Approaching Interface - Monday, June 30

I can feel its presence even though it is 6 days away. It is already beginning to influence my thoughts, my decisions, my pace and even my camping locations. It is like a magnetic force field, unseen and influencing me over a distance.

For nearly three months, time has not been an issue. With what seemed like limitless weeks before us, we did as we pleased. A few extra days here to recover? No problem. Hike a short day. Sure. But, now I have to time my distances and camping spots to meet the unseen influence. It is the upcoming interface. I have to transition from trail to town. Worse yet, I have to do it on schedule to meet a plane reservation. The interface is not just a transition between locations. It is a transition between ways of life, trail life to town life.

Last night at Smedberg Lake I again plotted distances to be covered and time to do it in. I am not used to 20 mile days, so when I see I have 120 miles left to cover and only 6 days to do it in I have to review the maps and elevation changes to assure myself that this is possible. But, here it is, Monday night and I am camped at mile 989. Hwy 50 into South Lake Tahoe, my destination is at mile 1093, so I now have just over 104 miles to go, and 5 days to do it in. Three nights ago I was at Duck Lake, mile 895 with 198 miles to go, but my 18 miles of hiking and 35.8 miles of hitching around trail I had already hiked moved me to mile 942.5 Saturday night, 150.5 miles to go. Sunday's 20 miles to Smedberg shortened the distance to 130 and today's 20 brought the total to about 110 (a fair amount of rounding is going on here).

I really have 7 days to get to Hwy 50, but I want this interface to have a big buffer in case the impedance encountered at the interface is high (an injury that slows me down, trouble hitching a ride to town, get on wrong trail and have to backtrack, equipment failure, etc). So I am shooting for five days.

Today was an up and down day. From Smedberg Lake I descended 1700' into Benson Lake basin, then climbed 1800' to Seavey Pass, then dropped 1200' to Kerrick Canyon, then climbed 1200' only to drop 2000' to Wilmer Lake. The terrain was breathtaking with granite mountains and ridges surrounding idyllic lakes and streams. Most of the terrain was wooded, a sharp contrast to the High Sierra I passed through a week ago with its meadows and barren passes at 12,000 feet. Wilmer Lake was particularly beautiful with marshes, trees, cliffs and a river running right by it. The marshes must have been particularly efficient mosquito breeding grounds for the clouds of these pesky bugs were particularly dense.

I set up camp on a rock outcrop hoping to catch some wind and remove myself from the bugs, but to no avail. I had to sleep with my head net on to keep the critters from sucking me dry. Come to think of it, maybe I am looking forward to this interface. I don't remember getting bitten by mosquitoes in an airplane.