Day 66 : Rain stops play

24th June 2013
Mile 879 to mile 887 : VVR to Silver Pass
Mileage : 8 + 6
I woke up this morning feeling slightly better about the day than i had when i went to bed. Unfortunately the weather had not improved and was drizzling as i got up and about. All of PRT bar me were heading out of VVR on an early morning ferry across the lake back to the PCT. I, however, was not. My continuous hike meant i would be hiking around the lake instead of taking the ferry and i wasn't feeling particularly motivated to get on with it. The rain picked up around mid morning and i decided to wait for a relative lull in the rain before setting off. By 1pm i decided to go for it, and headed out across the lake bed. Edison Lake is not actually a lake at all but is infact a reservoir, and an ugly one at that, given the low snow meant it was only 60% full. I had heard that i could cut a corner off the initial hike around the lake by heading out across the dry lake bed, so i proceeded to do exactly that, and it was definitely a mistake. The going across the lake bed was tough as it was soft sand, but that was not what caused the difficulties, they were caused by the boulder fields separating the lake itself from the steep sides of the lake. Still trusting the advice I'd gotten about the shortcut, i persevered assuming the boulder field was short in length, but being unable to confirm this as the shoreline bent slowly away from me. It was at this stage that my day went downhill in a big way compounding the dreary weather. While clambering over the umpteenth wet boulder i slipped and fell hard on my coccyx. Unfortunately over the last few months i have lost a considerable amount of my derrière padding and fall hurt, a lot. I spent a minute or two investigating the damage and decided nothing was broken, but unfortunately i could not extend that assessment to my brand new hiking pole, that i had had sent to me at Kennedy Meadows not 2 weeks previously. The lower 2 sections had snapped and the pole was rendered useless. Infact it was worse than useless as now i had to carry the extra dead weight, the gods were  clearly conspiring against me it seemed. With no end to the boulder field in sight i decided the best course of action was to bushwhack up the steep granite slabs and attempt to find the trail around the lake.
3.5 hours after leaving VVR i had made it back to the PCT, having covered a measely 6 miles. It was a pitiful result after so many difficult hours. I had hoped that during my approach to the PCT the weather would improve, but it was not to be. The low hanging cloud obscured the mountains from almost just above my head and i was going up into them in over to get over Silver Pass. Silver Pass was the only option open to me without a very significant detour, and given my recent experiences with detours this was not an option, so off i went into the cold, wet, misty mountains. Walking in fog in the mountains is a bit like hiking at night. You hike in a  sort of bubble unaware of what exists more than 20 metres outside it in any direction. Given how my recent trail experience had turned out, i expected not to enjoy the 3000ft climb up to the pass, but instead i went well until pretty much the summit. Although i was wet through from the constant drizzle and my own sweat, i wasn't cold as i my body was working hard to get me up the climb. My energy levels, and therefore my speed, stayed high until the last mile where i had to fight hard not to slow down and therefore cool down. Just before what i thought was the pass i  contemplated putting on some warm kit and taking on some calories, as i knew i would cool down considerably on the descent. I reached to undo my chest clasp and realised i had lost the dexterity in my hands to undo it. Even my waist strap clasp, which is considerably larger than the chest strap, proved too difficult to undo. Although it wasn't particularly cold, and it was certainly above freezing, or at least i think it was, the humidity had stripped the heat from my gloveless hands to the point that that were no longer functional, at all. I fought unsuccessfully with the straps for well over a minute before realising that even if i did get them undone, i would still have to deal with the zips and straps on my rucksack and clothing, and then do it all in reverse in order to continue hiking. I didn't want to cool down any more, so i pressed on up to the top of the pass. Frustratingly, the top of pass was not the top of the climb , but soon enough i was on my way down looking to get below the coldest and wettest layers of cloud before night fell. As expected, during the descent i started to get cold, and it took a lot of mental strength not to speed up as i knew most hiking/mountaineering accidents happen on descent. My downward progress was hindered by my hands, as by this time i had lost the ability to even grip my remaining hiking pole, and had to resort to tucking it under my arms alternating every few minutes or so. By the time i dropped out of  the main cloud layer night was falling and i started looking for somewhere to stop for the night. Just as i was about to call it a day i came across Hoop Dreams' hula hoop. The rest of PRT it turned out, even with their headstart, had decided to call it a day fairly early on in the afternoon as the weather had been even worse when they went over the pass. The rain meant everyone was huddling in tents by themselves rather than being social, and once i had my tent up i did the same. As i lay there in tent trying to do my routine without ever touching the sides of the tent, requiring a whole different type of routine, i realised that this was the first time i had put my tent up in 'anger' since the trail began. This thought cheered me up tremendously as i attempted to get comfortable in my sleeping bag and go to sleep. 1 day of shockingly bad weather in over 2 months isn't too bad i dont think. Lets hope it's another 2 months before the next one.

Silver Pass is somewhere up in those clouds