Even the best laid plans can go awry. Today I regret to report that Liam will no longer be joining me on the JMT.
Last night I told him if his symptoms worsened to notify me immediately. He hadn't eaten or drank anything all day pretty much, and what he did was immediately purged. He woke up around 11 at night yelling, which scared the living hell out of me, but he was just dreaming. In the morning, though, it was clear he was feeling a bit worse, so after some discussion, we sounded the Spot GOS alarm and packed up for the trailhead.
As we had only made it about a mile the day before, we made good time and he immediately found a shady spot where he could relax. We activated the beacon again in hopes that at least one message was getting through. To be sure, we were lucky enough to find a couple of guys leaving for Lone Pine, so I asked them to call Anne when they got service to read her a message telling her to meet us at the trailhead. They didn't have enough room for us to hitch a ride and we weren't what we would do down in Lone Pine where it was hotter anyway. Liam didn't feel deathly ill, just the same tonic level of misery/discomfort, otherwise we would have sounded the SOS and/or done anything we could to hitch to Lone Pine.
We passed the time the best we could, playing that game where one person names a place, and the other person names a place beginning with the letter that the first person's place ended with. It lasted like 2 hours actually and Liam didn't heave during that time so it felt like a good use of our time. We then played the same game, but with words (not proper nouns), which Liam had apparently already developed a strategy to get the other person to use only words starting in Y. It was a long hard battle, with some dubious-sounding words, like "yuppily," but after being in Liam's clutches the entire hour and a half, I pulled out the victory when he surrendered. From there it was matter of sitting and waiting. Not really exciting, but again, with perfect weather and mountain forest around, nothing to complain about.
Hanging out by the trailhead
Perhaps it's the fact that we've done barely any hiking at all, but my hunger just isn't there. I tried to do some push-ups last night and today to sort of jumpstart my urge to eat, but no dice.
Alas, at around 3pm, a man in a white car rolled up and asked for Liam and Graham. We soon discovered he was with the service agency Anne had contacted asking them to fetch Liam from the trailhead. She wouldn't arrive until 5:30, so it was best he take her the 40 minutes or so down the mountain. I really didn't want to split up with Liam, but we both agreed he was in good hands. Plus the note the man had said I should keep going if I want, and Liam made me promise I would continue on, so rather than make Anne drive that long windy mountain road at night, I packed up my things and rushed off.
What a blow to my morale. I was having so much fun hanging out with him, and the next moment he's gone. Such is life. I hope he'll be able to join me at MTR, and that whatever is wrong with him gets resolved soon! I'll miss you so much Liam!
So I cruised along at a brisk pace on the less maintained South Fork Trail, hoping to at least get 5 miles under my belt and set myself to get over New Army Pass early in the morning. I was finally doing some solid hiking, and the views of surrounding Cirque Peak and others kept getting better and better.
It was just as the trail crested to reveal Cottonwood Lake No. 1 that I just lost it. A meadow in various gradients of green and gold shines brighter than honestly any I have ever seen. The late afternoon light on the tall grasses was breathtaking, and the lake looked crystal clear and smooth beneath the behemoth granite peaks. It was one of the happiest and saddest moments I have ever experienced, a dichotomy I'm sure in time will come to embody the entire JMT for me. And I'm okay with that. But somewhere between happy and sad is what I hope to achieve sooner rather than later, and that is peace.
At 5:30, after soaking in the amazing view and reflecting for a bit, I decided to push on until 6, hoping I didn't pass too many good campsites before having to backtrack. That's one of my biggest problems when I backpack. I always want to push just a little bit further and get as much done as I can, but I also hate having to set up my already large tent on rocky unforgiving terrain. So u often find myself passing several fantastic sites in hopes of something better before realizing I went too far. In time I'm sure this over-eagerness will dissipate. I did find a good site between lakes with no one around, so I will consider myself grateful.
I set up camp, made myself dinner, cleaned up, and got ready for bed--the usual. The Good To-Go backpacking meals I've been looking forward to trying are seriously amazing. At least the three bean chili one I had was incredible. It's like the reviews said, it has restaurant quality flavor, and it's pretty darn nutritious. Super excited for the others!
I'm nursing a couple cuts on my fingers, and my toenail is flaring up a little bit again. I think it's honestly just the added weight of my pack putting extra pressure into my feet when I walk. Either way I'm taking care of it and being as vigilant as possible.
And now I'm tired and want to listen to my audiobook and play games on my phone. I find between these two things, I can get pretty distracted. I'll see if I can make the 15 miles to Crabtree tomorrow (or 18ish miles to Guitar Lake), the17-19 miles up and down Whitney to before Tyndall Creek on Wednesday, another 16-18 over Forester Pass to Bubbs Creek on Thursday, and a gentler 5-7 miles to meet Matt and Raelin on Friday. Wow I can't wait to see them and be with friends! I figure these next couple days will give me a chance to warm up to the 3 consecutive 25 mile days planned after Friday to get to MTR on time. Log cabin and delicious food here I come!
I miss Liam and everyone so much already! It's going to be a lonely, but surely rewarding NoBo journey! Goodnight folks!
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