miles: 10.5
I took no photos today.
Well... barely any, but I'll upload them later. The reason why I ceased photo-taking was because it was raining today. This was the first day of significant rain and it was quite miserable. I couldn't even take my camera out to document the dreary, cold, hell so I will summarize it instead.
Our night at VVR was fantastic (despite the high food prices - a slice of pie was $7.00) and we had a very hard time leaving. We decided to let ourselves sleep in and not stress about leaving too terribly early. As long as we did 10 miles, we could make it to Mammoth Lakes the next day and that was all that mattered.
Leisurely ate breakfast, wrote some postcards, rain-proofed our packs on the porch... rainproofing meaning emptying our packs, lining them with a trash bag, pack our packs inside the trash bag, and donning our waterproof pack covers.
It looked like Portland outside. Or better yet, the Oregon coast. Drizzle, wet, cold, drippy, foggy... the type of cold that gets to your bones and creates a special kind of shiver. The moist that never leaves.
This made it difficult to get on that baby boat and head out onto open water, destined for a day of hiking in damp clothing. Today was the day of Silver Pass - a significantly more demanding pass than little Seldon the day prior. We wanted to get up and over that pass at the very least, the day of VVR departure.
So we left around noon and were hiking by 1:30pm. MUCH later than anticipated. This is what happens when you go to town! It's like a vortex that aims to keep you in as long as possible!
Ran into Dance Party and Sunshine as soon as we got back on the PCT and were thrilled to chat with them. It was getting dark and ominous, like it would start raining even harder soon, so we kept banter to a minimum and trudged on.
Silver Pass was stunning, especially shrouded in a foggy haze, but the closer we got to the top of the pass, the colder it got, and the harder it rained. At some point we reached horizontal level rain and were fighting the wind with our trekking poles. Very exposed rock faces, ridges and switchbacks lead to drenched backpacks and bodies but soon we were on top of the pass, reuniting with Sour Cream (who had been a few miles ahead of us for a while). He had stopped to wait for us atop the pass and was eating his cold, rehydrated ramen with shaking hands.
"Let's go, let's get down right now."
We made quick moves to get going as fast as possible in order to avoid hypothermia. At some point during the descent I actually (I mean actually) became legitimately concerned with the state of both Sour Cream and Rocky. Hypothermia was a real threat at this point and I was not taking it lightly - both boys seemed susceptible to it. I hiked behind Sour Cream, making sure to watch his steps, while keeping a close eye on Rocky who was behind me, hiking in a rain skirt (legs OUT in this weather!) and was running on pure adrenaline. There are two things I do not take lightly out in the wilderness: lightning and hypothermia.
I also do not take river/stream crossings lightly - I am very terrified of them as well.
But a lot of people seem to be loose in their dealings with both thunderstorms AND wet/cold weather. Both of these situations are potentially hazardous and I take them very seriously... a little too seriously. So serious that I bother those around me at times, but I'm just trying to be cautious.
Better safe than sorry - seriously, my motto.
We got down safely to a lower elevation that wasn't quite so frozen. Rocky and Sour Cream both wanted to go further and get more miles in that day (we'd only gone 10 miles, yikes - that's a low number for us) but I insisted on stopping and setting up our tents ASAP. We camped at the logical spot before another climb, a place called Tyndall Creek. There were a few other hikers camped there when we arrived and we frantically set up our tents, racing against hypothermia.
Even I was starting to feel the effects of hypothermia as I was rushing through the motions of setting up our shelter. I could no longer feel my feet or toes, and I had unbelievably limited dexterity in my fingers. I couldn't even unzip or zip up zippers... bad sign. This was the first time on the trip that I worried for my safety, especially in terms of cold conditions. We haven't encountered cold + wet yet!
Tent up, sleeping pads unfurled, sleeping bags fluffed, I snuck into mine first thing. Ben boiled hot water for cocoa and Sour Cream undressed and got in his sleeping bag as well. Each of us doing the thing we thought was best for us in terms of regaining body warmth. Every article of clothing was soaked except for my down jacket (oh, so so so thankful for a dry warm down puff coat). My rain jacket and rain pants were saturated and useless, thrown in a heap outside of the tent in the vestibule. I had been hiking (stupidly) in my capilene sleep pants for warmth and they were now soaked. My shorts were soaked, my hiking shirt was soaked, my hat was moist... All I had was my down jacket, sleep socks and a dry but dirty pair of stiff, smelly ininji toe socks.
My sleep socks are just lovely. Thick, fleece, tall, warm foot cozies. At least my feet would be comfortable tonight.
Ben made cocoa and gave it to Sour Cream in his tent. He also delivered half of his mac'n'cheese dinner right to his tent. This made Sour Cream both warm AND eternally happy.
Others arrived: Dance Party, Sunshine, Boulder, Scooter... they too were sopping wet and uncomfortable. Ready for a dry nights sleep. All of us would be in Mammoth the next day so the residual wetness wasn't too much of a concern for anyone. We could pack our bags with wet things and run out of there, only because we had a FOR SURE hotel bed waiting for each and every one of us the next night. Had we had a few more nights to go, we would have been a little more anxious.
Dry dinner snacks in bed for me and it only took 2 hours to feel my toes and fingers again. It'd be a surprisingly comfortable night, despite the heaps of wet clothing strewn about around our tent. All we could hope for was some sun tomorrow. Please, please. please. The mantra for the night.
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