5/30–6/5/21

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Vaccinated

I left Joshua Tree early Sunday morning and headed north for the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Along the way, I managed to fit in an appointment for my second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which I was relieved to have. I’m not going to stand up on a soapbox or get political here, but I had been finding out in my travels that many areas did not take the pandemic seriously, and mask-wearing was often minimal or nonexistent. I was wary of even going into grocery stores, where I would frequently walk into a wall of unmasked people coming down the aisle toward me.

I had also been making a deliberate effort not to hitchhike until I had been fully vaccinated, which added the otherwise unnecessary expense and logistical challenge of finding shuttles for point-to-point backpacking trips. I think I had spent around $250 on shuttles just in the last month.

So for myself, being vaccinated allowed me to relax when indoors (though I still wear my mask), save money on shuttles by hitchhiking, and not worry about getting sick if a friend or family member were to fly out to see me (which my sister was planning on doing in a couple of weeks).

I did, however, have the typical flu-like symptoms for about 24 hours, starting that evening. Of course I had quite a few of the symptoms – fever, chills, headache, fatigue. At one point my chills were so bad I was in my 20°F quilt and had on all the blankets in my car, even though it only got down into the 40s that night. Thankfully Monday was Memorial Day, so I had the day off to recover, and the symptoms were completely gone after 24 hours.

Dispersed Camping

I stayed the first part of the week at a dispersed camping spot just south of Mammoth Lakes, in the foothills of the eastern Sierra Nevada. I loved, just how much cooler and forested it was here than much of the desert locations where I had spent the last month – it was quite pleasant.

I tried out a new addition to my work setup as well: a second monitor, which I had bought from my friend Cole in Phoenix the week prior. I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all when I surveyed my screen tent, battery bank, solar panels, laptop, second monitor, fan, and miscellaneous electronics.

One new major difficulty I encountered that week was solar availability. Because of how much the trees shaded the campsite I had a hard time getting consistent power from my solar panels. I would place them in direct sunlight, and within an hour or two, as the relative angle of the sun changed, they would be at least partially shaded, and I would have to move them again. This frustration continued throughout the week, and I left on Thursday with around 40% capacity in my battery bank. This was fine for the week, but obviously not sustainable, which worried me a bit, as it would only get worse as I headed north through California and into the Pacific Northwest.

Ansel Adams Wilderness

My backpacking destination this week was Ansel Adams Wilderness. With a name like that, you can bet it’s going to be beautiful. I wanted to see the many lakes in the area, specifically Thousand Island Lake (which, along with Banner Peak, is the subject of a famous Ansel Adams photograph), Ediza Lake, and Minaret Lake. I also saw that Devil’s Postpile National Monument, a strange rock formation, was nearby, so I planned out a three-day loop that would hit all of those points.

Day One: Vista Point to Thousand Island Lake (11.9 mi, +2,774’ / -2,041’)

To access this area, I had to park my car a bit farther away from the usual trailhead, Agnew Meadows, because of the road still being closed due to “snow.” However, there was not even a speck of snow on the perfectly good road, so I’m not really sure why it was still closed for the season. But with views like these, I wasn’t complaining too much about a little three-mile road walk.

At Agnew Meadows I ran into two older men stopping for a break after having completed the same road walk. We got to talking, and one of them kept saying how good it was that I was doing this trip now at a young age. He went on about how when he was younger he had hiked all over the place, and the most he had done in one day was 30 miles. Oh, if only he knew now how he had cursed me then to beat his personal record…

Continuing on, I was amazed at how much water there was everywhere. I quickly realized that it wouldn’t be necessary to carry much and only kept a liter in my pack, at most. What a nice change from carrying six liters at a time, caching water, and 21-mile dry stretches.

The wilderness continuously provided incredible view after incredible view, with Banner Peak frequently making an appearance in the background. Finally, I arrived at Thousand Island Lake, and took a moment to relax on the shore and take it all in. I then circled around the northern side of the lake, thoroughly enjoying the scenery as I searched for a good spot to camp for the night.

I purposely chose a spot where I could catch some shots that night of the Milky Way setting over Banner Peak to the south.

Day Two: Thousand Island Lake to Ediza Lake (11.7 mi, +2,884’ / -3,493’)

That morning I awoke for the sunrise, admiring the way the changing light displayed itself on Banner Peak. As I brushed frost off my quilt, I realized I would have to start pitching a tent again. I had gotten used to cowboy camping (camping without a tent) in the desert, where it was dry and bugs were not much of an issue. But the condensation and frost here would not be good for the down in my quilt.

I headed south along the John Muir Trail, which presented views that once again did not disappoint. I then turned west onto the Shadow Creek Trail toward Ediza Lake, and took a short jaunt off trail toward Nydiver Lakes to the north. The path that I was supposed to follow was indistinct at best, and often non-existent. Eventually, I arrived at a little pool below the lakes, where I stopped for lunch. Not seeing a clear way up to the lakes without a very steep scramble up talus, I decided to turn around and head back toward the main trail. Nydiver Lakes weren’t my prime destination and it wasn’t worth spending my entire afternoon sliding around on loose, steep talus to get to them.

Ediza Lake was quite beautiful, with views of Mt Ritter rising up behind it.

As I headed uphill toward Iceberg Lake I was surprised at the amount of snow there was, completely covering the trail. There had been some snow on the trail in places up to that point, but not much really. There was quite a lot more here. So I put on my microspikes and ended up pulling out my ice axe for some parts. The ranger I had spoken to earlier that week had assured me that the snow was minimal, but this part was obviously an exception, and I was glad to have some snow/ice gear with me. However, with how soft and mushy the snow was late in the afternoon, the microspikes did little good, and I found myself frequently sliding around and postholing (punching through the snow, often up to my knees). I had to take care to avoid streams that would undercut the weak snow and cause snow bridges, which could collapse as I walked over them.

I eventually made it up to Iceberg Lake, which was aptly named.

From there I was to circle around the lake and then head up a pass to Cecile Lake. But the way around Iceberg Lake was just a narrow ledge above a steep drop-off into the lake. With icy, snowy, and muddy conditions, I cautiously inched my way around, nervous about slipping and sliding into the frozen lake below, which would be less than ideal, if not deadly.

Finally, I got a good view of the steep slope above me that would lead to Cecile Lake. There was once again quite a bit of snow, which as a north-facing slope, shouldn’t have surprised me. But there were also dry patches of loose talus. And toward the top I could see a stream of water from Cecile Lake undercutting the snow as it fell into Iceberg Lake. If I stepped on a snow bridge toward the top of the slope, punched through, and slid all the way down on snow and talus to the frozen lake below, that could once again be deadly.

I wasn’t quite sure what my chances were here, and it made me pause to reflect on whether or not I should continue. Even if I did make it up to the top, I imagine the off-trail section circling around Cecile Lake would have been at least as snowy, muddy, steep, and sketchy; and I had no idea what it would be like heading down to Minaret Lake afterward. So I decided to turn around and head back down to Ediza Lake. In retrospect I probably could have done it, but in that moment I decided to play it safe, which I don’t regret. While I believe it’s important to not let our actions be dictated by fear, I’ve found it equally important to trust my intuition in these situations and not take stupid, unnecessary risks for the sake of my ego. It wasn’t worth risking my life or the rest of my trip for one mountain pass.

So when I arrived back at Ediza Lake in the early evening, slightly shaken by that afternoon’s events, I pitched my tent, made dinner, and looked at the map to review my options. The easiest thing to do would be to simply hike out the next day along the Shadow Creek Trail. But then I would miss Minaret Lake and Devil’s Postpile, which didn’t sound appealing to me. So I added up the mileage if I hiked back to the John Muir Trail, took the long way around to Minaret Lake, and then continued on my original plan from there; it came to over 31 miles.

The most I had done with a full pack in one day up to that point was 24 miles, so this would definitely be a challenge. But the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail (which accounted for almost the entire route) were both well-maintained, and there really wasn’t too much elevation gain to be had aside from the detour to Minaret Lake, so I decided to go for it and went to sleep at sunset.

Day Three: Ediza Lake to Vista Point (31.6 mi, +6,469’ / -6,593’)

I woke at 4am, packed up my belongings, and was on the trail by 5am.

I pushed myself to keep a consistent pace, rarely taking breaks, and limiting the time I stopped to take in the sights and take photos. When I reached Minaret Lake, I knew I was making good time, which was encouraging.

I continued on and hit Devil’s Postpile after 21 miles of walking before finally stopping to eat lunch, stretch, and rest. The rock formation was certainly interesting and bizarre…

A little more than an hour later I was back on my feet, heading north on the Pacific Crest Trail. A few hours after that I arrived at the road walk at Agnew Meadows. Feeling mechanical at that point, with legs that just kept going and going, I completed the home stretch back to the car.

After texting my emergency contacts to let them know I was alright, the first thing I did was order a large pepperoni pizza, which I ate all but two slices of that night. And finally my body began to feel what I had just done. When I laid down to rest that night, a couple Ibuprofen were needed just to stop the throbbing in my legs so I could sleep.

Trip Stats

Miles driven this week: 383
Total miles driven so far: 4,493
Miles hiked this week: 55.2
Total miles hiked: 262
Elevation change: +12,127’, -12,127’
Total elevation change: +52,509’, –56,260’
Nights slept in Obi the Subaru: 5
Nights tent camped: 1
Nights cowboy camped: 1
Total nights slept in Obi the Subaru: 28
Total nights tent camped: 3
Total nights cowboy camped: 7
Total nights slept in a house: 6
Time since start of trip: 44 days
States visited since start of trip: 10
Number of intramuscular injections received: 1
Total number of intramuscular injections received: 2