We sat around the campground all morning waiting for some of our friends to show up. Kevin said he was driving them up in the morning but he drove up on his scooter and told us he'd be bringing a bunch of people up around noon. They started at a different point and Kevin came back with his camper and slacked us down to the Rt 2 parking lot before you climb up to Baden Powell. It was going to be the a heck of a climb and we ran into a few people on the way up. We knew there was a lot of snow up near the top and we wondered how much it would affect the climb. About three miles up, the snow completely obscured the trail and Sprinkles and I were constantly scouting around to try and find it. Eventually we gave up and just decided to start climbing straight up the hill. It was steep and difficult to climb in the deep, soft snow. I kept post-holing up to my thighs which were freezing since I was wearing my kilt commando. Near the top, we ran into early girl and Water Boy who were doing the same thing that we were, trying to climb a really steep section. They're one of the older couples out here on the trail and I was worried that they might not make it up the hill. Early Girl looked really worried so Sprinkles and I hurried up the hill to help them out. I tried to cut some steps as I climbed the nearly vertical wall but it was tough and even though I'm not a very tall guy, I was still cutting them a but too far apart for Early Girl. I took some video of the section that I was trying to climb and it's hard to see in the video just how vertical the slope was but trust me, it was pretty tough, especially without crampons or any other climbing equipment. Here's another Video
We all made it up the tough section and the slope got more gentle near the summit. We came upon a very old Limber Pine tree called the "Wally Waldron tree" which is supposed to be about 1,500 years old. We got a couple of shots of that and then set off to summit Baden Powell. The wind was severe at the top and I have a video of my hat flying off of my head. It would have been long gone but I was lucky enough that it hit the only tree at the top and I managed to recover it from the scree-strewn slope where the wind was less severe. We stuck around until a whole bunch of us got up there, ate lunch and finally the cool wind was annoying me enough that I took off before everyone else.
The slope down was covered with deep snow and I tried to "ski" it in my sneakers. I managed to pull it off sort of and descended very quickly. the snow on the trail was making it really tough to find the trail in some spots. Bandit had mentioned that it was "all downhill" after the Baden Powell summit so I ended up getting pretty lost thinking I should keep descending when I lost the trail. I had to bushwhack up a really steep hill and it took me forever. I finally found the trail and ended up being behind al of the people I had left in front of.
The hike seemed to take forever, considering it was only about 6 miles. At one point I was trying to find the trail and I went through a big snow field and I suddenly post-holed, and I felt my shin begin to scrape against a boulder. I thought I was going to break my leg as my weight was coming down on it. I jammed my trekking pole down quickly, getting my leg out of the way. Fortunately I got my leg to the ground safe, unfortunately I snapped my uphill trekking pole in half over the boulder. It took me a minute of so to get back on top of the snow and it took me a few minuted to find the trail but I eventually got to Little Jimmmy Campground" where I met up with a ton of people. Someone started a fire which about 20 people sat around, eating food and talking about all sorts of things. A few heated discussions ensued about Canada denying a few of us entry due to previous DUIs. One of the hikers was very adamant about Canada not wanting "Stupid Americans" in to Canada and so any excuse to deny entry would be exploited, especially not letting "Convicted Criminals" in. This thru-hiker was confident that we would never be granted permission. It was pissing me off and since I'm actually going through the complicated and expensive process of getting "Rehabilitated" I was trying to explain that there was a procedure in place and she wouldn't have any of it; adamantly insisting that we would NEVER be let in to Canada under ANY circumstances. Eventually everyone went to bed. I was really full because one of the hikers was trying to get rid of some food which I happily ate.
It was going to be a cold night. There was snow all over the campsite, in fact, we scooped up a lot of snow to put out the fire. Tomorrow was going to be a long road hike because the PCT is rerouted due to a recent firs and also a protected species of frog has made the original PCT off-limits. I need a warmer sleeping bad BADLY.
We all made it up the tough section and the slope got more gentle near the summit. We came upon a very old Limber Pine tree called the "Wally Waldron tree" which is supposed to be about 1,500 years old. We got a couple of shots of that and then set off to summit Baden Powell. The wind was severe at the top and I have a video of my hat flying off of my head. It would have been long gone but I was lucky enough that it hit the only tree at the top and I managed to recover it from the scree-strewn slope where the wind was less severe. We stuck around until a whole bunch of us got up there, ate lunch and finally the cool wind was annoying me enough that I took off before everyone else.
The slope down was covered with deep snow and I tried to "ski" it in my sneakers. I managed to pull it off sort of and descended very quickly. the snow on the trail was making it really tough to find the trail in some spots. Bandit had mentioned that it was "all downhill" after the Baden Powell summit so I ended up getting pretty lost thinking I should keep descending when I lost the trail. I had to bushwhack up a really steep hill and it took me forever. I finally found the trail and ended up being behind al of the people I had left in front of.
The hike seemed to take forever, considering it was only about 6 miles. At one point I was trying to find the trail and I went through a big snow field and I suddenly post-holed, and I felt my shin begin to scrape against a boulder. I thought I was going to break my leg as my weight was coming down on it. I jammed my trekking pole down quickly, getting my leg out of the way. Fortunately I got my leg to the ground safe, unfortunately I snapped my uphill trekking pole in half over the boulder. It took me a minute of so to get back on top of the snow and it took me a few minuted to find the trail but I eventually got to Little Jimmmy Campground" where I met up with a ton of people. Someone started a fire which about 20 people sat around, eating food and talking about all sorts of things. A few heated discussions ensued about Canada denying a few of us entry due to previous DUIs. One of the hikers was very adamant about Canada not wanting "Stupid Americans" in to Canada and so any excuse to deny entry would be exploited, especially not letting "Convicted Criminals" in. This thru-hiker was confident that we would never be granted permission. It was pissing me off and since I'm actually going through the complicated and expensive process of getting "Rehabilitated" I was trying to explain that there was a procedure in place and she wouldn't have any of it; adamantly insisting that we would NEVER be let in to Canada under ANY circumstances. Eventually everyone went to bed. I was really full because one of the hikers was trying to get rid of some food which I happily ate.
It was going to be a cold night. There was snow all over the campsite, in fact, we scooped up a lot of snow to put out the fire. Tomorrow was going to be a long road hike because the PCT is rerouted due to a recent firs and also a protected species of frog has made the original PCT off-limits. I need a warmer sleeping bad BADLY.
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone
No comments:
Post a Comment