Day 43: Mount Baden-Powell

4/28/20, mile: 384, elevation: 7,490 ft.

I was on the trail by 0500, and within a mile or so of those switchbacks I was strapping on the crampons. The snow was already soft, never re-freezing overnight. This is going to be a long day.

I’m always best in the morning, and this particular one I made sure to eat a lot of food before departure as well as while moving. The going was tough; very steep and the trail was covered in the snow. The game became reading the terrain to find the shallowest slope, but then also watch the sun and shadows to see where the hardest/stiffest snow was. And there were even some sections steep enough for to be worried about slipping out of control, so out came the ice axe. Never “needed” it. I did turtle one time when trying to cross a buried log and my downhill leg postholed. I ended up falling backwards onto my pack, head downhill. No, I did not take the time to take a selfie, sorry.

I reached the peak at 0930 and had it all to myself. I yelled in victory, shed some tears and was just so proud of myself. My first bagged peak of this adventure. Add in the fact that I’m Eagle Scout on top of the mountain named after Scouting’s founder really hit home for me. I got a lot from scouting that I’ve carried with me ever since. As a matter of fact, my pack has a “medal” I was awarded from my Scoutmaster for camping 21 days and nights in 1984. I think I may have beaten that now. Thank you Bruce, you were a great Scoutmaster, and the number of Eagles you helped promote is proof enough.

After some pictures, I knew it was time to move on. The day was nowhere near done. I had more miles of snow covered ridge tops to traverse.

And they sucked. Slow pace, wet and cold feet and I was getting tired. The highlight of the afternoon was crossing paths with Ultra (formerly Disco) and Lowlander. Remember they had flipped up north to Tehachapi and were walking SOBO (southbound). We spent several minutes catching up on events and people, and trading info about trail conditions. We were all having a tough day, and it wasn’t nearly done.

For me, it was a mental battle of trudging through the snow, or getting off the beaten path and follow the rocky (but snow free) southern facing slopes. They were both work. And my pace was very slow. I was running low on water (funny being surrounded by it frozen form), but I didn’t want to waste fuel and time melting any. Just before the next available camping spot (meaning snow-free), there was a spring for water. I cameled up and then filled 4 liters to take to camp. Camp had picnic tables and bear boxes, but also a lot of snow around, so it was cold. Being mentally and physically exhausted, it was hard to concentrate on what chores to do first; or getting distracted easily. I was burnt.

I was blessed with the arrival of SoCo, the guy from the Big Bear area a week and a half ago. And soon after sunset, a new hiker showed up. His name I Pyche (pronounced “Pish”) and he’s from France. We all talked about the dreary work it was this day. For me, 11-1/2 hours to travel less than 10 miles. Ugggh.

Savior out.