TOP LEFT: Crew (minus Karen) atop Colby Pass - 12,000 feet (Joanna, Cliff, Frenchy, Lumpy, Bob)
TOP RIGHT: Sunrise looking up towards Colby Pass from Colby Lake camp
BOTTOM LEFT: Cliff "swimming" in Colby Lake
Definitely the most eventful day to date. We broke camp to an incredible sunrise coming over the top of Colby Pass, the incremental 2,000 feet switchbacked climb that awaited us after breakfast. Joanna's feet had finally stopped bleeding, and everyone else was getting used to their aches and pains. We dressed, broke camp, and started our trek alongside the lake. At the far end, just before starting up the pass, Cliff stops, drops pack, and trousers, and just dives in the lake. He said that he couldn't leave without one more dip! So, we all joined him, which led to us taking about 2 more hours to begin the day's hike (joanna's feet take about an hour to tape up alone!)
The hike up the pass was tough, but better than that up Avalanche pass, so we must finally be getting acclimated to the elevation. We spent a few minutes up top enjoying the incredible view, then started down the far side. We were making good time, and wanted to not only get down the far side of the pass, but try to crest a smaller intermediate crest before heading up towards the John Muir Trail (JMT).
The intermediate crest turned out to be an absolute bear of a climb, very rocky, exposed, and vertical. As we approached the top, the trail got narrower and narrower, until finally it was almost a scramble to a "keyhole". Basically this is when you crest over a mountain top, then immediately drop back downward, with no place to "hang out". It was scary, exposed, and coming at the end of a long day when you're already tired, very, very tough. We decided that this would be a bad place to camp, and pushed towards the bottom of the pass, where there was water, some ground cover, and hopefully something other than exposed rock to sleep on.
On the trek down, Frenchy, who to date had been invincible, stepped onto a rock and seriously twisted her ankle. It was not a good situation; we were at the most remote spot of the trip, we still had about 1,000 feet to hike down that evening and darkness was fast approaching, and she was carrying a very heavy pack that we'd have to unload off of her. And, along with blowing out her ankle, the sole of her shoe at toe had torn free, basically leaving it flapping off the bottom of her boot. All in all, not a good situation.
We couldn't afford to tape her up, as removing her boot would allow her ankle to swell, and there was no running water nearby to chill the ankle. So, we had her drop pack and start a VERY slow hike down the hill, while the boys hiked ahead to drop gear, setup camp, and then send cliff back up the mountain to pickup her pack. It took a couple of hours in total to get her down, along with the gear, and by then we were in darkness. Camp setup in darkness is much more difficult, we had one less person to help (as we stuck Frenchy's leg in the nearby ice cold creek), and we had no time to scout campsite, bear evidence, etc.
This was the low point of the trip; we talked about our options that night if she was unable to hike out. It would mean that at least 2 of us would have to break off, and hike ahead, out the east side of the mountain range, and get ahold of rangers, who would have to helicopter her out (no radio or cellular coverage for probably 20-30 miles). Time consuming, fraught with logistical issues, and expensive. Nobody had a restful sleep that night. And if Frenchy was no longer invincible, what did that foretell for us mere mortals?
The next morning, the swelling was down some, and she felt that she could proceed, at least for a while. We unloaded her pack, she taped up her ankle, and off we went. Our destination today was the John Muir Trail, where we would have turned south for the Mt Whitney climb; now we'll be turning north on our way back to Road's End, via a bear of a pass called Forrester (at 13,000 feet).
It was a very long day again, slowed by joanna's foot pace, and michelle's ankle pace. Well, and my jelly-belly pace, and bob's doing calculus in his head pace, and...
More to come...
Lumpy out
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