Trail Day 67: Kerrick Creek (mile 979.8) to Dorothy Lake (mile 996.7)

16.9 PCT miles

This morning I packed up before everyone else. I sat around our makeshift campground with Phoenix and Julia. We were already talking about town, which was about 2 full days, plus a half day away. We were talking about how dirty our clothes were, and how excited  we were to wash them. I explained to Julia about my nose bleed on Mather Pass during the last stretch and how I hated having to wear blood on my shirt for several days.

We headed out and had a mile long, steep climb to start our day. We did it without much fuss, drying our tent flys out (everyone had condensation from the night) at the top, then heading down into Stubblefield Canyon for our first creek crossing of the day.

Creek in Stubblefield Canyon.

This creek posed a bit of a challenge. It was wide and almost every section had at least on part that was deep. Sage tried to wade across in a spot that started on a shallow sand bar, but turned back as he hit a channel on the other side.

After assessing the area, we found a V-shaped sandbar that spanned the river. The deepest it got was only about crotch-deep, which was better than the last report,  which was belly button deep.

After that we had another long, steep climb. I was pretty annoyed by this climb. Every time it looked like I was close to the top, the trail would turn and keep climbing. There was even a part that crested, did a short descent, then turned and headed back up again.

Going up.

Right when I almost reached the real top, I put my hand up to my nose. Blood. Lots of blood. I can't remember the last time I had a nosebleed before Mather Pass, but this was my third one in two weeks. I stuffed some tissue in my nose, crested over the top of the hill, and met the rest of the group on the other side.

I checked the tissue in my nose and it was completely soaked, and the nose was still gushing  blood.  Songbeard gave me some more tissue, but that also got soaked pretty quickly.  I felt bad because the spot we were at (and some people had been waiting for a while) was mosquito hell, but I needed a minute.

After totally soaking the second tissue, it appeared the nosebleed has started to slow down, so I stuffed more tissue up and started hiking again. I had to put tissue in both nostrils since they were both leaking. To make matters worse, I had dripped blood on my shirt. Again.

I then headed down the trail, down in elevation, not being able to breathe through my nose. This made it really hard when I wanted to sip some water.

We were supposed to all meet at a water crossing in a small canyon, Tilden Canyon, but the creek we crossed was just a little water to splash through so everyone went through without stopping.

I was in a pretty bad mood as I continued my descent.  The nosebleed  (and the intensity of the nosebleed) had really thrown me off. Everyone, including me, had not brought enough food for this stretch, so I may have been low on calories as well.

I passed a couple of nice mountain lakes. When I reached Wilma Lake, I knew I was close to the water crossing we had all been anxiously awaiting, Wide Creek. Reports were that Wide Creek was a crossing the potentially involved swimming.  With the bad mood I was in, all I could think about was that the group better have been waiting for me at the crossing.

Wilma Lake itself had its set of challenges. The trail was directly against the shore, which was flooded,  so I had to bushwhack through the trees next to it. Then, when I got to the lake’s outlet, the stone pathway was completely submerged. I splashed through and walked a little further until I saw Wide Creek and the rest of the group. They were on the other side eating lunch.

At the time, with the emotional state I was in, I was mad and hurt that they crossed without me. As I am writing this, fully fed, I totally understand why they did it. It turned out to be an easy cross.

I had directions yelled out to me from across the river. Songbeard swore it was knee deep. It ended up being thigh deep, but whatever. I didn't care about anyone or anything at that point. A couple people asked me how I was doing. All I could do to respond was given a forlorn shrug. I wasn't ready to actually talk to people yet.

I also took the time to scroll through the pictures I had taken today and, at some point, the light sensor on my automatic setting had gone crazy and was over exposing all my pictures. I will try to edit them so they are at least somewhat recognizable layer. I switched to the sunset setting as a temporary fix.

Wide Creek on the auto setting. 

Wide Creek on the sunset setting. 

We took another hour long break for lunch. This gave me time to feed myself and recover to a normally functioning human being. I took the tissues out of my nose and the bleeding had stopped. I went down by the creek and sat on a warm boulder to dry off. The creek was clear and beautiful and in the distance I could see a waterfall. After calming down there for a while, I went back to where we had been eating and lounged in the sun.

After that we packed up and got started again. We did about 10 miles of gradual uphill. It wasn’t too bad physically, but it took forever. Most of the trail was flooded, swamped, or full of snowbanks to weave your way around. At one point it opened into what would have been a jaw dropping meadow, but the afternoon smoke had moved in, killing the view.

"Flooded" trail.

"Swamped" trail.

Snowbank obstacle course.

Phoenix and Julia walking the meadow.

We walked up until we hit Dorothy Lake, right before Dorothy Lake Pass. We had intended to camp there, but when I arrived all I saw was snow.

Snow.

I kept walking around the lake, hoping to see someone. The lake itself was beautiful, surrounded by peaks and partially frozen. I walked for what seemed like a long time. Finally,  when I was halfway around the lake I saw the chosen camping spot.

I actually ended up getting a great tent spot for the night. It was a (just barely) tent sized, flat spot beneath a tree and overlooking the lake. 

My tentsite overlooking Dorothy Lake.

Dorothy Lake near sunset. I used the manual settings on my camera to get a better photo.