Read Online My Journey to Freedom and Ultralight Backpacking by Carol Wellman - Free Book Online
Authors: Carol Wellman
Tags: sport
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get up everyday and hike, trying to not to worry about tomorrow's trail until tomorrow.
There are two choices for getting to Vermillion Valley Resort. Either take a boat ride across the lake, $15 for the round trip, or hike 6 miles one way. I chose the boat. There, tent cabins, a small store, laundry and shower facilities were built on the dusty shore. We spent one night, feasting and laughing. The only outside contact is via cell phone, at $2 a minute. I hauled lots of goodies out of Vermillion Valley and ate like crazy: cookies, gorp, gourmet coffee, and red licorice. This was my reward for last week’s hunger.
People dream of hiking the John Muir Trail. It’s an incredible place; plenty of water and lush meadows, high passes, innumerable waterfalls and cascades, wildlife and flowers. There are also beautiful clear skies and ice covered turquoise lakes surrounded with snow-covered ridges. Words or photos can never convey the quality of the unfolding panorama. All five senses marvel at the birds singing, marmots whistling, water and wind rushing, soaring eagles, circling ravens, and dark clouds threatening. There were these magnificent, sculpted cedars, tender shoots and delicate flowers clinging to a 12,000 ft. cliff, the earthy smells of damp earth and bodies, the taste of clear ice water and wild onions. This was no postcard trip; it was the total surround of an Omni-max theater. I planned to finish the JMT by day hiking to Yosemite Valley from Tuolumne Meadows, getting a ride back to Tuolumne Meadows, then picking up the PCT where I left it, and continuing north.
Hikers on a budget learn to get the most luxury for their buck. At Red’s Meadow, just one day from Tuolumne, I bought a 24 oz. loaf of wheat bread, 18 oz. jar of peanut butter, 13 oz. bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, 8 oz. jar of cheese salsa, 4 king-size candy bars and 11 black liquorish sticks. There were free hot showers near the campground, thanks to thermal springs nearby. Each of the showers had a private “room” with cement tub. I placed the jar of cheese salsa on the ledge of this enormous cement tank inside the little room that was mine. Opening the chips, I basically ate while showering and washing trail clothes. My shower lasted an hour. I finished the salsa, threw away the jar, and was ready to hike.
G enerally speaking, we are not into possession of things, but possession of experience. The few things we have with us are well worn with daily use and their respective weight in ounces quoted upon request, or even in defiance, as in “Yeah, well, this 4 pound camera is taking pictures that will last me a lifetime!” I have seen several Pocket Mails, cell phones, guitars, and tiny radios. Each person perhaps has one “luxury” item. One JMT hiker summed it up “Seems like the longer your hike is, the less you carry.”
Fording A Creek
I’ve learned a lot about fording creeks since I started in Campo. First, let me describe and define a PCT “creek”. Out here anything with water flowing is either a spring, streamlet, lake outlet, or a creek. Back home, some of these would be classified as Class 4 rivers.
Just to name a few, there’s Evolution Creek, Bear Creek (there must be at least 5 Bear Creeks out here), Kerrick Canyon Creek, Stubblefield Canyon Creek, and Kennedy Canyon Creek. The trail will parallel, from a ridge, one of these “creeks” as it roars down canyon. In the back of your mind runs the thought, “How on earth am I going to ford that thing?”
But, thankfully, it crosses at a fairly benign place where it has widened and slowed and most boulders are not in motion, at least not now. Usually the trail resumes directly across the creek and the objective is clear. A simple rock hop is possible in many streamlet crossings, the rocks having been placed a long-legged man’s stride apart. Cobweb had this magnificent way of ricocheting himself, rock-to-rock, zig-zagging across. Momentum is the key
There are two choices for getting to Vermillion Valley Resort. Either take a boat ride across the lake, $15 for the round trip, or hike 6 miles one way. I chose the boat. There, tent cabins, a small store, laundry and shower facilities were built on the dusty shore. We spent one night, feasting and laughing. The only outside contact is via cell phone, at $2 a minute. I hauled lots of goodies out of Vermillion Valley and ate like crazy: cookies, gorp, gourmet coffee, and red licorice. This was my reward for last week’s hunger.
People dream of hiking the John Muir Trail. It’s an incredible place; plenty of water and lush meadows, high passes, innumerable waterfalls and cascades, wildlife and flowers. There are also beautiful clear skies and ice covered turquoise lakes surrounded with snow-covered ridges. Words or photos can never convey the quality of the unfolding panorama. All five senses marvel at the birds singing, marmots whistling, water and wind rushing, soaring eagles, circling ravens, and dark clouds threatening. There were these magnificent, sculpted cedars, tender shoots and delicate flowers clinging to a 12,000 ft. cliff, the earthy smells of damp earth and bodies, the taste of clear ice water and wild onions. This was no postcard trip; it was the total surround of an Omni-max theater. I planned to finish the JMT by day hiking to Yosemite Valley from Tuolumne Meadows, getting a ride back to Tuolumne Meadows, then picking up the PCT where I left it, and continuing north.
Hikers on a budget learn to get the most luxury for their buck. At Red’s Meadow, just one day from Tuolumne, I bought a 24 oz. loaf of wheat bread, 18 oz. jar of peanut butter, 13 oz. bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, 8 oz. jar of cheese salsa, 4 king-size candy bars and 11 black liquorish sticks. There were free hot showers near the campground, thanks to thermal springs nearby. Each of the showers had a private “room” with cement tub. I placed the jar of cheese salsa on the ledge of this enormous cement tank inside the little room that was mine. Opening the chips, I basically ate while showering and washing trail clothes. My shower lasted an hour. I finished the salsa, threw away the jar, and was ready to hike.
G enerally speaking, we are not into possession of things, but possession of experience. The few things we have with us are well worn with daily use and their respective weight in ounces quoted upon request, or even in defiance, as in “Yeah, well, this 4 pound camera is taking pictures that will last me a lifetime!” I have seen several Pocket Mails, cell phones, guitars, and tiny radios. Each person perhaps has one “luxury” item. One JMT hiker summed it up “Seems like the longer your hike is, the less you carry.”
Fording A Creek
I’ve learned a lot about fording creeks since I started in Campo. First, let me describe and define a PCT “creek”. Out here anything with water flowing is either a spring, streamlet, lake outlet, or a creek. Back home, some of these would be classified as Class 4 rivers.
Just to name a few, there’s Evolution Creek, Bear Creek (there must be at least 5 Bear Creeks out here), Kerrick Canyon Creek, Stubblefield Canyon Creek, and Kennedy Canyon Creek. The trail will parallel, from a ridge, one of these “creeks” as it roars down canyon. In the back of your mind runs the thought, “How on earth am I going to ford that thing?”
But, thankfully, it crosses at a fairly benign place where it has widened and slowed and most boulders are not in motion, at least not now. Usually the trail resumes directly across the creek and the objective is clear. A simple rock hop is possible in many streamlet crossings, the rocks having been placed a long-legged man’s stride apart. Cobweb had this magnificent way of ricocheting himself, rock-to-rock, zig-zagging across. Momentum is the key
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