Trail Day 75: Tentsite near Susie Lakes (mile 1101.9) to Glen Alpine Trail Junction (mile 1102.2)
0.3 PCT miles, plus about 4 miles of side trail
I made sure to get up as early as I could this morning. The people who generously camped with me last night had originally planned on going a couple miles further yesterday, so I didn't want any of them waiting on me in the morning. I lumbered away to use the "bathroom," which ended being an interesting experience while trying not to bend my knee, then packed up my belongings and sat on a log with my first aid kit out, so that Vortex could take one last look at my knee.
I waited patiently as the other hikers who were awake (Dragonfly and Second Wind were still fast asleep) ate breakfast. As I was sitting there, I saw movement behind me out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see an animal calmly crossing the wildflowers next to our campsite. It took a minute to register what it was. BEAR!
In an excited and hushed tone, I told everyone, "Bear! Bear!" When they didn't respond right away I turned and snapped some pictures. I turned back around and the others had caught on and grabbed their cameras. Dragonfly and Second Wind were still asleep. The bear seemed uneasy about the sudden attention and turned away. It walked around in an arc, then faced us again. It looked at us, took a couple small timid steps towards us, looked at us, then took a couple more small steps forward. This made me a bit sad because I feel like that kind of behavior meant it expected us to throw it some food.
Twisted decided this would be a good time to scare it off and shouted, "BEAR!" sharply. It immediately turned and scampered off. We tried to wake up Second Wind so she could see the bear before it left. She thought we were teasing her and trying to get her up for the day by making up that there was a bear in camp. I think she got a small, last glimpse of it as it disappeared. Dragonfly slept through the whole thing. I had to show him pictures when he woke up.
After the bear excitement, Vortex looked at my knee, said it "looked good," and Twisted and I headed towards my trail exit. I knew my knee had a large gash, but it didn't feel too bad when I was hiking out. Most of the pain was from the swelling. I hiked as stiff-legged as I could as to not damage any of the repairs that my body had made overnight. Twisted generously kept a slow pace with me. It was incredibly nice of him to escort me off the trail. My Trail Angel had texted to Second Wind's inReach that he was at the trailhead, but, since he would head back to the PCT, Twisted would be making about an 8 mile detour on his hike for the day.
Luckily, we were able to cut that detour in half as my Trail Angel had hiked halfway up to meet me. I thanked Twisted and hugged him goodbye, then started back down the trail with my Trail Angel as an escort. I had to laugh because even hobbling along with a busted knee, I was still a faster hiker than my Trail Angel, leaving him in the dust at times. Those past 1100 miles have made me a pretty good hiker.
I was surprised to find that Glen Alpine Resort was not an actual working resort. It was a ruin. It was a working resort in the late 1800s/early1900s, built around a mineral spring, but now there were just some unmaintained, remnant buildings. I passed by these, and a beautiful waterfall. I felt like by taking this side trail I had discovered some cool secret of the forest until I got to the trailhead parking lot. It was full. As we were approaching the car we had a woman slowly follow us and tell us not to let anyone else in that spot while she pulled around.
We got me in the car, made our way out of the parking lot and down the one lane road, constantly pulling to the side as cars came from the other direction. We followed this road around quite a bit of Lake Tahoe before hitting the highway again. We then went to the ER at Barton Hospital where I only waited a couple minutes before going into an exam room.
The staff at this ER were amazing. Vortex and I had discussed about how to be firm with the doctor about the importance of getting back on the trail ASAP. There ended up being no need for that. All the staff I interacted with knew about the PCT, what it involved, and was excited for me in my journey. The doctor herself used to work for Yosemite Search and Rescue. They sutured me up, and sent me on my way, wishing me luck.
My Trail Angel and I ended up driving back to SoCal, so that he could go to work tomorrow (Monday). The doctor told me I needed 2-3 days for the cells to make their connections to each other, so I had to take a couple days off anyway.
The drive back was very long. Somewhere around Bishop the anesthetic wore off and my knee hurt so badly that I became pretty irritated and grumpy. I should have expected the pain as my knee and been prodded, examined, flushed, and stitched.
We made it back to SoCal later that night, ate dinner, and went to bed.
I made sure to get up as early as I could this morning. The people who generously camped with me last night had originally planned on going a couple miles further yesterday, so I didn't want any of them waiting on me in the morning. I lumbered away to use the "bathroom," which ended being an interesting experience while trying not to bend my knee, then packed up my belongings and sat on a log with my first aid kit out, so that Vortex could take one last look at my knee.
I waited patiently as the other hikers who were awake (Dragonfly and Second Wind were still fast asleep) ate breakfast. As I was sitting there, I saw movement behind me out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see an animal calmly crossing the wildflowers next to our campsite. It took a minute to register what it was. BEAR!
In an excited and hushed tone, I told everyone, "Bear! Bear!" When they didn't respond right away I turned and snapped some pictures. I turned back around and the others had caught on and grabbed their cameras. Dragonfly and Second Wind were still asleep. The bear seemed uneasy about the sudden attention and turned away. It walked around in an arc, then faced us again. It looked at us, took a couple small timid steps towards us, looked at us, then took a couple more small steps forward. This made me a bit sad because I feel like that kind of behavior meant it expected us to throw it some food.
 |
| Bear! |
Twisted decided this would be a good time to scare it off and shouted, "BEAR!" sharply. It immediately turned and scampered off. We tried to wake up Second Wind so she could see the bear before it left. She thought we were teasing her and trying to get her up for the day by making up that there was a bear in camp. I think she got a small, last glimpse of it as it disappeared. Dragonfly slept through the whole thing. I had to show him pictures when he woke up.
 |
| Scampering off. |
After the bear excitement, Vortex looked at my knee, said it "looked good," and Twisted and I headed towards my trail exit. I knew my knee had a large gash, but it didn't feel too bad when I was hiking out. Most of the pain was from the swelling. I hiked as stiff-legged as I could as to not damage any of the repairs that my body had made overnight. Twisted generously kept a slow pace with me. It was incredibly nice of him to escort me off the trail. My Trail Angel had texted to Second Wind's inReach that he was at the trailhead, but, since he would head back to the PCT, Twisted would be making about an 8 mile detour on his hike for the day.
 |
| This is my exit. |
Luckily, we were able to cut that detour in half as my Trail Angel had hiked halfway up to meet me. I thanked Twisted and hugged him goodbye, then started back down the trail with my Trail Angel as an escort. I had to laugh because even hobbling along with a busted knee, I was still a faster hiker than my Trail Angel, leaving him in the dust at times. Those past 1100 miles have made me a pretty good hiker.
I was surprised to find that Glen Alpine Resort was not an actual working resort. It was a ruin. It was a working resort in the late 1800s/early1900s, built around a mineral spring, but now there were just some unmaintained, remnant buildings. I passed by these, and a beautiful waterfall. I felt like by taking this side trail I had discovered some cool secret of the forest until I got to the trailhead parking lot. It was full. As we were approaching the car we had a woman slowly follow us and tell us not to let anyone else in that spot while she pulled around.
 |
| One of the old building from Glen Alpine Resort. |
 |
| Waterfall near the trailhead. |
We got me in the car, made our way out of the parking lot and down the one lane road, constantly pulling to the side as cars came from the other direction. We followed this road around quite a bit of Lake Tahoe before hitting the highway again. We then went to the ER at Barton Hospital where I only waited a couple minutes before going into an exam room.
The staff at this ER were amazing. Vortex and I had discussed about how to be firm with the doctor about the importance of getting back on the trail ASAP. There ended up being no need for that. All the staff I interacted with knew about the PCT, what it involved, and was excited for me in my journey. The doctor herself used to work for Yosemite Search and Rescue. They sutured me up, and sent me on my way, wishing me luck.
My Trail Angel and I ended up driving back to SoCal, so that he could go to work tomorrow (Monday). The doctor told me I needed 2-3 days for the cells to make their connections to each other, so I had to take a couple days off anyway.
The drive back was very long. Somewhere around Bishop the anesthetic wore off and my knee hurt so badly that I became pretty irritated and grumpy. I should have expected the pain as my knee and been prodded, examined, flushed, and stitched.
We made it back to SoCal later that night, ate dinner, and went to bed.
What a beautiful picture of a beautiful animal!
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