Sev and Ted's Bogus Adventure |
| Introduction |
This is just a brief pictoral recount of a short 5-day 45 mile hike in the Sierra Nevada's. My dad, Charles, and I went backpacking with my uncle Sev, and a sadistic but sensible man named Ted.
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| Day 1 |
I slept a lot in the car on the way to Ted's. Charles and I both forgot to bring a tent. We got to Ted's, and then I promptly slept a lot in the car on the way to the Sierra's. We had some burgers before the adventure, and went to the Cherry Lake parking lot. We left the trail after 15 steps from the parking lot, and began the bushwacking insanity. It was a long march over abrupt and treacherous terrain, in humid bushes. But we found a great site on an island with no mosquitoes. I accidentally fell down a hill and tore off the skin on my middle finger. Sev walked through thorn bushes. We were off to a great start. I felt like the guy in the team who is bit by the vampire, but doesnt want to tell everyone yet, or they'll have to kill him.
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| Day 2 |
We hiked at less than 1 mile/hour, because it was 100% random bushwhacking from 8am to 6pm, crossing rivers and climbing the sides of little mountains. Apparently Cherry Creek is a world famous kayaking spot, and so we saw kayaking maniacs who had lugged their 40kgs of equipment a vertical mile for a few hours of extreme sports. We met a guy who said he got bit by a rattlesnake last time, and because it was the wilderness, only the CHP could fly in, so the helicopter ride was free. However, the rattlesnake anti-venom cost $43,000 per dose. hmm. We got to a nice flat granite campsite next to the river, with huge red ants. The entire day was uphill, and there was still 2000ft of elevation gain before the pass.
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| Day 3 |
We went up the hill, and down, and then we were in hell. For an hour, we trudged through Lord's Meadow, which would be better described as Satan's hatchery. It was lush and green, and We crossed a river twice, taking off and on our shoes, while a swarm of mosquitoes ate our faces off. I screamed at the hopelessness. But then we were out of it for a few minutes, and they were the happiest of the year. Then it was straight back into hell as we walked along mosquito river. We slept about 500 meters above the river, but they did not stop, and I lied there slapping my head with my hat, pretending I was playing Galaxa, and would say '2nd wave', 'level 57 complete', '12% accuracy, 5805 kills', 'bonus round!'. it was fucking miserable.
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| Day 4 |
I could not take the insanity and woke up before everyone, and went to Sev saying 'we have to go. now. please, sev, now.' I told Ted I was not going to sleep in this madness again, and Ted said that we were going to Tilden Valley, which is beautiful, but the mosquitoes would only get worse. But Ted turned out to be a good guy, and said we could go another way, and cut the trip short. We would go on another 7 miles, and then loop back to the start. That meant going through Lord's Meadow again, and so we stopped before the worst of it, at a minor mosquito forest, and set up camp on a rock at 4pm, with a breeze, and the hope that it couldn't be any worse than last night.
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| Day 5 |
No, it was probably about 5 times worse. We used the rain fly's of Sev and Ted's tents to try escape the mosquitoes. I found a small breathing hole and covered my entire body with the nylon tent fabic. Charles used his as a sleeping bag, and covered his head with his hat. And I watched through my breathing hole that there were about 25 mozzies on Charles' head and hovering above him. He got up with bites on his lips. I let my guard down and let the breathing hole touch my nose, and I got bites on my nose. The tent was saturated with dew, and I woke up in a panic. Lord's meadow was easier this time, because I walked around it after running through the jungle part. After that, we hiked back up Styx Pass, and I saw a family walking down for a picnic. I laughed to myself, as the little 10 year old would surely hate his parents from that day forth. It was just a quick 13 mile hike downhill to the car, and we were back to the comfortable life.
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