PCT Day 19 – Desolation Wilderness

F trail with slab on left and sloped rock on right

I got to bed late (8:15) last night. It was almost 10 by the time I finished writing. I slept through to 6am after shushing my alarm. Bob an I have a resupply plan for the next 4 days. It starts by not camping at the place where there has been some bear trouble.

This notice was posted in the app we use for navigation and planning:

Do not camp here. Very stubborn bear did not hesitate to go near tents and did not spook. Capable of getting high hangs. Had to leave in the middle of the night.

AngBange

There were other similar posts. These reports forced Desolation Wilderness Wildlife Management to require bear canisters for all campers in this area. Bob and I have our canisters, but we are still not too keen on going where trouble has been reported. So we are camping several miles short of that area. And that means a short hiking day today.

Questions

Rarely do I find trash in campsites. People on the PCT are good at cleaning up after themselves. But when I find this down the hill from camp, I am puzzled.

I can think of no benign reason for it being here. I turn away in silence. I need to fill my water bottles. There is no water for the next 10 miles!

Push starting

The late start from camp has me frustrated. My hands are freezing from collecting water in 45 degree weather. There is something in my shoe so I stop to fix it. I can’t find the irritant. Then I have to go to the bathroom. Then there is something in my shoe again. I find the problem this time.

Meanwhile Bob has gone on ahead. We don’t hike together during the day anyway. He is Steady Eddie. I dash ahead then spend two minutes taking a picture, dash ahead, then spend five minutes talking to someone. By the end of the day we end up at the same place. Even so, I am irritated that I have fallen so far behind.

While I’m in such a good mood, let’s discuss something cheerful like blight or pestilence! Though I left the burned areas several days ago, I continue to see high numbers of dead trees. These are mostly conifers with their needles attached but completely dead. In this section of trail I would say that 10 to 20 percent of all trees have died in this fashion. What is the problem here? Bugs? Disease? Heat?

And then I encounter Richardson. All the locals have been referring to it as a place to stay. I thought it was a town but today on the trail I see it is a lake. It’s not an alpine lake but it’s still pretty.

The sleeping elephants are snoozing beside the trail again today. I know these stones were dropped here by glaciers in the last ice age. But I still see them as sleeping pachyderms. This gives me peace.

I spend a lot of time talking about flowers. But this tender fern has a delicate beauty, too.

Assumptions and expectations

Yesterday at the trail magic extravaganza I learned that a group of hikers from the Czech Republic had passed through. Cool! This morning I hear ahead of me several people chatting in a very animated way in some foreign language. It’s the Czechs! I can hardly wait to meet them, so I hurry ahead. They are standing beside the trail when I amble up.

I stare them right in the face and ask, “Hello, are you the group from the Czech Republic?” As these words are coming out of my mouth I can see, obviously, that these people are all oriental. Their language is clearly oriental as well! And yet, my conviction to the contrary propelled me through actions that I could see were wrong. It was a very confusing moment.

Patiently, one them explains to me that no they are not Czech; they are Korean. But they did hear about a group of Czechs yesterday at the trail magic spot.

Silence. Somewhere close by a pine cone drops to the ground. Have you ever experienced the spectacular annihilation of your assumptions in front of several people? Like the time your father kept trying to light the gas grill but couldn’t until suddenly the whole thing erupted in a fireball that burned his eyebrows off?

We chatted politely for a while and then I went on ahead. It occurred to me that I needed their picture anyway, as a reminder of my ongoing brilliance. I found them on the trail and asked for a group photo. My rationale was that in all my days hiking I had never met a Korean hiker. They were perplexed. Korean hikers are everywhere, they said. Smitten, I admitted that I must be blind. “No,” he countered, “you have been unlucky.”

Desolation Wilderness

I enter the Desolation Wilderness.

My overall impression is of an ancient cemetery. Granite headstones tumbled amid the trees, logs, and bushes.

The amount of granite lying around is pretty spectacular.

On the horizon Dick’s Peak starts to loom large. We are going to go part way up the pass by the peak today. It is over 9000 ft.

Break

Just before the last climb of the day, Bob and I sit beside the trail and sip some water. I lay back and look up. It’s been some day.

I realize that I missed celebrating a milestone. Well, they make belated birthday cards, don’t they. Here’s my version.

Alpine dreams

The trail up to Dick’s Lake really begins to resemble the high Sierras. Alpine lakes, white granite, picturesque solitary trees. In just a few days our lowest elevations will be higher than our highest now. I am getting so excited.

• August 15
• Starting marker: 1120.4
• Ending marker: 1107.5
• Total miles hiked today: 13
• Total PCT miles hiked: 247