Desolation

At age 60, I've been dealing with clinical depression for the first time in my life, for some reason. (It was very sudden-onset; my Dr. is puzzled.)

Anyway, I thought this was going to be a post I could relate to

So often I see people and things on the trail that make me wonder about what, and why, and what’s going to happen. Lots of room for the imagination to run wild!

Another story along the same lines.

We were hiking out of Mineral King, and had tackled a 40-mile loop over about five days. On the second to the last day, we were climbing up toward Bullion Flat, on the way to Farewell Gap, where we hoped to camp for the night. From there it would only be about six miles back to Mineral King and the drive home.

As we hiked up the canyon of the Little Kern, we noticed a couple hiking far above us on the eastern side of the canyon. The trail here was pretty hit and miss, a series of use trails that wandered around, but always led up the canyon to the pass. We waved at them, and they began racing down towards us through the brush and rocks on the slope. We waited, and as they came near they asked us if we were on the trail. We laughed and said there wasn't much of trail here,but we were pretty sure we were headed in the right direction.

They were delighted and relieved. They had hiked out of Mineral King two days before. They camped the first night at Bullion Flat, and then spent the ENTIRE PREVIOUS DAY looking for the trail down the canyon. Failing to find it, they had camped a second night at Bullion Flat. They were hoping to hike our route, but in the opposite direction. This was now the third day of their hike, and they were planning it for a four-day trip. It was mid-afternoon, and I tried very hard to convince them that they did not have time to hike the roughly 32 miles between them and the end of the loop in the next day and a half.

The listened politely to my suggestions, and then ignored them completely. I explained that while this trail was seemingly abandoned, at least it followed a clear path---right up the canyon. At some point they would have to find the branch of the trail that broke off from this route, and follow it for about five or six miles up the west side of the canyon toward Hocket Meadows, and much of that trail had been equally hard to follow. Good luck with that.

The smiled and assured me they would be fine. After about ten minutes of conversation, we let them continue on their hike. We camped at Bullion Flat that night, hiked up over the pass the next day, and stopped in at the Mineral King Ranger Station. We stood in line while a young couple in front of us presented the rangers with a wedding/engagement ring they had found in the backcountry. The rangers actually had a report of a missing ring, and while we watched and listened, they called the woman to tell her that her ring had been found.

Astonishing.

And then it was our turn. I told them our story and they searched through the recently issues permits. They found the one for the couple we had seen, and noticed that there was no emergency contact name or number. They agreed with me that there was no chance the couple could complete their hike in the time span they planned.

But we never heard more. I can only assume that cooler heads prevailed, and they decided to turn around and hike out. But the fact that they has spent a full day near Farewell Gap struggling to find the trail still boggles my mind. And given that situation, the fact that they were convinced they should continue down the canyon left me speechless.

On the other hand, during our trip to Desolation this week, we met at least three groups of day-hikers who were tackling 18-24 mile day hike loops with all the joy and enthusiasm that only youth can bring to a hike. God bless them, but that is no longer something I even consider.