Pinchot Pass
Sunrise on Bench Lake
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| Lake Marjorie |
Friday, July 13
Another
day, another pass has been the rallying cry of late. Today I will be hiking over Pinchot Pass. Interesting name Pinchot, I wonder who he was
and what he did. Right now everything is
of interest to me up here including all the human, natural history and geology. With time I am getting more knowledgeable,
but mostly I am enjoying just enjoying it out here. Reevaluating what I ate yesterday, I came to
the conclusion that my body probably bonked after going over Mather pass. (Stephen Mather was the first director of the
National Park Service in 1917 and was instrumental in its creation. He was a millionaire industrialist who
devoted much of his time to conservation at the turn of the 20th
century.) The night before I hadn’t
been able to cook and eat all of my dinner, and in the morning I had tomato
soap instead of the hearty cracked wheat breakfast I usually rely upon. Bonking essentially means that you muscles have
run out of readily available glycogen supplies for fuel. Our brains are dependent on this same fuel
and when glycogen levels get too low in our bodies, we can become dizzy and faint
as I did yesterday. So today I will be
taking a more relaxed pace and stopping for more breaks. As I enter mile 157 and the final week of my
hike, I want to make sure that I enjoy everything as much as possible because
who knows when I will get the chance again.
Also, as it is better late than never, I am including a link to a file
of a map of this trail section.
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| Trail up Pinchot Pass |
It turns
out to be a very relaxing day. The rain
that had been threatening yesterday evening never developed and we only had a
few short sprinkles today. I spent a
good part of the morning taking pictures of the sunrise and didn’t leaf camp
until 10:00am. I made it to the top of
Pinchot Pass, 3 miles and 1600 feet of elevation in 2 ½ hours similar to
yesterday’s ascent. On the descent I
stopped to cook some rice and chili when I got below 10,000 feet when I spotted
an established fire ring. Above 10,000 feet I have been destroying these and by
scattering the ashes and stones, doing my best to cover its illegal existence.
However, below 10,000 feet there is tons of dry fuel in the forest and I
believe that clearing some especially around established campsites is like
doing a mini controlled burn for the NFS.
As soon as I get the fire started, it begins to sprinkle lightly but not
enough to put out my fire.
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After
lunch, the trail continues to drop as it follows Wood Creek until it reaches
the suspension bridge at the crossing. This
is a very popular camping spot and there are lots of hikers here already. I get myself a spot for the night and with so
many campers in this area I begin to wonder about bear problems. I ask friendly looking group of 6 men and 1
boy if they have spotted or heard of anything.
They hadn’t but informed me of the bear boxes that the NFS has provided
for all campers to keep their food in overnight. We all talk for a while and I find out that
they are from the Stockton area and hiked up from one on the western
passes. The next thing I see Andy and
his crew coming in over the bridge and I talk to them for a while too. It looks like I will have lots of company
tonight. The young boy from the big
group name was Nick and he and his father came by later that evening to offer
me a couple of Ghirardelli Chocolate squares.
I hadn’t had anything like this for two weeks and did they ever taste
rich.
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