I vacationed in California, leaving 8/5/04 and returning 8/23/04. We hiked a popular route known as the John Muir trail. It was a great but challenging trip.
I flew from Indy to Phoenix to Fresno where the group met. We rode a charter bus from Fresno to Florence Lake, the last 15 miles of which was over pretty rough roads. We took a small ferry across the lake to where we started hiking. We hiked for 15 days going over 6 passes and climbing to the summit of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the 48 contiguous states. When we came out we were met by the bus and rode to Lone Pine, California where we spent the night. We then rode the bus back to Fresno, a 5 hour drive. I then flew from Fresno to Phoenix to Indy.
This wasn't my best trip as far as health was concerned. On day 5 of the trip I got a sinus infection. While this didn't slow me down, it was really annoying. I've found that for me a sinus infection usually takes 2 weeks before there's significant improvement. That was exactly the case here; I didn't get much better until I got home, two weeks after it started.
On day 6 of the trip I got dehydrated. I drank 2 quarts of water over the course of that day but I was still exhausted when I got to camp. I drank 1.5 more quarts at camp and started feeling better. I suspect the problem was that I started out the day not fully hydrated, rather than not drinking enough during the day. This was also the hottest day of the trip with the final couple miles in direct sunlight going up a series of switchbacks.
On days 7 and 14 I managed to pull a small muscle in my lower back. Again, this wasn't serious but did make certain movements uncomfortable for the next several days.
Even with all these issues only the dehydration really slowed me down. And that was only for about half a day or less.
Like any outdoors activity the weather played a big factor in this trip. We got rained on some amount almost every day. Most of the time it followed a standard pattern, clear in the morning, clouds and some rain in the afternoon, usually starting to clear by evening. Sometimes the rain would be preceded by light hail.
We had several times when we got heavy rain, but there was only one day when I would say we had really bad weather. It started to rain/hail before we got to camp. On getting to camp it started to pour. We stood under trees about an hour waiting for it to let up. It didn't rain during dinner, but it was damp and cool and not a great time. Some people were not doing well that evening, cold, tired, ready for hitting their sleeping bag. While this certainly wasn't a fun evening, I was doing ok. I was comfortable and just the normal amount of tired.
We had a packer as part of the team. John was responsible for loading, unloading and escorting down the trail the 5 mules we had carrying all the heavy stuff, food, tents, personal gear. John got to ride a horse down the trail but that didn't mean he had an easy time of it.
Without putting on airs at all, John was a real cowboy. He was tall, thin, wore blue jeans, a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat, had a thick mustache and rolled his own cigarettes. The morning after summit day (see below) was very slow starting with everyone sleeping in, so he got the previous night's campfire going and made himself cowboy coffee.
In a very friendly way John was a bit of a lady's man. Along those lines he had a great story. He had been working as a packer in a national park leading pack teams to trail crews. There was a female ranger with one of the trail crews who had caught his eye. Finally he decided to get up his courage to talk to her. As he was riding along he picked a few wild flowers to make a small bouquet. When he got to the trail crew he rode up to her and said "These are for you" and handed her the flowers. She replied, "Don't you know it's illegal to pick wild flowers in a national park?"
Part of the trip was to go to the summit of Mt. Whitney, 14,495 feet. This is the highest point in the contiguous 48 states. Of course Mt. McKinley - Denali - in Alaska is the highest point in North America. But still, Whitney is no small potatoes.
On summit morning we got up at 2 a.m. and were on the tail at 3:15. One reason for this early start was to see the sunrise from the ridge leading to the summit. Another reason was to get there and back before the clouds and afternoon rains set in.
There was no moon that morning. But we all had flashlights or headlamps. And the trail was easy to follow. There was never any issue about getting lost or missing the trail.
We hit Trail Crest, the ridge, about 5:45 and made the summit about 8:30 or so. We spent about half an hour there and started down. We were back to camp about 11:30.
After resting up and getting some lunch, we packed up camp and moved about 3 miles down to a much better campsite for the evening. This made for a long day but it was worth it. The campsite below the summit where we started from is the standard starting point. But it's above the tree line, exposed and crowded. We were glad to find a much better campsite for the evening.
This was an unusual group. Of the 12 clients, I would rate 8 of them as fast hikers. I rate myself as a medium speed hiker and so ended up more in the back of the group. The other 3 medium hikers with me were all women. I ended up setting the pace for the 4 of us a fair amount of the time.
Many times one of the guides would be in the back as the sweeper, making sure everyone is doing ok. But when we left camp in the morning he would usually help finish packing up the kitchen and help John with loading the mules. So there would be times when there was no guide in the back. At times like these I would keep an eye on the others just to make sure everyone was ok. I would be doing this not really as a leader but just as a friend making sure my friends were doing ok. One time I referred to them as 'my harem' and the term caught on a bit.
Sarah Boomer was one of the Harem. In fact she sort of got it started. One day, as she put it, she started "drafting" me because I set a good, steady pace. She said that a consistent pace was not something she was good at.
Sarah and I first hooked up on the bus ride to the trail head. I had learned the previous evening when we were all meeting for the first time that she was a professor of microbiology and studied thermophiles (heat loving organisms), leading student field trips to Yellowstone to collect samples. It's not like I know a lot about microbiology but I have read about thermophiles in science magazines. After discussing thermophiles we started chatting about trips we'd made, our interests such as being fans of "The Simpsons" and so on.
When Sarah started drafting me, we resumed conversing about all sorts of things. Eventually we each found how much we were enjoying these times on the trail. In 24 previous Mountain Travel trips and 9 backpacking trips before that I've met a lot of nice people and made friends. But I've never connected with anyone on a trip the way Sarah and I did on this one. It made a great trip that much more enjoyable. We're still in touch. Maybe some day we'll be able to do another trip together and pick up where we left off.
Mountain Travel trips to remote areas pay attention to the impact that the groups have on the area. But this trip set a new standard for minimum impact. A lot of this was due to regulations. But it was nice to know that we tried to leave the area in as good as or better shape than we found it.
For example, all camp type activity, cooking, camping, toilet use had to be at least 100 feet from any water source, streams, lakes, ponds and so on. This was to maintain the water quality in the area. And it must be really working. Streams and lakes were perfectly clear. It was amazing how deeply into lakes we could see. We still filtered all our drinking water just in case. But the water quality had to be very good.
We could have had larger tents and more amenities such as that. But that would have required more mules. For every 5 mules the regulations require 1 packer. If we'd had one more mule, we would have had to have another packer. Total groups are limited to 15 people. With 12 clients, 2 guides and 1 packer, we were at the limit. Also the horses and mules need to eat which ends up impacting the environment. More horses and mules, more impact.
Once I got used to the small tent I got along just fine with the limitations that minimum impact imposed. In fact it was a good feeling to know that we were doing what we could to preserve this area. However I'm thinking that whatever my next trip is, it may be a small step up the luxury scale from this trip. But the next time another minimum impact trip comes along, I'll be ready and eager to take it on.
The title of this report comes from a saying we heard several times on the trip. "Food is fuel. Just cram it down your neck and go." We had snacks along the trail most days, mainly trail mix. This wasn't just to enjoy snacking. The point was to refuel and replace energy that we'd been burning off on the trail. At high altitude, just existing burns more energy than at lower altitudes. Add to this hiking and going over passes and fuel becomes very important to you.
This saying might imply that you shouldn't really bother tasting the food you're cramming down your neck - that the process is like gassing up your car and is just a chore, not something to enjoy. But I enjoyed all the food we had. Once I acclimatized I ate well. The minimum impact limitations didn't seem to reduce the quantity or quality of the food.