Marathon Day! (Gear Update at End)

Waking up at mile 239.9 I was surprised to see that I was the last one in camp. I was less surprised when I looked at my phone and saw it was 8:30am. That's the latest I had slept in weeks! I stopped setting an alarm in campgrounds since it seemed inevitable I'd wake up to the noise of other hikers at the crack of dawn. I crawled out of my tent and stumbled into the empty campground like the lone survivor of the apocolypse. I stretched and yawned loudly. I felt great!

By 9am I was packed and ready to go. There was one mile of uphill followed by a day of ups and downs. There was rain forecast so I scurried along at a quick pace and before I knew it I had gone 5 miles and caught up to 7 of the other hikers from the campground. I dashed past them as politely as possible, by this point aware of heavy rain clouds forming nearby. My fear of lightning and getting caught on a ridge in a storm propelled me to hike fast.

I hiked the rest of the day alone, not seeing a single person on the trail. The miles passed easily despite the heat, and eventually I climbed out of a canyon and onto a ridge. I could see houses in the distance and the sad puddle of what used to be a lake. I had thought about making it to Big Bear but ran out of steam around mile 261, five miles shy of the hwy to Big Bear. There was an intersection with a wide dirt road and several nearby spots for tents and I figured it would be a great spot to stop. I set my pack down just as a woman on horseback rode up to me and informed me she had just seen two mountain lions. Two mountain lions. Hmm.. I thanked her for the info and tried to appear confident and tough. I waited til she was out of sight and walked up the trail where she had just come from to take a look around, scope out the scene. Looking down, there on top of the horse shoe print she had just made was a fresh, giant paw print..

All of a sudden my feet felt fine and my bag was light as a feather as I took off down the trail with new motivation to get to town.

Realistically I know mountain lions aren't a big concern to adults. In CA there have been only a few big cat attacks on humans and virtually none of those were on adults. Yes, I knew this. But it didn't matter, camping alone just seemed like it wasn't an option. I couldn't stop thinking about that movie, The Ghost and the Darkness where the lions stalk/kill/eat humans for fun. So off I hiked at my quickest pace of the day.

As I walked I began to sing and occasionally bang my trekking poles together to make sure anything in the vicinity knew I was a big, scary (tone deaf) human and not food. The terrain changed from shrubs to shadowy forest then back to shrubs and every rock that was higher than me looked like a perfect perch for a cougar. It was 6pm and the sun was going to be setting at 7:22. So I had just over an hour to go 5 miles... I scurried on. Of course, I didn't pass a soul. Even in my haste I stopped to admire the view as shadows began falling in the valleys.

I kept expecting the road to become visible but instead I just kept switching back and forth through forests and shrubs. The setting sun made my hiking more desperate. I had talked with a friend who was snuggled in a hotel in Big Bear already and I called her to loudly explain the situation as I walked. With 3/4 of a mile left to hike the sun sunk further down and left the sky a brilliant mix of pinks and blues. I snapped a few shots and continued on.

I made it to the road with just enough light to make out the trail. I called Papa Smurf, a trail angel who left his number trailside and he headed my way. I was saved.

In my frantic scramble down the mountain  I had failed to realize how cold I had become and as I sat down in my shorts I realized I was shaking uncontrollably. In my whole life I've never had to try so hard to make my fingers do something simple like unzip my backpack. After a minute of tugging awkwardly on my pack I managed to put more clothes on and start to feel human again.

Papa Smurf, a true angel, drove me to McDonald's en route to the Best Western. I walked up to the hotel room with a bag of stinky baby burgers and I was greeted with a warm room, a fireplace and a pbr on ice for the shower (thank you KC for making this my new standard hiker shower tradition).

All said and done I hiked exactly 26.2 miles, the length of a marathon, and I had done it with my pack on and scary animals and snakes all around me. Some days it's hard to not feel like a total badass ;)

Aquanot, KC and Little Bear left early the next day to head to the trail and I stayed in bed with the intent to zero in Big Bear. I ran some errands, choked down a sloppy Subway sandwich and took a bus to the hostel, which was more in my price range.

I was thrilled to see Sigrid right as I walked in. Sigrid is an older German woman with a can-do attitude and a big smile every time I see her. I first met her at Scout and Frodo's place in San Diego and have since crossed paths with her, and shared a couple burgers and many stories with her, on several random occasions. She's one of my favorite people I've met! After a strict check-in with Sarge and a visit from a poodle-mop dog (pictured) I was ready to sit and catch up.

So turns out Sigrid had left Ziggy and the Bear an hour before us to night hike a few nights before. About an hour into her hike she heard two loud roaring mountain lions, one on each side of the canyon she was walking through. She said "I hear the lions...but I am not in Africa?!" and then she calmly took out her headlamp, made a little noise and carried on hiking. The mountain lions went quiet and she walked on in peace. This is why I gave her the trail name Lion Tamer! She loved and laughed very hard in agreement, pleased with her new name, and that made me very happy. Til next time Sigrid, prost!

As for gear...

My Brooks Cascadias had lasted about 150 miles before two big holes had ripped in them allowing sand in, so I had ordered 2 pairs of new shoes to the hostel...and neither of them fit. As fate would have it, a girl I met (who's name I can't remember) was there at the hostel with a hurt ankle, and after we had a nice breakfast together at the Teddy Bear restaurant and I explained my shoe woes, she offered to give me hers. She was leaving them in the hiker box anyways and had 4 pairs in the mail headed her way. Wouldn't you know it, they fit! So with bags packed and new La Sportiva Wildcats on my feet I headed to the trail :)

My Dirty Girl gaiters lasted about 1.5 days before the Velcro popped off the shoes. So I rigged a strap underneath with some paracord. Then the paracord came close to wearing through and I replaced them with an odd fix: the band of a (clean and folded) pair of men's underwear from a hiker box. :)

The straps I sewed on the backpack are working well, I use them everyday to hold the tent outside the pack.

My Thermarest Neo air x-lite is leaking so I'm switching it out with the Insul-mat one I had in my backup gear box at my parents. Its heavier but it will do until the Neo air can be replaced.

I bought a loksak Opsack to keep the bears away, so far so good but the closer I get to the Sierras the more aggressive the bears will get so at Kennedy Meadows I'm switching to a bear cannister (and it is required through the Sierras). No trouble with mice/bugs so far.

I've shipped home a combined pound of gear including my pack towel and a few other lightweight but unnecessary things.

No big changes, we'll see how the next gear update changes things!