South Lake Tahoe to Donners Pass Miles 1092 to 1158 and the Need to Re-Assess Hiking Plan

Zeroing in South Lake Tahoe

I spent 3 days in South Lake Tahoe (SLT).  Besides needing to replace my tent, my left knee was swollen and very sore.  I was icing it up and giving it an extra 2 days rest before attempting to start back up on the trail.  I had been working on increasing my milage to 20 + a day with the anticipation that once out of the Sierra’s, the terrain would be more favorable to support more miles.  However the last day hiking into SLT was a grueling downhill on a tough trail tread. That proved very hard on my knee.  We also ran into rain and lightening 2 days before getting to SLT, and while we got off the ridge and took cover to wait it out, the weather forecast we were seeing for the area was not matching up with the actual events.  I decided to hike back out to a nearby ranger station to try to get reliable weather info for the rest of the day.  So I backtracked about 2 miles. I was able to confirm the storm was going to pass late afternoon/early evening.  I ended up hiking back out into the night 20 miles more to get to the originally intended campsite.  My knee felt fine when I went to sleep but when I woke up in the morning it was pretty stiff.  I think one of the most difficult things is all the food intake is being used up right away and none is left to repair/build back up the body.  That makes handling the nagging injuries difficult.  I now know that I have lost 30 lbs. since starting the trail which is pretty significant. I do want to give a shout out to Alan and the Limit Solution Trail Magic Team that set up their Trail Magic at a pass we crossed before SLT.  We are so GRATEFUL!

Goofy’s Cross Country Adventure

The 66 miles on the PCT from SLT up to Donners Pass on I-80 was a fantastic place to hike.  It was filled with clear mountain lakes and ridgelines with fantastic views of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains were nothing but spactacular to look at.  The PCT shares a tread with the Tahoe Rim Trail for much of the Tahoe Basin and there were many hikers and backpackers out using the trails.  Lots and lots of happy people with smiles on their faces enjoying the escape to the mountains!  We crossed the top edges of several ski resorts along the way.  It is amazing what the terrain looks like without several feet of “Base Snow” sitting on the slopes.  Hard to believe people are skiing over the top of the boulders, crevices, trees, and shrubs that make up the summer slopes.  On the way up the backside of the last ski resort before Donners Pass, the trail split off without any sign indicating where the 2 trails were each heading.  My GPS indicated that the trail that continued to climb the mountain was the PCT tread.  There were lots of footprints in the tread to indicate the path was taken by a lot of other people.  The other tread was headed down and away from where Donners Pass was…..  CrampPa here took the high road which ended up being the WRONG road….. and I didn’t stop to verify that the GPS showed me still being on the right path.  I got to the top of the mountain, with all the now deserted lifts, and I found myself looking down onto a vast expanse of slopes all with that not so wonderful summer terrain zigzagging for a long, long, long, way down…. and the only 4 wheel gravel road in sight was winding its way down AWAY from the direction I wanted to go…. So I looked for the sign with the green circle on it pointing hopefully to the easiest slope in which to climb down….That worked for several hundred yards until the slope headed off to join up with the gravel road leading to who knows where…  So then I took the slope with the green square on it thinking how could this go wrong….?  well someone designed a green square slope that fed me into 2 options, both of which were black diamond slopes……Fire that person!!!!! Well I’m typing this story, so yes, I made it down in spite of the fact that not rechecking the GPS location in the first place was the stupidest thing I have ever done hiking in my life!  Re-Verify your track folks when you have GPS at your fingertips…….. Do as I Say; not as I Do!  Once I got to the bottom of the slopes, I walked the road for a mile to the Donner Pass Ski Resort and by then my knee was pretty sore.  Fortunately the resort has a great bar/restaurant and PCT hikers get a free 40 oz bottle of Mickey’s Malt Liquor.  Did I ever need that “attitude adjustor” after my Goofy’s Cross Country Adventure….. As stated in my last Blog, Donners Pass was now the place where I had to decide on what my hiking strategy was going to be due to the active fires popping up and also how my knee was feeling.

Fires, Fires, and more Fires!

The most common theme of discussions between most hikers while in SLT was vetting out the available strategy options now that the fire season was upon us and fires were popping up in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington.  There were already parts of the trail being shut down in each state with no ability to accurately determine when they might open back up, or in some cases, a recommended reroute had yet to be identified and communicated.  There was one report that there had been over 700 lightening strikes recorded in those 3 states on a single Thursday night.  Not all resulting in fires, but the conditions were ripe for possibly more fires every day which for me was a little unsettling.  We use an App called Watch Duty to try to keep up to date on the various fire situations.  The map of the 3 states showed all the current fires and you can drill down to see the details of the fire such as the acerage size, % containment, and any Evacuation Orders/Warnings. The first time I pulled it up it was very startling to see all the fires overlayed on the map.  I immediately thought of Deep Purple’s lyrics: “Burned the place to the ground, Smoke on the Water, a fire in the night!…..” One hiker reported that she had friends that were hiking by the California/Oregon border when they wittnessed the actual lightening strike to a tree that started one of the fires. YIKES!

It was very interesting to listen to the various perspectives of my fellow PCT hikers.  There was DEFINETLY NOT a consensus of the best approach to handling this new variable interjecting itself into our lives on the trail.  While I had no problem sharing my personal views of the situation and suggesting possible options, it still boils down to the hiker adage; “Hike Your Own Hike”.    I will share my views and some of the steps I took to formulate my perspectives.  While some of the perspectives were clearly formed in my mind, some of the perspectives were not so clear, and led to some internal dialogues that left me conflicted with what the proper call for me was.

Decision 2024

I view my PCT Permit like a drivers license.  I have the privilege to hike on the Tread that is the PCT and a responsibility to understand I am a temporary visitor to the natural tread as well as the communities that support the trail.  The lives of the people in those communities and those who work in the natural environment encompass a MUCH bigger sphere than the small bubble I’m in.  I do not want to push the envelope of making it their responsibility to deal with my physical presence in an area that is already under an extreme pressure situation such that a wildfire brings.  I looked at the maps of the trail and realized the resources and infrastructure of exit points and available transportation were getting much thinner as I headed north.  Coupling that with the pressure people were under to due to the fire threatening their actual homes, livelihoods,  and belongings, I had a strong sense of duty to voluntarialy remove myself from that equation.  I can always hike that part of the trail at another time is my thinking.

I also had many conversations with a lot of wonderful people hiking the trail who were evolving in their understanding of what hiking the trail meant to them as individuals.  One of the reoccuring evolutions I heard was that you can worry/stess about things you have no control over or lament areas you don’t get to see and allow that to become your focus.  Or you can spend your time enjoying and marvel at the places you do get to see and experience and embrace the relationship with people you do get to interact with. There are millions of places and people to meet in this world that we are never going to experience….  I am OK with missing a part of the trail closed due to an active fire or the 85 miles of a desolate and burned up landscape from a previous year’s fire where any wind will coat everything with ash.  I’m not out hiking to punish myself!

I also am thinking about the long term effects of hiking in smoke and ash from nearby fires.  While I may not be in a direct risk zone for that fire, what risks am I taking hiking nearby where the smoke/ash is hanging in the air?   Considering that I could be hiking in an area that would be 1-3 days out from an extraction point breathing in smoke, I wanted to hear what an expert would advise.  Talked to Tom, my older brother, who is a retired Fire Captain and Paul, my son, who is a current Firefighter/EMT about the potential long term effects of hiking in that potential environment.  It was clear they would NOT voluntarily put themselves in that situation.  Besides carcinogens being in smoke and ash, there are recent studies indicating extended exposure to smoke possibly could increase the odds of Dementia.  My PCT Trek is an awesome experience; but not more awesome than my Life Trek with my family and friends.

Bouncing up to Washington

While talking to my son Paul, it just so happened that he had 3 days off of work.  Having hiked 3 long trails before, he knew the deal working around fires and floods.  He offered to pick me up out of Donners Pass and help me bounce up to the Columbia River so I could potentially hike the 500 miles in the state of Washington and buy time to see how the fire season played out in Oregon and northern California.  So I committed to that plan and bounced up to Casscade Locks.  My plan was to hike north into Washington with the hope that the fires in north Washington would be contained before I got to them and that the fire season would be not as intense.  I stayed a couple of days in Casscade Locks to rest my knee before starting out.  I made it about 16 miles up the trail for the first day but that night I had my knee buckle twice unexpectedly when I walked on it.  That had me worried as that had not happened to me before.  I was keenly aware that the bubble of hikers that far north was greatly smaller than the bubble I had been hiking in further south.  I also did not have any personal relationship with any of the hikers that I did see.  The exit points also were more spread out to where I would be hiking 4-6 days before the opportunity to bail would present itself.  I decided the next morning I would need to make a tough decision on what was the best choice for me was considering the potential for fires to break out, how my knee was feeling, if I thought it was something I could continue to work through, and finally was I being a good steward to the trail community in general.  I ate breakfast and mulled over the options.  It was very difficult but I finally decided that the only question that mattered in the end was; “Do I see fun and joy in the thought of hiking further today?”  And the answer was unfortunately no.  So instead of continuing north, I turned and retraced my steps south with the thought that the right thing to do was find out what was going on with my knee.  If nothing else, I could give it the proper amount of time to rest and quiet down with the swelling.  I ran into several people hiking north as I was hiking south and everyone of them had a big smile on their face.  They were enjoying being out there, and I knew that with my knee and the concerns I had, my face was not wearing a smile.  That is when I knew I had made the right call.   I have a Dr. appointment next week and it has been 7 days since I left the trail and while the swelling has gone down and the knee is much less sore, it still is not there yet.  My prayers are for the fires to quiet down out west and for more favorable cooler weather to prevail as we move into August not just for the hikers but for the people who actually live and work in the affected areas.  Depending on the diagnosis with my knee, there still is a part of me that hopes I perhaps could get back to the trail this September to hike Washington and then finish up Oregon and northern Cal in future years.

Ode to Awesome Hiker People

I want to thank all the awesome people who shared part of the walk on the trail with me so far this summer.  The support and inspiration you gave me on my journey was incredible and I am grateful to have shared our experiences on the trail.  Getting to know you and sharing laughs and sometimes working though the tough times together has been so unbelievably enriching to my hiking experience.   Thanks also to those that have been following my Blogs and I will send a follow up Blog when I can determine how this hiking season will play out for me.  Perhaps the Blog will be from the trail somewhere in Washington if that is in the cards for me.

Stay in touch and wishing you nothing but Peace and Happiness

CrampPa