Day 26 - Why The Risk?

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - Day 26

Stats for the day: started at Sierra Mine (10,720') at 7:30 - ended at Cascade Lake (10,340') at 1:30pm. Total ascent 2764'. Total descent 3246'. Total Distance 5.90 miles. 3 hrs 46 mins walking.

As Andy, Gary and I hiked out of Tuolumne Meadows yesterday we saw a park ranger coming towards us on the trail. As we passed I gave my usual greeting, "How are you today?". Her response sums up my feelings exactly, "Another perfect day in paradise". Indeed, we have been walking through paradise now for 26 days. So much so that we might be a little numb to the shear beauty we see in every direction every moment. Countless waterfalls everyday. Flowers of all colors, shapes and sizes. Soaring peaks of granite with serrated ridges separating glacial carved cirques. Hanging valleys with rivers cascading down slabs of granite so smooth their polished surface gleams in the sun. Heather meadows, tranquil and warm crossed by babbling clear, pure streams.

We began to count how many perfect place to camp we passed each day. It proved fruitless. There were too many. Great views, perfect meadows, tranquil lakes, stately forests, hanging ledges all beckoned us to stay longer and enjoy their attributes.

So when my sister Karen and her husband Matt joined us yesterday afternoon for the final five days of the trip it was rewarding to see anew the countryside through their new eyes. They delighted in the terrain, the peaks, the ramps and ledges and the views. They helped me to again realize at a base level what incredible mountains we are traversing and what an honor and gift it is to have the time, good health, and friends to do so with.

But, all this beauty carries with it risk. A falling rock, an ill timed misstep, a slip on steep snow, a missed boulder hop or a swift stream crossing can turn this paradise into a very hazardous place. We were reminded of this three days ago at Vogelsang when we watched a helicopter airlift a hiker with a broken leg suffered by a slip on snow and again today with a more tragic ending.

We had seen and heard a helicopter circling the Mt. Conness massif all morning as we approached the great mountain from the south on a traverse of steep rock punctuated with ramps and ledges. We climbed up Conness's east ridge from the south and then descended the steep north side, all the while watching the helicopter appear to search the area. We passed a few hikers near Conness Lakes that told us a 60 year old man had been missing since 10 o'clock the previous morning and that they were part of the search party.

As we pulled into Cascade Lake, our intended camping spot for the night we came upon two gentlemen, one with the sheriff's office as told by his uniform. I asked the other gentleman if he knew the man that was missing. He told me it was his brother. "Oh Shit", was my inappropriate reply.

I immediately told them we were trained in search and rescue, would be

in this location the rest of today and all of tomorrow and we would do anything we could to help.

The sheriff told us the high areas were being searched but the low areas had not been covered well and that he might have fallen in a hole between boulders in the rocky terrain or be lying in their shadows, unseen by the circling helicopter.

I introduced myself and they gave their names, Fred and Dave. It was Dave's brother that was missing, Bob.

We quickly found a place to camp, dropped our packs and began organizing how we would search. I spotted someone sitting on the far hillside in a red top which matched the description of the missing man. He was sitting near a boulder and appeared to be flashing something to get attention. Andy, Gary and Matt headed off in that area while I ran to find Fred to ask if that was one of his searchers. Turned out it was. The four of us reached the man and talked with him for a while as he described what was being done and that there wasn't really anything for us to do as more searchers would be in the area tomorrow. It had been really cold the previous night (we knew, we had frozen our tails off with strong winds and a low of 28) and he doubted Bob could have survived the night in only a light fleece and shorts. A few minutes later his fears were confirmed when his radio picked up his partners saying they had found Bob's body in a gully at the base of a cliff and were requesting body bags and a litter.

We volunteered to help with the evacuation, but they had enough of their own team members on the ground to handle the litter, so we returned to camp, sobered by the outcome. A few hours later, as we were finishing up dinner the search party wheeled the litter containing Bob's body past our camp.

So "Another perfect day in paradise" came to an end with a reminder, one of many we have had during our 26 days. The Sierra is called the Gentle Wilderness and in many respects it is. But, we must respect the fact that it is wilderness and understand the inherent dangers and risks it contains. We can rely on experience and skills earned over a lifetime to lessen the risk, but must also be aware that it is always there.