High Sierra Topix

Shawn, thanks, that is a wonderful quote!

(Yes, after the first two hours of getting past day hikers, I didn't see a single person for 3-3/4 days. That may be a record for me.)

quentic, glad you made it out.

A few thoughts: when people get into dire straits, and the sequence of events is analysed, it is rarely a single thing that went wrong.

As another middle-aged guy, I have to tell you that it ain't like it used to be. Our ability to deal with traumatic injuries is not the same as younger people. We don't cope with blood loss as well, and things can go over the cliff pretty fast.

The first major issue was the injury to your leg, with persistant bleeding. The bleeding continued, because you did not know how to deal with the situation. If you are going to go off-trail to do significant things solo, you need to know how to deal with bigger injuries in a more sophisticated way.

Your second issue was continuing on, while still losing blood. Blood is what carries oxygen to your brain, which you use to navigate, make decisions and judgements. When it became apparent that you were not controlling the bleeding (which was apparent in1/2 hour, not 24 hours), you should have shifted in to self-rescue mode. Instead, you headed up onto ridges with which you were unfamiliar, and could easily have put yourself into a position of cliffing out. The correct decision was to head down stream to Mono Creek, then downstream to Vermillion. You would have been very likely to have run into other people, particularly down near the JMT. Alternatively, you might have headed over Mono Pass, although that would have certainly not have been as good an option.
The big risk here, was that with the blood loss, you might have found yourself unable to continue, at all. Getting to where other people are should have been your first priority, not climbing passes and adventuring in remote areas. I will grant that you may have been suffering from hypoxia from a combination of AMS and bleeding......but all the more important to make the right decisions early, as your decision making will only get worse!

The third issue was the navigation. You thought you knew where you were going, but you did not. Your skills were not sufficient for the situation you put yourself into. Your injury, I'm sure, contributed to the situation, but you weren't prepared for that. If you are going to be in situation where you may descend an unknown 2,000 foot slope that you've never been on, you better be 100% sure of where you are.

Now, maybe the whole post was a troll....if so congrats. But if not, you REALLY lucked out.

Better be a better boy scout next time........WFA, WFR, even EMT should be taken. Learn how to deal with medical issues properly. Have the right first aid gear

Maybe consider a GPS for critical decision making, which on these kind of trips will happen.

Hope your next trip is less dramatic.

Yeah Old Man, if you don't know what your doing out there than maybe you should hang
up those old boots.
Maybe it is time to retire Q I'll PM you my address and you can send me all your gear
so someone who knows what there doing can put it to proper use!

You got it Mav. Hope you don't mind the blood stains!

No I would prefer them, they add character.

Wow, glad you got out ok! A near epic for sure. Too funny Mav.

Great report and glad you made it out OK. Funny thing is that of all of the trips I've taken in the Sierra, the most I've ever bled from an injury (and I've had a few of them over the years) was just the other side of Red and White Mtn. I was camped at Big Mc Gee (taking shelter after thunderstorms shut down a Red and White climbing attempt) with my dad and I sliced the corner off of the index finger of my left hand while trying to slice some salame. The blood sort of spurted or fountained. Fortunately direct pressure and elevation was in fact enough to stop the bleeding fairly quickly.

Great trip report! Crap certainly happens sometimes - speaking of which the one time I cut myself fairly well was about a week into a two week solo trip. At the time, I was descending some of those granite stairs that you run across on trails and just flat out tripped on one. I fell forward and sliced my shin on a sharp granite edge on the way down and to top it off, the wound area fell into a fresh pile of horse manure... Fortunately it was during my early "heavyweight" backpacking and I had a small bottle of peroxide to cleanse the wound. It sure bled a lot and was probably stitches material but I didn't feel like breaking out the sewing kit Used up all medical supplies during next day or two including the military battle dressing that I also carry and steri-strips and finally ended up with duct tape over the wound (and my sliced pants) which turned out OK. I was able to finish the trip.

I've done several stupid things while BP but I don't think that I would ever have hiked while bleeding. Before doing almost anything you've got to stop the bleeding! I hiked to Grinnell once when sick (mild flue symptoms) without shelter and got snow on my sleeping bag (maybe the stupidest thing I ever did), but hiking while bleeding? No thanks.

Whoever told you pressure was right on the money. If you'd been able to call me at work (911) I would have told you put a clean cloth or towel right on the wound and push down firmly and don't lift it up to look!
BTW...a couple years ago my husband and I went over McGee and did a really nice loop. But after we got over Hopkins Pass right in the beginning, he slipped on a rock at the bottom in the valley and tore his tendon on the side of the knee. Major bummer. We wrapped it as best we could for support and cut about 30 miles off our trail so we could get out sooner. It took months to heal....
Dee