Baden Powell

After grabbing my ice axe and spikes I text a trail angel whose number I got from Wolf.

“Hi Marlene would you be able to drive four hikers to Fenner Conservation Camp?”

“Yes I can, tomorrow morning 8AM” she responded.

That’s perfect. I wake up at 3:45AM, nervous for some reason. Like I haven’t done enough hiking at this point to not be nervous before hiking. Maybe I’m nervous about the hitch? I don’t know. The mind does some mental fuckery and I flip flop around in bed.

I play a Calm sleep story and no dice. I say fuck it I guess I’m up for the day. Time to rot my brain with some morning internet and then off to shower and start getting ready to go. With four of us today and one bathroom I will make sure to get in there before anyone else.

Marlene’s daughter arrives at 7:59AM. Right on time, I love it. It’s a 25 minute drive around the closure to Fenner Conservation Camp and I got shotgun. We arrive at the place and it looks like a fire head quarters. It’s actually a camp where they train inmates on how to fight forest fires. When we pulled up we saw them all walking outside and getting on the busses.

From Fenner it was about a 2 mile road walk up to the trail that reconnects us to the PCT. Today is a day of mostly uphill again and when I say mostly uphill. I mean 4,000 feet of elevation gain day.

Once we get up past the road walk I’m already sucking wind. At 6800’ elevation now and I know I’m going to 9,300’. I read a trail report earlier that said after 8 switch backs there is XYZ. I was counting the switch backs and after the 8th there was snow, and more switch backs.

I toss on my microspikes and debate taking out my ice axe. Right now I don’t think I need it but we’ll see. It’s more so laziness of not wanting to take off my bag and get my axe.

After another mile it’s time for the axe. Today for some reason I don’t feel it. On Jacinto I was at home, felt comfortable, positive, today I’m tired, I can’t breathe and I’m actually nervous.

The shoots are some steep shoots I do not want to self arrest on. By the time we get to them it’s almost mid day. My microspikes are slushy and sliding all over the place. The group in front of us isn’t even wearing any. They say what’s the point in slush?

I finally get to the summit and it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s perfect blue skies, almost no wind and visually appealing as far as the eyes can see.

When I arrive everybody else is already there Wolf Slayer, Seven, Dallas, Kind Heart, Meatball and Sparks. What a ragtag group of characters we are but we summited and got the photo for proof.

After I left the summit it was another 5 miles and up and down along snow covered ridges. All in all everywhere above 7,500’ had snow and to me needed microspikes. I kept my axe away for most of the day but used it when it was smart too or dumb not too.

As I roll into the last water source I look at the time and say there’s no way Im making it another 5 miles before sunset. My body, mind, and desire to keep going on are just at their end for the day.

Instead of pushing for the five after two miles I stop at Islip trail head and make the decision to pitch my tent there. Wolf and Dallas come in after me and decide to stay also. Seven made it to that next camp solo.

I see a few cars here that have made the hour drive and gotten stuck. They ask me when the road will reopen but I have no answers either. I tell them I just literally walked from the other side of this highway closure. It took me all day to do so also.

As the suns setting a couple snowboarders come down the mountain. We chat for a bit and they give me a beer for the road. Appreciate it guys. That’s a breakfast beer. My body completely toast I climb into my tent and that’s a wrap for tonight. I fall asleep to a nice breeze.