Death defying adventures
What a harrowing week I’ve had! I’m leaving the forest in about 2 weeks, so I
thought I better get to all the hikes I’ve been putting off. This week I decided to go all the way up to
Sonora Pass and hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The elevation is about 9600 feet
so I asked around to see which direction was more level and was told to take
the North route. The first open parking
space was next to the trail head, so off I went. It was a gradual but steady uphill climb and
I could see forever, including parts of the trail above me. I saw this huge rock formation ahead but I
thought the trail must pass by it and go up another way. Not so much I was soon to discover. After about a mile of trudging uphill, I got
to the formation and was surprised to see my path kept going up. It seemed pretty dangerous, so I turned
around and went back down. I got about a
quarter mile away, and turned around to look at the trail again. It really bugged me to give up so
easily. I discovered the path I
originally was on was wrong, I should have been closer to the rock, so I went
back and started climbing. The first level was a bit steep with loose dirt and
lots of rocks. I got about ¾ of the way
up and I saw a man and his daughter coming down. They said there was another trail that starts
by the bathrooms and takes a longer route up to where we were. I never saw the bathroom or the other
trail. I figured if the 13 year old kid
could come down this trail, I could certainly go up so I climbed the rest of
the way and enjoyed the awesome view. I
continued on the path and within about 5 feet, I was treated to a bigger,
steeper hill. Hmm, ok, I made it up that
one only to find yet another even steeper, longer hill, this one with even more loose rock and dirt. By this point, it was closer to the top then
the bottom and I thought the safest thing was to keep going. This was a really long hill and about 1/3 of
the way up I realized I must have gotten off the trail but couldn’t see a better
way. By this point, fear had set in. I could see a straight shot below me down the
canyon with very little to break my fall or slide. There were a few big rocks where I could get
a foot or hand hold and by this time I was on my hands and knees clinging to
these few rocks. It seemed to take
forever, but I finally clawed my way to the top. I lay there on the trail, kicking myself for
the precarious position I put myself in, yet pretty proud of my ability to
overcome it. When I stood up, my legs
were like jello, so I sat back down and had lunch. I must say, it was a good lunch and the view
was spectacular! Eventually, I got up
and headed down the other trail. Oh how much easier that one was! On the way I met several people who said “you
took what route? That way is so
dangerous!” If only I had known that in advance! It took me 4.5 hours to walk 4.5 miles, but
at the end of the day, it was a successful hike and another good story under my
belt.
The hike really wore me out, but I had to work the next
day. Just my luck, Josh and I had to do
an erosion control project. We loaded
the quads with picks, shovels and rakes and headed out. There is a meadow that floods in the
spring. The water crosses the road, goes
into a ditch and eventually runs down to a stream. The water is washing out the dirt road, so we
had to build it back up and divert the water pathway. To do this, we shoveled several yards of
existing gravel back on the road, dug a hole on the edge of the road and filled
it with boulders. To get the boulders in
place, we had to go find them, then roll them end over end to where we wanted
them. Let me just say, this was no easy
task and by the end of the day, I was exhausted. As we were picking up our tools to go, a tree
branch somehow implanted itself on the side of my head. Oh the blood…. At first, I just put my gloved
hand to my head because it smarted a bit.
When I pulled my hand away, my brand new leather glove was covered in
blood. I put my hand back and applied
pressure while Josh grabbed the first aid kit.
Even with pressure, blood was pouring out and making a puddle on the ground.
My glove was now totally saturated.
Josh put a cloth bandage on the wound and it was quickly saturated as
well. Next he grabbed the arm sling and
tied it around my head, tying the knot above the wound, really tight! It hurt, but the bleeding finally
stopped. We rode the quads back to the
truck and headed down to the station.
About an hour after the incident, we made it to the ranger station. Charlie, our boss, was a combat medic in
Iraq. I went to his office, with my head
bandaged and dried blood on my face to tell him I needed him to look at my
head. His initial reaction? Is this a joke? Charlie, does this look like a joke? OK I was laughing and joking around, but yes,
it was real. We took the bandages off
and I stuck my head under a hose to wash the blood off. After much hosing, we still couldn’t see the
wound, but I could feel it and I felt a piece of the branch sticking out. At this point, Charlie sent me to urgent
care. Had I been in the Army, he would
have pulled the stick out and sent me back to work, but since he was my
supervisor, we didn’t want him to have to put that in the accident report. 45 minutes later I was in the valley at
Urgent care. The Dr could feel the wood,
but couldn’t see it due to all the dried blood.
They soaked the area for a while and eventually got it wet enough that
he could move my hair away with tweezers.
Eventually he found the wound, but not the stick. At this point let me say that I’ve lost so
much blood I expected a huge gash with a tree limb sticking out. Not so much, the hole turned out to be the
size of a pencil eraser. And the tree branch I felt? I finally found the tiny, tiny piece of twig in
my tangled hair. Very anti-climatic I must say!
The next day, Josh and I had to go back and retrieve the
tools we stashed. We decided to check
the rest of the road for erosion damage and do some patrolling. I’ve never been on this particular ATV trail,
but it was pretty rough. ATV trails are
marked much like ski slopes, with green, blue and black markings. Green is easy like the bunny slope. Blue is a bit more technical with obstacles,
ditches and the like. Black are very difficult and I won’t go on them. The particular trail we were on was blue. Because I’m still pretty inexperienced, I’m
much slower then Josh. Normally, he
rides ahead and waits for me at a turn.
I was rolling along, taking my time avoiding boulders, ditches and
branches. Eventually, I came to a really
steep hill and started up. About ½ way
up, I lost momentum and came to a stop.
So there I was, sitting halfway up another really steep hill. You know that little voice in your head, the
one I consistently ignore? I was sitting
there remembering the ATV I recently flipped just loading it on the trailer,
remembering the fire guy who just flipped an ATV and ended up with a fractured
back, remembering clinging to the side of the mountain just 2 days ago, wishing
I had listened to that little voice.
This time I did listen. I eased
the ATV, ever so slowly, back down the hill and waited for Josh. Eventually he came back and asked what the heck
was I doing. I said I’m not going up
that hill, it’s above my skill level. We’ll
see how long playing it safe will last…
My BFF Stephanie, from Reno, and I met in Bridgeport for one
last weekend before I leave the area. She moved to Reno from DC about the same time
I left. Much like weekends with my other
BFF Sylvia, we spent the first day doing absolutely nothing and having great time.
By late afternoon, we made it to the Travertine hot springs. This is a natural hot spring out in the
middle of nowhere. OK Bridgeport is in
the middle of nowhere too. The hotel
gave us directions, since there isn’t even a sign. We followed a dirt road to a parking lot,
then hiked about a ¼ mile in. We found a
really cool rock formation with 4 pools at the base of it. The water bubbling out of the rock was super
hot, you couldn’t keep your hand in the water for long without getting
burned. The water trickled down into the first pool,
which was pretty warm, but not too hot to sit in. Water from that pool spilled into the next
pool, which was a little cooler. By the time
the water got to the 4th pool, the water was noticeably cooler. When we got there, there were 2 other parties
present. After a short time, they all
left and Steph and I had the place to ourselves. Soon enough a family came along with 2
kids. The father was explaining to the
kids that the pools get cleaned periodically.
Someone pulls the plug and drains them and they scrub the sides with a
brush. It was all Steph and I could do
not to laugh out. There was quite a bit
of mud in the bottom of each pool, the most being in the 4th one,
which we happened to be in. We decided
to give ourselves a mud bath, so I scooped up a handful and slathered it on
me. After I smeared the 2nd handful
on, I got a good whiff of the
stuff. I never smelled anything so bad
in all my life and I just covered my entire upper body with it! Stephanie was laughing so hard she almost wet
herself and of course was pretty quick with the camera, so it’s all
documented. In my defense, we did the
same thing with the mud from the first pool and it just had a slight sulfur odor. I don’t know what the difference was between
the 1st and 4th pool, but it’s pretty dramatic! By this time, I couldn’t wait to go shower so
we headed back to the hotel.
We spent the next two days driving through Yosemite, seeing
much of the same sights I saw the week before.
We came back to Bridgeport and visited the hot springs again. This time there was no one there for quite a
while. A German couple came up and we
had a nice little visit. After they
left, a young couple came up, complete with a bottle of wine and a joint. We also had a nice visit with them. They were locals and informed us that in
fact, there normally is a scrub brush where people do indeed scrub the muck off
the sides of the pools. They also
confirmed that there are plugs in the pools, which are not natural, but manmade
with natural rocks. Whoever did the
work, did a fantastic job.
Today, our last day, we are just hanging out here in
Bridgeport.
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