Mountain Messenger
I was just part of something special.
I’ve been running a lot because I signed up for a trail marathon in Death Valley. I know I can locomote 26 miles in a day because I’ve done it before, but I’m quite anxious because there a time limit of 6 hours and I have a very slow pace this year. I’m following a training plan from a real book and I also did pre-training speed workouts at the track, but still I am pokey.
So, back to the story. I drove up to run a loop in the Cottonwood Lakes area and was fiddling with my ultra vest in the parking lot when a woman approached me. She said she got separated from her sister last night up in Cottonwood Basin and hadn’t seen her all day and was so worried. I said I’d definitely look out for her and took off on my run.
As I was running and looking, I thought about different scenarios in which I could find the gal – from just lost, to a broken ankle, to a head injury, to hypothermic (it is pleasant during the days but freezing at night now.) I decided right then that I would take a refresher coarse for the Wilderness First Responder certification I let lapse- just in case.
I ran up the South Fork trail and then over to Cirque Lake, which wasn’t on the sisters’ hiking plan, but could be a place to go if someone got lost up in the basin. Nobody was there. I ran back and then ran the trail between South Forth and Middle Fork. As I approached the junction, I saw two people hiking down Middle Fork pass right in front of me. I ran to them and asked if they had seen a woman hiking by herself because her sister got separated and was really worried. The guy said of his hiking partner, “This is the lost sister!”
The gal at the trailhead had told this man, who was getting ready to sleep in his car to get an early start on Mt. Langley, about her lost sister and he hiked up to look for her that night. Super awesome of him! He found her and they were ok and hiking back. What spectacular news! So I took off running down to the trailhead to tell the gal they were on their way.
When I got to the trailhead, there was a man sitting on a rock watching the trail, but I ran past him to where I had seen the gal. She wasn’t around, so I ran back to the man to ask him if saw her. He was their father! When I told him the good news, he grabbed me in a big hug because he was so relieved. He said he wanted to forbid his girls from backpacking after this scare, so I told him about how great Spot and Inreach communication devices are for emergencies like this. Nobody keeps Baby from the wilderness! Then trailhead sister rode up with the ranger in his truck and I told them and everyone got emotional with relief. I was so glad to help them feel better!
If I was any faster, I would have turned down the trail before the hikers got to the junction, so it was really great to be a slow runner this time!
Shiver Me Timbers
Another day up in the mountains, I had just run up a pass, and was shuffling along a trail on rolling terrain when I saw someone approaching over a rise. He was wearing a big black tricorne hat. He was also very tall and had a sway to his speed walk, so at first I thought he was riding a horse. All this, along with his red windbreaker, made me think, “Is this person a Revolutionary War enthusiast or am I, perhaps, hallucinating?”
When we got within speaking distance, he stopped and quizzed me about which pass I had come up and on the grade and condition of the trail. He seemed sane to me, except maybe for that tricorne hat? Then he continued on his way.
When I got home, I told Jon about my surreal interaction. I queried an image search on tricornes to show him, and was scrolling down when we saw a pirate costume. Jon slapped his knee, “It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day!” he declared. Oh. I guess the hat was the opener, and if I played along (had I known), then maybe we could have recited pirate phrases to each other in the middle of Golden Trout Wilderness. Truly a missed opportunity.
Trail Name
The closest mountain trailhead is Onion Valley, which starts at 9000′. When it was 100 degrees at home, I could drive up there and it would be in the 80s, so I went there at least once a week this summer. It is about 9 miles to go to the pass and back, so it is a good medium length run.
One trip, I overheard a group of three hikers tell someone that they were on an acclimatization hike for Mt. Whitney. One of the gals cheered me as I ran (slowly, obviously) past them. On my way down from the pass, gravity assisted me with my velocity. I ran past that same group and the gal yelled, “What are you, half Amazon?!” I could only laugh in response and kept laughing for probably a mile.
Danger Zone
Besides fun up in the mountains, I have also been exploring the plentiful dirt roads down in the valley around Independence. I see lots of cows, cool bugs like the velvet ant (hornet) and potato bug, birds, lizards, antelope ground squirrels, and 4×4 drivers.
And low flying fighter jets.
Fighter pilots love to zip around the mountains around here. It is common for them to fly north very low in the valley and then pick a place to fly over the Inyos, pulling major Gs to go from 4000′ to 8000-9000′ in a few seconds. They are so loud and fast that it really amps up my adrenaline on runs.
Sometimes I think they’re joking with me. Like once, there were fighters going by at regular intervals and I thought I had the timing down, so I pulled my shorts down to pee and one flew by earlier than expected. A few minutes later along my run, a fighter banked right when it was passing by me and then righted itself again. Yeah, yeah, you caught me. Another time, I was running in the same direction as fighter traffic, so I couldn’t see them coming, but I’d listen for which side they were coming and turn my head to watch them go by. A few singletons on the right, then a pair in formation on my left. Then I heard the rumble so loud and turned around and the fighter passed right above me! Invigorating, to say the least!
Sir Robin
There was a heat wave and I had two snake sightings in one week! The first was a sidewinder that rattled and stuck its tongue out at me and it winded back away from me. I softly told it I meant it no harm and waited until it was in the bushes and then continued on my way, giving it a wide berth. The second sighting, I looked up and saw a snake crossing the road and then it lunged at me! I spun around and sprinted away and then turned around, but it was gone. I didn’t care for that aggressive lunging behavior, so I bravely ran away, away.
Season Finale
My body is begging me for a break from running; I have logged over 700 miles of running since April and my legs are tired and have a few tweaks. Mammoth Mountain is grooming the trails and there is more snow in the forecast. Very soon this Alaska gal will be skate skiing in the mountains again. Swoosh, swoosh, yeah!
Update: December 4th
Yay! I ran the marathon yesterday and I needn’t have been so dramatic. I finished before the cut-off time! Wooo-hooo!