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Ask Me Anything – Day 17 (mile 111/211)
Aware my trek posts have been mostly moodring rambles so far!
Ask me anything about the hike? “Preparation”? Gear? Cuisine? The mental game of hiking? Etc? Pop your question in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!
So, Day 17. I hiked down to Muir Trail Ranch, where my big white bucket of resupply foods etc was waiting for me. The hiker exchange system on the MTR porch was a thing of beauty – a free library of essentials and others organised neatly in buckets. Breakfasts, lunch/dinner, nut-based snacks, oatmeal (sealed packets only), medical/first aid, wipes, useful not-broken gear, etc. You know I tossed all my oatmeal sachets straight into that bucket – on trail, I can’t even bear the sight of the stuff. I donated my spare sunglasses (that I’d mailed out thinking I might have broken the original pair by this point in the trail), some compeed I didn’t need. I picked up some Benzalkonium Chloride antiseptic wipes, which count as a reassuring treat. Someone’s dehydrated creme brulee in a clear ziploc. I grabbed a half-bag of dried tangerine slices and compulsively ate them in the sun as I unpacked and repacked my canister and my rucksack. The exchange system felt uncapitalist and abundant. From and to each according to means and need.
“An unusual system you have there” said a PCT hiker as I strapped the outside-the-pack things to the outside of the pack. “Can I feel your pack? I’m curious”. We weighed out on the fishhook scale dangling from the MTR porch – the other hikers were in the 30-odd pound range. I’d meet some who were in the 20s with a week’s food. My (vastly reduced) pack came in at 47lb. And I was off into the hot afternoon.
Each valley and pass has its own feel and style. The Kings Canyon valley is more verdant, with a huge rushing creek down below in the literal canyon. The trail skirts cliffs, a bit vertiginous at times. I met a hiker going north with a right lower leg gash – clean and healing. I gave him a BZK wipe and he asked about frostbite and showed me his white numb fingertips. I’m going up to the higher elevations – there are no real stops from here to the end of the trail, and if I can pick up the daily mileage, I might finish on this food-reload.
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Comments 13
honestly i think most of my questions are about the dehydrated crème brulée… what even is it? i’m just imagining a ziplock bag of powdered egg and sugar!
Yeah ziploc of white powder, separate sachet of squishy sauce. I put some riverwater into the powder, creating a bag of sticky icing/frosting. Threw the squish on top and scoffed it with my spork. It got *everywhere*. Another hiker belatedly suggested cutting a lower corner off the ziploc and using it as a sort of squeeze funnel directly into my face. But too late. It was really good. Foodie blog!
I’ve been wondering how the altitude has been effecting you? I’m so sensitive to it that I had to turn around at the entrance to Yosemite.😬. Plus other adventures interrupted. You have alluded to it, but obviously it hasn’t stopped you. Not that ANYTHING would!! (Jane rocks!)
It hasn’t been too bad. Going in, I decided that I would simply turn around and descend if I got any serious altitude symptoms. And as you can see I’ve taken it very slowly getting up to altitude, with some *short* hiking days especially early on. What I’ve experienced (mostly between 10,000 and 12,000 ish feet):
– short of breath when climbing. My legs are up for it; my lungs are what’s making me pause very frequently on uphills.
– one day of lightheadedness and bad pressure headaches
– some difficulty sleeping at higher altitudes
– wildly increased urinary frequency! My understanding is this is one of the ways the body compensates for altitude/alkalosis.
I met hikers who were taking Diamox (a diuretic) against altitude sickness. I felt like I wanted to let my body handle the situation itself, rather than tricking it/having the side effects of drugs. I met hikers who had been taken off trail with severe altitude sickness before rejoining, and some who had pushed through quite severe symptoms to summit Whitney. Hiking solo (and in dread of the embarrassment and expense of a rescue), my risk tolerance for pushing through altitude sickness was very low!
My tactics against altitude sickness were willingness to descend/rest at any time. I was mostly generous with fluids, and made sure I was getting extra salt to replace what I lost in sweat. I took 325mg of aspirin daily, and on days I was hiking up to serious elevation, I’d take 600-1200mg of ibuprofen too. On the high ascents, I found that increasing my intrinsic PEEP (expiratory pressure, by exhaling against pursed lips) was helpful. Perhaps only because I thought it would help? Or perhaps because increasing the time spent exhaling allows for more O2/CO2 exchange in the lungs.
Sorry you’ve had to cut adventures short! I’ve also heard that sensitivity to altitude is not a constant over the course of a person’s life, so maybe with some preventive tactics you might try again in future and not have problems? xo
hi jane,
reading your post yesterday when you ran out of water i was wondering if you have a water filter seeing you passed by many water sources on your way.
also are you using trekking poles? after many years of backpacking i finally started using them 20 years ago and cannot imaging hiking without them now.
i am with you on every step of you journey
bob
hey Bob!
I certainly passed a lot of water sources, just thought I was going to camp somewhere with a water source – so didn’t fill up.
I don’t have a filter – I use iodine tablets to purify water during the day (30 minute wait) and those Micropur tablets overnight. They require 4 hours to work, protected from light. It does seem filters are the default on the trail now though!
I do have trekking poles (doubling as centre-pole for my tent). With the rubbly landslides, rocks, river fording, and a bit of snowslope to cross, I think I’d struggle without them.
Thanks for the remote support 🙂
Oh gosh, always have some PREPARED water handy even if you think you won’t be thirsty before your next source. You may need water to flush something out your eye (you definitely don’t want a scratched cornea on the trail!) a wound, stop a burn, rub on your skin and face to help cool, for a dehydrated or injured person you meet, you could be stopped in place with an injury or noro and need water before helping arrives. ♥️♥️ .
Are you having fun?
Oh yeah, my norm is having at least a litre of water ready on hand 🙂 Compared to other trails I’ve been on, the south-of-Yosemite JMT has such abundant water that I guess I relaxed more than usual.
Definitely having bursts of fun!
I wondered why you were taking ibuprofen. You really should not take that simultaneously with an aspirin product. Perhaps there’s an exception/reason for altitude issues? Ibuprofen, while it can extend bleeding time, it is also associated with clots… clinical data recently published that many people are not aware of. I really appreciate reading your descriptions of what you experience on this challenging trail. I will continue to advise you from my love seat in Maryland, at 505 altitude. 😆
Oh I’d take the aspirin and ibuprofen at different ends of the day.
Taking ibuprofen for anti-inflammatory effects. The aspects of altitude sickness I definitely did not want are HACE (high-altitude cerebral edema) and HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema). Where I work we would treat either of those with quite large doses of dexamethasone (Decadron). I did not have access to Decadron, but had read that “convincing” doses of ibuprofen could have a similar anti-inflammatory effect, decreasing the chance of edema. I was a lot more worried about edema than clots on this trip.
That said, I took the aspirin for its anti-platelet effects. I usually pop a 325mg before any long flight or drive 🙂
That’s interesting. “Convincing”…. hope so, anything to avoid the steroids ugh. Happy safe trails! I’m enjoying the journey.
Love your blogs 💞 what has been your favorite thing about hiking. An what is your least favorite. Be safe 💕
Thanks so much for reading, Tina! Great question.
I’d say my favourite thing has been the light/colours, and the landscapes illuminated. Although the themes of mountains and lakes etc recur, each new valley and landscape and ecosystem is singular. I’ve also unexpectedly loved the high-altitude rodents (mice, marmots, chipmunks etc). The flora is unfamiliar to me, a lot of gorgeous flowers.
Least favourite (and I know this is sort of intrinsic to making these landscapes, so I’m not complaining) has been the extremes of temperature. I didn’t really think about it too much in advance of the trip, but getting scorched at 100+F then … snowed on up high has not been super comfortable!