Duck Pass Encounter
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 6:24 pm
Duck Pass Trail -> Pika Lake September 5 - 7
A trip report of a different variety. Curious what the community here thinks of our encounter.
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Every year my wife joins me on an annual backpacking trip over labor day weekend. She is always happy to go and the once-a-year commitment is just right for her. So as usual I waited too long to plan our trip and had slim selections but did hone in on Duck Pass and was able to secure a permit without issue. We drove up from SoCal and stayed the night in Mammoth to acclimate. The next morning we hit the trail by 8 and had a great hike in. We set up camp at Pika Lake and then went hiking around the area exploring. We saw the old cabin I have seen mentioned on the boards here and an old aluminum skiff on the shore someone left behind which I assume had to have been flown in at some point. The weather was great and it wasn’t too crowded, only two other parties camped in the area when we arrived.
Later in the day a group of middle aged men rolled in and almost set up right on top of us. I walked around our camp and down to the water trying to make it obvious (without saying something) that they were a little close. They moved further down shore to a more respectable distance. They were a bit boisterous but mostly b/c there were 8 or 9 of them all reminiscing about those things guys reminisce about when on a guy’s trip with women and children left at home. But I also did witness some machismo between the group later in the afternoon as one started yelling at another and threw a sizable boulder at his yelling partner (coming far short of it's target). The rest of the group calmed the situation down and that was that. I just chalked it up to a bad apple in the group who was probably a little drunk and would probably be passed out early that evening. Hopefully these guys wouldn't be an issue.
The sun started to fade and the wife and I made dinner and watched as beautiful alpenglow painted the ridges yellow, then orange, then red. By 8 o’clock the guys next door were all totally quiet and surely already in bed. Awesome. The two other camps were only 2 or 3 people each and we never heard them. It was shaping up to be a nice quiet and uneventful night. That all changed around 10pm.
We slowly drifted off, cozy in our tent. But it wasn't long before the urge to pee again returned having downed lots of water to counter the light headaches stemming from coming up from sea level the day before. We got out of the tent and my wife thought she heard some huffing but I didn't hear it. So we continued on to our pee spot and then we both heard some really loud huffing from back near our tent. I thought it must be a bear. The sounds was coming from right near our tent. The bear canister was far away and we cooked downwind following the usual triangle so seemed strange a bear would be this close to our tent. But I thought for sure I was about to have an all too-close encounter with a bear, my first up close. I turn on my headlamp and point it towards the sound and to my surprise, and shock, we see some guy just standing there, about 15 feet away, in shorts, socks (no shoes) and a shirt...just standing there looking at us like a deer in headlights. Mind you it's 35 degrees. Surely this guy stumbled out of a tent close by somewhere and was lost...or he was deliberately paying us a visit. If I had had a gun on me I would probably have pulled it out or had my hand on it but I am not the gun toting kind. It’s pretty much an unwritten rule you don’t go walking through someone’s camp in the middle of the night (unless you are lost or folks are camped right next to the trail of course a la PCT style). So this situation immediately had me alert and in a heightened state. Of course I was most concerned about my wife and protecting her. I reminded myself to remain calm, be smart and feel out the situation. What the eff was this guy doing 5 feet from our tent in the middle of the night when everyone was well asleep?
The guy was standing still, no shoes and there were lot’s of sharp rocks between us so the distance seemed safe for the moment as I calculated the situation. I I asked him what he was doing. He just stood there and stared at us...and then finally was able to spit out that he was “F____d” up and didn't know where he was. I was trying to asses if he was drunk, high on something or both. He was speaking slow and seemed delirious. My wife's worst nightmare is us camping and having a creep come into our camp...so this is all happening which is nuts. My mind was racing trying to determine what to do here. I continue to chat with the guy to figure out what his deal is and as then he starts walking towards us. I tell him I need him to stop and sit down, and I explain that he is scaring us. He complies without issue, a good sign. He wasn't aggressive or anything but we had no idea what his intentions where. He literally had no idea where he was or what he was doing. He looked like a normal middle age guy, not scary which was good. When I asked he said he wasn't with anyone. He also said he had no idea why is was out in mammoth or in the woods anyway. Mind you we are 5-6 miles from the nearest road so it's not like this guy just walked in off the road. He had to be with the big group of guys. And if not? What do we do with him? I was thinking do I have extra clothes to offer him, should I offer him a sleeping bag, but I was also pissed this was now my burden. He's the one who got effed up in the woods after all. Could he survive a night in the open on his own? Probably but he'd also likely scare some of the other campers nearby (maybe someone with a gun or someone all too willing to use their knife) or he might hurt himself wondering around so I felt an obligation to help. And I needed to figure out what I was gonna do with this guy. I asked him if he had a phone with him and he did. I figured we could look at his recent photos to figure out where he last was and who he was with and help him remember where he came from. He was clearly not thinking straight.
After talking to him some more, a circle of questions about who he is, who he was with, what he is doing here, all of which he continued to respond with "I don't know....I am F'd up". I was calming down a bit from the initial shock of the situation and figured he HAD to be with the nearby group of guys despite him repeatedly saying he wasn't with anyone. But he agreed to walk down to their camp with me and I continued to keep him at a distance and to position myself between him and my wife just in case. As we neared the tents I started with a soft voice and gradually got louder trying to wake up the crew. No one made a peep. My wife was impatient and yelled at the top of her lungs to wake these guys up. Can't blame her. One guy finally shuffled in his tent and yelled out his friend's name. Turns out our guy was with the group as I figured and upon hearing his name it clicked where he was. Thank god. I wasn't in the mood to deal with this guy all night. He got back in the tent and guys said nothing...not a word of thanks or apologies. We went back to our tent to try and get some sleep. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night. The wife was super scared and was strongly considering hiking out but she slowly calmed down. I promised to stay up listening to make sure he didn't come back and stumble in our tent b/c that might give her a heart attack. I eventually dozed off too after I was convinced all was good. But it was a fitful sleep waking at every little noise.
The next morning we went down and chatted with the group and they apologized for their friend's behavior. A few said they heard us yelling but stayed quiet b/c they didn't want to deal with it. Obviously this guy is the problem dude in the group. But seriously, if you bring a guy like that on a trip with you you also bare the responsibility of managing him. Just my 2 cents. The guy himself seemed embarrassed and was quiet. He simply apologized but said very little. We never found out what exactly the guy was on or why he was acting funny. They didn't look like the type of guys that would be doing drugs. So I am guessing it was booze maybe combined with altitude. Or he took an ambien to sleep or something. They left camp later that morning heading elsewhere. The encounter had really spooked us and the wife in particular so we decided to head to a lower lake closer to the cars thinking maybe more people around would make us more comfortable. We day hiked to some other lakes first and then headed to the lower lakes with our gear to set up camp for night 2. The lower lakes were jam packed with people, more than expected, and we didn't find any open camp spots we were interested in. With so many people it no longer felt like backpacking but more like car camping with a long carry so we decided we would head home early instead and savor an extra day back home before returning to work.
Needless to say the whole experience has left a sour taste in our mouths. Not sure my wife will be willing to join me on another backpacking trip but hopefully she will get past the experience. She is fine now and thinks she will go again but I know once out there in the woods the past may come back to haunt her. It's a shame that this happened. I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the guy and his group but not sure they realize the magnitude of what happened in so far as the impact on the other campers (us) who their inebriated friend spooked in the middle of the night. They will surely have a fun story to tell their friends back home but hopefully they also realize that they directly impacted the outdoor experience of others and perhaps will not bring the bad apple friend the next time or better manage him to begin with (no booze or drugs for you buddy). I also hope they realize how lucky they are that this guy didn't run into a different camp, a camp with folks less tolerant of such a situation or just plain edgy folk who might have taken the encounter as an immediate threat and done something rash in self-defense.
A trip report of a different variety. Curious what the community here thinks of our encounter.
-----
Every year my wife joins me on an annual backpacking trip over labor day weekend. She is always happy to go and the once-a-year commitment is just right for her. So as usual I waited too long to plan our trip and had slim selections but did hone in on Duck Pass and was able to secure a permit without issue. We drove up from SoCal and stayed the night in Mammoth to acclimate. The next morning we hit the trail by 8 and had a great hike in. We set up camp at Pika Lake and then went hiking around the area exploring. We saw the old cabin I have seen mentioned on the boards here and an old aluminum skiff on the shore someone left behind which I assume had to have been flown in at some point. The weather was great and it wasn’t too crowded, only two other parties camped in the area when we arrived.
Later in the day a group of middle aged men rolled in and almost set up right on top of us. I walked around our camp and down to the water trying to make it obvious (without saying something) that they were a little close. They moved further down shore to a more respectable distance. They were a bit boisterous but mostly b/c there were 8 or 9 of them all reminiscing about those things guys reminisce about when on a guy’s trip with women and children left at home. But I also did witness some machismo between the group later in the afternoon as one started yelling at another and threw a sizable boulder at his yelling partner (coming far short of it's target). The rest of the group calmed the situation down and that was that. I just chalked it up to a bad apple in the group who was probably a little drunk and would probably be passed out early that evening. Hopefully these guys wouldn't be an issue.
The sun started to fade and the wife and I made dinner and watched as beautiful alpenglow painted the ridges yellow, then orange, then red. By 8 o’clock the guys next door were all totally quiet and surely already in bed. Awesome. The two other camps were only 2 or 3 people each and we never heard them. It was shaping up to be a nice quiet and uneventful night. That all changed around 10pm.
We slowly drifted off, cozy in our tent. But it wasn't long before the urge to pee again returned having downed lots of water to counter the light headaches stemming from coming up from sea level the day before. We got out of the tent and my wife thought she heard some huffing but I didn't hear it. So we continued on to our pee spot and then we both heard some really loud huffing from back near our tent. I thought it must be a bear. The sounds was coming from right near our tent. The bear canister was far away and we cooked downwind following the usual triangle so seemed strange a bear would be this close to our tent. But I thought for sure I was about to have an all too-close encounter with a bear, my first up close. I turn on my headlamp and point it towards the sound and to my surprise, and shock, we see some guy just standing there, about 15 feet away, in shorts, socks (no shoes) and a shirt...just standing there looking at us like a deer in headlights. Mind you it's 35 degrees. Surely this guy stumbled out of a tent close by somewhere and was lost...or he was deliberately paying us a visit. If I had had a gun on me I would probably have pulled it out or had my hand on it but I am not the gun toting kind. It’s pretty much an unwritten rule you don’t go walking through someone’s camp in the middle of the night (unless you are lost or folks are camped right next to the trail of course a la PCT style). So this situation immediately had me alert and in a heightened state. Of course I was most concerned about my wife and protecting her. I reminded myself to remain calm, be smart and feel out the situation. What the eff was this guy doing 5 feet from our tent in the middle of the night when everyone was well asleep?
The guy was standing still, no shoes and there were lot’s of sharp rocks between us so the distance seemed safe for the moment as I calculated the situation. I I asked him what he was doing. He just stood there and stared at us...and then finally was able to spit out that he was “F____d” up and didn't know where he was. I was trying to asses if he was drunk, high on something or both. He was speaking slow and seemed delirious. My wife's worst nightmare is us camping and having a creep come into our camp...so this is all happening which is nuts. My mind was racing trying to determine what to do here. I continue to chat with the guy to figure out what his deal is and as then he starts walking towards us. I tell him I need him to stop and sit down, and I explain that he is scaring us. He complies without issue, a good sign. He wasn't aggressive or anything but we had no idea what his intentions where. He literally had no idea where he was or what he was doing. He looked like a normal middle age guy, not scary which was good. When I asked he said he wasn't with anyone. He also said he had no idea why is was out in mammoth or in the woods anyway. Mind you we are 5-6 miles from the nearest road so it's not like this guy just walked in off the road. He had to be with the big group of guys. And if not? What do we do with him? I was thinking do I have extra clothes to offer him, should I offer him a sleeping bag, but I was also pissed this was now my burden. He's the one who got effed up in the woods after all. Could he survive a night in the open on his own? Probably but he'd also likely scare some of the other campers nearby (maybe someone with a gun or someone all too willing to use their knife) or he might hurt himself wondering around so I felt an obligation to help. And I needed to figure out what I was gonna do with this guy. I asked him if he had a phone with him and he did. I figured we could look at his recent photos to figure out where he last was and who he was with and help him remember where he came from. He was clearly not thinking straight.
After talking to him some more, a circle of questions about who he is, who he was with, what he is doing here, all of which he continued to respond with "I don't know....I am F'd up". I was calming down a bit from the initial shock of the situation and figured he HAD to be with the nearby group of guys despite him repeatedly saying he wasn't with anyone. But he agreed to walk down to their camp with me and I continued to keep him at a distance and to position myself between him and my wife just in case. As we neared the tents I started with a soft voice and gradually got louder trying to wake up the crew. No one made a peep. My wife was impatient and yelled at the top of her lungs to wake these guys up. Can't blame her. One guy finally shuffled in his tent and yelled out his friend's name. Turns out our guy was with the group as I figured and upon hearing his name it clicked where he was. Thank god. I wasn't in the mood to deal with this guy all night. He got back in the tent and guys said nothing...not a word of thanks or apologies. We went back to our tent to try and get some sleep. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night. The wife was super scared and was strongly considering hiking out but she slowly calmed down. I promised to stay up listening to make sure he didn't come back and stumble in our tent b/c that might give her a heart attack. I eventually dozed off too after I was convinced all was good. But it was a fitful sleep waking at every little noise.
The next morning we went down and chatted with the group and they apologized for their friend's behavior. A few said they heard us yelling but stayed quiet b/c they didn't want to deal with it. Obviously this guy is the problem dude in the group. But seriously, if you bring a guy like that on a trip with you you also bare the responsibility of managing him. Just my 2 cents. The guy himself seemed embarrassed and was quiet. He simply apologized but said very little. We never found out what exactly the guy was on or why he was acting funny. They didn't look like the type of guys that would be doing drugs. So I am guessing it was booze maybe combined with altitude. Or he took an ambien to sleep or something. They left camp later that morning heading elsewhere. The encounter had really spooked us and the wife in particular so we decided to head to a lower lake closer to the cars thinking maybe more people around would make us more comfortable. We day hiked to some other lakes first and then headed to the lower lakes with our gear to set up camp for night 2. The lower lakes were jam packed with people, more than expected, and we didn't find any open camp spots we were interested in. With so many people it no longer felt like backpacking but more like car camping with a long carry so we decided we would head home early instead and savor an extra day back home before returning to work.
Needless to say the whole experience has left a sour taste in our mouths. Not sure my wife will be willing to join me on another backpacking trip but hopefully she will get past the experience. She is fine now and thinks she will go again but I know once out there in the woods the past may come back to haunt her. It's a shame that this happened. I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the guy and his group but not sure they realize the magnitude of what happened in so far as the impact on the other campers (us) who their inebriated friend spooked in the middle of the night. They will surely have a fun story to tell their friends back home but hopefully they also realize that they directly impacted the outdoor experience of others and perhaps will not bring the bad apple friend the next time or better manage him to begin with (no booze or drugs for you buddy). I also hope they realize how lucky they are that this guy didn't run into a different camp, a camp with folks less tolerant of such a situation or just plain edgy folk who might have taken the encounter as an immediate threat and done something rash in self-defense.