Re: 2013 Expedition
Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 2:08 pm
The smoke is nasty! Was horrible coming into VVR and you cannot see much right now. It was up in the Hilgard Branch Yesterday also.
As for me I am back at VVR because the last section went nasty on me! So I went up Bear Ridge, climbed Volcanic Knob and then went up to the summit of Recess Peak with my full pack on and on down to Hilgard Lake. My first big mistake of this section was when I left VVR I forgot to buy any fuel for my stove so I was stuck having illegal fires far above the fire line in order to cook my food. That night at Hilgard Lake it started pouring on me at about 1am and the winds were crazy. Half my tent stakes pulled out of the ground and because it was so crazy out I did not want to get up and fix it which turned out to be the biggest mistake I have made out here! My tent completely flooded and my sleeping bag was soaked completely from my feet to my knees. Luckily it wasn't very cold though. Almost everything else in my tent was soaked and all my TP got soaked completely so they were just big blocks of mess. Since it was raining in the morning still climbing Mt. Hilgard was out of the question. This really sucked because for some reason I wanted to climb that one more than any other peak I have planned. So I decided to retreat down into the Hilgard Branch so that I could get a big fire going and dry out my stuff. This worked out fine but after many hours of my TP sitting by the fire without any noticeable effect I weighed my options and decided to retreat back out to VVR 4 days early. It's a shame since that was going to be a cool section all around and after doing the hardest part of carrying my pack over Recess Peak it should have been all easy from there!
So now I think I will stay here at VVR until Sunday morning. Doing that will put me back onto my planned schedule. It's all tough going from here! No more light pack resupplies! 16 days when I leave here. This stay here may be the last time you hear from me until early September when I reach Cedar Grove and even there they don't keep the WIFI on very often. My only other option would be to head down to Bishop Creek Lodge and pay for some WIFI but I doubt I will.
As for me I am back at VVR because the last section went nasty on me! So I went up Bear Ridge, climbed Volcanic Knob and then went up to the summit of Recess Peak with my full pack on and on down to Hilgard Lake. My first big mistake of this section was when I left VVR I forgot to buy any fuel for my stove so I was stuck having illegal fires far above the fire line in order to cook my food. That night at Hilgard Lake it started pouring on me at about 1am and the winds were crazy. Half my tent stakes pulled out of the ground and because it was so crazy out I did not want to get up and fix it which turned out to be the biggest mistake I have made out here! My tent completely flooded and my sleeping bag was soaked completely from my feet to my knees. Luckily it wasn't very cold though. Almost everything else in my tent was soaked and all my TP got soaked completely so they were just big blocks of mess. Since it was raining in the morning still climbing Mt. Hilgard was out of the question. This really sucked because for some reason I wanted to climb that one more than any other peak I have planned. So I decided to retreat down into the Hilgard Branch so that I could get a big fire going and dry out my stuff. This worked out fine but after many hours of my TP sitting by the fire without any noticeable effect I weighed my options and decided to retreat back out to VVR 4 days early. It's a shame since that was going to be a cool section all around and after doing the hardest part of carrying my pack over Recess Peak it should have been all easy from there!
So now I think I will stay here at VVR until Sunday morning. Doing that will put me back onto my planned schedule. It's all tough going from here! No more light pack resupplies! 16 days when I leave here. This stay here may be the last time you hear from me until early September when I reach Cedar Grove and even there they don't keep the WIFI on very often. My only other option would be to head down to Bishop Creek Lodge and pay for some WIFI but I doubt I will.