Let me tell you about the day that I almost died.
Ok, maybe that sounds a bit too extreme, butIf you were only going to read one entry from this trip, this would be it.
Last night I had spent the night in the car at the end of the Skyline Trail.
Here is a brief breakdown of the Trail
It was set up as a 26.2 mile hike that required a switchback climb up to a mountain ridge, with a final decent back down to the main road. The guide above was pretty basic but gave me some good intervals to check progress.
I have gotten pretty good at judging my own pace and ability to move quickly. I know that I hike 3mph on flat surface and 2.5mph on uphill and 3.5 on the downhills.
I met some people who also slept at the trail’s end and were hiking the trail over 3 days. I was planning on hiking the trail over 2 days, so I had my full pack, weighing roughly 40 lbs. My camping stop, which I registered with the ranger station, was at mile 12 (Curator Lake).
I said goodbye to my Kia and started walking the road with my thumb out. After about a mile, 2 chicks stopped to pick me up. They were cool, and we traded life stories on the 15 minute ride. They were out to do a shorter day hike near my trailhead.
It was snowing as I set out at roughly 10am. I would regret the late start and pay the price later on.
I was moving fast with few stops, hitting the snow within a couple hours
I was motoring mechanically when I came upon a mother moose and 2 babies.
I was amazed at how close I got without seeing them. The problem here was that they were huge and dangerous and happened to be right on the trail. The hill was too steep to circle around them. I gave out a, “easy big girl” as I scooted within 4 ft and the babies, bigger than me, took off up the hill. I got past and was relieved. At this point I did not know I was about to start a set of switchbacks. When I went another 50 ft the trail turned back and I came face to face with the moose again as she was bisecting my trail heading straight uphill. I gave out a quiet, “Fuck!” Again I eased by and the same damn thing happened at the next turn. I really should have waited until it cleared out but I have no patience and wanted to keep moving. I made it past and was happy to have filled out my Bingo card with the exception of a Grizzly and Caribou.
I made the first campsite listed on the trail and was not pleased with the amount of snow. I was glad I had my full size hiking boots and gators on as opposed to opting for trail shoes
I continued and made the first peak
I then started my decent into a valley. The snow was brutal and the wind was whipping. I was equipped with just a pair of quickdry pants, quickdry shirt and fleece jacket
I was chuckling to avoid the panic. I was in the Snowbowl about to reach Little Shovel Pass. It was ridiculous. I kept mumbling a line from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo goes out on his Ton-Ton (llama like pack animal) to find Luke in a snowstorm and some random guard yells to him, “Your Ton-Ton will freeze before you reach the first marker!” To which Han responds, “Then I’ll see you in Hell!” Well Han eventually finds Luke, and has to cut the belly of the Ton-Ton open to place Luke inside it to keep from freezing to death overnight. Well I did not have a Ton-Ton in my pack.
My saving grace was that I kept moving, walking the fine line between hypothermia and sweating, which was also dangerous. I stopped once to take a piss and it took 10 minutes of hiking to warm back up. I vowed not to stop again. The other main problem was that the snow had covered the trail and no one was as dumb as me, trying to hike through this crap, meaning no tracks. This proved to be a recurring trend on the hike. At some point I found some iced over tracks of 2 hikers, and without these I would have been royally screwed as Canada, unlike the US, is not a big believer in trail markings, which I generally agree with.
I killed time with thoughts about Philosophy. I am a big fan of Albert Camus and his idea of Absurdism .
Briefly stated:
“Absurdism is a philosophical school of thought stating that the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning will ultimately fail (and hence are absurd) because the sheer amount of information as well as the vast realm of the unknown make certainty impossible. Some absurdists state that one should embrace the absurd condition of humankind while conversely continuing to explore and search for meaning. As a philosophy, absurdism thus also explores the fundamental nature of the Absurd and how individuals, once becoming conscious of the Absurd, should respond to it.”
That being said, I also read on Buddhism and the idea of Happiness being the meaning of life. I worked through these thoughts in mind, along with the book, “Republic” by Aristotle, where he believes the world should be ruled by Philosophers and there is no need for laws and government, rather people are governed my morality. It sounds good, but Aristotle believes this morality is dictated by God, while Camus, sharing a similar idea, believes the morality is judged by the individual, without a higher power of influence.
I then started considering the closing scene of the movie Into the Wild, where the tragic hero dies of starvation while struggling to escape the wild and return to civilization. Chris sought isolation, but in the end felt that the bond between humans is necessary. I struggle with the same thoughts as I sometimes wonder why I throw myself into these extreme situations all by myself. I crave solitude in my own city, often opting to hang out at bars and movies own my own.
The snow let up as I dropped down to a lower elevation
A fallen soldier along the way
I then came across this paw print, adding a new wrinkle to the hike
I now was constantly scanning the landscape in search of the owner of this print. At this point I was glad to not see any bears.
Back to higher elevations. I was about 7 miles into the hike and working my way towards Big Shovel Pass. The snow returned and the trail disappeared
A final tough push to the Pass
Around 9 miles now, I had to descend towards Curator Lake and the campground. At the Pass I looked up and to the right and saw some guy wandering back and forth along the ridgeline. He had dropped his pack and looked confused. I had read about this on stories of Everest, but this seemed a bit odd. He was about a ¼ mile up from me. I was worried about my own survival at this point and made the decision not to head over to him.
The problem being that I did not know where the trail was. Was he on the trail? I literally had no clue. That guide linked at the beginning of the blog just said, “From Big Shovel Pass, fork left and descend northwest toward Curator Lake.” So I did not think he was on the trail, and just decided to follow that general direction. Below is a view from the Pass looking in that general direction
I saw tons of prints on the above picture along the ridge on the right. What the hell was that about? Eventually I realized that these were not footprints, but elk or Caribou tracks from a mass migration. As I worked down I saw a rock cairn and felt good about my choice. I could not afford to get lost. I was working my way towards this ridge in the distance.
Then as I got closer I saw foot tracks branch off to the right, up and over a lower altitude pass. What the hell was that? The guide was saying veer left? I stayed left and came to find that the path to the right was a shortcut back out of the mountains to the road. I then came to this sign
The direction of the campground was a hike down into a valley. I was not gunna hike down into a valley only to hike out the next day. I did not want any extra hiking, it just felt inefficient. It did look like the Curator campsite, where I was scheduled to stop, was below the snowline, which would be a plus. To the right the trail continued towards the “Notch” Here is a couple views of the Notch
What the Fuck! I was supposed to hike up over that? There had to be a trail that wound up close to it and somehow snaked around the back, right? The day before the ranger had told me about this part of the hike, without naming it and I was starting to recollect the conversation. He said that after you get up in the morning you will be faced with the toughest part of the entire trail. Go slow and don’t get gassed as it will kick your ass and best to tackle after a night’s rest.
Well it was 3pm and I was not ready to camp, so I opted to hike the Notch and maybe camp on the other side when it drops down below the snowline. I lost the trail almost immediately and would up in a boulder field, jumping from rock to rock
I soon saw the trail that worked its way through the boulders. I headed towards it and took a huge fall. I landed on rock with both knees and elbows. With the 40lb pack on my pack I just laid there and prayed I had not broken anything. I knew that there was a group hiking behind me but they were not going to hit this part of the trail until the following day. It was so nice just to lie there. Eventually I worked up the motivation to get up. My joints killed but nothing seemed broken. My knees and elbows would be bruised and painful for 1 month after returning from this trip.
I continued on to the Notch, still not believing I had to climb this. This shot is looking back down at my progress
As I got close to the top I was stopping every 20 ft to catch my breath. I had found the tracks of the two hikers from earlier in the day. I had to really dig my feet into the snow to avoid sliding down hill
I was so close
I finally made it to the top and just yelled out a few expletives as loud as I could. I dont usually swear too much in my blog, but it is important to convey the emotionally charged situation. For that I apologize to my younger and more conservative audience.
As I crossed the Pass, the wind was raging at like 5o mph and was on rock, eliminating the trail. I again had no clue where to go and my trail guide gave no information for this part of the hike.
I looked to my left and decided not to undertake that ridgeline
Looking straight ahead I saw the snow fade away as it dropped into a valley
I started in this direction I guess because that is what I craved, but then stopped as it looked like the trail actually was to the right along the ridge…damn! I wanted to get down to trees and grass!
I continued on for miles of whipping winds and poor footing. This really sucked as I could not afford to stop here and was indeed gassed after the Notch
My guide said, “Soak up jaw-dropping, 360-degree views along Amber Mountain’s ridgeline.” Sure. I finally came to a spot where it looked like the trail descended into a valley. I reserved excitement until I was positive. I was now at about mile 16
I started stumbling at rapid speed down a switchback. I got cocky and wanted to make better time, so at one point I started bisecting the switchbacks.
Bad move. Soon I saw that I missed the last switchback which extended off way to my right and down behind a ridge. I stood on the lip of this ridge and had to weigh my options. Do I hike back up to the trail and follow the trail down or do I climb down the ridge? I was pissed because I was actually losing time because although I was on a straight line, the hiking had turned into climbing. I decided to climb down hand over hand with controlled slides. I finally got down and jumped a stream before looking back up at my path
I was now near a lake with the snow receding.
I had to stop. I had only 1 liter of water on this hike and had not eaten since a Clif bar at 8am. I sat down on a rock by a trickling stream and was able to move some rocks around to create a drop in the water allowing it collect into my Nalgene bottle. I ate another Clif bar and had some decisions to make. I knew that I had only a few hours of daylight left and still had 10 miles to go if I did not stop. If I really moved I thought I might be able to make it as darkness settled in. I knew that the last 4 miles were on a fire road and it would be fairly manageable in the dark, if I came up short on my estimates. Or I could camp at the next spot which was very close to me. There was also a campground right where the fire road started in 6 miles.
I decided to try and make it back to the car. I came up to the next camp and found the hikers whose tracks had saved my life in a few spots. They were doing the trail in 3 days and were amazed that I had actually started the trail that same morning. I talked briefly relishing the human contact, feeling a bit of what Chris McCandless sought during his demise in the Alaskan wilderness of “Into the Wild”
I told them I was trying to complete the trail that same day and they were questioning my sanity. I did the same, but kept going. The ability to talk to another person motivated me and I found a strong second wind. All I thought about now was getting back in time to belly up to the Jasper Brewing Co bar and ordering a Blueberry/Vanilla brew. I was kicking myself for not starting the trail until 10am, it robbed me a couple hours of daylight, which I now badly needed.
Then I got another surprise, not a great picture below, but it represents large cat tracks
I had heard rumors of a cougar spotted recently by some hikers. I was even more terrified then when I saw the bear tracks. I hiked with my knife out for a while and then kept it close on my belt, concerned that I might stumble and stab myself.
I made the fire road just as complete darkness settled in. I sat for a moment as speed did not matter anymore. The fire road was 15ft across and would be easy to navigate. The ranger told me that the FR was a brutal closer as it was on a constant downhill with no real way to take breaks or slow your pace.
Soon the road became a footpath. I had my headlight out and 3 more miles. My pedometer ran out of battery life the day before so I just went based on my watch estimates. I began to see lights in the distance and felt I was close to the road. It turned out that the lights were from the lodge which was 3 miles from the trails close. I could not understand why I was not getting closer to all these lights, but was in fact getting farther away. About 1 mile from the end I took a fall. I landed on the soft trail but was emotionally and physically crushed. It took 30 seconds and all my strength to get up. It felt like the hardest pushup I have ever done.
I was just a stumbling mess at this point. I could not understand how this fire road was so narrow. Had I missed a turn? Why was I not getting closer to those lights? Where was the fucking car! I vowed to go 30 more minutes and then reevaluate, possibly bushwhack towards the lights. After 30 minutes I vowed another 30 minutes. After my recent attempt to short the trail failed, I did not like the idea of trying it again in the dark.
I finally came upon my car with no warning. I could not believe it. I dropped the back and hugged the Kia. There were people all around settling in their cars to start a hike the next day. I just started saying, “Holy Shit, Holy Shit” for 5 minutes in-between gasping breaths.
I climbed behind the wheel and fought of the urge to lie down. I drove downtown and stopped at a rest stop bathroom and took all my clothes off and washed in the sink. It was freezing cold out. A guy was in there cleaning the bathroom, just looking at me like I was a crazed escapee from a mental institution. I just kept washing trying to think warm.
I finally get to the bar and ordered my beer, just staring at it, knowing how important it was to me, and how it represented such a strong motivator. All these people were drinking and enjoying the night. No one knew what I had just come through. I just smiled to myself. I did not stop shivering in the bar for 2 hours. My toes were numb, and to this day my left big toe remains numb when I lie down at night.
It was the hardest hike of my life and I would not trade the experience for anything. Would I ever hike that trail again? Never.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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