07-21-2021, 05:00 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-21-2021, 05:03 AM by Drunk Monk.)
Day 3 to Lake Vernon
Greg & I broke camp early and hit the trail at day break, hoping to beat the heat. We had a last bit of climb, over a ridge and then into the Lake Vernon valley. I was glad of the rest and recovered a little but still coping with dizziness and cramps. My body was done with me.
The upwards climb was killing me. My legs just didn’t want to play anymore. I was clinging to my staff as a third leg, thinking of that riddle of the Sphinx about 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 3 in the evening. I think I first heard that on Batman. Greg’s caltopo app was amazing keeping us exactly on track.
I don’t remember much about the ascent, just thinking that it would be mostly downhill afterwards. It was shadier, which was a relief from the previous days which offered less tree cover. The trail has lots of obstacles, lots of fallen trees that needed to be huddled or crawled beneath (much harder with a backpack). I nearly face planted while traversing a passage by an uprooted tree where the trail was muddy near a buggy bog. Greg has stopped to watch and make sure I made it. My first step was misplaced leaving me to pachinko between obstacles in a comic fashion - if not for my trusty staff, that would’ve ended much worse. ‘Graceful’ commented Greg and I had to agree.
We came up to the ‘water source’ which was about the halfway point and just before the crest - a bone dry creek bed. Fortunately we weren’t relying on that and had reserved plenty of water for the rest of the trek. At the top of the trail, the fauna gave way to granite, that classic landscape of Yosemite that I find so alluring. We rested there, admiring the panoramic vista, dropping our packs for water, and for me, a dose of more powdered electrolytes.
Then Greg spotted it. ‘A bear... no a backpacker ... no a bear’ it was a juvenile, a teen bear, maybe a 300 pounder coming up the trail behind us. It spotted us and took off down the dry creek bed. My lord it was fast. I always thought of bears as lumbering. Like elephant seals, I figured they were capable of short bursts of speed, like 30 ft or so. I was so wrong. This teen bear dashed down maybe a hundred yards of creek in a heartbeat. It was freakin fast, like a greyhound in full sprint. I was stunned. It totally reshaped my perception of bears.
It was a beautiful golden brown, with a lustrous coat that shone like our state flag. Inspiring. The bear was a harbinger of Yosemite opening up to me again. After that point, the trek turned around. I got my legs under me. I was still coping with dizziness but I was dealing with it and the cramping too. Mostly it was because the major uphill was over. There’s nothing as beautiful as witnessing a wild beast like a bear in nature. It brings such perspective - like where you stand on the food chain and how wild the earth still is, if you just venture out to find it.
Greg & I broke camp early and hit the trail at day break, hoping to beat the heat. We had a last bit of climb, over a ridge and then into the Lake Vernon valley. I was glad of the rest and recovered a little but still coping with dizziness and cramps. My body was done with me.
The upwards climb was killing me. My legs just didn’t want to play anymore. I was clinging to my staff as a third leg, thinking of that riddle of the Sphinx about 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 3 in the evening. I think I first heard that on Batman. Greg’s caltopo app was amazing keeping us exactly on track.
I don’t remember much about the ascent, just thinking that it would be mostly downhill afterwards. It was shadier, which was a relief from the previous days which offered less tree cover. The trail has lots of obstacles, lots of fallen trees that needed to be huddled or crawled beneath (much harder with a backpack). I nearly face planted while traversing a passage by an uprooted tree where the trail was muddy near a buggy bog. Greg has stopped to watch and make sure I made it. My first step was misplaced leaving me to pachinko between obstacles in a comic fashion - if not for my trusty staff, that would’ve ended much worse. ‘Graceful’ commented Greg and I had to agree.
We came up to the ‘water source’ which was about the halfway point and just before the crest - a bone dry creek bed. Fortunately we weren’t relying on that and had reserved plenty of water for the rest of the trek. At the top of the trail, the fauna gave way to granite, that classic landscape of Yosemite that I find so alluring. We rested there, admiring the panoramic vista, dropping our packs for water, and for me, a dose of more powdered electrolytes.
Then Greg spotted it. ‘A bear... no a backpacker ... no a bear’ it was a juvenile, a teen bear, maybe a 300 pounder coming up the trail behind us. It spotted us and took off down the dry creek bed. My lord it was fast. I always thought of bears as lumbering. Like elephant seals, I figured they were capable of short bursts of speed, like 30 ft or so. I was so wrong. This teen bear dashed down maybe a hundred yards of creek in a heartbeat. It was freakin fast, like a greyhound in full sprint. I was stunned. It totally reshaped my perception of bears.
It was a beautiful golden brown, with a lustrous coat that shone like our state flag. Inspiring. The bear was a harbinger of Yosemite opening up to me again. After that point, the trek turned around. I got my legs under me. I was still coping with dizziness but I was dealing with it and the cramping too. Mostly it was because the major uphill was over. There’s nothing as beautiful as witnessing a wild beast like a bear in nature. It brings such perspective - like where you stand on the food chain and how wild the earth still is, if you just venture out to find it.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse