[pct-l] Tethers to the other world...from the other world

[abiegen at cox.net]

Diane wrote:

>Last year in July my boyfriend decided he would hike Section C in  
>Southern California. That section starts in the desert near Palm  
>Springs. It had been unseasonably cool for a long time before the  
>weekend he planned to go so it didn't seem like a crazy idea at the  
>time. However, it was 102 degrees at 8pm when we got to the trailhead. 
 
>The next day after I was home, there were messages on my phone. First  
>there were happy ones. Then there were alarming ones. It was around  
>125 degrees and he didn't sound well at all. I drove all the way back  
>to the trail. It's about 3 hours from my house. 

Since I was the boyfriend in this story I'll add a little here. This sounds like a crazy idea and sounds like things got out of control, but actually everything went according to plan. Unfortunately it was plan C that wound up being used rather than the preferred plan A. 

Plan A: Arrive at section C trail head the night before. Hike in a little and camp. Get up at 4AM and hike to White Water Creek and arrive by 7AM. Get water and hike to Mission Creek before noon. Dowse myself in Mission Creek at every opportunity; progress as temperature allows.

Plan B: Same as plan A except stay at first Mission Creek crossing until temps drop and then progress up in late afternoon.

Plan C: Same as plan A except if it is too hot to get to Mission Creek, return to White Water and sit in the creek. Consider continuing on in late afternoon.

Well, I made it to White Water by 7AM. Lingered a little too long eating breakfast and soaking in the cold water. As soon as the sun was up the temps climbed dramatically. I had all the water I could carry and drank frequently from my water bladder. The heat was really getting to me. Started to think I might not make it to Mission Creek. I was moving slowly up. I decided to make an electrolyte drink with one of my bottles on the outside of my pack. I burned my fingers on the bottle it was so hot from being in the blank elastic section of my pack. I decided to take a shock block with 2X caffeine. Unfortunately that was a bad choice since I have heart issues of an electrical nature (which have been fixed now). This left me with non-life threatening chest pain and slowed me down even more. I was down to my only option being plan B or plan C. 

I finally got to the top of the ridge where you can see Mission Creek down below. I sat down and looked at my map. Another two miles snaking along switchbacks to get to the crossing. I couldn't decide if I should go on or go back. I got up walked a bi and then sat down to think and look at the map a couple of times. 

Knowing the symptoms of heat exhaustion is a big help. I knew that the inability to make decisions and the tendency to make bad decisions is one of the key symptoms. So I knew that my inability to decide meant that I had to decide to go back to White Water. Of course the whole way back I kept arguing with myself that I could have made it; it was only two miles. And of course I had to yell at myself that that might just be the heat exhaustion talking. 

When I go back to White Water I doused myself in the now tepid water. I instantly felt fit as a fiddle. Still I decided to stay there until it cooled down. That didn't happen until after 8PM. Then I hiked back.

The poor phone reception was frustrating. When I could get Piper on the phone the first few minutes were used up by, "How are you? How hot is it?' the typical phone call. When I started to talk about what I was going to do, the line would drop. Same when she called me. One thing that we did agree to before hand was this: No matter what happens, whether I don't call or don't show up in Big Bear on time, do NOT call SAR. You have to have some prior agreement on when and if that should happen. No one wants to have SAR coming running at them when they just decided to take the hike a little slower for a day or two or you decided to take a side trip.  I strongly suggest that you have an agreement on that before setting out.

I wish that I had known that the Trout Farm is now a friendly place. The book that I had said that they were not hiker friendly at all. I could have spent the day there rather than sitting in the creek. And maybe Piper wouldn't have had to come get me or maybe we could have gotten together sooner. But I have a partner I can trust thoroughly and she knows she can trust me, so hopefully she won't hold all that driving against me. I did drive almost 5000 miles supporting her PCT hikes. She is my trail angel and hopefully she considers me hers. (start the violins...)

TrailHacker


--
"When my feet hurt, I can't think straight"
Abraham Lincoln