Day 11 - A Long Time Out-A Long Time To Go

Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Stats for the day: started at Wahoo Lake (11,320') at 8:00 - ended at Merriam Lake (10,930') at 4:00. Total ascent 2568'. Total Descent 2984'. Total Distance 10.3 miles. 5 hrs 6 mins walking.

Today is day 11. How fast the time flies! Everyday has brought new adventures, challenges and delights. It seemed like we had just started walking today at 8:00 when suddenly it was noon and time for lunch. When I checked the GPS, sure enough, we had gone 5 miles of cross country travel already.

When I think of how big a deal it is to be out for 30 days straight it seems overwhelming in terms of the distance we must go, but when I look at it one day at a time it seems trivial. It is just each of those trivial days add up to a pretty long time out. Nothing compared to doing the entire Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from Mexico to Canada for 6 months, but a significant time span for me. I am thankful to have this opportunity to make this trip.

So far all body parts are working just fine, with the exception of the right knee that gets ever so slightly tender by the day's end. Ibuprofen has handled it so far along with an occasional icing. I feared it would be big trouble, but not so far.

When I take the time to compare my schedule here to home's it is laughable. Most nights I am in my sleeping bag by 7:00PM, where home bed is usually 12:00AM. I walk all day here, from 7:30 to 5:00. I eat all the things I know at home make me fat, yet I still am way low on caloric intake. I have been keeping a record of what I eat and the calorie content and how many minutes we hike or climb and the calorie output. I usually end up 2000-3000 calories short of what I need to eat to maintain weight. For example today I ate 2516 calories but thru hiking and base body maintenance I burned 3821 calories. I am about 1300 calories short for the day. I cannot carry enough food to meet my caloric need each day, so the pounds of fat I stored up this winter are making up the difference. We will see when I step on the scales at the end of the trip.

Today was fairly uneventful compared to thunderstorms, vertical chutes and massive elevation gains or loses. We worked our way through the boulder fields comprising the shores and outlet of Wahoo Lakes, then descended into the broad plain of Humphrey's Basin. It's lack of land marks and dynamic terrain make navigation more a matter of map and compass rather than following contours or seeing the next destination. We climbed up the fairly gentle south slopes to Puppet Pass. The north side was not so forgiving. We had to negotiate our way down a very steep boulder field for 300-400 vertical feet. The bigger the boulders, the harder it is to scramble over them because their down slope sides are mini cliffs. This slope had boulders ranging in size from houses to Volkswagens. Gary slipped on one and bloodied a thumb, but otherwise we came through amazed and unscathed.

At the bottom is a broad cirque containing 3 or 4 lakes, including Puppet, Paris and Alsace. There are no trails to these lakes and no sign of man's passage exists. It is refreshing to go days without seeing anyone or any sign of anyone in such beautiful and dynamic country.

After lunch at Puppet Lake's outlet we dropped 400' down to Alba lake, then dropped again down to French Creek. We put on our Crocs and waded the stream in the valley bottom , then followed the trail down valley for 0.9 miles to where the trail junction to Merriam Lake should have been, but was not. We used the GPS to follow the route of where it should be and within a few minutes we found it's faint trace. We followed it straight up the hillside, it was ridiculously steep, to the meadow below the lake, then worked our way up through the hills until we reached the lake. We had been enjoying the past three days of mosquito free living. That came to an abrupt end at Merriam Lake. The Deet held them off while we washed some clothes, cooked and ate, but we pitched the tent after dinner and took refuge behind it's excellent mosquito netting.

We are all looking forward to a zero day on Thursday at Bear Lake. We are tired at the end of each day. We move like Zombies as we go about our camp chores and are all too happy to climb into bed early in hopes of regaining strength for the next day's adventures. It has been 5 days in a row of 10+mile days over multiple pass and route finding. A day to recoup, wash clothes and bodies and just relax is a welcome idea.