HST: Day 1

High Sierra Trail: Day 1

7/10/2021

Crescent Meadow - Buck Creek

Miles hiked: 9.5 mi

Elevation gained: 1,834 ft (6,697 - 7,693 - 7,212)

Animals seen: turkeys, deer, leinie geckos

Elevation chart created on AllTrails.com

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Surprisingly, we started the day on time. I know, hold onto your butts. We enjoyed what would be our last shower in over a week and packed up the car before hitting up the “continental breakfast”. Due to remaining covid restrictions, we were served off the buffet list up to our allotment limits. The breakfast burritos were nice, if on the small side.

Time to introduce my mom who graciously volunteered to not only pet/apartment sit but also drop us off at the ungodly hour in the morning at the trailhead and to pick up what will be our very smelly selves at the end of this hike on the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. She was supplied with a trail map, an itinerary, and emergency contact information for everyone in the group should something untoward happen and we need to deploy the SOS button on our garmin communicator. (Hint - you can click the link on the “Stalk Us” to see our daily commentary feed and location points). Jake and Target both talked to their parents and we tested the garmin to make sure everyone was able to receive our messages and feed. It took a couple attempts, alright.

We made it to the permit office with relatively mild temps at an elevation of 6,000 ft. The nice ranger lady issued our permit and asked if we had wag bags for Whitney Zone (this will be discussed in detail in a later post - do not google this, trust me). I nodded in what I hope was a convincing fashion (spoiler - we did not in fact carry wag bags). She quizzed us on what to do if a bear approached us for food. It is not panic (my answer). You should act big, make noise, and not allow said bear to get your food. Riiight. I may not be able to beat Target in a foot race, but I think I could use my s/o card on Jake to make sure he sacrificed himself so I could survive.

Permit in hand, we drove to the trailhead at Crescent Meadow. We used the last real toilet available for who knows how long, applied sunscreen, and hoisted our packs out of the trunk.

Let’s talk a moment to discuss these monsters we haul around that carry our gear, the packs. This is my pack, Yoda. (That scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Luke is training on Dagobah while carrying Yoda on his back always creeps in my mind on backpacking trips, cept I am decidedly not doing flips and shit, more like struggling to breathe, but I digress).

Yoda began this journey at a whopping 43.0 lbs with the full 2 liters of water and 8 days of food. Jake’s beast was 47.4 lbs and Target lucked out by skimming just under 40 lbs. You get the idea though, they are heavy and must be carried for our survival. Some people may call us ill.

Here we are, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the trailhead. Unfortunately, the ridiculously handsome Leinie Trail Dog was unable to partake in this adventure since the NPS in California has something against dogs in the backcountry. (Cuz people bumbling around aren’t disruptive to the wildlife, but dogs are). Notice it is 60 miles to the summit of Mt Whitney (tallest mountain in the contiguous US) the official end of the HST. We get to complete a bonus 11 miles to Whitney Portal, the exit trailhead.

And off we were. The trail started off on the right note, swooning and seducing us into a false sense of ease and confidence. It was uphill, but the grade was mild. The temperature was hot, in the 90’s but had plenty of tree coverage. The views were outstanding, right off the bat, and that is not a standard on backpacking trails.

Yoda was sitting just right. Sure, he was heavy but after 30 lbs, it’s just heavy right? Cruising right along and after about 2 miles came to our first stream crossing and decided on our first pack off break. (A break in which we remove our packs completely, obv. Most breaks are done with the packs on since they are not the easiest to get back on again).

We muled up (drank as much water as we could, so that we could go longer miles between water sources) and fueled up. Made some wardrobe and pack adjustments, filtered water to get us to our lunch spot of Mehrten Creek, and responded to nature calling (pun intended). And off we were again. After our break, Yoda was no longer sitting well. I attempted adjustments on the fly and could not figure out how to get comfortable. UGH!

Mehrten Creek

We did make it to Mehrten Creek at 5.6 miles in, about halfway to our intended campsite at Bearpaw Meadow (11.5 miles). We walked right in on someone shooting for their youtube channel. Our first fellow thru hiker, Brian. He was waiting for his friends to arrive at their designated lunch spot as well. They were planning on camping at Bearpaw as well. Mehrten Creek was spectacular. We ate lunch of tuna creations (hickory smoked) and spam with a refreshing mug of electrolyte mix and stream water. I know, I know, we eat like royalty on trail. I was eyeballing Target’s babybells with mild jealousy.

Lunch with a view.

Charlotte, one of Brian’s friends (another thru hiker) showed up as we were packing up lunch. They were waiting for their last friend in the group to arrive. We said adieu and continued on the trail with some more calories in our bodies.

Target looking all majestic.

Well, after whispering sweet nothings in our ears the first half of the day the trail turned more challenging and our confidence began to wane. It was hot, mosquitoes and flies came out (my mental achilles heel in the backcountry), and overall general exhaustion since none of us do this on the regular. Mix all this with Yoda digging into my sides and spine in the most unideal fashion. I am not proud to admit this, but I had some ragey tears. I was supposed to be enjoying this stupid trail and here I am, hot, exhausted, uncomfortable, and over these needless ups of no reason.

Ok, I survived, clearly. Jake and Target pulled ahead to let me rage it out on my own and I caught up with them at 9 Mile Creek. (Ten points to Ravenclaw if you can guess the reason behind that super creative name). We had another pack off water break. I simmered in subtle disgust at the swarming flies around my bug net while the guys discussed the likelihood of making it to Bearpaw Meadow that night. Not my finest moment.

We continued on and were cruising on relatively flat landscape and made the half mile to Buck Creek pretty quickly. The sun was low and the creek was a tempting spot to jump in. We debated for a few minutes whether to continue the last mile to Bearpaw, which was supposed to be a slog of a climb or to stay here at Buck Creek and attempt the climb in the morning when we would be fresh. I told you how indecision is a theme with our group, yes? This was a crippling decision. In the end, we chose to set up camp at Buck Creek.

We selected a tent pad and began camp chores (ie, filter water, set up the tent and sleep systems, clean off, etc). We went for our first swim in alpine water, brrrr, but so refreshing to be sorta clean again. “Washed” our socks and clothes in the creek to hang overnight to dry. Our new thru friends, Brian and Charlotte, stopped here for the night as well. Turns out their third friend is staying at Mehrten and bailing out tomorrow.

Target and his comfort rock.

We ate dinner (Roasted Garlic Pesto with shortbread cookies for dessert, thank you very much). Target enjoyed some of his left over taffy. We enjoyed whiskey-spiked Arnold Palmers which helped with the minor altitude headache I appeared to develop in the afternoon. The guys seemed to have no ill effects from the altitude yet. We were camped a little over 7,200 ft for elevation. Our plan was to be up and on trail by 6/6:30am tomorrow and add the extra mile up to Bearpaw and still camp at Precipice Lake.

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