that began to surface : Places where a complaining spirit was my identity, where I was choosing safety over action and where I was holding onto past memories for comfort.

Sin is a topic that I think it hard to talk about without shame. I am not sure I ever had a sense of the Father’s heart about sin until I became Keiko’s human. Keiko, my rescue dog, when she gets nervous eats her own poo. I think it comes from her past where she is trying to hide traces of her presence. Somehow it’s part of her trying to keep herself safe. Sometimes when I brush her, if I don’t watch her closely she will eat her fur that comes off of the brush. We have good spells and then she starts doing it again. When I see her do these things, my heart breaks. I know she does these actions because she is afraid. I just want to take it from her and tell her, “you don’t need to do that anymore.” I know though, that she still feels she needs to, even though it’s been over 6 years with me. It’s heartbreaking to know she still carries the trauma/fears from her previous life. I want her to have freedom from the anxiety, I see how it holds her back from experiencing such good things (like meeting new people or fully enjoying the brushing). I find myself wishing I could go back in time and find her as a puppy and protect her from all the bad things that made her scared to be in the world. I think sin is like that. God watches us do it and He knows that it’s holding us back from living the lives He designed us for. “You don’t have to do that anymore.”

Speaking of Keiko. I miss hugging her and the feel of her soft fur. Today actually marks the longest I’ve ever been away from her. I wonder how time passes for her if she thinks I’ve abandoned her or died. 31 days x 7… to her I’ve been gone most of the year.

I got to the pass and had to start to pay attention. I had lost the trail and got into a bit of a sketchy situation. The rock I was on wasnt totally stable (scree) and the ice was too slippery for my shoes to get purchase on. If I pushed upwards, I had a chance to put on my microspikes. If I found a way to turn around, I could scoot on my behind to a large rock where I could decide what to do next. I decided to push upwards.

Nothing scares me more than when the ground under me gives way. I hate it. It’s like going up the down escalator except it’s rocks and sand. Luckily it was only a ten foot section and I got to the rock.

Ah, I could see where I missed the boot trail through the ice. If I was able to go diagonally about eight feet, I could hit the trail. Issue is that I needed my spikes (and even with them, crampons may have been better to bite into the ice) to be able to get there.

I put my spikes on, got my pack back on, said a small prayer and pushed myself up to the trail. It was a tiny bit dicey but I got there and was able to use my hands to pull myself up.

Ugh. All of this was unnecessary if I had found the boot path first.

I stopped and set up a Cairn (a stack of rocks for people to find a route). I didn’t want my friends below to miss the boot track.

After that section the rest was fairly straight forward. I made it to the top of the Pass with no problem.

I sat down on a rock and decided to make coffee as my celebration.

A long ways off I saw a few figures I was sure was Becky and Diane.

A while later, after I had made my coffee and drank it, they showed up. We all celebrated the pass and headed down.

There was no snow on the other side, so I was easy to hike quickly. I noticed I was keeping up and had to slow myself down. Those ladies are on a different time line than I am… I didn’t want to be sitting at the Onion Valley camp ground two days early.

I decided to lollygag and find a rock to sit on, charge, journal and drink crystal lift.

Hike down I lolly gag and sound a rock to sit on and charge and drink crystal light. I found a little side lake where I was able to watch bugs scurry back and forth. I journaled about Mather Pass and left a few reviews on Guthooks for other hikers when I got into reception. After an hour or so, I decided to keep hiking.

I had already hit my mileage goal for the day so anything I else I was doing was freeing up time for a zero day somewhere else.

A part of me wished that I had booked the Williamson earlier, but I pushed that away. My timing is the timing. This is the first time I’ve ever done the JMT so I couldn’t have known.

I kept hiking. The terrain was mostly downhill so it was easy on my body and I was moving quickly.

I ran into a ranger named Sam. He was dismantling fire pits that were in no fire zones. We chatted for a bit and I continued onwards.

Sometime while I was hiking I was annoyed that I had to stop and pee. If I could get my Kula cloth easily while I was hiking, I think my legs are strong enough now that I could go to the bathroom without taking off my pack! Thinking I was a genius for thinking this idea, I put the Kula cloth closer to arms reach.

What I didn’t think about was that while I would walk it would swing around and make its way to hit the side or my face.

That’s gross. Revoke the idea.

I took my pack off and put the Kula cloth back to its spot on the back of the pack.

Around 3, I hit a large water crossing. It had three logs, requiring a transfer between each log while the water was gushing. I tried the first log, got scared and decided to step into the water. Wet feet are better than a broken ankle.

I sloshed through the water and made it safely to the other side. A group of people were on the other side watching me. They applauded me for making it over.

Apparently this was the crossing that a Japanese PCT hiker was found dead at when she tried to cross solo.

That’s a sobering thought. I was thinking to camp around the river but now I was a little sketched out.

While we were talking Sam the ranger popped in. He clearly came from a different crossing since he wasn’t behind me. I called him a ninja, he laughed and I kept hiking.

I needed to stop and get water but was getting tired. I was over 10 miles now. I got to the creek and put my pack down to get my filter. When I went to dip my filter bag into the water it got swept away.

“Noooooooo!”

If I didn’t have the filter bag, I couldn’t use the filter and I had no plan B for water treatment.

Ugh. How could that have happened!?

I started to think through potential alternatives when I caught sight of something blue in a branch lower down the creek. Could that be my filter bag!?

I jumped into the creek and fished it out. It was! I had narrowly avoided a serious gear malfunction.

I was so grateful for being able to retrieve my filter I didn’t realize how it wet I was.

It was a good thing the sun was still up and could dry me out. I finished filtering water and kept hiking.

I was feeling the near miss and the tiredness when I spotted a shabby little camp spot. I put my pack down and debating staying here.

Something told me to keep going even if it was more miles.

I pushed up a bunch of switchbacks and cleared into a Meadow.

Oh this was pretty.

I kept walking and saw a sign for a Ranger Station, then one towards Bench Lake. Marilyn, Becky and Diane were planning to camp there. It was 1.5 miles off the trail and I didn’t think I had more miles in me. I walked a little farther and started to eye some rocks above the trail.

Then, ranger Sam appeared behind me.

I started to laugh.

“Hello again.”

“Hi!”

“Are there any camp sites up on the other side of these?” I said pointing to the rocks.

He got a slight smile.

“Yes, actually some of my favourite ones are back there. I know most people want to go to Lake Marjorie but I think it’s prettier back there.”

“That’s all I need to hear!”

I stepped off trail and headed up on that direction. I found an adorable little camp

site with a view and flattish spot.

I decided to plop down, let my feet dry, make some food and then set up camp.

It was a bit of a struggle bus day but I was still grateful to be out here. Plus, I was even more appreciative that I was able to be stopped and able to sleep inside of my tent.