As we have done every year since… well, since I started college, my mom and I (and Julia as of last year) go on a summer backpacking trip for a long weekend. Two years ago it was to Butano State Park near Pescadero (Californian coast), last year it was to Five Lake Basin within Tahoe National Forest (Northern Lake Tahoe), and this year it was to Desolation Wilderness, in Southern Lake Tahoe. First let me state that “Desolation” refers not to the dearth of people (the trail was in fact a disturbingly popular one), but to the plethora of granite slabs that we had to traverse in our trip. Lovely.
For anyone who knows the area and/or cares, our planned trip was to go from Bayview at Emerald Bay over Maggie’s pass (a horribly steep climb when you’re just getting used to the feel of your equipment and the altitude increase from the Bay Area), and down to Dick’s Lake to camp the first night. We did this without dying, so “Success!”. The next day, we made our way up Dick’s Pass (during which Julia’s feet blistered over and I became increasingly dizzy as we gained altitude), down the “Scenic Route” (to be fair – quite pretty views), and on to Gilmore Lake for lunch, and then to either Heather Lake or neighboring Aloha lake to camp. We decided to push past both lakes, over Mosquito Pass, to Clyde’s Lake for the night instead. This would have been fine, but I had accidentally not moved my Arch support/insoles from my running shoes to my hiking boots, so my feet (and, soon after, my knees) were in intense pain for the later portion of this hike. Additionally, Clyde Lake did not offer much in the way of campsites, and we pitched our tent between a family with 2 cute little girls and 2 llamas (what?!) and a pair of older men who were attempting to fish on the lake. Both of these groups were within 15 feet of our tent.
The next day, tired and sore, but also not enjoying the trip as much as we had in the last year, we decided to do the last two days’ worth of hiking in one day, marching about 10 miles of steady flatland at a fast pace (barring the frequent river crossings, where everyone but me slipped at least once) and then had to climb up for pretty much the rest of the trip, most of which was over granite and in direct sunlight. At the end, we had to go back down from Maggie’s pass (a downward slope that Julia veritably skipped through, while my mom and I leaned on our poles and coaxed our crappy knees to make a snail’s pace). In the end, we finished the hike a day early, got a reward of being able to wash our hair in the closest public bathroom (at the ranger station), massage our miserable feet, and head off towards home, in search of food on the way (and non-iodized water, of course!)
Now, however, two weeks after our trip of some-glory-but-mostly-mosquito-bites, my knee still isn’t properly aligned, but rather clicking at every move (and aching whether or not I move it). Seriously, who decided that a 21-year-old woman should suddenly inherit an 80-year-old body? This is just silly.
No comments:
Post a Comment