Day 67- June 25th

-----Part 1-----8:45am-----

Man.... Sometimes you go through some struggles in life, you think everything is doomed and you're at your worst, but eventually things get better and work out. Once you're 100% back and on top of the world but then the same thing happens all over again, that's when you start feeling like something's working against you, willing you not to succeed.

Here we were, the day before summiting the highest point in the lower 48, the highlight of the trip for most, the first and most exciting test of the Sierra. I had been sick with the worst stomach flu I'd ever had for 4 days on trail and yesterday was the first time I was feeling ok. We made a plan to summit Whitney today and Forester tomorrow, bringing us to Kearsarge Pass and civilization the next morning. With me being sick and us having to take a zero and two 1/2 days on trail, we're running dangerously low on food even with the new plan. But hey, everything seems to be working out now, right? 

Wrong. We got everything prepared last night and tried to sleep before the sun had set and the birds had stopped singing their afternoon songs. Being anxious to climb Whitney, it was hard to sleep, but I eventually dozed off. 

It must've been near 1:00am I woke up to Claire whimpering. She told me that she hadn't slept a wink yet and she wasn't feeling too good. An hour later she was trying frantically to get out of her sleeping bag, weakly exclaiming "help me". We got the zipper open, and as soon as we got the tent door halfway open, she fainted face first onto the ground.

We camped at 10,722 feet, it was literally freezing outside. When she came to after a few seconds of me talking to her and trying to get her off the ground, she ran a few feet away from our tent and had violent diarrhea and stomach convulsions. I ran outside of the tent to help her and we spent a miserable 20 minutes outside. All I could do was make sure she was warm enough and that she had everything she needed while she went through the painful process.

That was just the beginning. After we got her back into the tent, she would have to go outside every 10-15 minutes for the next hour. It was 2:50am when I checked the time. My poor baby hadn't slept one bit and had had all of her food and energy leave her body from one of two ways.

Finally, after she almost fainted once more, the urges stopped. I had propped her up on our backpacks to elevate her stomach and eventually she slept like this for a few hours. We woke up at about 8am and our neighbors gave us some extra toilet paper.

I am concerned because we're out in the middle of the high wilderness. I'm not sure how long we'll need to stay here, and we're dangerously low on food. There are no roads in or out nearby. There is a ranger hut but he just left last night for two days.

The shortest option out of here would be to ascend 3/4 of Mount Whitney, climbing up to 13,403 feet and descend through the Mt. Whitney Portal Trail through the Mount Muir Pass for a total of 15 miles. Our PCT permits do not cover the Whitney Portal, and we technically aren't allowed to descend through here, though I'm hoping they'd make an exception in our case. I just don't know if Claire's body would be ready to handle the extreme up then down, even in the next couple of days.

The next option would be to rejoin the PCT in the opposite direction of Whitney, and carry out half of our original plan and go over Forester Pass to Kearsarge Pass. This would still mean ascending to 13,160 feet, and be a total of about 30 miles. After resting here a day at LEAST, we wouldn't have enough food for this option, and the Forrester ascent and descent is treacherous even for someone at their 100% energy level.

I'm really worried guys. This is the first time that things have gone so wrong out here. We've been good and fully prepared for everything so far. We thought we were plenty prepared for this part too. We had extra food and all. Why is this happening to us? 

-----Part 2-----8:30pm-----

We spent the day here at Crabtree Meadow. Man was the night/morning rough! Reading the first half of my blog felt like I was reading about a day or two ago. 

Claire continued to have stomach problems, but not as bad or urgent as between 2am-5am. Throughout the day it seems that things got a little better. She still is VERY weak and low energy; drinking water, but not feeling much for food. She put down some natural ginger and honey tea my mom had sent us in Lake Isabella, (thanks mom!), and ate 3 or 4 Ritz crackers.

The other hikers were so nice to us today! Like I mentioned earlier, we've ran out of toilet paper thanks to us both having the flu of some sort. So far three different people have given us a substantial amount more! 

I gathered some food items that are hard to digest and asked many different hikers to barter for items more easily held down for Claire's current stomach-state. In exchange we got plain white rice, some oatmeal, plain potatoes, two ramen, and the Ritz! Many people just donated and refused to take any of my offerings.

We've only gone 66 miles since Kennedy Meadows, and it's already been 8 days since we left! This has been our second zero day and tomorrow will be our third. We carried out 9 or 10 days of food and could've gotten to Kearsarge Pass with a day or two of food to spare. If we hadn't each gotten sick, we would've made the stretch no problem. Even after I got sick we could've still scraped by. 

No one could've predicted both of us getting sick separately, and we're now in a real tricky situation. Luckily because Claire didn't eat much today, and more food was donated, we can take one more zero day tomorrow. I'm going to hopefully get in contact with the ranger tomorrow and see if we can get a written exception to exit down Whitney Portal with extenuating circumstances.

Since it's impossible to re-enter the Whitney Portal without a permit, and they get chosen back in April by lottery, we'll be forced to re-enter the Sierra via Kearsarge Pass and miss 22 miles of the PCT as well as Forester Pass, the highest point on the actual PCT.

This is unfortunate as we up until this point have maintained a continuous footpath from the Mexican border, including over 60 miles of road walking around closed portions of the trail. What's ironic is this is the ONLY exit of the entire trail that could make us miss a section by not picking back up where we left after getting off. 

But alas, the timing of both of our sicknesses created a dire food situation, and we need to descend from this mountain ASAP. Moving forward means 30 miles, backtracking means 30+ miles. Both end in not enough food. The only way to go is the "One-Way" down through the Whitney Portal. 

I've come to accept these terms the trial has forced upon us, and after talking with "Baptist" about it, (another hiker), in a weird way I'm relieved. It's been this odd push to strictly keep the continuous footpath, no matter what that meant or how difficult it made things.

Now, I can focus on taking care of my precious love while she's sick, as she did for me. I can start enjoying the beautiful place that we're "stuck" in. I can start appreciating the kindness of others and what it really means to be selfless. I can realize that after we rest in Lone Pine and Claire feels all better, we'll resume backpacking through the most remote, beautiful, epic place in California which is the Sierra! 

I stayed close by to Claire today, making sure she was feeling alright, moving the tent when the sun beat down, filtering water as we rehydrated, and doing anything else that needed being done.

Tomorrow if she's feeling a little better which I'm sure she will be, I'll take a little hike to the neighboring valley, to go see some sights I wouldn't have got to seen if we weren't staying here another day. Her positive attitude through all of this is inspiring, and I'm reminded every time I look at her today of why I love this girl so very much.

Everything will be ok, and I hope you all get to read this soon! It's been 12 days without service for crying out loud! "We're alive I promise!"

-Thanks for reading! (Eventually)