Tuesday June 3^rd, 2014

My alarm pings at 6am I press snooze until the sunlight touches my tent. I must of  been more exhausted than I thought after yesterday’s snowy stomp .I fire up my stove and as  the water boils I drop my tent and pack up, stuff a handful of nuts in my gob ,finish my tea then I’m away. My legs feel a little leaden, hopefully they will soon free up .It is   weird I started this hike  on my  own  and  I  like  my  own company  but  here with all the snow and an eerie  silence  I begin to  feel  quite  lonely  and I miss company ,it would be good to hike with someone, someone to talk to and spur me along . I shake off my   feeling of melancholy and push on.

The trail is smooth and downhill through pretty pine forest, the sun on the pine releases that amazing scent. After 2 hours I reach the suspension bridge at woods creek and nearby are several flat dry spots, seems other hikers camped here last night. I cross over the bridge in bright sunshine and I am at the 800-mile marker whoop whoop

My  goal of  today  is Pinchot and then Mather pass, my  legs have now come to life, but I know there is going to be much more snow ahead, but I’m in no hurry  as I plod on. The trail comes and goes as I keep placing one foot in front of the other.  Unusually I do not see anyone the whole day which is odd as I am normally passed by at least a handful of other hikers. the loneliness  returns which I  quickly  shake  off urging  myself  on  Come  on Snail. I am now approaching the snow-filled valley beneath Pinchot pass,  I do feel alone and scared at times  but  hey  I can do this  The snow is soft in the afternoon sun and I posthole my way across the  surface, my legs sinking into the snow, the crusty top layer scratching and cutting my legs  I’m headed in the direction of what I think is the trail, more by instinct , yes I am going the right way .I feel quite vulnerable in this wilderness  as I inch my way up the trail . In front of me is a large rocky mountain OMG I utter to myself and push on, I’m begging to sound like the old stream train again puffing and a blowing, with my heavy pack and shitty shoes

 The pass is up there somewhere. I come to a stream so fill  up and  take a 5 min rest  before  I splosh my way through the  freezing stream which wakes me  up  Brr that’s cold  but I need to press on , but I’m postholing again  which just  sap’s my energy  and  my feet are aching from the cold .I move on  I hear the gushing of water beneath my feet  this  also scares the shit out of me  I try to  run  faster across but as I look up I’m greeted with a huge wall of Rock.  Fuck I am going up that OMG come on Snail you have done one you can do another, but that was in boots why did you send the boots up the trail

I begin to climb working my way over the rocks and snow, towards the pass. My feet are cold and wet from the snow and I am thirsty so thirsty – I have been out of water for a while but haven’t wanted to stop and get any. I sit on a rock, shaking from hunger and  I feel so  scared yes  I’m scared and  then the loneliness  returns again .why do I feel like  this is it because I haven’t seen anyone all day  or  the silence ? I  push  on urging myself  forward  ill stop and  make  tea soon,  that will cheer me  up  The only  sound is  my heart racing  and my lungs  puffing  like a train  Come on Snail  I urge myself on  looking forward to hot tea and cold lunch lol  yummy . I charge on, postholing all the way, at last I am at the pas  it is  4pm  it has  taken me  almost 6 hrs  to  get this  far  that’s  really pants Snail .  I stop and get out my stove and eat a tortilla,   but I do not sit long, the tea warms my belly id love another, but I need to keep moving. I set off down the other side stumbling and tripping and postholing Snail slow down before you break your fucking neck or worse hurt yourself!!!!  Fuck where is the trail panic I see a faint  line in the snow and  head towards it  as I descend  A wave of panic  come over me again I fight it off as it is  not welcome here . It seems to take forever to get low enough where I can walk on the trail Thank fuck, I say to myself… although there  is a lot more snow  to  get through .

It can’t be far to Mather pass I say to myself and hike on the snow free trail making up  lost  mileage , this is good I say  again to myself .At last I come to some rocks  and  a place to camp  , I can see tent foot prints from previous  hikers  Okay Snail THIS WILL DO  FOR  TODAY .  I put up my tent and soon I am eating a hot supper of Mackie cheese with bacon bit is yummy, and enjoy several mugs of tea night all