Monday, June 27, 2011

Polar Bear Club


I woke up to one of the greatest campsites I've ever seen. I was on a bluff at 10,400 feet overlooking the western range of the Sierras as the sun illuminated their tips and began to move down the slopes. I got up really early because I needed to get across Forester which was 10 miles away through really rough terrain and high altitude. I knew I was going to need all day wandering around, looking for the trail. I hoped to be able to get up Forester before it got too soft. I didn't want to spent the whole day post-holing and getting nowhere. I was out of camp by 6am and really anxious to get to town.I was only ten miles from Forester pass and only 18 miles to the side trail that would take me out of the Sierra.

After about 20 minutes I came up to Wright Creek. Normally in the mornings the creeks aren't as swollen and easier to cross, although much colder. At 6:20 in the morning Wright Creek was still raging. It's not good to have your feet wet for days at a time and mine were beginning to feel the effects of it so I really didn't want to get them wet first thing in the morning. I walked up the creek bank trying to find a fallen log or some way to cross without getting wet. The manzanita on the banks was coated with ice and I couldn't find any obvious place to cross. About 100 yards upstream I saw a spot that looked like I could jump to. A rock that was sticking up about a foot above the rushing stream. I would have to jump about 4 feet across a deep channel of 35 degree water. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I decided to go for it. With my poles in one hand, I made a jump for the rock, not knowing that it had an invisible coting of ice on it just like the bushes on the banks. When my foot hit the rock, it slipped right over it and I landed on the rock in a split. I tried to hold on to the rock but it was covered in ice and I was pulled over backwards by the extremely powerful current. I went from bad decision to a life threatening situation in the blink of an eye. The freezing water took my breath away as I was quickly swept downstream. I had to get out of the water but first I had to keep from smashing my head on a rock. I got my feet downstream and flipped over, trying desperately to get my foot or hand on something. Suddenly my leg got caught between two rocks and the current flipped me over it. I thought my shin was going to break as the current pulled on me. My leg was stuck and my back hit another rock. The current had me pinned down and I was facing upstream with the water rushing over the front of my body. I knew a had only minutes to get out of the 35 degree water. I threw my oles over the the bank and tried to get my leg unstuck and still keep from getting swept downstream again. My hands were frozen and I couldn't grab anything. My fingers were useless. I was probably yelling and I managed to thrash through and get to an overhanging bush which I grabbed onto and dragged myself onto the shore. I was safe. I had to keep moving though. I grabbed my poles and hustled up the bank and into the woods, trying to jump and run and flex all of my muscles. I got to the trail and dropped my pack. MY PHONE! AHHHH! it was in my chest pocket and I managed to get it out with my frozen fingers. I had to get the battery out! My fingers were worthless, forget the phone, I needed to get some gloves on. They were wet but at least it was something. My clothes were all dripping. I opened up my pack and at least everything was dry inside. I managed to get my phone apart. It was soaked. I didn't allow myself to think about the consequences of that. I needed to get warm. I tried to hike a while, thinking maybe the clothes would dry but in a few minutes I decided it would be a good idea to get out of those clothes. I pulled out anything dry and put it on while I hung up all of my clothes on a tree as the sun climbed in the sky. I was going to be alright; however, I was going to lose a lot of time.

I took that time to eat some food and get warmed up. My clothes took about an hour to dry and then I moved on. Losing the phone was a big deal though, it had all my maps in it. I now had zero navigational tools. I knew I could get out by going east but it really wasn't as simple as that. I still had to find and cross Forester Pass and Kearsarge Pass and I had no idea where they were and there was no real path to follow. I was hoping someone would come up behind me but from what I had seen, the closest person to me was at least a full day behind. I was going to have to keep going, blind.

I knew I had to cross another river and that the climb to Forester began after that so I just did my best to find old footsteps or marks that looked like footsteps. It was scary and much of the day I spent in despair but I managed to somehow find the trail occasionally.I came to Bighorn Plateau and there was no way whatsoever to tell where the trail went. I just guessed and got lucky. Eventually I found some tracks that hadn't been melted and I followed them all the way to Tyndall Creek. I wasted about two hours wandering around, trying to find the Ranger Station, hoping for a map or anything. There were bear boxes and I looked inside them for maps or anything that might help. The only thing I had was the section from Yogi's guidebook which gave a written explanation of the approach to Forester Pass but no maps. I got across the creek and laid out my phone, hoping the hot sun might dry it. It did help but there was a lot of moisture under the screen and I wasn't going to try to turn it on until it was totally dry. I had no idea what it looked like over Forester Pss but I was hoping that maybe I might see a fire or tents or something. I sat at the creek crossing and ate lunch, drying my feet and hoping that someone might come walking up.

Most people camp there and leave early in the morning while the snow is very hard. It was 1:30 in the afternoon when I decided to make a run for Forester Pass. The snow was soggy and the sun had been very bright for the last several days and the snow was soft. Figuring out where the trail went was an exercise in voodoo and the snow made it really difficult to traipse around looking for it. The altitude became a huge factor and once I figured out the general direction I was going, I stopped looking for the trail and just headed toward the huge wall of granite in front of me. Just about when I stopped looking for the trail, that's when I found the tracks that would get me up and over Forester Pass.

I found what seemed to be a large person's tracks and I stayed in them exactly; hoping to avoid post-holing every step for five miles. It took me about 4 hours to go 5 miles. The climb up Forester Pass was grueling. Between the altitude, the snow, the steep climb, the uncertainty and the sun, I was exhausted when I got over the pass. Fortunately, the trail was more obvious going down Forester into King's Canyon National Park.

It was about 6PM when I started down toward Vivette Creek, although I didn't know that's where I was going because I had no maps. I followed the tracks down and it looked like just about everyone took the shortcut and glissaded right down into the valley. The glissade should have saved a lot of time but the snow was soft and I couldn't really slide. I ended up having to kinda run, post-holing and crossing the wide open valley. At some point it occurred to me that I could put my phone in a bag of ramen to dry it out. Man, I wish I had thought of it earlier. I put the ramen and my phone in a ziplock and continued into the woods. The trail was impossible to find but I followed the river and saw a tent. It wasn't a thru-hiker tent but it was pitched on the only flat, dry ground I'd seen in days so I hailed them and one of them poked their head out of the tent and didn't mind me camping there. He thought I was a ranger. They were section hikers going SoBo. I figured I'd ask them if I could borrow their map from the section they just did. I was so relieved. I cooked some Idahoans and went to bed.

David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Lost and Solo

I was hoping the diarrhea had passed but I didn't think it had. I was too psyched out to sleep in. I just hoped that it was from something I ate and not Giardia or some other problem. It took a while for Bandit and Sprinkles to get up. I couldn't sleep and it looked like this river was going to be tough to cross. Fortunately Sprinkles found a big tree to cross about 200 yards upstream.

After we packed up camp, we crossed on the big log and headed up toward Crabtree Meadows. When we got there there was a large creek with lots of golden trout hanging out along the banks. Of course the fellas wanted to catch some fish and they were going to camp there and get up early the next morning to go up Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental US at 14,505 ft. I climbed it last year so I wasn't planning on climbing it again; besides, I needed to get out a couple days early so I could call my musicians and arrange for the gigs I had the next weekend. I reluctantly got my stuff together and headed out. I didn't realize the trail was on this side of the stream so I crossed it two more times before I got out of there. I was trying for the campsite at Wallace Creek which was about four miles away. I didn't realize that it was the beginning of a harrowing three day journey.

The trail to Wallace creek was completely obscured by snow and no map was going to help me get there; although my maps were on my phone and I was trying to save batteries so I rarely consulted them. I had no compass, no GPS and my maps were PDF Files on a phone. I had just started to simmer a recipe for disaster.

I have no idea how I even found Wallace creek. Three times I had to backtrack and restart to find the trail since the footsteps in the snow were completely lost in the sun cups. Sometimes you could find the trail by old notches on the trees from the John Muir Trail (JMT); however, the JMT often strays from the PCT and you could get yourself even more lost.. Finding the campsite at the river crossing was going to be nearly impossible. Eventually I found Wallace Creek but it was late in the day, the sun had dropped on the other side of the mountains and everything was covered with five feet of snow. The creek was deep and torrential. I couldn't find the crossing and so I weaved upstream through manzanita and snowdrifts to try and find a fallen log or rock formation to jump across. It was hard work and slow going as each step was a logistical puzzle. It became apparent that I was going to have to make a decision soon to actually go across the creek or camp in the snow and wait until morning. I tried to cross several places but it was very dangerous. Time was running out, I thought I found a good spot where the river had split in three smaller but still treacherous streams. I fought through thick bushes and snow just to get to the creek edge. The water was shockingly frigid and soon it was creeping up to the bottom of my kilt. I had left the snow baskets on my trekking poles and the strong current tried to pull the poles from my hands as I sought for good holds in the fast moving water. I tried to get across but soon found myself with a deep channel of impassable water in front of me. Backing up was looking even worse. I couldn't let anxiety turn to panic I couldn't go down. I was in big trouble and there was no one who would be missing me for days. I had to stay upright. I had to get across. I wasn't going to let this river get me. Out loud I yelled at the river, "This is not how I die! This is bullshit! C'mon, let's go" I was trying to psyche myself up. I spotted a possible route and managed to get across the deep channel without losing my footing. I don't actually remember how but I finally got across, wet and cold and lost. I had no idea where the trail crossed the creek. The sun was gone and dusk was making it impossible to find the trail. I might actually cross the trail and never know it as I wandered around the snow-covered banks, searching. I pulled up the maps from my phone and made a guess as to my position based upon a recognizable mountain bowl to the south. I methodically traversed along the river until I actually found the trail and the campsite. I was very relieved; but, what areas weren't covered in snow were soggy and not what I was looking for. I decided to hike for as long in the dark as I could and was rewarded with an amazing campsite about a half mile up the trail overlooking just about everything... I was too tired to eat or to make food. I put up my tent, put my bear cannister a couple of yards away and crawled into my sleeping bag.

David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Golden Trout Dinner

Sleep was great on the soft sand and my bag is so warm that I haven't yet had to actually get in it, I just lay it on top of me like a blanket. It's a unique bag that can be unzipped fully to make a blanket so that's how I've been using it. While we were eating, the hikers from Trail Pass came by and they were off the trail. I yelled across the meadow to tell them where it was and I watched them carefully because I wasn't sure where it went to. according to the map there was a shortcut through a pass above the spring where that fed the meadow and I planned to go due west over the little saddle and reconnect with the trail instead of going all the way around. Sprinkles and Bandit originally agreed with this and then they decided against it. I got stubborn and I went over the saddle and sat in the trail and waited for them.

Later that day we went by Chicken Spring Lake and the fellas were really itching to go fishin so we went up there. It was totally frozen. We kinda lost the trail after that and continued to lose it all day. We encountered a few other lakes which weren't frozen and Sprinkles was really trying to get us to stay there so they could fish but I really wanted to try and et down to a legit campsite and get some real mileage in so they conceded and we headed down to Rock Spring Camp. My feet had been soggy almost all day it was starting to take it's toll on the condition of my skin. I started to just walk in every stream to cool my feet, reduce swelling and create some squishyness in there. When we finally got to Rock Creek we were glad we did because it was huge and there were plenty of trout. I'm going to have to get a backpacking rod.

After I set up my tent I set about to collect some wood for a fire. The fellas went fishing and I knew we were going to need some coals. It was really difficult to find wood of any significant size because obviously this campsite had been camped out. Even the branches in the trees had been taken. I managed to get enough for a decent fire and got it going. Bandit and Sprinkles caught 6 small trout (Golden Trout). Dinner was going to be interesting! Bandit cut up some garlic and onions and made 3 trout packets for cooking. It was cool eating fresh fish but of course we were worried about bears so we had to burn everything.

Then came the diarrhea. At some point my bowels decided to go haywire. I don't know if it was the fish or something else but it continued through the night and I had to get up and sneak through the woods and cut cat holes several times. I was pretty worried. I had four or five days of hiking left and certainly not enough toilet paper for this kind of activity. I hoped I wouldn't have to resort to using snow; although, at least there was plenty of that around...



David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Friday, June 17, 2011

Frog Beach at Poison Meadow

My headache was still going strong in the morning despite a good night's rest. Topsy Turvy gave me three Advil and I accepted them greedily. Later we go tinto a political argument about immigration and I'll bet she wished that she could take those Advil back. Occasionally I get into arguments with people out here on the trail about political issues. There are all types of people out here. Granola types, conservatives, eco-fascists, religious fanatics, you name it, they're out here. I think Bandit and Sprinkles would appreciate it if I didn't ransack everyone I meet who has a different opinion than I do but sometimes I can't help myself. It starts as a civil discussion but sometimes escalates to an unproductive argument. That's not what happened in this case. I think we had a civil disagreement but then again I'm an east coast cat and sometimes what we think is a civil disagreement is looked at like a vicious argument by Westies.

I had some more gastrointestinal issues before we got on our way and I hope I brought enough paper.

We hiked through varying levels of snow and passed several places where people are going from and coming back onto the trail. At one point we found an old corral by a swampy lake where we got some food. We saw some trout in the stream and the fellas got very excited to do some fishing. They both brought rods with them and can't wait to catch something.

Nearing the end of the day, we passed up a good campsite at "Trail Pass" where a bunch of hikers had stopped including Mother Goose, Sunshine and a few others. We decided to get a little further on down the line. Unfortunately we ran into a LOT of snow. This is pretty much where the turning point was. After Trail Pass the trail really began to be covered mostly in snow. It took us a while to get anywhere because we kept losing the trail and there were no places to camp that were either flat or not snow-covered. We were following footprints and sometimes they were and sometimes they weren't on the actual trail. We followed the footsteps into a flat area but we were way off the trail. We heard a shout from our left and it was Yankee with Swiss Miss telling us that the trail was up the hill a little to our left. Up ahead the footsteps led to a large meadow that was wet, muddy and full of cow patties. Bandit's cattle resentment was coming back. On the other side of "Poison Meadow" we saw what looked sort of like a beach. We suspected that the sandy area was dry and so we made for it. We were in Bear Country now and this looked like a prime spot to find one. We had to cross a creek in the middle of the meadow and Bandit pulled off a daring leap across a big gap. I filmed it. WE found a great spot on the other side of the meadow and we set up camp and started a fire. It was getting pretty cold. We sat around the fire and dried our soaking wet shoes and socks. The roar of the stream was seasoned with the chirping of thousands of frogs as the stars came out. It was like being on some strange beach at 10,000 feet.


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Of Meadows and Mosquitoes


It was the first time I got to use my new sleeping bag in the wild. It kept me fantastically warm. It was wet though, and the inside of my tent was covered in a fine layer of ice. I didn't want to get up. I was hoping the sun would come out and dry the whole thing up. The night before the moon had been so bright I thought someone was standing outside of my tent with a spotlight. Unfortunately my bowels had other ideas and I was going to have to get out of this tent and find a tree to water. when packing up I tried to dry everything out but eventually had to just accept that it was going to be wet. Maybe sleeping in a hige meadow with a creek running through it was not the best idea.

We hiked along hige meadows all day and crossed the winding Kern river which kind of reminded me of a high altitude Missouri. Fortunately there was a bridge there although it was marauded by swallows who dive-bombed us as we crossed it. I imagined what it would be like to get in a tube and float down the Kern all the way to wherever it eventually led.

We eventually got in to a campsite that was just along another creek. I objected to camping there but I was overruled. I really didn't want to get marauded by a hundred mosquitoes. The fellas use Deet but I'm not a fan. As we got in to camp my head started to pound. I hadn't been drinking as much water as I should have been and I didn't feel like getting water in a cloud of skeeters. Sprinkles came over and sprayed me down with deet and I hate the smell but I ended up just climbing into my tent and trying to rest. It was early and the fellas wondered what was wrong with me. Data Muffin and Topsy Turvy came in to camp and I finally got out of my tent to get something to eat. I couldn't tell if the headache was from altitude or dehydration but I suspected that it was probably a combination of both. I'm still on antibiotics too and I've just started to get some diarrhea so I'm a little worried about it but I've got about 6 more days of walking til a town so I guess I'll just wait it out.

We made a fire and sat around eating. Our food cannisters are very heavy and I'm torn between conserving food and dropping weight. It's weird knowing I have so far to walk just to get back to civilization. I realize now that I'm also not going to have zero cellphone signal the entire time I'm out here. I have a gig on the 23rd, so I must be able to get out of the Sierra by the night of the 22nd. I'm shooting for Kearsarge Pass by the town of Independence on I-395. That means I'm going to have to walk about 10 miles off the PCT to get there and over the Kearsarge Pass and down to my car in time to get back to San Diego for my gigs on the 23rd, 24th and 25th. I actually haven't called my musicians for the gig yet so I'm going to have to get out in time to get that stuff together too. These are the things that keep me awake at night...






David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Into the Sierra, finally.

The time for campsite shenanigans was over. We got back on the trail today and we into the Sierra officially. There should be some daunting terrain in the next 9-day segment including the highest mountain in the Contiguous United States. Mt. Whitney, at 14,505 ft. has been a problem for lot of thru-hikers and many have gone up only to return without summiting. It's not on the actual trail though so you don't have to do it if you don't want to. We'll have to cross the highest mountain pass on the Pacific Crest Trail in about 6 days; Forester Pass at 13,200 ft which means it's surrounded by mountains that are higher than that. I've heard the snow levels are making it really tough to get through and the creeks are more like raging rivers. Since I've never hiked through this kind of terrain, I'm interested to see what it will be like with all of the rumors floating around about how tough the Sierras are going to be with all of this snow.

We had a pretty steady climb all day starting around 6000 feet in Kennedy Meadows. You could feel the altitude becoming a factor. It's always tough entering the woods again after a bunch of days sitting on your butt and playing bored games and eating smores.

Near the end of the day we came up through a stream-cut valley and crested a pass around 8000 feet into an amazing meadow. We'd been waiting to get some water and there was an interesting stream that had cut a deep, mud gully through this immense valley (later to tribute to the Kern). The sun was soon to go down and it was like something out of a movie. There was a group of people in the woods on the edge of the valley across the gully stream and a couple girls getting water. I didn't recognize them but they waved and we waved back and we were going to go over there to get some water when a guy walked from out of the woods and intercepted us. We figured out that he was a guide for a high school group and he was probably trying to keep us from coming over and interacting with his 11th graders. Pretty funny but a prudent move on his part. Me and Sprinkles and Bandit surely don't pose a risk but you never know what kind of people are running around out here; or of course, what kind of kids you have in your group for that matter. Haha! Maybe he was protecting us!

We decided to drop camp in this awesome meadow about a 1/4 mile north of them. There were cow patties everywhere. I wasn't aware that some people actually herd livestock up into these mountain meadows and they feed on the delicious grasses, clean air and sparkling mountain streams. Unfortunately, they poop EVERYWHERE. I did some research and it turns out that high altitude cattle grazing has been going on since the 1850's since these areas were basically otherwise unusable; however, it's widely known that this causes a lot of problems with water quality for people who rely on the water that comes from the Sierras (Basically all of Southern California). In fact, one of the reasons for the establishment of Yosemite National Park was to try to alleviate cattle grazing in that area. Cattle Poop creates increased bacteria blooms in the drinking water supply and has the greatest impact at high altitude because of the fragile ecosystems. I'm against it and Bandit was ranting about it all night.

For more information, check this out: Reducing the impact of summer cattle grazing on water quality in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California: a proposal


Anyway, the HS retreat guide told us they were going to be hiking out south in about an hour so we knew it would be quiet. A few other hikers hiked through and Spice Rack and Caveman dropped in on us. Bandit was passing out Peppermint Patties (Peppermint Schnapps and Hot Coco) and after something like that, it's tough not to drop your tent and hang out for the night. A full moon was on it's way and the stars on the ceiling of this meadow were spectacular. The floor; however, was still littered with hubcap-sized cow droppings.


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Wilson Mobile Command Center

I'm, sitting in the mobile command headquarters of the Wilson Conglomerate while we escape from the heat of Kennedy Meadows and await the arrival of more Thru-Hikers to arrive for the evening festivities. Rum Tim, Janimal and Grandma Sprinkles have graciously offered their tine and energy to set up a mobile trail magic station of which we are the principal beneficiaries. Alina, Sprinkles' GF just showed up from Vegas and Amy is here for Bandit and I have my iPad and guitar. Some hikers just came in so I'm going outside to meet them all.

Later

I spent the majority of e day throwing bean bags at little holes, I'm getting a little antsy. I have no transportation and we're not quite ready to go out to the trail but just sitting around is starting to get to me. this section will be the longest I've been out without a town and you know me, I LOVES ME SOME TOWNS!

We went down to the store and I got reall ticked off at these people. I tried to buy a 99 cent Arizona Iced Tea and they charged me $ 1.52! How can you charge me $ 1.52 when it says 99 cents right on the can? Granted, I can understand that they have some expenses getting the stuff way out here but a 53% mark up? And why is it 53% and not like an even 51 cent mark up. That's what really got me was the 2 extra pennies. It's adding insult to injury! Another think that really chaps my buttons is that these folks tried to tell us it was illegal for Sprinkles' family to offer trail magic to the hikers because they were charging for dinner. Ridiculous! They were having some sort of $ 5 potluck, supposedly to benefit the local fire station. I don't believe it for a second. These shuysters rung my bell and I'm going to do some further investigatin'

I wonder if the food inspector wants to take a little trip out there to see if they have all their ducks in a row while they're selling burgers cooked over there in the corner on that ratty grille. I would hate to mess it up for the other hikers but these Children of LT. Schmidt are just taking advantage of the desperation of hundreds of tired, homesick hikers. Someone has to do something!


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Monday, June 13, 2011

Shuttle my bounce box to lone pine and back


They had breakfast cooking when I got up. The campsite was teeming with thru-hikers and I met Sprinkles' Dad "Rum Tim", Stepmom "Janimal" and Grandmom Sprinkles. They are super down to earth and we had a great breakfast with a bunch off hikers. Ninja and Drop&Roll were there with K-Bomb, Push, Sparrow, Beacon, and a bunch of others I can't remember. Amy found a bird in the grille of my car and it was a really cool looking bird. I felt bad for hitting it, it was about midnight the night before and i was zooming down thislittle road in the middle of nowhere and I remember noticing him on the side of the road and as I was about to go by I was like, "don't do it!".

Well, he did it,

I tried to miss him but apparently I failed. I'll show you a pic later. I got my pack all packed up which took a while cause I really didn't want to forget anything in this section. We all drove up to Lone Pine where I dropped my car off and we resupplied and helped Buttercup get some shoes. We had dinner at the Whitney Restaurant and came back to the campsite. A bunch more people were there and especially Pepe and Bootz! Sweet, we were going to have a great singalong tonight I could tell. The campfire was long and full of song as we stayed up all night. My tooth is still bothering me a little and I think it's just healing itches but I hope it doesn't get infected while I'm out there. I doubt it will, cause I'm taking ampicillin but I can't say I'm not thinking about it... Sleepin in the RV again... Damn Im spoiled


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Back on the trail at Kennedy Meadows

I hung around for a while with Laura and split much later than I had planned. I repacked my car with less stuff cause I wan't going to need any of it before I was coming back again for another gig on the 23rd. Sprinkles' parents drove up to Kennedy Meadows and brought their RV and Bandit's GF Amy is coming up so we're not going to leave Kennedy Meadows (KM) until Wednesday. There's absolutely no service there so I'm probably going to be out of touch until the 23rd or so. We'll be hiking up from Kennedy Meadows to Kearsarge Pass and summiting Mt Whitney on the way. It's about 87 miles plus 10 to get back out and it'll probably take about 8 days with all of the snow and river crossings. It'll be cool to meet Sprinkles' Dad and Stepmom. I finally got on the road at like 6PM and headed up. The drive was boring although I almost hit an owl and 2 little birds (turns out a I actually did hit one of them) and I got to camp and everyone was around the fire. I briefly met Sprinkles' Dad and then we pretty much headed to bed. They let me stay in their camper and it was really nice. I definitely want to get something like that when I grow up.


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Mexican Teeth Pt 2

I decided to take public transportation for the dental excursion. I jumped on the Red trolley and took it to the border. I jumped in a cab and they took me to Washington Dental on Revolucion. It was about 11am when I got there but they took care of me quickly. they looked at the tooth and informed me they were going to have to remove it. While they were at it, they recommended I get a cleaning since I hadn't had one in a while. Grand total for a tooth extraction and a deep cleaning: $ 60 Man I love these guys. They gave me all the novocain I needed so that I felt nothing. It was awesome, except for the fact that I had a tooth removed and that can suck while it's healing; but, no more pain! Whew! About an hour later I was finished and on my way back to the US. They let me have the tooth, I want to put it under my pillow and see if the tooth fairy sends me a couple grand for an implant... I will probably get one down there, it's only about $ 1300 for each tooth including the crown and everything. It's like 3 or 4 grand per tooth in the US. The quality of Mexican Dental work is excellent as well. You're not sacrificing anything except for exorbitant bills by going down there.



I came back on the trolley and dropped myself off at Laura's pad. She had a great little place with my buddy Pat. Actually he's the reason I met her and I like it there. It's comfortable and clean and her little husky Mieka is one of the best behaved dogs I've ever met. I'm going to be home for a couple of days because if the tooth and I( have a performance on the 11th in San Diego. I'll head back up to meet Sprinkles and Bandit at Kennedy Meadows on Sunday the 12th. I've been trying to catch up on b logs while I'm home and don't have much to do. It's tough to remember all the stuff that happened out there, especially when I'm taking vicodin. that's stuff messes with my memory and makes me tired. I don't see what all the hullaballoo is about this drug though, it doesn't really do anything to me. Then again, I'm only taking like a half of the prescribed dosage but I don't really need much, it just helps to take the edge off of the pain enough that I don't mind it so much. It does help me to stay focused on writing though. I just sit here and write away and watch TV.


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

San Diego Serenade

We got up pretty late and there was a Padres game that she wanted to go to so we went to that and since I've been off of the antibiotics for a few days, the tooth started to throb again. it's pretty bad this time and I can't concentrate on the game at all. I was starting to get really annoyed with everything and Laura decided to go get me a few Advil. Thirty mounts later the pain was almost gone but I'm glad I didn't get rid of those vicodin the VA gave me for the tooth. I called my Dentistador in Mexico from the game. I didn't need an appointment. I love those guys. The Mexican Dental system is awesome! I would head down tomorrow. We split from the game early cause the Padres took a turn for the worse in the 8th inning. Now, I'm not one to leave a game early when my team is down. I feel like that's just bad form. You gotta hang in there and root for them when they really need you; however, the Padres are not my team and besides not really liking baseball, my mouth was really bothering me so I agreed to split early. We went down to the Ralphs on the way home and picked up supplies so Laura could make some crazy concoction she calls a "Taco Ring" or something like that. It was pretty damn good. I picked up some goat cheese and blueberries which I turned into some homemade jam and we watched TV and ate and passed out with the help of Mother's little helper.


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Back off trail and on tour to Burbak

woke up at the campsite at walker pass, hung out with everyone, warner springs Monty was there and setting up his camp. I was going to shuttle Balls and Sunshine but another guy took care of that. I tried to talk to the guy that has the internet thing at Kennedy Meadows to maybe set up a gig but he was in a rush to go back I think his name was Tom,

got on the road in the early afternoon and headed down to Burbank. I made pretty good time and I dropped in to Joe's Great American Bar and grill where the gig was going to be that night. I realized at that time that I hadn't sent Torch any promo material so he didn't have anything up on the walls, oh well, I know he has a good following at these gigs , I've seen it before and there are usually a ton of people there so I wasn't worried about it... ok maybe a little

I dropped off most of my gear on the stage and looked around a little before I went over to Torch's place to take a shower and wash some clothes. We caught up and I realized I hadn't posted the gig on Facebook so I took care of that and we sat around listening to a bunch of old records he picked up at a thrift store. You can get all these old vinyl albums with random stuff on them for like 25 cents a piece and you never know when you're going to run into some little gem you wouldn't have ever heard of otherwise. You just need to have an old record player is all...

We headed out to get a haircut from a giel at a salon, it was pretty sweet. they had great coffee and m&ms in a glass jar. I was in hiker heaven. I told the girl at the desk the joke about a day hiker. section hiker and a thru hiker and the M&M.

Got down to Joe's, I met everyone and then we sound checked. I had three amazing players with me that night. David Miller on Bass (who called the other two cats) Mark Cally on Guitar and Paul Lines on drums. These guys are all superstars and it was a real pleasure to play with them. the crowd was jumping too and I had a great time messin around and playing music. I love nights like that, the crowd was aces.
I was going to crash at Torch's but I really wanted to get home and sleep in Laura's bed (she was pretty stoked about it too) and despite my best efforts, we didn't get out of the club til two and then I had to go back to torch's to pack up the stuff and drive back to SD. Needless to say I took a nap or two in random parking lots when I was doing touch-and-go on the steering wheel. I got in as the sun was coming up and jumped into a warm, soft bed with a warm, soft girlfriend. She was glad I took a long shower at Torch's.

Just notes, not an actual entry:
Trail angel mama and her son Jayhawk,
Warner Springs Monty showed up and we set him up , then I split for Burbank. I had a gig at Joe's Great American Bar and Grill for Mark Tortorici aka "Torch" and his regular Tuesday night event. When I got in to town, I hung out at his place, did laundry, got ready and went to the gig refreshed. It was packed and a great night for swing dancing. Torch really has a good thing going there.

funny how my legs and feet are trashed but as soon as I get on that stage i'm dancing around like afoo and I can't feel any pain. I had a killer-diller band with David Miller and Mark Cally from Royal Crown revue and Paul Lines ondrums. Man i wish I had guys like that all the time...

After the gig I drove back to San Diego but kept passing out on the side of the road and didn't get in til late the next morning. My tooth was really starting to throb, two days ago I had run out of the amoxicillin I got at the VA back in May. I had a lot of stuff to do to catch up with work and get to Mexico and see what was going to have to happen. They're probably going to have to pull the bastard... Oh well, sleep first...


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Notes: Trail magic at the Bridge

This entry is not written yet, these are just notes:
Section Notes:
Started out heard spoonman and others going by, we were sluggish to get out
It was wet and cold again
Had to #2 a third day in a row, strange
Headed up to Cottonwood o creek to get water, turns out
Cottonwood Creek bridge Trail magic with Good Spot and Wonka
Dice game Box Something
hung out inthe shade, finally got going again we had some climbing ahead of us. Cricket joined us the weather kept threatening,
as we got up in the mountains looking for the water source at Tyler Horse canyon but it looked like it was definitely going to rain. We wanted to get more miles in but I didn't want to get all wet. we were trying to get to the Tehachapi pass rd at Rt 58 where Pepe and Bootz were going to meet me with my car but if we stopped here we would have 20+ miles to get to that rd and that wasn't likely. it was 16 miles to the willow creek rd and i could just have Pepe and Bootz pick us up there. We were still beat from the 30 miler the day before so it wasn't hard to convince Bandit and Sprinkles to stay here and cook some dinner.
we met a cat named Joe who just recently got back on the trail after taking a week or two to let his legs heal.

I was a little worried because this canyon looked like it had the potential to flash flood like crazy. It was the only canyon with drainage that we had seen or knew of for many miles and the mountains above it were vast so that means that it didn't even have to raon at all in the actual campsite for it to be completely flooded from rainfall anywhere in the mountains above

Hikers here:
Gourmet, Hot Rod, joe, cricket, etc.

I was glad we stopped because it did rain in the night although nowhere near as bad as it looked like it was going to.






David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Notes: 30 miler on a desert night hike

This entry is not written yet, these are just notes:
It was a wet night and as much as I wanted to wait until the sun warmed and dried the tent, I also had to go to the bathroom really bad
got up hear spoonman
#2 in the woods again
bandit then sprinkles too
walked tot he tank cgot confused, it wasn't the one
walked to the guzzler
filmed it,
Dirt Bike Riders on the trail
gourmet yelled at them
missed the campsite at Bear
met up with Gourmet and Krista and Hotrod, cricket etc at the Horse springs camp
ate lunch
got back on and went down. Cows, fields, goats, long ass hike along the range til we finally go down because of the shooting club.
Hikertown:
Describe it,, full facilities, shower, laundry, funky little prop buildings, roosters dogs, garage with couches, tv lot of hiker box goodies and food
coffee maker incident
bunch of people were there, we ordered food from the market and Doug picked us up in his RV ans took us to the store.
I got a pastrami sandwich and picked up a few walking snacks
We got showers and washed clothes at Hikertown but the owner wasn't there.
caretaker
had a lot of conspiracy stories
Didn't want to head out so early but bandit and Sprinkles wanted to get on the road we were going for 34 mile day
going to follow the Aqueduct for most of the second part
huge group of us, everyone was drinking and wearing glow sticks and glow bracelets
we were way out in front all night, worried they would get lost, we actually made a wrong turn in the dark and had to follow another road to get back to the trail.
Cold and wind kicking up dust
we could hear the aqueduct rushing below us
stopped for dinner on one of the way stations
So tired, zombie walking
at about 30 miles decided to call it quits, looked around for campsite all we found was broken glass and shotgun shells
looked for spots with shade because the sun would be killer in the am






David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Friday, June 3, 2011

Escape from Casa De Luna

We finally bid a fond farewell to Joe, Terry and the Casa de Luna although we had to wait until about 2pm for a ride to the trailhead. We got back on where we slacked from over at Lake Hughes. There was some climbing and wind but all in all it was nice (except that the trail always seems like a mother after four days sitting on a couch in some strange town)

We ran into some counselors from a local Christian Day Camp that were hiking around. We got some lunch after the first major climb although we got such a late start we knew we weren't going to get very far before sundown. We passed mile 500 and some of the guys were camped out at the road there. Someone had made a "500!" out of pinecones and we wanted to cook some dinner but it was just too damn windy. We hiked on until we finally found a spot to cook out of the wind right by the old PCT 500 mile marker. It got pretty dark and we wanted to get some more miles in so we kept going in the dark until we crested the hill. We knew there was a water source nearby but we wouldn't be able to find it in the dark so when we came upon this meadow in the saddle with a bunch of tents in it, we set up camp. It turned out it was Spoonman, Cerveza, Tick-ette, and a few others. It had been a sort of cold evening so we were hoping that the winds weren't bringing in rain. We set up camp in the dark and I was out cold in about a minute flat.




David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Casa De Luna Part 4

I dropped off Pepe and Bootz at the trailhead near Tehachapi and came back to Casa De Luna only to realize we weren't getting out of there today. We did end up slacking an 8 mile section but coming back to stay at CDL. I did manage to take care of a few important things like ordering new pole sections for my broken trekking pole and also a new pole section for my tent. I contacted Melanie at Leki and was all set to give her my credit card information to get a new pole segment sent to me and she said "forget about it, I already sent it out free of charge." Obviously I'm a huge fan of Leki and I recommend that you use their stuff. I emailed Tarp Tent about a cracking pole segment on my tent and was contacted back directly by the owner, Henry Shires. He also sent me a segment free of charge and it got to me right away at the Anderson's. With customer service like that, you'd be crazy not to use their stuff. Not to mention it's functionally superior to all of the other mainstream lightweight tents out there. I have the "moment" tarp tent. I'm posting a picture from inside the tent so you can get a mosquito's-eye view of my living quarters. I just updated my gear list and you can see everything that I'm carrying or wearing by clicking on "Gearlist" over there to the right --->










David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Casa De Luna Part 3

Another Day at the Anderson's began with pancakes and ended with a great night around the fire playing music til late. I think I figured out what I'm going to do about leapfrogging the car. Pepe and Bootz want to do the next section southbound so I'm going to drop them off at Route 58 and bring my car back here to Casa De Luna. It will take them about 4 days to walk back south to the Anderson's and I will travel north to the 58 and they will then drive my car up to me. I like this idea. We had another great night of jamming around the fire with a whole new group of people. I hope Pepe is around a lot more cause it's great to have someone to play Jazz with and that's rare on the trail. Tomorrow I'll drop them off and come back to finally split from the Casa... Hopefully...




David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.davidpatrone.com/PCT
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/davidpatrone