I got a good start on Wed morning, and ended up hiking from 10:30am-8:45pm. I made my way up through the hills above hwy 8 and through a military ordinance range to the higher reaches of the laguna mountain meadows, which were still covered in snow. At the beginning of the day it was pretty hot and I was brushing ticks off every 50 yards or so and by the end of the day I was at 6000 ft and I traded ticks for snow and I was cool with that. At one point I stopped melt snow to fill my water reservoir and I saw a Mountain Lion silhouetted on a rock a few hundred yards away. I couldn't even believe it so I got out my spotting scope and sure enough, there it was. I shouted "LION!!!" at the top of my lungs to try and scare it, and it looked around, when it saw me it dropped off the rock in what seemed like half a second. I kept my ice axe out for the next few miles and constantly looked behind me. The snow got really deep as I got further up the mtn, Literally from 5-8:45pm was the most intense cardio of my life as sunk knee deep with each step. I made it to Laguna Mtn a couple hrs after dark and got a room at the Laguna Mtn Lodge, a hiker friendly place with hot showers and wood burning stoves in the rooms. I spent thurs. resting up there and exploring the area which has a lot of history. They had pictures in the lodge of people carving out a life there all the way back in 1917.
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteYou've got me totally hooked and glued to my seat. What you're doing is absolutely amazing. I wish you the best of luck along your journey and look forward to reading about it. The coolest part so far, probably not so much for you at the time, was the first 3 days of snow. That is such an awesome way to start the story. Be safe!!!
Jeff Shores
Those tracks are crazy! I dont like cats that are big enough to eat me.
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