Memorial Day is ALWAYS the first official Backpacking trip of the year around here! This year was no different… well with the exception of it was only two of us, myself, and my better half Karen, as the universe had some crazy challenges ahead for us!!!
This year was a challenging 1st of the year hike and full of obstacles needing all of our “knowledge and smarts combined”. Thus, the universe allowing just two spots on this trip. Makes sense to us both now in hindsight…
We headed out to the trailhead; one I have been lucky enough to do 3 times before. This trail has always a pleasure and I bragged about it during the weeks preceding our trip! I usually pick this trailhead because, for the most part it is straight forward, easy to follow, beautiful and frankly the best place to remind myself all the ins and outs of backpacking for the new years adventures that are to come.
However, this year was different. This time around 80% of our trail was desimated by the Dixie fire from last year or covered in snow…
Let me be very clear that between the fire damage and the snow things got crazy very, very quickly, notwithstanding the fact that I DONT do snow (anybody who knows me knows I say this a lot).
From the moment we got on the trail we knew this was going to be a challenge.
Thankfully, Karen who is always the safety officer… ‘downloaded’ the All-Trails map, as it kept us on or close to the trail, as most of the time it was hidden by snow or fallen trees (which eventually became the question of the minute “where’s the trail?”… and the answer was always – it is at the end of the snow patch or under the tree…).
Now let me be clear here and remind you the reader why I am being so honest and blunt in this Blog… Our instincts and training over the years kept our heads in the game and our imaginations of how bad this could be or how fast this could go south kept us sane. This I believe was the lesson the universe wanted to teach or remind us both and it is the lesson I will always refer back to.
All of us as “professionals,” humans, and/or trained in what we do know our shit… but sometimes we are challenged, and we need to be reminded that we can do it, we got it and we must never ever take that for granted!
In our circumstance, when we could not find the trail, we stopped and checked the GPS map (sometimes every 40 steps or so). When we started to feel “off” we stopped to asess – Was water or food needed? Were we cold or hurt or just emotional and riddled with anxiety from the constant questioning of our abilities?
Always in the end we figured it out as a team and were able to move on. We believe that the universe was testing us…. Our trail abilities and our abilities as a team and we passed.
If you have ever “been there, done that” you know what I am talking about, and if you are being real with yourself, you will remember we have all “been there, done that.” I mean no one is perfect or on task or on top of things at all times, right? We all have to overcome challenges, and this happened to be our time around (again).
Now here was the big win…. We did not need to push the button. Though I think we both thought about it once or twice! If you need to know “the Button” is an SOS safety GPS signal and I always carry it for emergencies. This is only the second time in my backpacking and hiking life I have ever thought about pushing this… first time was on the JMT in 2012 but that is another story.
Our first night neither of us got more than 4 hours of sleep…. between the rain and winds gusts (and the very valid PTSD flair ups) and the altitude sickness causing me to be sick to my stomach (enough so to go through the steps needed to get out of my sleeping bag, out of my tent and into the forest quickly), the headaches and the shivering from the cold, we were worried to say the least. We both went with our instincts and talked about it. What part of our gear was or was not working, did we eat enough, were we dressed enough or too much (yep that’s a thing) did we need to take crazy measures to warm up or do we just push the button. But here is the thing. We had to use our knowledge of what was happening, the training we both have for these situations, and common sense. We knew if we pushed the button, it would still be 8 hours till we saw help and we knew that was not an option at that moment )and believe me if it truly was we would have used that tool). We knew that we had everything needed to keep us going to be safe and we were fairly sure we had the knowledge, we just had to dig deep to figure it out and that we did.
We pulled out the emergency blankets to get warm. I sipped on water every few minutes to help with the nauseousness figuring I probably was dehydrated (which of course was spot on I started peeing and then it continued all night which is a good thing for sure!). We put on warmer socks and hats and we allowed ourselves the grace of getting through, it was happening even though I for one was bothered by this and I had to pull up my big girl pant accept what was happening and pull it together.
When we woke early Saturday morning, knowing we were still breathing…. We reassessed and then decided to hike out early so that we would be ok. Now not an easy decision, but one that was smart, based on all our training and one that we are very proud of!!! Instincts and being smart….
We still lost the trail a lot and checked the GPS every 50 steps or so. We still stopped to water, feed and breathe, we still checked in with each other and for each other and we still found time enough to find the beauty in our surroundings. NATUREHEALS and I for one was reminded of this today! We were still hurting but yet we finally saw an end to our being scared and a beginning to our “We got this, we know how to survive this, we are 2 Bad Ass women Who KNOW with 100% certainty that WE GOT THIS even though it is hard. But you know what it is also rewarding”.
We got off the trail tired, but no longer worried. We feed our bodies and our souls with tasty food and an unexpected SLEEZY motel 6 and we were THANKFUL. Thankful for showers and a real bed! Our gear is WET and the black soot from the fire was on everything, and I mean everything! But yet we were still thankful. Thankful for good training, thankful for eachother, thankful for the universes lessons and mostly thankful for how NATUREHEALS!!!
Here is the takeaway…. What an ADVENTURE we had and one to be told!!! We were reminded that training is everything and using it when needed is a real thing. Learning to communicate together as a team and with the universe is the key and allowing ourselves to face what was happening, to slow down and just listen, feel, and be reminded that it is ok to be humbled by being scared and then to come out the other end is priceless.
We are now home making amazing salads, talking about what occurred, taking note of things that need further refining, how and what we would do next time and allowing ourselves to be full of happiness and grace that we are here to keep going and enjoying what we love to do…. Being one with Nature is still priceless.
We are two Bad Ass Hiking Women for sure!!
Always remember you to can do anything you put your mind, training, and passion into! Listen to your instincts, use your skills and be SMART!
Peace and Happiness
Wendy and Karen
