[pct-l] Capt Bivy's excellent near death experience thru sect F

[pfreiman at ucsd.edu (Freiman, Paul)]

I set this hike up after my disasterous Washington hike of only 90 miles.  On that hike I got severe shin splints (tendonitis) that I finally decided was due to short-term inactivity due to my mother getting sick the month before and my attending to her.  There must be some correlation between my anticipated hikes and my mother getting sick because this time my step-mother (rather than my mom) was put on hospice the week before this trip.  I needed to go anyway.

I had things beautifully set-up.  Tom Bache, a bicycle racer that I raced with in the 70's, drove his car to the top of St John's Pass (Kelso Road) where we loaded into my car for the trip to KM.  I started hiking at  Kennedy Meadows while he drove my car back to White Motel in Mojave, where he would get a ride to Hwy 58/PCT.  I knew Splash was at Walker Pass on the morning of the 14th, but I wasn't going to throw away a perfect shuttle to walk with her.  So she had 3 days lead.

It was suppose to spritz on Sat or Sun, then we good weather for the rest of the week.  The temps had been 87 the week before, but we were lucky and the weather was to be in the 60's.  Whoohoo!  As I got near Chimney Creek Campground on Sat, 15th, I was spritzed on, but could see that a high pressure was right in front of me and would protect me from rain.  I was right.  On Sun I needed to hike 30 miles and get to Walker Pass to keep up with Splash, so I started hiking at night.  I only hike about 2 mph, so I needed to continue at night.  I think it's fun, and I knew this segment from 1984 when I helped prepare the plaque on top of Mt Jenkins (looks the same as the one on the trail).

NO WATER at Walker Pass!!!!  Now what am I going to do?  There is a hunter in the campground and he gave me two liters of water.  Crisis averted.  Seven miles from Walker's as I neared McIver's Spring a mist turned to rain.  There is a CABIN!!!  I see that Splash was feed by a hunter's group and stayed the night.  Good, I caught up a day. I want to stay in this cabin all day.  It is nice and toasty, but I won't catch Splash if I stay in the cabin.  I took an hour's nap, then moved on.  

I'm at the top of the mountain again at nightfall.  The rain is coming down pretty good and it is starting to lighting and thunder.  I will just lay my bivy sack down for a little bit, so I can rest.  No good.  My bag is soaked and I'm starting to get cold.  As long as I hike I'm nice and toasty.  My goud, that is the loudest thunder and most incredible lightning I've ever seen!  AND I'm going toward's it!  Switchback!  I'm going away from it.  Switchback...... toward it.  It's raining harder...... no, that's hale.  Dang, that smarts.  There is a froasting of snow on the ground!  Whoa! Here's a 10 foot wide by 10 foot deep crevis.

I ended up hiking 35 miles that day and finally got Kelso Rd at 10 AM where I figured I could get help.  I grabbed a Coke I had left there as a trail angel when we placed Tom's car.  There was about 3 cups of water in the trail register, so I couldn't read anything  there, but Tom had left me his guidebook encased in plastic.  Thanks, Tom.  He said Splash was waiting out the rain only 4.6 miles away.  As you can imagine, I was a bit tired and had lost my gusto.  I still had 22 miles of dirt road to walk out.  I got one-tenth of a mile down the hill and a car came!  Saved!  The driver of the car, Tom (no, other Tom), had tried to leave from their cabin and had driven his 4WD truck into a hole.  His sister, Deeka, and mother, Kate, were behind him and pulled him out.  So he we go, on nice paved road.  We get a little further and run into Tom's neighbor, Dennis.  There is a 3-4 foot mud flow blocking the road up ahead that Dennis had tried to drive through on his way home from Lake Isabella.  He had been stuck all night until rescued that morning by the plows.  Tom, being a wonderful neighbor, the kind of person you always hope to run into, insisted that he escort Dennis back to his home to make sure everything was ok.  Once back at home we waited for the following day to get out.  I crawled into a trailer and slept for most of the day, and when I emmerged they fed me brats, potato salad and Pepsi. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! It tasted soooooo good.

The following day I asked to be dropped off at the PCT again to continue my quest.  I ended at Hwy 58 at 9 PM on Thurs.  I missed catching Splash by 4.5 hours.  I knocked on her door at White Motel and gave her a hug, then went to my room and finished picking the ticks out of my skin.  The next day I drove her around town to complete her chores, then drove her to Hwy 58, before heading home.

I love the PCT and all thru hikers.