Travelogue Part 2

Posted this last night, but it didn't show up in the earlier post:

I got here to this third camp about 1:15.  Dave, my BIL, arrived quite some time earlier.  We are not just in the middle of nowhere, we are surrounded by mountains and glaciers.  We had to bushwack through miles of trail today to get here. Its a treacherous route, and not for the faint of heart, or the injured.  Injured?  Yes.  I would tell you from experience that hiking with a jacked up knee is risky.  More risky, hiking with 2 jacked up knees.  I only had one until Monday, when I slipped and fell crossing a stream, only to slip and fall again while trying to cross a second time.  The good news is, I had a brace and it's on my now injured left knee. The bad news, I don't have a brace for my other knee, which lacks a miniscus. 

To make the injury worse, I got separated that first day from Dave, and hiked 3.2 miles past our campsite, the first mile a 1000 foot climb.  Try going up that with two bad knees, and then back down in a hurry because night is falling, and then back up first thing on day 2.

Don't worry.  I found the campsite, called Trocouni, around 8:15.  I didn't find Dave though.  I pitched camp, sans a stove or water, hadn't had any since 3, and ate dried fruit and a protein bar before settling down for the evening.  After 14+ miles on two bad knees, I slept the sleep of the just, or just me. I am reminded that W.H. Auden pointed out, "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."

Dave found me in the morning, and we had breakfast and went to hit that 1000 foot climb and then a massive elevation drop, followed by another 1000 foot climb.  7.5 miles or so.  This camp, Skagit Queen is beautiful, and up a fucking steep and unrelenting trail.  I can do steep and untelenting if it's going up, if it's going down, I move at the speed of a gazelle that has been hit by a car after being bitten by a lion.  That must be frustrating for Dave, who has one speed. I do have to note, an independent reason for going slow is much of the hike has sheer drops of hundreds of feet, and often your path is only as wide as your two feet.

This morning, after breakfast, we decided, given my shit knee(s), that our original plan to go downhill for 8 something miles the last day is insane.  Instead, we will double back tomorrow and head toward Hannah's car, which I drove to the trailhead after dropping Dave's car off. That will take 3 days.  Dave and I jettisoned a bunch of shit, and he is carrying some of my stuff to lighten the load.  Tonight we will share my tent.

Aug 25 2nd Entry
Dinner, chili mac con jalapeno was amazing.  It went especially well with the 15 year old Glenlivit.

Aug 26, 2021 Skagit Queen Campground

Last night up at Thunder Basin, where we were all alone at 5100 ft., I awoke to a bear walking through our campsite. I didn't see it, I didn't need to. I woke at midnight, hearing It thump on heavy pads slowly through our camp. I'm not sure if the bear woke me or if it was the pain from my lousy knees.  That fall on Monday, those two falls into the water, has or have really injured the outer tendon of my left knee, formerly known as my good knee.  Having switched the knee brsce over has allowed me to continue on, but now, Thursday night, my right knee is throbbing. Could be the change in the weather, the miles of hiking, the 1000 foot climbs and descents here and there.  They are raging, my knees, whatever the cause.

We hiked miles through dense vegetation yesterday and today, most of it too high to see above. The path was narrow too, and hidden rocks jutting up every few feet.  This was hard to navigate. I couldn't decide if Iooked more like a robot or a mechanical crab when I moved.  Each step was painful, and many, sometimes most, required a calculation of which knee would be more stable to land on. 

This all sucks for Dave.  He patiently waits for me miles up the trail, as I constantly am certain I will stumble across a mama bear and cubs. There were huckleberry and wild blueberry plants everywhere, and I really didn't want a "Blueberries for Sal" encounter, certain that the story I would be in would be entitled, "Curtains for Geoff."

Thunder Basin sunrise.

We came across an abandoned mine, complete with what appeares to be a Fulton era steam engine and boxcar today.  I took pictures.  There is a pipeline, presumably for sluicing that went all the way up the mountain, and is in pieces at the site.  That was the highlight.  The bulk of the hike was downhill, which is worse when your knees don't work well. I was walking like Mr. Tudball the majority of the time.

Abandoned mine at Skagit Queen.

Warned by Dave's friend Dave, that when Dave hikes, he has one gear and doesn't stop to enjoy the surroundings, I was prepared. I have found that to be largely true, he tries for a bit sometimes, but I can be and am alone for miles all day everyday. So, today, I said fuck it, if I am going to be eaten by a bear, I am going to enjoy the sites and whatever else nature has to offer. I took a couple pictures, but the mountain air drains this battery quickly, and ate a 1/2 pint of ripe, on the vine huckleberry when slogging through the bush. Given the ripeness of the berries, and bow profuse they are, that area has to be a favorite bear location right now.

A view of a glacier from Thunder Basin.

Tomorrow we will try and make Trocouni camp and maybe, if I can move my ass, McAllister.  If we make McAllister tomorrow, it will mean only eleven miles on Saturday to reach the trail head.

10:56 p.m.
Torrents. I went to sleep around 8:30. No book to read,  phone dead,  but charging.  I woke about an hour ago to what sounds a lot like popcorn popping.  It is rain.  If it continues on tomorrow like this,  we may need an ark.

11:37 p.m.
I had to pee. The rain is coming down as if from a rain machine, so thick and heavy it would have Gene Kelly dancing and singing. If I were to go out, the water I would bring back would keep my gear wet for the next two days. If I don't go out, my bladder will burst. I get unbundled, we are sleeping at 4100 ft., move my thermarest inflatable mattress to the edge of tent to see if I can just hang it out the door. When I go to kneel, my bad knee (the o.g. of bad knees) screams.  Deflated, I give up and take my socks off and grab a shoe, just as the rain lightens up a bit, and I hear the padding of feet again.  Motherfucker.  Maybe my ears are playing tricks on me, but now going outside was no longer an option, for Geoff "The Balless Wunderkind." if I am found eaten by a bear in the morning, just know my life was as full as my bladder is tonight.

August 27, 2021
Today we went down 1800 ft.  That required also going up 800 feet, fml. We hiked about 8 miles, ending at McCallister Camp.  No rain today.  I did see a bear early this morning, at a distance, and lots of mama and cub paw prints on the trail. Hiking alone and moving at the speed of an eighty year old using a walker that is missing a tennis ball makes me feel very safe. In fairness to Dave, there is no way anyone could intentionally hike as slow as me.  My knees are both so fucked up, I locomote like I have early stage limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. With my left knee locked, i thrust my left hip back as I push my right knee forward.  If I were a bear, I'd be afraid of catching a disease if I ate me.

I carried a full pack and traversed every single creek crossing the trail for those 8 miles, including the one I fell twice in on day one.  I would name that stream "Wounded Knee" but apparently that name is taken, so I am just going to call it the "Fuck You Stream."

Getting to McAllister today means a short 6 point something mile hike tomorrow. I'd ask Dave the  distance, but his numbers change.  Yesterday he told me Trocouni to McAllister was 2.5 miles. Today, when we arrived at Trocouni, he said 1.5.  Trust me when I tell you it was 2 goddammed point five miles. Mr. Tudball could have beaten me today, I was so slow, but it didn't take me 2 hours to go 1.25 miles on a RELATIVELY flat trail. I crawl, almost literally, going downhill, am pretty good much of the time going uphill,  and am regular on the flats. Sometimes I wonder if he makes distances up, just for fun.  Mostly, he is stoned, so I don't begrudge the changing numbers.  He has been kind and gracious and patient throughout. This was a gift of kindness I am not sure I will ever be able to repay. Every turn brings more beauty.  Moss covered forests, nurse logs sprouting new life, old growth cedars and Douglas firs so big and tall words can only fail when trying to describe them.  The streams and rivers and glaciers and waterfalls and cascading white water waterfalls are like something out of a Kenneth Koch poem. Songbirds and raptors, bears and horses. Glacier water so cold and pure it makes you want to punch the Culligan man for daring to claim he delivers water.  Wild berries for miles, ripe for the picking, and gentle winds to cool you as you hike. I owe Dave.  A lot.

8:17 p.m.
It's hard for me to move, even when not carrying 45 lbs on my back. Every physical move I attempt takes a geometric calculation, and often recalculation as I try to pick which knee is safer tonuse, which will hold up when I try and stand. Each night, since Monday, I wake to unbeliwvable pain and stiff knees.  My left knee at times has refused to unlock from its position.  Last night I could not move it at all. No rubbing, no ibuprofen, nada. I managed to get back to sleep, and the morning brought relief. I suspect that yhe mountain cold has some impact on the injury.  I bundled up in 3 layers last night, however, and am similarly situated tonight. Tomorrow, home!

11:13 p.m.
I have just worn up.  My knees.  Oy! I fell asleep around 8:30. Woke about 10 to an immovable knee and screaming pain.  I massaged my left knee,  or tried to,  until I feel back asleep. Need to get home.

August 28 6:18 a.m
Another night of sleep interrupted by throbbing pain in both knees, an essentially locked left knee, and the biting cold. I am bundled in two pairs of socks, thermal underwear, regular underwear, a t-shirt, hiking pants, a fleece jacket and a beanie, all wrapped in a sleeping bag.  If any part of me got uncovered, it quickly would become incredibly cold, so cold ot would wake me.  My right arm eacaped at some point, probably putting my hat back on. My hand was so cold when it woke me, I imagine it could have been blue. Couldn't find my flashlight, so I'm guessing. It is in the lower 30s overnight. All told, I probably woke 10-12 times. I am looking forward to many things today, amonf them a solid night of sleep.  Time to pack.