Chap. 18 – Fresh tears and free solos

I never imagined I’d have to clear a wall of sand, dirt, and roots alone with a 35-pound backpack…but here we are.

To be fair, the free solo might be a stretch, but it was a 15 foot wall up, so it still scared the hell out of me. It all started with searching for water at the last spring of the day, 17 miles before camp. We were already 4 miles in, but I was still feeling pretty good. Everyone got out of the creek and back onto the trail, including Boostie. He said he was taking it easy and that I would catch up quickly.

«Starlight! Take the stream!»

Boostie was at the top of a hill behind me, yelling at me to take the creek. I thought he intended to follow the stream to where he was, so that’s what I did. When I got to the top, I could see it again at the bottom. Realizing that his intention was to follow the stream longer, I went down to meet him. When I got there, he was gone. I followed the cairns upstream, but it became increasingly difficult. I couldn’t see anyone in front of me and I started to panic. Had they left me? How were they going so fast? This terrain seemed impossible. I felt miserable.

After overcoming dozens of takedowns, I started crying. Then he sobs. A huge pine tree had fallen into the stream and I physically couldn’t get under or over it, so I had to climb around it. I used the branches to climb the embankment. After getting around the root system, I had to go back down. I carefully placed one foot on the soft, loose earth, and it crumbled beneath me. I quickly slid about 20 feet into the creek and my right foot got stuck in deep mud. I had to get out of there by holding on to one of the branches of a pine tree.

Just over a half mile into the creek, I concluded that everyone else had found an easier way to fix this problem. I looked at the dirt walls to my left and right. The one on my right seemed flatter on top, so I chose that one. Many roots protruded from the wall, so I had a variety of places to place my hands and feet. At the same time, the idea of ​​falling near the top with my backpack on crossed my mind. It would possibly mean a serious injury or worse.

I started hyperventilating and kept trying to calm down. At over 8,000 feet in altitude, I didn’t need to hyperventilate. The sobs didn’t help either, each tear felt like a waste of water. I let the tears enter my mouth after a while. Extra electrolytes, right? I finally calmed my breathing and stopped sobbing long enough to see what I was doing.

I threw my leg over it and the hyperventilating and sobbing immediately stopped. It seemed flat and much more manageable. I started hiking and found three backpacks next to a tree. After a little more hunting, I saw three trail maintenance workers and a trail. A trace! Eureka! Before anyone says anything, yes, I reviewed FarOut. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the comment about not following the cairns in the creek.

A couple hours after the creek, I treated myself to some blue Jolly Ranchers to help me regain some energy.

I arrived at Mission Camp about an hour after the water source and had only gone 1.5 miles. Boostie was there waiting, worried because no one had seen me. He alerted the trail maintenance crew that he was looking for me and none of them had seen me either. He felt quite worried the entire time. Luckily, he only had to wait about 20 minutes before I showed up.

The rest of the day, by comparison, was calm and windy. We got the magic of Gandalf’s trail at night, just a few miles before camp. He brought ice cream, beer, chips and salsa! We appreciate everything you do for us. The ice cream was for Rawhide’s birthday and we loved being able to celebrate with him! Boostie and I arrived at camp just after sunset, ate quickly, and went to bed as soon as possible. The day had been very tiring, but at least we had some beautiful views!

Hitting the 250 mile mark with the Aussies!

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