Back to Zero

7:12 AM

I think I actually slept. Suddenly I wake up at 2:00 a.m. A cold wind blows through the tent — I had left the doors open to cool things down faster. In the dark I turn my pack inside out to grab my quilt; sleeping naked under the stars turned out to be a bit too much.

By 5:00 a.m. the light slowly returns. I lie on my side, looking out over the lake. I wish I had brought my binoculars.

Granola and a cup of hot tea for breakfast in the wilderness — what more could you want? I pack my bag and wake the others. Sorry. I head uphill, toward Rock Pass. Bye bye, Ross Lake 👋

8:14 AM

There’s not a soul on the trail. It’s quiet and deserted. Birds are singing along with me and… ohhh, that’s a large pile of bear scat 🤔. At every bend in the trail I tap my trekking poles together — no desire to run into a giant bear face to face.

9:22 AM

Trail maintenance ends here. I have to force my way through fallen trees and overgrown bushes. These will be a tough 20 kilometers before I actually reach the PCT.

11:19 AM

The trail keeps getting harder. What’s the right call — push on or take a full detour? There’s responsibility to consider, and one slip would send me a meter straight down.

F*, That hurts.

Scraped up, I take a break and load up on electrolytes and sugar. The 1,800-meter climb hasn’t even started yet, and I’m already wrecked.

1:55 PM

It becomes too dangerous and I decide to turn back. It hits hard — every 200 meters I have to stop to recover. Water is no longer being absorbed and I’m completely exhausted. I need to get back to a campsite as fast as possible; everything here is too steep and too narrow.

5:33 PM

Campsite reached, heart rate around 300. I pitch the tent as fast as possible and crash for a two-hour nap.

My mouth is dry from here to Tokyo. Water, water, water — but it doesn’t help. Against my will I have to eat. What a mess. I manage a few bites, then I have to stop or risk starting all over again.

Evening
As fast as possible: brush my teeth, collect water, hang the Ursack, a visit to the privy — then I can finally lie down. Hopefully I fall asleep quickly so my body can recover. This is not something we do again. I haven’t made a single meter of progress and I’m back where I started.

Total:
18.57 km in 8:50 hours
765 m up, 612 m down