Wednesday, July 5
The day started pleasantly with going out to breakfast with Pam and Jim. It was nice to linger over coffee and visit with our new friends.
Peter made arrangements to hike with a guy here at the RV Resort. They are about the same age. One of the things I appreciate about Peter is that he doesn’t go off and do things half cocked. And as you know he has done plenty of difficult long hikes the Grand Canyon, rim to rim. So we went to the outdoor store in town to get supplies such as power gels, protein bars, maps, electrolytes and a spray can of oxygen with a mask on it. They are doing Mt. Wheeler, a 12,000 summit. And we went to the grocery store for hiking food – bananas and grapefruit.
I changed the dinner menu so Peter could “carb-load” and made pasta.
We took pics of Pam and Jim as they were leaving the next day. Later, two couples came by our trailer to visit. This was Ken (Peter’s hiking partner) and his wife June. They are from OK. Both work part time at the RV Resort for the summer. We met another couple, Margaret and Dennis. They are pretty much full-time RVers. Margaret said she was Sephardic so we had quite a lively discussion. Her family is from a small town in Northern New Mexico, where a lot of crypto-Jews settled. Her husband if from the Midwest. He recognized Ken and June’s Oklahoma accents right away. Up here in northern NM, there seen to be a lot of folks from Texas and Oklahoma. I’m starting to be able to tell the difference between TX and OK accents. Who knew…?
We tried to go to bed early as the guys were leaving on their hike at 5 am. JY
I was talking with Ken, one of the resort employees, who said he was disappointed the couple he had planned to climb Mt. Wheeler with had decided to go on a day he was working. He was really looking forward to going and now he didn’t have anyone to go with – I immediately seized the moment and said “you do now – when do we leave.” Ken was off the next day so we planned to get started early – 5:00 am early.
There are three routes to the summit and he thought we should do the Red River route as someone told him it was a 6 hour round trip. Not so. Ken found out that evening it took those folks almost 12 hours to complete the round trip and said they had nothing but four letter words to say about it.
As June Yvonne said I wanted to be prepared and not surprised. Together we went into town and purchased supplies, a map and asked around until I found two separate guys who had hiked the summit. I unfolded my topographic map and discussed each of the two remaining routes with them and decided we should hike the “Bull of the Woods” trail – an 8 mile trek with 3,785 ft. gain in elevation.
Fortunately I had packed all my hiking equipment for our summer trip so I was fully prepared for the adventure. I took our blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter and a large can of oxygen I purchased at the local sporting goods store. The O2 can was the size of a large Lysol spray can with 150 puffs of oxygen. I’d never seen one of these before and it weighed almost nothing.
June Yvonne cooked a meal of pasta to help me load up on carbohydrates for the next day and made sure I drank lots of electrolytes to saturate my system. After meeting with Ken to discuss the details, she made sure I set the alarm for 4:00 am and then put me to bed early. She was enormously supportive in helping me prepare. On all my crazy adventures June Yvonne has always concerned about my health and safety and keeps me conscious of both while I tend to get caught up on the adventure part. PRC
Thursday, July 6, 2016
Peter set the alarm for 4 am. I helped him get ready for the 5 am departure. The ride to the trail head was 1.5 hours. Peter is a very experienced, hardcore hiker, but I was concerned anyway especially because of the elevation.
I tried to go back to sleep, but didn’t have much luck. Since it was so cold when I woke up I had soup for breakfast. I did a little laundry and worked on the computer. Peter called about noon and said they reached the summit so I was relieved. I figured they wouldn’t get back before 5 pm which they did.
I had a nice chat with Jae this afternoon and Joan T. It’s good to stay in touch with people from home since we are away from home for so long. So, whether it’s a response to a post on the blog, an e-mail, text or phone call, it is very much appreciated. Let us know how and what you are doing.
We ended the day with a shower and a soak in the Jacuzzi for Peter’s tired muscles. JY
Up at 4:00 am. June Yvonne warmed up the remaining pasta while I got dressed and packed my gear. Ken showed up at 5:00 and we headed to the trail head at 5:15. We started our hike shortly before 7:00 and we appeared to be the only ones on the trail. It was beautiful at the start of hike through the forest of aspen and conifers. The meadows where speckled with blue, yellow and red wildflowers mixed in with tall green grass.
Eventually a young couple passed us and we conversed with them a while and they went on ahead. Around 11,000 ft. we started to transition from the closed in forest into the high alpine meadows with lingering patches of snow along with rocky outcroppings, with many of the slopes swathed with exfoliated rock and scree.
The alpine meadows were covered with low grasses and flowers. As we walked along the narrow trail that switched back up the side of the steep hills there were large burrows dug in the side hills by marmots. We eventually saw a dozen or more of the fat rodents some weighing about 25 to 30 pounds.
As we climbed higher to wind started to blow harder and Ken and I had to put our jackets on. At one point the young man were had met earlier with his girlfriend or wife was walking back to us and explained he was a professional photographer and asked if he could take pictures of us for a magazine as we hiked along. We said “of course”. I must admit that while walking through the meadows and taking in all the scenery I had John Denver songs ricocheting around in my head.
For me it was a spiritual experience and very reminiscent of my early years as a hunting guide in Northern Canada.
We eventually reached the summit and there were already other hikers there eating snacks, enjoying the 360 degree panoramic view while seeking shelter from the wind. What was interesting is Ken and I were bundled up with extra shirts and a jackets.
Up from the “Williams Lake” route came groups of hikers, one of which was 4 or 5 young women dresses in shorts and tank tops. They were walking around the summit gabbing away like we weren’t even there and didn’t appear to be negatively affected by the wind or the cool temperature.
We had talked to several people who assured us that the Williams Lake trail was the faster and easier decent than the Bull of the Woods trail. We decided to take the Williams Lake trail down and that was a mistake. The decent was switchback down a 60% grade littered with vertical bands of loose rocks and boulders that moved with every step. 
We really had to focus on every step and used our hiking poles for extra stability. On the trek down we saw two big horn sheep grazing of the hillside but they were to far away for pictures.
When we finally got below the tree line we hiked another three miles to the hiker’s parking lot only to find that we were five miles from the truck.
Fortunately a Good Samaritan offered us a ride down the mountain to the “Bull of the Woods” trail head parking lot. That really saved our bacon. We arrived back home safe and sound although tired. I ate dinner, soaked in the Jacuzzi for about 45 minutes and had no trouble falling asleep. PRC
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