[pct-l] WAS: Story of dead hiker NOW: Insanity

Mike Saenz msaenz at mve-architects.com
Wed Jul 19 11:22:47 CDT 2006 

That Badwater/Whitney run is (IMHO) the height of insanity....

But insanity is relative:
(Note: This story appeared in the July 2006 issue of Mammoth Monthly
magazine. It's bit of a read for an e-mail, but I saw this last week in
Lee Vining and thought this was an awesome article! BTW- If you ever get
to Tioga Toomie's Whoa Nellie Deli, you GOTTA try the mango fish tacos!)

**********************

Everybody's Crazy!
by Moz Coast

A petite blonde girl was driving her lime green hybrid through Yosemite
National Park, sulking over the thirty bucks it had just cost her to
fill up her vehicle. She tailgated two oversized men in a red Hummer and
did some quick math to determine they were paying about 1 cent for every
pine tree they passed. She felt somewhat redeemed. 

"They're crazy," she muttered to herself.

The two guys in the Hummer had been lapping the Yosemite Valley loop for
a couple hours, taking in the sights from the plush comforts of their
climate-controlled vehicle, marveling at how much they'd seen for only
forty bucks in fuel. 

The passenger had heard about a hike from his grandmother, to Lower
Yosemite Falls, where she assured him of an Ansel Adams-esque photo if
he could only make it so far. They parked within sight of the Falls, but
since the "bugs would be bad," they opted against the hike. 

He set his point-and-shoot digital on the "B&W" setting, and took the
requisite photo. After the fake shutter sounded, two hikers-outfitted in
knee-length khakis-walked quickly by, starting up a steep trail into the
forest. The driver puffed his cig and remarked, "They'll probably walk
five miles today," then crushed it in the ashtray and pulled away,
"that's just crazy."

The two hikers, Japanese nationals living in San Jose, headed up the
trail to Yosemite Falls. With hand-sculpted walking sticks in hand, they
proceeded deliberately uphill until their wraparound sunglasses began
fogging, and they were both nearly hyperventilating when they stopped at
a lookout. 

They ogled their GPS device, getting readouts on their speed, heading,
distance traveled, and couldn't deny that unless they started running,
they weren't going make it to the top of the falls. They were expressing
mutual sadness when a man came down the trail with a hydration tube in
his mouth and ran swiftly by, in what appeared to them a near sprint.
"Lunatic!" they called out in unison, then cursed wildly in Japanese.

The trail runner never even saw them. He kept on running to the valley
floor and ran to a meadow where he began his post-workout stretches. He
considered his mileage for the day, which was somewhere over 20. His
breathing relaxed and he was just about to feel proud until he entered
into an "Exalted Warrior" pose, which revealed a skyward group of
climbers up on the seemingly blank face of El Cap. His reaction was not
so warrior-like. "Those people are nuts," he decided. 

The two climbers were done climbing for the day, setting up camp on a
good- sized ledge. They'd been climbing together for years, since "the
day," when they used to do things they called hard. Now they climbed for
a break from their families, and chose "easy" routes they would do in
style. 

They had plenty of time before sunset, so they were sipping gin and
tonics and smoking a euro while they prepped a gourmet meal when a
lanky, and rather pungent man popped onto their ledge from the very
route they had just taken three days to climb.

Ropeless and without a harness, he gained his footing on the ledge and
froze. In a trance-like state he said flatly, "Don't touch me," then he
closed his eyes. The two climbers looked at each other quizzically as
the guy stood there, catatonic. He breathed deeply, and slowly. 

Three breaths later, he opened his eyes and stepped over their bottle of
gin, retrieved a water bottle from a crack in the rock and chugged it,
then tossed it off the edge. He moved onto the first holds of the next
pitch and disappeared over a roof without a word. In virtual disbelief
and only slightly insulted, one raised his plastic cup, "To insanity!"
and they drank to the man and poured another.

A few hours later the soloist reached the top, checked his watch and saw
that he had indeed broken his speed record. He was delighted with
himself, and stood there breathing deeply, when a cute girl with a small
backpack walked by, looked over the edge and checked her watch, too. She
nodded at the free-soloer (who fully expected she was a student of his
legendary ascent) and walked away from the edge. He sat down
cross-legged, crossed his arms, closed his eyes and waited for her
questions. 

She reached over her head and pulled a small piece of fabric from the
top of her pack, held it tightly and ran past him, toward the edge of
the route he'd just climbed and straight off the edge.

He heard her mysterious steps and opened his eyes, and seeing she'd
disappeared, he walked to the edge and looked over. He barely saw her, a
spread-eagle rapidly shrinking from view, and just before it seemed her
flight was going to end in the meadow below, a chute popped above her
and she lightly touched down in the meadow, gathered her chute in ten
seconds, and calmly walked to a lime green hybrid and put her chute
inside. 

Without a twinge of emotion he concluded, "crazy."


-yeah...insanity.

Michael Saenz ,  Associate Partner
McLarand    Vasquez    Emsiek   &   Partners,   Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e  |  P l a n n i n g  |  I n t e r i o r s
MVE          MVE    Institutional         MVE    S t u d i o
w  w  w   .   m  v  e   -   a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s   .   c  o m

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Brett
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:11 AM
To: Dust; pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Story of dead hiker

> There were a bunch of fools on here last month yapping 
> about hiking through the desert in July.   Wonder if it 
> was one of them.

Rumors of my hike have been greatly exaggerated.

http://simblissity.net/L2H.shtml


I'll be updating it momentarily. Meantime, take me off the list of
candidates, and someone please try to ID those pesky "quad runners."

- blisterfree


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dust" <dustpct at yahoo.com>
To: <pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 3:32 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Story of dead hiker


> There were a bunch of fools on here last month yapping 
> about hiking through the desert in July.   Wonder if it 
> was one of them.
>
> Kent Spring <kjssail at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Here is the post, please note this news article is
> from Sat 7/15 and it has not been updated in the paper
> since...
>
> Man found dead on trail with empty water containers
> BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer
> e-mail: sswenson at bakersfield.com | Saturday, Jul 15
> 2006 8:40 PM
> Last Updated: Saturday, Jul 15 2006 8:44 PM
>
> A man who appeared to be in his mid-40s was found dead
> on the Pacific Crest Trail northeast of Sand Canyon,
> Kern County sheriff's deputies reported Saturday.
>
> The man who had identification that indicated he
> lived in another state had two empty water containers
> in his backpack, Sgt. Mike Kirkland said.
>
> The man's identity has not been confirmed and the
> cause of his death is pending an autopsy, Kirkland
> said.
>
> He was found Friday at about 5 p.m. right on the
> Pacific Crest Trail, a popular hiking trail that
> stretches from Mexico to Canada, Kirkland said.
>
> But the trail is less used in the desert-like Kern
> County section, he said. It appeared the man may have
> been dead on the trail for two days or more, Kirkland
> said.
>
> The body was about four or five miles north of Highway
> 58 near Cache Peak, the sergeant said.
>
> A small group of off-road motorcyclists and quad
> runners discovered the body and then reported the find
> to sheriff's deputies.
>
> The trail was among hilly desert brush and small
> trees, Kirkland said. It is not unusual for
> backpackers to spend days, weeks or months on the
> trail -- veering off to get supplies from stores along
> the way, Kirkland said.
>
> "Hikers who go alone love it," Kirkland said. "They
> are really passionate about it."
>
> Deputies had not yet had a chance to check with stores
> to determine when the man was last seen alive, he
> said. He thought there was a creek within a couple
> miles of the body, but he wasn't sure if it had water
> in it, the sergeant said.
>
>
>
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