8/10/00 Thursday - Sunnyvale

Emily, Andrea, and I left Sunnyvale for North Fork CA, a very small town West of Yosemite near Bass Lake, to pick up Eric Wright (now engaged to be married to Andrea - date set for May 2001). We left Sunnyvale at 3:30 PM picked up Eric and all of his belongings, he had been working for the forest service in North Fork all summer, and had a Mexican dinner in the nearby town of Oakhurst. On to Bass Lake for car camping and a semi-good night of rest. A nearby two year old provided a 5:45 AM wake-up call and we hit the road for Groveland (wilderness permit) then to Lake Eleanor, our trail head. We lost Hwy 49 for a little bit so the trip took a little more time that it should have and I underestimated how long it would take anyway so we hit the trail considerably later than would be normally desired and I had no idea where we would end up since we haven't all hiked together before.
 
 

8/11/00 Friday Lake Eleanor - Trail Head

My hope was to make it to Laurel Lake, my goal was to make it to Frog Creek, my fall back was Miguel Meadow. We made it to Frog Creek after 7.5 miles and a 2K foot ascent by 6 PM (included a long lunch stop and a rest). Frog Creek isn't my favorite place, it is dusty, just a wide spot on the trail, but its reasonably close to water and is just before the next ascent to Laurel Lake. We cooked dinner quickly, maybe too quickly. The Three Bean Chili didn't completely rehydrate and wasn't as good as it sounds. We brought 2 bear cans but still had to bear bag some of the food that didn't fit in the cans. Eric has a great throwing arm and was able to launch a rock with the bear bag rope over a high limb in two attempts (it would have taken a half hour for me). We were in bed by 9:18 PM (now).

Emily got some heel blisters on the way in but Andrea did not even though she did a few weeks ago at Pinecrest Lake cross country hike. Andrea was using Blister Block by BandAid and it seems to work very well even though it leaves some glue on the sock liner.

8/12/00 Saturday Vernon Lake

The grunt out of Frog Creek wasn't too bad. The hike was okay. We were on trail by 9 AM and arrived at Vernon Lake at about 2 PM after a long lunch and some rest stops. We walked past the lake while I was looking for an obvious trail to a campsite causing us to backtrack (not a popular thing to do after a long hike). We found a very nice campsite located near the water about midway down the West side of the lake. In retrospect, one of the sleeping sites was too close to the water, but we treated the area well.

I tied a fly onto my line and threw it at the fish for a few minutes and caught a very small (5") rainbow that got a laugh from the team. I didn't fish long but I did try flies and a superduper without much luck.

Last night started out quite warm with a slight breeze and stayed warm 'til about 4 AM when it switched to quite cool. I thought I heard a bear and got up twice to look at our bear bags (remembering last years Miler and the loss of some food). There was no sign of bear at all.

We arrived at Vernon Lake dirty and tired. Emily sacked out, Andrea and Eric went swimming, and I went fishing for a few minutes then lay down for a few.

I noted that we aren't eating all of our lunches but 'dusting' our dinner - tonight's dinner was good.

I haven't seen a great deal of bear scat around and what I've seen is old and dusty.

As we were preparing for dinner, Eric pointed out a 4 foot rattle snake in our cooking area. It put a little fear into him that I could see as I grabbed my camera and took pictures. It was fat, well fed, with quite a few rattles. We didn't see it again but talked a lot about him.

After examining our options, we voted to have a layover at Vernon Lake and a second layover in Jack Main Canyon. This process perplexed my girls. They were not used to, nor comfortable with the decision making process on the trail and may have been happier if I had let them slip into the Girl Scout Miler mode where the decisions were made prior to the trail head and by-in-large enforced by the leaders.
 

8/13/00 Sunday Vernon Lake - Layover

When the events of a day are as dramatic as today's were, it is hard to start at the beginning. I'll try. Best sleep for me this trip. We woke / got up at 7 AM as the sun lit the sky. The others were up shortly after. The weather is perfect, just like the previous days of this outing. Not a cloud in the sky. After breakfast, I went fishing, Emily washed clothes and hair. At about 9 AM Emily was swimming, Andrea, Eric, and I went fishing. We walked to the outlet and wadded across it in cold water up to my pants pockets. We caught 3 BIG 12 inch rainbows on power bait by noon when we hard a call from across the lake. I thought it couldn't be Emily (it sounded like a male to me) but Andrea thought that it could have been Emily. I decided that we had been gone from camp long enough so we headed back. When we arrived we found Emily on her sleeping bag with a foot injury. She had cut her foot on a rock in the lake not too long after we had left. We couldn't hear her calls or whistle. She doctored her self with steri-strips and did a good job of closing the wound. She moved around the camp enough to get the foot dirty so I re-dressed the wound after thorough cleaning.

There was evidence of serious bleeding around the camp. She said that it bled quite a bit in the water but she was able to control it with the steri-strips.

The cut is on her right foot, outside, in front of the ankle. It is just a little over 2 inches long and deeper in the middle than the ends. Deeper at the back than the front. It is quite deep. I didn't open or spread it because she had it closed pretty tight. I just cleaned and steri-stripped it together again. I applied a compress and triple antibiotic. Since she taped it up, it hadn't been bleeding much and shows no sign of infection yet.

I decided not to move out today because it was too late to get anywhere. We will head out tomorrow bright and hope for the trail head - else Laurel Lake or Miguel Meadow, or … . She hasn't had much pain, but she has been off of it except for BIF and campfire tonight. We found a fire ring about 50 yards from our site and burned garbage. We all talked - it was good. Emily DOES NOT want to head for home and upset our trip, but I don't think we have a choice. We will talk tomorrow. The plan is to leave bright.

Its now 10:21
 
 

8/14/00 Monday Groveland - Full Moon

We hiked all of the way out today. Vernon Lake to the trail head at Eleanor, 15 miles, mostly down hill. Emily performed like a champ - good attitude in spite of all of the crap dealt her on this trip. Shortly after leaving Vernon Lake she twisted her left (prone to sprains) ankle then a few minutes later she really - seriously - sprained her left ankle. I could tell because the bone (bump) area started to change color as I taped it. We had already distributed most of the heavy things from her pack - now we took the rest. I should have taken the entire pack in the first place - I feel badly that I didn't.
I put her pack on top of mine and kept it that way to Miguel Meadow. From there, Eric and I (mostly Eric) took the remaining contents and gave Emily her empty pack and water bottle. She hiked very carefully and had no more mishaps but remained in pain. She hiked with a lot of weight on the balls of her feet causing her to use muscles that aren't normally used. She is a strong young lady.

On the way out, I saw a bear (about 400 pounds, scruffy brown) at Beehive (trial junction). He had been leaving scat and paw prints on the trail for the past mile or so with his last deposit very runny and full of green berries - must have been eating too much people food. There was a rangler from the Mather pack station resting and watching the bear. I talked to him and learned that a ranger was due up from Hetch Hetchy within an hour or two. He had only one saddle horse, and a few pack mules. He offered to pick up some of our stuff on his return trip. We had to make a choice at this point.

1. Wait for the ranger - he could radio for help
2. Hike to Hetch Hetchy - a very steep, switch back, pack trail and take our chances at finding some help or running into the expected ranger
3. Continue to hike out to Eleanor where we knew we had a car and communications

We decided to stop in Groveland and stay the night at Hotel Charlotte - a cute, out of the 1800's hotel managed and owned by a little old lady (Ruth). She was quite helpful and concerned. She supplied an ice bag and lots of information. We had pizza at 2 Guys. Now Andrea isn't feeling so good. An upset tummy. With all of the events of the day, it is quite understandable. Each of the rooms have one double bed about 4 feet high and 5 feet long. Emily opted to sleep on a roll-in cot that displaced the dresser to the hall (outside of the room) and the chair to the bathroom. We had a quick shower because we were told that the town closed at 9 PM and we got here after 8. Better showers await in the morning.

Currently its 11 PM. There is a little weeping from the heel end of the wound where the cut is deeper and more ragged and less closed. Only slightly pink at the margins from the middle to near the back (1/16"). No pink in front of that. There is some bruise about 1/4 " around the back 3/8" of the cut.

In other news - As mentioned, Eric pointed out a 4 foot rattle snake in camp. Andrea had a garter snake run across her boot on the way into Vernon Lake. We saw a buck deer and a doe on the way into Vernon. The buck had a large rack. While Emily was treating her foot near the lake, before the rest of us arrived, she heard "whoooop - whooop - whooop" and looked up to see a bird with a great wing span, white tail, white head, and brown body (Bald Eagle). She was too preoccupied to pay much attention to it. Andrea and Eric woke up to a deer a few feet away from them in camp on Monday. I saw the bear at Beehive. Pine grouse and quail were abundant. Lizards (snake food) were everywhere. The mosquitoes and flies weren't too bad but always around. They bothered some of us more than others. A bat strafed me on Saturday night as I was trying to go to sleep. It flew so close to my head that its wake upset my hair. We saw lots of bats at Vernon Lake.
 
 

8/15/00 Monday Sunnyvale - Home

The ride home was uneventful. When we arrived in Sunnyvale, we took Emily to the local 'Doc in a box' where the cut was examined and declared to be as okay as it was going to get and her ankle was x-rayed and determined to be not broken. All is well that ends well.
 
 

Notes and Lessons learned:

Three Bean Chili by Natural High - Not liked by our group. It looks bad, may be better if cooked with more water and left to hydrate longer (the beans were hard even thought we followed the instructions for high altitude), I fear that it could get worse if it were to simmer or soak longer.

BandAid Blister Block is effective but expensive. It comes in multiple sizes, we carried the size for heels.

Nu-Skin Burn and Nu-Skin Blister are excellent for blisters. Use these rather than mole skin by placing the product directly on the blister and holding in place with ample amounts of tape (one layer). Use the Nu-Skin Burn for larger blisters.

Ankle Taping - It takes a full roll of 1" sports tape (white adhesive tape) to support an ankle. Ankle taping should be researched prior to the outing. My book doesn't adequately describe the process.