Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail.
22 July 2010
Although I was up early (5:15am), I stood around and chatted with Tom (who was camped nearby) before taking off. I shared the only coffee pod I had with him. He, in turn, had given me a scoop of M&Ms. His sons were still asleep as I left. They weren't going to go anywhere until they knew if a new stove was on their way.
I left by 7:30am, rather late for me, but where was the hurry now? I knew that the hike would be a slow uphill, especially the first three miles before entering Kings Canyon National Park by 9am. I met a lot of north bounders hiking in large groups along this section that carved its way along the San Joaquin River as the water cascaded down waterfall after waterfall. For the first time along the JMT I crossed real bridges (rather odd, being in the "wilderness"), and three of them were in the first three miles of Kings Canyon.
There was plenty of wildlife here, from racing chipmunks to does and other critters. I was approaching Evolution Valley, which everyone said was beautiful. And indeed this area was, if only I hd taken time out to enjoy it! By the time I had gotten there, though, it was more strenuous than beautiful as we had been hiking uphill all day. I was exhausted and couldn't enjoy the sheer energy of the waterfalls cutting through the rock as the water gushed downhill.
My backpack was noticeably heavy with nine days of food in my bearvault. I had no room to spare.
I made it to Evolution Creek by 12:15pm. This was a wide creek and rushing well, but I didn't heed the advice of one couple to walk further upstream and ford closer to a meadow. Although wide, Evolution Creek was not deep in parts, and I was able to ford the creek with the water not even reaching my knees.
I stopped a lot all day to allow Tom and his sons to catch up with me. Or at least I used them as an excuse to gain up. I used the creek as a break, eating a fig bar here and relaxing near the water. Two other men saw me and asked if I was alone. "No, I'm sitting here waiting on three men who are behind me."
"Good, as it's not safe to be out here on your own. We met another woman who was hiking by herself." I would never admit to strangers that I was hiking alone. Having Tom and the boys nearby was a good ruse.
Tom and the boys finally caught up with me at the McClure Ranger station. I was standing in the front of the closed station making my dinner, my first real meal of the day. The guys stopped for a little bit, but Grant was in a hurry to get more mileage in. "It's only 3:30pm" he protested, "we could get another hour in."
So we agreed to hike another hour or so and camp at a decent site where we could all stretch out. We had already hiked further than I thought. What I thought was eight miles was already 12, and when I finally caught up to Tom and the boys, according to Grant, we had hiked 14 miles today.
This was a strenuous day for me, but it is what I wanted: hiking at a slower pace but going longer. The campsite that the boys chose was near a rocky clearing off the river. I got to the site after they had already dipped into the rushing water and cooled off.
And even though we were together at the campsite, I gave them their Lebensraum. Tom and the boys made their dinner and they sat astride along the river, perhaps talking father-son stuff that I didn't want to interfere with. It was touching to see them together, and a pang of envy overcame me: I don't have this kind of closeness with my own kids and nature.
A near full moon rose over dark crags above me. It kept a lighted spot over my tent in the early evening hours, and it was still visible early in the morning when I got up to continue my journey. I am so looking forward to the full moon over the mountains in a few days.
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