LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 36 In this case, the goal was to hike to Mt. Whitney. After our first night together, the Kentucky Boys and I crossed the bridge over the Lyell Forks and head- ed off to Donahue Pass, our first pass (of eight). Mi- chael, "Searcher", and I belted out a loud "Yewwww!" upon clearing Donahue Pass, soaking in the exhilarat- ing reward of clearing our first pass as a group. Be- yond us was Thousand Island Lake, sitting at the base of Banner Peak—a favorite subject of Ansel Adams. The days that followed were full of beautiful alpine lakes: Garnet Lake, Shadow Lake, Rosalie Lake, Gladys Lake. It became a job in our group to measure out our daily mileage so that our lunch spot and camping spot were nestled near a lake for a swim. Tough life, huh? As we ventured on, Red's Meadow and Devil's Post- pile awaited. Our first time seeing masses of people in quite a few days. You don't realize how bad you smell until you walk by groups of day hikers that literally plug their noses when you walk by. Devil's Postpile consists of naturally occurring pentagonal- and hexagonal- shaped columns of basalt rising 60 feet straight up into the air, formed from lava flows more than 100,000 years ago. Shortly after, one of our lunch swims brought us to Hailey, a blonde Ohioan whose enthusiasmcould light up any room. She carried a large pack, nearly twice as heavy as my setup (though she decided to cut her toothbrush to be "ultra light"). Despite the weight, she had covered the trail at an impressive pace. Hailey earned the name "Wish-Wash" because most of her statements were followed by stating, "Well, I don't know." Our group of four came to the shores of Purple Lake a few miles later, then climbed high to the landlocked Virginia Lake, both shimmering in rays of sunlight. The granite peaks contrast against the deep blue water made for a dramatic of landscape. After Silver Pass, we ventured off trail to enjoy a "zero" day at Vermillion Valley Resort. Deep in the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains, V VR sits on the shores of Thomas Edison Lake, one of the largest lakes in the region. It was the only break day we had collec- tively planned along the way- excited to take a shower, put our salty clothes through a washing machine, and eat some real food. While hitching out of V VR we picked up two new members of our growing "tramily": Anna and Sonic, a sweet couple living in L . A . with east coast roots.The two of them seamlessly joined our group, filling our conversations with Anna's experiences as a therapist and Sonic's stories from working in the film industry. We opted to climb Bear Ridge out of Lake Thomas Edison. The trail was green, steep, and muddy— draw- ing a big smile across my face as I felt like I was back home hiking in the Adirondacks. Once rejoining the trail we ascended Selden Pass, another monstrous three thousand foot ascent with rewarding views of Rose Lake and Marie Lake. In the morning we came parading through the half- way mark on the trail with big smirks. 106 miles down, 106 to go. The trick moving forward was that there were no resupply options from this point on. Muir Trail Ranch was it—a camp deep in the Sierra where hikers mailed food in advance. The rest of our "tramily" had planned on this resupply, while I had initially planned to hike out an additional fourteen miles to Onion Val- ley for a resupply. The trail teaches us to be flexible. I ultimately picked through "hiker boxes", essentially the left-over bin. The boxes were FULL of food. Maybe from someone who bailed. Maybe from someone who mailed them- selves too much food. Didn't matter. With a grin, I scored eight days worth of food. That grin quickly disappeared as I realized how heavy

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