Post by RedDoug on Dec 14, 2015 7:13:22 GMT -8
Hiking the JMT is hiking a line of passes. As a JMT hiker you soon have these passes memorized in the order you will climb them. If you are a nobo'er (nobo= north bound, sobo= south bound, this is common trail language) the passes line up this way: Forester, Glenn, Pinchot, Mather, Muir, Seldon, Silver, and then Donohue, and then Happy Isles and the end. There are lesser passes in between the major passes. The JMT is mountain hiking and you are always going up or down. From my experience I would say the ups to downs have to be at a ratio of at least 3:1, but that is my opinion.
Another amazing thing about the JMT: the landscapes between the passes can be both the same and entirely different at the same time, like chapters in a good book. So one can summit a pass and suddenly on the descent see an entirely different landscape open up before them from anything they had seen before on the JMT. The landscape between Pinchot and Mather passes takes you into a rich forest.
On the descent from Pinchot I came across Katz actually waiting for me. Todd was up ahead of us both, somewhere. We had chosen a designated meeting point for that day and all 3 of us would travel towards that site at our own pace- it was the same almost every day.
Katz was sitting off the trail a bit watching for me. "I'm worried about you," he told me when I came up close enough for conversation.
"We have been over this," I reminded him. "I am doing just fine and enjoying every minute of this trip. How you doing?" I asked.
He was not doing so well. Katz was certainly physically capable of hiking the JMT, but he was mentally and emotionally getting beaten up every day. These are the two areas that make or break any long distance hike and Katz was losing the battle on a daily basis. The mental and emotional stress was showing in Katz' behavior. On the other hand, I was daily growing stronger and stronger in these last two important areas. In fact, coming down off of Pinchot I was almost glowing.
Earlier that day, just below the pass on my descent from Pinchot I ran into a married couple in their late 60s, early 70s. Their last name was Hall. They were carrying sun umbrellas from GoLite- the same umbrella I had used in hiking the CDT in southern NM. I stopped and commented about the umbrellas and we started to chat. He was a couple of years out from a battle with leukemia and chemo. They were just delighted they could be out together enjoying another day in the mountains. I certainly understood that sentiment. I told them I was a cancer survivor, too, stage iv prostate cancer. And then for some reason I told them a very personal side of my cancer experience.
After radiation my urinary sphincter was shot. I was almost completely incontinent and using from 7- 15 pads a day. I was almost house bound in a way. But, I wanted to go out backpacking so much. I was living in Michigan at the time and a very close friend, Coolkat on this forum, agreed to drive up to the U.P. with me to hike a section of the Fox River Pathway coming down from Lake Superior. I figured we would only be out 3 nights/4 days. So I stuffed my expedition pack full of pads. For 4 days I had over 60 pads- about 1/3 of my pack volume. But the pressure of the pack on my bladder was more than I planned on and by the middle of the 2nd day I had used up more than 1/2 my pads. I told Coolkat it just wasn't going to work, and we made my retreat back to the car and home. I was so disappointed and discouraged on that day. Another part of my life destroyed my cancer.
Mr. Hall looked at me and said, "That is the bravest backpacking story I have ever heard."
Our conversation ended, the Halls continued up towards Pinchot Pass and I turned and continued down thinking his words over and over. What I had considered to be a overwhelming defeat and humiliation, Mr. Hall had called one of the bravest backpacking stories....... I began to view that entire episode in my personal history entirely differently. And surrounded by the wonders of the JMT I was having a splendid day when I met gloomy Katz.
Katz and I chatted a bit, he wanted to make some equipment adjustments and I got up and went on my way, ahead of him for only the second time on this trip. Katz would catch up to and then pass me later in the day below Mather Pass where Todd, Katz and I would spend the night. That was a splendid campsite above timber. I was the last to set up my tent. I made a late supper and ate. Both Todd and Katz were in their tents sleeping then the alpine glow came over the landscape the stars started coming out. My time of the day. I made a cup of herb tea and ate my 2 cookies and watched the night come on. I had had a complete change of view on a very discouraging part of my life. Mr. Hall's statement still brings tears to my eyes. Wow, I had never seen it that way before.
Life on the JMT. I was loving every moment of it.
Note: this is a flashback a day or two before Katz has hypothermia. It is important to realize that two people doing the same hike at the same time can be having such opposite experiences.
Next: Chapter 7 The Battle at Muir Hut
