Crossing The High Sierras

“If You Think You Can...”

January 23, 2019

I would venture to say that each of us knows at least one person that quickly comes to mind when we think of someone with a “Can Do” attitude. Many who read this and know him will not be surprised when I say, that for me, one of those people is Dennis Hardin. Thirty plus years ago when we were both still looking up at our 40’s and had known each other for five or six years, Dennis approached me and told me that he needed my help. (When a man of character says he needs your help, you say “name it”!)

The help he needed had to do with his church assignment (he was the leader for the 14-15 year old scouts). He had planned an adventure for the boys that involved a two day hike over the Sierra Nevada Mountains from east to west crossing at McGee Pass (elevation 11,895 feet). The ending point would be at Edison Lake (elevation 7,648) where they would spend a day water skiing. My oldest son, Doug was one of the 14, 14 year olds that would experience this trip. I let Dennis know that I was all in.

The plan was to leave Anaheim early Thursday morning and drive up hwy 395 to the trail head west of Bishop Once they dropped all of us off, our driver-team lead by Ron Earl would then take the two over-sized vehicles back to Anaheim. We would then spend the rest of Thursday (including sleeping under the stars) and most of Friday on the trail, ending up at Edison Lake by dinner time Friday evening where we would meet Terry Tomlinson (and Varton O. who, since he couldn’t miss any school on Thursday rode up with Terry) who brought my motorhome along with the boat hooked to its bumper . We planned to waterski Saturday until time to leave for home and then take the boat towing motorhome south on old hwy 99, up the “Grapevine”, skirt around Los Angeles and arrive home ready to get some sleep before getting up in time to make sure we got the Sacrament properly prepared before church. A good plan! Perhaps a bit ambitious, but nevertheless a good plan!

“The best-laid plans of mice and men...”

When we arrived at the Trailhead Ranger Station, we all waited by the vehicles while Dennis took care of business. You see, there were a limited number of trail permits per trail available in order to control the use of this special environment and he needed to secure our permit before we could head out onto the trail. When Dennis returned to the vehicles, he gave us the news... “there were no more permits available for the two-day trail we had our eye on”. “However”, he continued, “I was able to secure a permit for a three-day trail with the same end point.”

“The glass is always half-full!”

To Dennis this new turn of events was nothing but a blessing! We now had the opportunity to push ourselves harder and complete the three-day trail in only two days thereby see more beautiful scenery yet still preserving our ability to spend Saturday on the lake! Lucky us!

As we headed up the once “three-day” and now “two-day trail” to our distant rendezvous we could look back over our shoulder and see the vehicles we had just minutes earlier unloaded winding their way back down the canyon; next stop Anaheim! All that a few minutes earlier had been stacked in the back of those SUVs was now distributed amongst Dennis, the boys and yours truly. We had full packs!

Starting at an elevation of about 8,000 feet, our plan was to make it to McGee Pass, (elevation of about 12,000) before sunset. We would then pitch our camp for the night. The next day the hike, though nearly twice as far would be down-hill almost all the way. The burning sensation in our thighs we would come to know too well during the first day’s uphill challenge would be replaced and perhaps longed for during the second day in exchange for the slamming torture that was administered to our knees as we haltingly stumbled down the long decent. It was a serious challenge!

A few years earlier, the “Indiana Jones” movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was very popular amongst many young-hearted teenagers including the boys on this hike. When the brothers Ryan & Craig Smith showed up for the trip dressed much like Indiana jones including matching boots & hats that could have come right off the movie set, they were instantly dubbed by their peers, “The Indy Twins”! And, The Indy Twins ran on a frequency the rest of us (including Dennis) were unable to tune to. Not only were they consistently at the front of the group, from time to time Dennis who was our designated leader couldn’t keep up with them and had to continually tell them to stay in his sight line. Not wanting to slow their burn-rate, they simply made their way to the back of the line where I brought up the rear to say hello and then work their way back to the front (they may have taken twice the steps the rest of us took those two days). They were truly impressive!

“Burn Your Bridges... No Retreat!”

The first mile may well have been the steepest mile, it was “a killer!” Not long after the vehicles were out of our site we had our first breakdown! The young man couldn’t go another step! He was sure! Well, here son, have some of my best “locker room speech” for motivation. He wasn’t buying it! I explained to him that there was only one way out and that was up the trail. Four or five of us each reached into his pack and transferred a handful of his stuff to our own packs until his pack was empty. That worked, now he was able to get up and began hiking once more. (Later that same day, he recovered sufficient enough to reclaim his full pack-load.)

The next young man to breakdown confessed that he had a cassette player and about a dozen cassette tapes in his pack. I transferred his unwise payload into my pack but made it clear that I now owned his abandoned property. As he recovered and gained in strength (got his second wind) I was able to trade his gear back to him a little at a time in exchange for good deeds he performed for his struggling mates.

“Easy Come, Easy Go!”

And then there was the young man who was arguably the best equipped boy in the bunch. New and shiny stuff; nothing left out! Word is (I didn’t see it myself) that he buried a good portion of his gear along the trail to lighten his load.

“One Bite at a Time!”

It was true that we faced a daunting physical task, at the very least! But the greater task may well have been mental. Being the “last man” on the trail, I had the opportunity to talk one on one with those who were falling behind. It was my approach to talk to each of them individually and give them specific identifiable goals. Goals that they could see like the “the large boulder two switchbacks up the trail”, or “the crooked pine tree peeking over the horizon”. I was then able to shout specific words of encouragement to each of them individually as they gained ground on their next “touchstone” while at the same time shouting general words of encouragement to the group like “This is Great!”, “I Love It!” And other well intended lies.

One way or another, we finally made it to our campsite for our first night on the trail. When my group arrived, it was great to see that Dennis had already carefully selected a site in a meadow very near The McGee Pass with a nice small stream at our disposal. After unloading my gear and directing the boys arriving with me to do likewise, I put my arm around Dennis and quietly confessed that I was experiencing perhaps the worst headache of my lifetime! Dennis explained that it was most likely a result of what is referred to as “Altitude Sickness” brought on by the decreased availability of oxygen experienced at high altitudes. I immediately focused on methods I might use to enhance my opportunity for increased oxygen intake as I first rolled-out and then collapsed on my sleeping bag!

As I began to experience some level of relief from by headache, I was ready for “room service”, but settled for camp food that was part of the load I had just carried to an elevation 4,000 feet higher than where we were when we started out this morning. It was good to see that the boys had made it this far with no major injuries or misfortunes. In fact, as I looked around at some who had struggled but ended up accomplishing our first day’s hiking objective, I’m sure that I saw signs of “enhanced self-esteem”.

“Day-Two...”

Things were different on day-two! Perhaps it was just the fact that we were now primarily hiking downhill. Or, maybe it was the belief, now more widely held throughout the group, that if we could survive the experience of the previous day, we could survive anything! In any event, the mood seemed to be lighter. There were more boys willing to help and less boys who needed help. As for me, the slamming on my “old knees” caused by our now mostly downhill trajectory became so torturous that I experimented with walking backwards and or sideways to escape the pain. Nothing seemed to work!

The closer we got to our destination, Edison Lake, the gentler the decline of the trail and thus the reduction in the amount of pain in my knees. It was a wonderful sight when we arrived at the lake. There to meet us was Terry & Varton and Dennis’s great friend Don...