Decision Day 2
- Samuel Emigrant
- Jul 30, 2017
- 3 min read
Day 2 required a big decision. My original plan for this 8 day hike was for the guys to hike on another 4 miles past Heather Lake and camp with me at Susie Lake below Dick's Pass. I would then take of on my own on day 3 over Dick's Pass and the guys would move back to Lake Aloha. They decided to stay at Lake Aloha and I had to make a decision what to do. If I stay at Aloha, I need to figure out how to make up the lost 4 miles. That would require leaving the PCT for a day, bypassing Dick's Pass. I decided to sleep on it. In the morning, I made my decision to leave today, bypass Dick's Pass and hike 8 miles, over Mosquito Pass at the far end of Lake Aloha and down into Rockbound Valley along the headwaters of the Rubicon River. The idea of hiking downhill for a day seemed an easier option. To Susie Lake would be 4 miles and then over Dick's Pass would be a 1600 ft elevation gain over another 4 miles through snow pack with three more miles to my next camp site. That idea was less appealing.
Decision made, the guys day hiked with me to the other end of Lake Aloha. Mark and Wayne went with me over Mosquito Pass, looking to fish a small lake called Clyde Lake on the other side, kissing my ass goodbye. Jim and Mike headed back to the original campsite, no doubt to savor another one of Jim's snowy Manhattan's in the mountains.
After the previous day's hike my left knee was a bit stiff and sore from a leftover tweak a couple weeks back. I felt pretty good in the morning and didn't think any more about it. We met a young hiker on the way down to Clyde Lake who said another hiker commented the crossing of the Rubicon River where I was going was waste deep. Taking a short pause, I said, ok, not too bad, that's doable, I'm moving on, even though she was bailing out and heading back to Aloha. She also wasn't able to find the trail to Clyde Lake due to snow covering the trail. We moved on and were able to find the trail marker but there was no visible trail.
We said our goodbyes, Mark and Wayne chose to cross country down to the lake, and I moved along on what I thought would be a pretty easy downhill hike to Camper Flat along the Rubicon, a total of 8 miles on the day. The trail turned out to be more challenging and fraught with potential disaster. I fell twice, once to the knees and a second time when snow covering the trail collapsed and I did a 180 onto my pack, cutting my arm landing on a rock on the side of the exposed trail. Perhaps I was being a little reckless and after some doctoring, slowed my pace a bit. Especially on the downhill switchbacks. I had to wade across the Rubicon three times, removing my boots, and strapping on my sandals. I had a few additional stream crossings that required balancing acts upon rocks and tree branches spanning the distance. All of this saps your energy. I finally made it to Camper Flat and staked my tent next to the river. I went down to the river, saw where the trail picked up on the other side and decided I had found the waste deep crossing. I figured the depth would drop by morning as the snow melt slows overnight. That evening my knee was a bit more stiff and sore and hard to bend, not good. Oh well, pop a couple Aleve and see me in the morning. Stay tuned for Day 3.
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