Toughest week so far!
After resupplying in Mammoth I finally made it back to the trail after a 16 mile off-trail round trip and ended the day at Reds Meadow Junction. The next day I hit Island Pass at noon and from there it was non stop post-holing and route finding to the top of Donohue Pass which I got to at 6:30. The wind and snow picked up and I made camp 2 miles below just before Tuolumne Meadows. Had a freezing sleepless night and woke up to 5 inches of snow.
The winds continued the entire day with snowfall and trail breaking. Finally pitched my tent at 7:30 having enough of that shit and hoping the following day would be better. Froze again that night and woke up to another 3-4 inches. More of the same and met a couple who were turning around because of the conditions.
After breaking more trail and getting lost numerous times I was able to put together a 26 mile day and camp on the side of a mountain. Another sleepless night I woke up and decided enough was enough and powered through 2 passes and made it to the Emigrant Trail junction with just enough cell service to call Kennedy Meadows North. They said they would keep that back door open for me and would have a bed waiting. After descending steep, trackless snow fields in the dark I arrived at Sonora Pass at 9:45, 33 miles from where I started the day.
From there I did a 10 mile road walk and arrived at KMN at 12:30 am. Exhausted, I crashed. I planned on leaving the next day but other than just being tired from the last 3 days I also didn’t feel well. So I took my first rest day. The next day I felt just as bad but had to get back on trail. The shuttle dropped me off at 10:30 and after only a mile or so laid down and slept for 2 hours. My stomach hurt, my head was pounding and I felt nauseous all day. Eventually, after only 9 miles I pitched my tent.
I woke up feeling better the next day but after taking my ibuprofen, vitamin gummy and caffeine pills about a half hour later I started feeling shitty again. I hiked on until noon, losing the trail in snow and post-holing a lot. During this break I looked at my pill bag and realized there was some liquid inside it and the gummies were flat and melted. That’s when I realized the bottle of 100% deet that I had, which I knew had leaked into my miscellaneous bag also leached into my pill bag and my toothbrush case. Essentially I have been poisoning myself with deet for the past week and not realizing it!
I’m 30 miles from South Lake Tahoe now and feeling a bit better. Between the storm and the poison, my pace really took a beating but I’ll make it to Soda Springs by Monday for my next box. Things happen on the trail and you try and prepare for them, but poisoning myself for a week wasn’t one of them!😳🤷♂️🥾✌
