To the Mountains! .... Just Kidding, They're on Fire

As planned, Stephanie and I left Aunt Laura's house to go explore the wonderful city of Portlandia. We started the trip off with an 8 mile hike around Silver Falls(without packs!) that took us to 10 different waterfalls. So needless to say, it was awesome. The next night we stayed closer to Portland, went out for a drink and got up early the next day to explore the city. We walked around and bought a few things from the Saturday farmers market and craft show then made our way to a park where we discovered The World Forestry Center! This place is great and has all kinds of interactive activities including practicing being a firefighter jumping from an airplane.

Behind a waterfall at Silver Springs

I taught this stuff!

So many colors at the Farmer's Market

After our Portland adventures we took off towards the town of Ashland. The plan was this: Leave Stephanie's car in Ashland, OR, and hitch down to the town of Etna, CA. There we would go on a 120 mile (12 day)  hike back up to the city of Ashland where Stephanie would pick up her car and leave for LA whilst Aunt Laura came to get me and bring me back to Florence to see Johnny (my little not-so-little Brother who was flying up from Texas).

All went well, we got two very easy hitches into Etna and then stopped by the hostel there to see if anyone was giving rides to the trailhead, and they were. So before 2 pm Steph and I were on our way to twelve glorious days of walking.  The weather was perfect save for some lightning storms off in the distance and the views were some of my favorite so far. Not to mention I was testing out using a Hennessy Hammock as a new shelter, so I was feeling rather spoiled not having to sleep on hard ground.

One of our favorite campsites

Then the trail took a change. Remember those lightning storms I just mentioned? Well, they started a forest fire. A small one at first, of course, but over the next couple of days it spread significantly. By the time we reached Siead Valley (our resupply stop), which was about 3 days after we initially saw smoke, the sky was a great smokey haze raining ash.We found out that the portion of the trail we had just hiked was mostly on fire and had been closed. Then we found out that another large fire was spreading down from the north and that the fire department was very likely to shut down the next portion of the trail as well. If we had wanted to, we could have made it to the trailhead before any official closure (as some hikers did), but Steph and I decided that hiking up mountains while inhaling ash/ risking death by fire wasn't the route we wanted to take.So instead we got a ride back to Etna from The Animal and his girlfriend so we could hitch up the freeway back to Ashland. It was fun, we spent that night at karaoke bar where we met a trail angel who gave us a real bed to sleep in (we had been sleeping in the back of Stephanie's car mostly). We also went and saw the movie Lucy, which I do not recommend unless you are looking at it a bit more as some type of weird humor movie. They tried though.

The sun dimmed by the smoke, it was like this in every direction.

The Animal, his girlfriend and their friend

Steph and I at the Karaoke Bar

So we were safe from the fires, but now what? Finding a place to hike that was the right distance for our specific time slot is not as easy as one might think. So we decided, instead of hiking the PCT, we would go hike for a couple days around the Columbia River Gorge. And thus we made our second trip up to Portland. As a bonus we found out that the Portland Slam Poetry Team was performing at an open mic in downtown, so naturally we stopped in to see them before actually making the one hour drive out to the gorge. Worth it!

The next morning we bought a map of the gorge and mapped out a 60 mile, 6 day hike. It was absolutely gorgeous and Stephanie talked about how it reminded her of The Green Tunnel (aka the Appalachian Trail). There were waterfalls everywhere and the mosquitoes were shockingly not too bad. As we hiked, we came across some stunning views of Mt. Saint Helens, Mt .Hood and Mt. Rainier (I think that's right) all at once over the gorge. It was phenomenal.

Multnomah Falls, OR

Mt. Hood...I think

And then pride bit us in the butt, as it often does. We chose a trail labeled as 'Difficult' (the highest rating) because we thought this would be the closest thing to a challenge we could find.  First day: we make it to our planned campsite, everything is fine. Second day: We make it to the halfway point and decided to take an early day, everything is still pretty good. Third day: MOUNTAIN OF DEATH. I'm not even sure what we were on constitutes as a trail. First we went almost vertically down for over a mile, then had to climb practically vertically up for 2 or 3 miles (the maps didn't show distance on the trails) with quite literally NO downhill or even flat planes. Not to mention at several points the trail had fallen off. Yes, fallen off. So we were scooching along the sides holding on to roots and things. At another point we had to climb a wall of about 8 feet high made exclusively out of loose dirt. It fell away like sand. I almost fell to my death. Okay death is an exaggeration, but it wasn't fun. 

Needless to say we were very thankful to reach the top, which had lake full of salamanders! In fact, we were so happy to be there, we decided to stay an entire extra day....and take a shortcut out of the gorge to make up for lost time. And that is how Stephanie and I cut our 60 mile, 6 day hike into a 30 mile, 6 day hike. . . haha.

A water source Stephanie and I had to forge a trail to because, despite whatever the trail map said, there was no longer a path out to it.

That time the tree ate our trail sign

Spotted and Osprey feather!

The State of Oregon = A Fernery

The Columbia River Gorge

So the next day we managed to walk out to the highway and hitch a ride back to the car, which was awesome. I should also mention that we ran into quite a few black-berry vines on the way, which were amazing and prompted us to say very silly things such as, "Look at us gorging along this gorgeous gorge!" Because we're dorks. Then we made our way, once again, to Portlandia, so we could pick up Johnny at the airport in the morning. Not before stopping for some Cold Stone Creamery ice cream on the way though.

Bishop, the second visit

And so it was, we made our second appearance at the Bishop Hostel. Which was in its own way hilarious because they were all joking that we would be back before we left the first time, to which we had assured them we would not. And naturally, since I hadn't been able to eat due to nausea for the past three days, I immediately went to get myself this absolutely delicious smoothie sold by a coffee shop just around the corner. Unfortunately, it didn't quite go down as easily as I had hoped. This was my first hint that something wasn't right.
And it wasn't. Things got worse really fast. Every time I ate something I had immediate and intense searing pain that left me incapable of standing up without almost blacking out. And it only kept getting worse. So I decided to go to the hospital...which long story short did not turn out to be very helpful. And so things continued to get worse. And so I went back to the hospital. Once again, not helpful. They didn't diagnose me with anything and sent me home. Three days later I literally couldn't handle eating anything but crackers and water. One bite of cracker, followed by three gulps of water to help the pain. Trying to eat other things, like refried beans for example, would result in me being instantly on the floor feeling like someone was driving a knife through my chest; often tears were involved.
And then I discovered I could handle protein drinks, like Ensure. No kidding, I cried I was so happy. For the past week I had been able to get less than 500 calories in me a day which included absolutely no vitamins, fats or proteins. Within one day of drinking several Ensures and Muscle Milks I was on the mend. And now I am 100% back to normal! Yay!

But, backing up a bit. I'm leaving out the adventure aspect.
If you recall from an earlier blog, Nick and I had two friends who were renting a cabin at lake Tahoe for a week. This was definitely still happening. Also, my friend Stephanie had decided to drive up to see me. Stephanie and Amanda are two of my close friends from college who were hiking the Appalachian Trail (aka the AT). They had recently decided to get off the AT due to many factors and complications, and were both going to drive from the east coast to the west coast to come see me. But then Amanda decided she was going to be lame and go back to Texas. However, Stephanie decided to still be awesome and drive over! So she did, and she got to me the day after I got down the mountain. At this point Snake Charmer was still around (concerned I wasn't showing signs of getting better). But upon Stephanie's arrival he decided I was in good hands and that he wanted to get back on the trail. So the next day Nick, Snake Charmer, Stephanie and myself all piled in to Stephanie's new car and drove up to Mammoth (to drop Snake Charmer off) and then up to lake Tahoe to our friends cabin.

The cabin was huge and awesome, complete with a hot tub! Our friends Tess, Teal, Gizmo, Dirtnap and two new people were all there! As well as Tess and Teal's two adorable dogs Pearl and Luke (and another one named Gruff). Unfortunately I was pretty much at the peak of my misery. I could only down crackers and water and therefore did not have enough energy to walk for more than ten minutes much less go for a swim. Despite this, Stephanie and I did still walk out to the lake and chill in her hammock for a bit....until it started to rain on us haha.

But despite my disappointment about not being able to fulfill my dreams of being happily aquatic for a week, I was surrounded by wonderful friends who were taking excellent care of me and having a great time. How can you not be happy when hanging out with such good company?And eventually, as mentioned earlier, I figured out I could drink things like Ensure, and that made life considerably better. But, the time came when we had to go. And after making some arrangements, Stephanie and I drove up to Oregon to go stay with my Aunt Laura until I was 100% better.
The drive up was wonderful. Stephanie and I stopped in at the Capitol building and also at a beautiful sea-side dock on the way up. Oh! And we got to see those giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe.

"What happened to Nick?" you may be asking. Excellent question.
Shorty before I got Sick, Nick had started talking to me about wanting to get off the trail for a while. He has family in San Fransisco and a friend in Northern California that he wants to go visit. So we had talked about it and decided to go have a great time at Lake Tahoe and then go our separate ways. And that's precisely what we did. Therefore Nick is currently in San Fran and Stephanie and I are in Oregon.

And Oregon in awesome. We have been to the beach several times and done a lot of sand boarding. Tomorrow we plan to go kayaking and if it rains we'll detour over to the aquarium and museum (heck, we might do that anyways). 

On Thursday we are going to leave my Aunt's house to go spend three days exploring Portland and tackling an eight mile day hike that takes us to an array of gorgeous waterfalls. And then I'm going to get back on the trail. I don't know precisely where yet, but definitely after lake Tahoe and past all the highest peaks. I truly never want to experience AMS ever again. And certainly not whatever mysterious thing I just went through after where I couldn't eat anything.

In the Sierras

Matt (the owner of the Bishop Hostel) and his Mom gave Snake Charmer, Nick and I a ride to Kearsarge pass (Rogue got a separate ride about an hour before us) on a day that looked ominously cloudy and grey (but wonderfully cool). We arrived at the bottom of the pass pretty late in the morning (about 11), but still managed to top Kearsarge and then Glenn Pass (Two passes in one day is not to be scoffed at ladies and gentleman). We then camped at the beautiful Rae lakes, where it started to rain on us.

Rain is actually very pleasant to fall asleep to, but kind of an annoyance to pack up in. So, the next morning since it was still raining, Snake Charmer and I decided to stay under cover while Nick left to get a head start. That day continued to be grey and drizzly but was actually quite wonderful. We caught up with Rogue around lunch time and then walked through gorgeous country as the rain made everything shiny and wonderful.Then we ran into a girl who was taking a survey about feet for her graduate thesis, so Snake Charmer and I stopped to collect wild onions for dinner while we took her very long, but very interesting survey about our feet. We even gave her our e-mail so she could send us her findings.

Then, since it was already pretty late in the day, we called it a nero and camped just seven miles later at a suspension bridge at what was apparently a really popular and large campground. But it was right by a river and allowed campfires so it was a win-win for us! At this campground we met a father with his two sons (who I think were around the ages of 13 and 15) who had decided to go for a 4 day back-country backpacking adventure....with no rain gear and only cotton clothing. So basically, they were soaked and freezing and about a 2 or 3 days walk from civilization. So we made a campfire (why they didn't have one, I don't know) and invited them over to warm themselves and dry their clothes. They were grateful for the fire and we were grateful for the company, so it worked out great.

The next morning was sunny and beautiful, and so Snake Charmer, Rogue and I decided to sleep in and then enjoy a morning fire that we could cook breakfast on. Not to mention have some time to take a dip in the river and wash some socks! So we did, and Nick went on ahead early in the morning, as he had taken to doing, to get a head start. When we finally got moving, Rogue got a decent start on Snake Charmer and I. Too bad too, because we passed this awesome, long, flat slab of stone that the river was rushing over. And when I say large, I mean this thing was at least 150 feet long. So naturally Snake Charmer and I had to stop and take a joy ride on this natural slip-n-slide! (Sorry no pictures of this one. It had been threatening rain so my phone was all tucked away) But just know that it was freezing, kind of terrifying and 100% worth it. And so marked the end of the good times. After this, I started to get sick.

 As I believe I've mentioned, I'm a very slow hiker. So whoever I'm hiking with (mainly Nick), I just tell to go ahead at whatever pace they want to and then wait for me to catch up every couple of miles. Nick and I have had a very good system regarding this, where he knows about how to long to walk before waiting for me, etc. However, whenever we add third or fourth parties to the group, our rhythm gets pretty shaken. That, and Nick assumes that someone else is taking over as my hiking buddy for the day. These are usually pretty safe assumptions. Not that day.  After spending a good amount of time goofing around on the slip-n-slide, Snake Charmer and I were decently far behind everyone else. I wasn't feeling very well at this point but I thought it was just a combination of my allergies and having been on an unusual, albiet relaxed, hiking schedule. So I told Snake Charmer that I wasn't feeling on top of my game but not to worry and to please feel free to hike on ahead (Snake Charmer hikes faster then me by quite a bit, and actually Nick, too). So he did.

And well, that was a tremendously bad call on my part. At about 9,500 feet I began having AMS symptoms (or Altitude Sickness). At first I just thought my blood sugar was dropping (we all know how Hangry I can get haha) so I stopped to gorge myself. Terrible idea. My stomach was churning and the food just made me feel more lethargic, light-headed and weak. I even threw up a little. And yet, I still wasn't convinced it was the altitude. After all, I had climbed Mt. Whitney at 14,500 feet, so why would 9,500 affect me like that? I made up my mind to keep going. After all, maybe Snake Charmer was taking his lunch break just up ahead and I would be able to catch him. It was an encouraging lie, but a lie none-the-less. About a mile and 1000 ft in elevation later I was miserable. I had to stop because I was so light-headed and nauseous. I spent and hour unable to sit up on my own and trying to make myself throw up (to no avail). It was awful. And yes, I was crying.

At this point, I knew I was experiencing AMS. And what's the worst thing you can do when experiencing AMS? Keep going up. And what did I do? I decided to keep going.

This was my logic (I'm making no claims as to it being sound logic):

 1)Because Nick had left early, I was carrying the whole tent instead of splitting it like we usually do, and it was looking like it might rain. So if I didn't make it to him, he wouldn't have anything for a shelter (The man was only carrying an umbrella for rain protection).
 2) The only way out of these mountains and into town was up. I had to go up no matter what, so it might as well be now.
3) If I didn't keep going, someone was going to end up having to walk a crap-ton of miles backwards to try and find me. The rest of my crew was so far ahead (I was assuming) that they wouldn't realize I was missing until dark. Because I'm slow, but not that slow. So they would all be expecting me to be no more than and hour behind, and therefore not be worried until it was way too late. This also made me not want to turn around and go down the mountain because it would further elongate their backwards trek.
4) I was in bad shape, but I truly didn't believe that I was near death. Therefore, I felt like it was better for me to get over this mountain and to the only people I knew were anywhere near me (especially to Snake Charmer, who also has his Wilderness First Responder certification) than to go backwards or even stay by myself. Help sounded really good right about then.

So after a lot of calming exercises and some really heavy self pep-talks, I got up, I strapped on my unbelievably heavy pack, and I walked.

And I walked.

And I walked.  

It felt like an eternity. It took me almost two hours to walk each mile. But you know what, I did it. And well after dark, just as I was finally approaching the 12,200 ft summit, I saw a headlight peaking over the top. It was Snake Charmer, who had just backtracked over 2 miles from the other side to come find me. I was so incredibly relieved. We got me down the other side and made camp not nearly low enough, but lower none-the-less. Then the next morning he took all the heavy things and put them into my giant pack for him to carry, and all of the really light things into his much smaller, lighter pack for me to carry. Not too far down we ran into Rogue, which was convenient because I almost blacked-out. So then they didn't let me carry anything. Rogue took my pack and we walked five miles down to the lowest point we could get to, 10,000 ft (still not really low enough), and then Rogue walked back up the mountain five miles to retrieve his pack. So much for me not making people walk a ton of miles to get to me....haha. But it didn't matter, I did feel considerably better and we were in a beautiful campground next to a river that turned out to also be about a five-minute walk from the trail-crews main camp. So what that meant is, if things got worse, there was someone who had donkeys and the ability to call in a helicopter.

And well, things didn't really get worse, but they didn't exactly get better. The next day we zeroed at that spot to try and give my body time to adjust (I wasn't showing any signs of Pulmonary or Cerebral Edema). I was doing pretty good, but my stomach couldn't handle more than one bite of anything at a time every 30 minutes or so. And small bites, at that. Same with water. But I made myself eat and drink as much as I could handle all day. I still could barely stand up or walk for more than a minute without getting blurred vision and extremely lethargic, and my headache was never-ceasing.

Luckily, however, the life really is awesome. We had thought that we were going to have to get me up another 12,000 ft pass which would be followed by yet another 12,000 ft pass before I would be safely back in the town of Bishop at about 5,000 ft elevation. But this was not so. Only two miles back up the mountain was a 3 mile, unmaintained trail named Taboose Pass Trail up to Taboose Pass that was only 11,000 feet. So naturally we decided to take me up and over that one. And so the next day Snake Charmer, once again, carried all the heavy stuff for me, and Nick, him, and myself made our way up Taboose Pass. It was a slow process and as we got higher I was slow, completely out of breath, nauseous and definitely feeling drunk. But you know what, we made it with time to spare. And even better, this pass was headed to an essentially abandoned parking lot that was followed by a 10 mile desert road walk to the highway where we could actually hitch. But what happened? We ran into a retired gentleman who used to work for the Forest Service and Park Service doing a day hie up this insanely steep and rocky pass! When we told him what we had been going through he, without hesitation, cut his hike short, turned around and hiked down the rest of the way he had just come up just so he could give us a ride into town. Goodbye fears of the 10 mile desert road walk! It was incredible, amazing, and angels really do exist. They're called people. And they are wonderful. We got me to town.