Day 61 – Going Skiing
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 30 miles to the top of Squaw! I’m camped near one of their chair lifts.
It was freezing this morning! I always hate getting out of my warm sleeping bag on cold mornings, so today I didn’t. As a result, I didn’t get started with hiking until 9AM. I also hadn’t slept much the past two nights, so the extra sleep was good for me. I was feeling particularly lethargic, so I gorged myself on my large selection of food before I started hiking for the day through some flowery hills.
I was still pretty sleepy for most of the morning and was a little bummed that I could still only see smoke from the fires instead of the beautiful scenery, so I tried something different and started an audiobook. Usually I hate listening to books because I have to pay complete attention otherwise I’ll be lost, but when I’m hiking through smog, it’s the perfect time to zone out and listen to a story. I chose “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” by Kurt Vonnegut because it was one of only two choices that I hadn’t already read and I love me some Kurt Vonnegut.
I started the tape and before I knew it, the hours were flying by! I was no longer trying to fill the time with my own musings, but using this book on tape to provide the intellectual fodder for my hike instead. It also helped that the themes in this particular book are highly relevant to what I’ve thought about on trail many times, so I was interested to see what Mr. Vonnegut’s take on the matters would be.
It was while I was listening to my book that I got to a snowy creek crossing with a snow bridge. I saw some growing holes in the snow and knew it wasn’t particularly strong, but since the water was so shallow underneath, I went for it anyway. I carefully moved one limb/trekking pole at a time in order to spread out my weight and got to the crux of the crossing when WHOOSH!! the entire bridge collapsed and I got a nice weightless freefall for about 4 feet. Whoops! That’s not the right way to cross a creek! 😅
Before I knew it, I had hiked all the way up to Alpine Meadows ski resort and had finished my book along the way. The views up on the ridge to get to Alpine Meadows were beautiful, but again, they would likely be better without the smoke. At this point, I took a look at my map and realized that I could make it to Squaw Valley ski resort before sunset and camp near the top for a beautiful view of the sunrise. It would be another long climb before sunset to put me at 30 miles for the day, but I love hiking long distances and climbs are great!
I ate half of a bag of gummi worms at the bottom of the climb for fuel and then powered by way up the backside of Squaw Valley ski resort. I crested the top of the climb and saw a chairlift high above me, though I wasn’t sure where in the resort I was. I skied down some ACTUAL ski slopes, which are actually way steeper than the ones I have been skiing while on trail. Looking at a trail map of Squaw, that’s likely because I was skiing blacks in trail runners. I had guessed that I was near the lifts at the front of the resort, but further hiking the next morning proved how wrong I was. I set up camp in bounds near their furthest chairlift to the back, Granite Chief, which is where I had my most extreme skiing to date. So fast and steep!
I set up camp overlooking the beautiful views of the lake and made myself some biscuits and gravy, making sure not to forget to put it into a tortilla for a breakfast burrito. While good, it’s definitely not worth the mess, so I think I’ll eat them separately from now on. For now, it’s time to sleep in the same place I was skiing 4 months ago.
