As I laid in my sleeping bag behind my car at the Saddlebag Lake trailhead, I wondered for a while who would care that I was there. There is a group campsite nearby that was very occupied, and not long after I went to bed, the car next to me started chirping and blinking its lights. Someone came over and got some stuff out of the car, but paid no attention to me. I would eventually doze off, but then suddenly heard the sound of a truck pulling in. A man got out, and I could hear him talking to someone on a radio saying that everything looked fine up here. Just about then, his light hit the bottom of my sleeping bag and I heard him say, “Oh hang on, I just found one.”
BUSTED!
He came over and said, “Excuse me sir, you’re not allowed to camp here,” and then rattled off a whole bunch of regulation numbers I had no idea what he was talking about. Not wanting to cause any more trouble I got up, threw my stuff in the car, and drove off. I was then talking with my parents telling them how I’d been kicked out and didn’t know where I was going to sleep that night. I could just stay here with them in our place in Lake Arrowhead, but it was an awfully long drive to the trailhead in Yosemite the next morning. Wait… how did I get all the way down to Lake Arrowhead from Saddlebag Lake so fast? Suddenly, I woke up and sat up in my sleeping bag, still at Saddlebag Lake behind my car. All was quiet, cold, and dark. Whew! It was just a dream. Don’t you seem to have the weirdest dreams while sleeping out in the mountains? I continued to sleep on and off until my alarm clock went off at the right time. I was happy to get up, get dressed, and head off into Yosemite to start Day 2. I left most of my food and Gatorade bottles in a bear locker at the Saddlebag Lake trailhead, figuring there would be little to no bear locker space at the Mono Pass trailhead. I would have to make another drive up the Saddlebag Lake road at the end of the day to retrieve my food, but I’d deal with that later.
When I arrived at the small trailhead for Mono Pass, it was no surprise to find it completely filled. I drove further down the Tioga Road, and eventually found a wide spot in the road to park. As it turned out, Chris Henry was there too, and I was able to park next to him. I gathered my stuff for the day and walked up to the trailhead where a rather large group had assembled. As we left for the day, Bob took a count and said it was a new record number of people. An easy day on a Saturday, I guess it’s no surprise we broke the record.
- Record Crowd to Start
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As we marched up the trail, I eventually noticed Bob and Patrick behind me. They were having fun discussing the various rules about the Challenge, and Patrick proposed things like parachuting to the summits, and jet packs. Bob was pretty quick to shoot down these cheating ideas, but it was a fun discussion and helped pass the time. I eventually fell behind at a slower pace, the lack of sleep apparently getting to me. I eventually caught up with Bob’s brother Jim and a couple of others (Evan R and Don B), which made me feel better that I wasn’t at the very end of the line anymore. We eventually emerged from the forest as we met up with Parker Pass Creek. Looking to the right, I saw what I figured (correctly) was the Kuna Crest, and I was able to pick out the two Challenge peaks, as well as Mammoth Peak. As I approached Spillway Lake, the trail abruptly ended while going through a grassy area, and it was time to continue on cross country. I caught up to a large group of people here, and suddenly I was with familiar company, including Ken and Tim, whom I’d hiked with the day before.
- Catching Up to People
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After climbing a short headwall, we arrived at Helen Lake, where we combined with more people to make an even bigger group. Chris H and his friend JD were here as well, and I told Chris that I’d jump into Helen Lake if he did. He immediately replied with “Let’s do it!”
- Sierra Challenge Dive Team Performing
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The water was cold as expected, but not too bad. The real hazards were the even colder grass you had to walk on next to the lake, and the sharp rocks on the lake bottom near the shore. Since it was still only about 8 AM, it was not yet very warm, and my pants would take a while to dry. Luckily we were soon climbing up steeper terrain heading for Kuna Crest South, and this would help keep me warm. Just as we left Helen Lake, Tom B and Patrick O would join our group. We also now had Ning Y with us, who was the oldest participant in this year’s Challenge. Mason had introduced her to us earlier, and asked us to keep an eye on her (he had been the one to introduce her to the Challenge) as he was headed off on a more ambitious outing. She would prove to be excellent company today, and I was happy to hike with her. The going was fairly easy at first, but then degraded into a boulder scramble as we neared the summit. Ning was a little slower through this terrain, but we helped her through it, and she did just fine. Chris’s friend JD was also moving a little slower as we neared the summit due to the rougher terrain and higher altitude, so no one really got left behind alone.
We eventually arrived on the summit, and had a rather large gathering of people. Sean R would stop by briefly, doing our route in reverse and attempting to head further south to more peaks, as would Sean O, who had gotten behind us because he stopped by Mount Gibbs first.
- Summit of Kuna Crest South
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Most of us took a nice leisurely break here, since we had just done the bulk of the climbing for the day. After taking lots of photos of the incredible views around us, we eventually began the journey north to the second Challenge peak.
- View South to Lyell
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I left Kuna Crest South along with Ning, Tim, and David. The going was pretty easy at first, and I was amazed at how much of the tiny high altitude lupine was blooming on the otherwise barren terrain atop Kuna Crest.
- Lots of Lupine
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After cruising downhill for a little while, we came to a nice overlook point where we could see a big cliff and another lake below off to our right. As we left this overlook, I noticed that Brad was now also following behind us. A short uphill stretch brought us to our first false summit, where the was a small rock formation that looked like a miniature Stonehenge. Ning seemed to think we were already at the second Challenge peak as she studied the map on her phone, but I knew we still had a little ways to go. As we passed over the highpoint, it was necessary to move left in order to avoid a sudden drop off, that we declared was only for braver climbers. The cliff did make for a nice visual, with yet another lake below it. We were soon at another saddle, facing our next uphill climb.
- Ning Yeh on Kuna Crest
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This next uphill stretch had a few short trees to avoid, but they caused little trouble. We were quickly over the second false summit, and beginning the final climb to Kuna Crest North. Once we arrived on the flat summit top, we stopped for a break. I went a little further north in order to get a view down to Kuna Lake, and noted that a descent down to it from Mammoth Peak looked very feasible. Since I was alone and away from the others, I took the opportunity to take a bathroom break, which seemed to come on a bit suddenly. During this time, Jim Burd and Don Brunnett arrived at the summit, so I went back over to greet them. After exchanging a few more photos, we all headed off towards Mammoth Peak. Tim was feeling tired, and when we reached the saddle with Mammoth Peak, he decided to bail off down the right side towards Kuna Lake. The climb up to Mammoth Peak involved some more difficult boulders than we'd seen most of the day, but eventually Ning and I arrived on top. To my surprise, Jim and Don arrived shortly after we did, along with Charlie Thomas and Bob Mclaughlin. Jim is often happy to call it a day after just one peak, but today he would do three! Perhaps it was because the other two peaks were on a return path to the trailhead. While the rest of us were relaxing and signing the register (the only one we found all day), Jim investigated the direct return route off the north side of Mammoth Peak, concluding that it would work. I was interested in swimming in Kuna Lake, and returning that way looked to be the most likely to work, even if it wasn't as direct. The others all decided to follow Jim, though they suggested that Ning stay with me for the more certain return route. We left the summit, first descending some of the boulders we had ascended, before eventually finding more and more sand to ease the difficulty as we headed more directly down the mountain.
- Ning Descending Mammoth Peak
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At one point, I caught Ning falling down, but she quickly got right back up. After a nice stretch of easy sand, we came across a steeper section that we could not see from above. It proved to be short, and not too difficult, and we were soon down at the shore of Kuna Lake. I quickly got into swimming mode again (pant legs zipped off, pockets emptied out), and after showing Ning how to use my video camera, jumped into Kuna Lake for my third lake swim of the Challenge.
- Matt Jumping into Kuna Lake
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As I got out of the lake, I asked Ning if I should jump in again. She said yes, but as I got ready to jump in again, she suddenly shouted, “Wait!” It was too late though, as my momentum kept carrying me forward. What resulted was more of a fall in, rather than a jump in, which Ning managed to capture the very end of with my camera. I then dried off, while Ning enjoyed a fruit she had brought with her. We then set out on what would be a very delightful romp through the rolling hills and forest, looking for the trail. I was unable to shoot much video through this stretch, since my battery was almost drained (I'd been unable to give it a full charge the night before). I could see where we had been in the morning on my GPS, so we weren't going to get lost. We mainly followed the outlet of Kuna Lake past some very pretty meadows with meandering streams. I would eventually start to head more to the right towards the trail, but would then veer back if we ran into steeper terrain. I had to carefully navigate around a couple of swampy areas that were filled with wildflowers, but they didn't cause too much trouble. The crux turned out to be finding a place to cross Parker Pass Creek, but even this didn't take too long. Once across, we soon found the trail, and had about 2 miles to go. As we got closer to the parking lot, I began announcing how many tenths of a mile we had left to go, which helped give me something to do besides walk, and Ning something else to think about. We finally returned at about 5:30PM, and I was able to walk down the road and move my car into the parking lot.
- Back at the Trailhead
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Once I did, Tim drove up in his car, and we were able to chat with him for a bit before saying goodbye to him (he was only participating in the first two days). Ning had been talking about climbing Mount Dana the next day instead of the harder Mount Bartholomew, and was wondering where she could stay the night in her car. I suggested she stay up at Saddlebag Lake like I had the night before, but she was unsure how to get there. Since I still had all of my food up there, I offered to lead her up there. Once we arrived, she said that she didn't realize I meant this place (she had been up here on a backpacking trip not long ago to climb North Peak). She decided to stay there anyway, so I packed up all of my food, and headed down to the Whoa Nellie.
When I got there, Bob and most of the others were already gone, but Chris was still there along with a few others. I went in and ordered the steak salad I had seen Chris get the previous night, and also grabbed a slice of pizza to eat while I waited for the salad. I did not also order a drink, since I had my second bottle of Gatorade to finish, and would just drink water afterwards. I sat down with Chris and I told him I had swam in two lakes that day. Someone suggested we have our own jersey contest for lake swims, but we needed a color. I immediately suggested a blue jersey (I had already given this some thought), but then someone else came up with an even better idea: The Aqua Jersey. We then began discussing the rules for it, such as would there be a 1 lake per day limit like Bob's Yellow Jersey, and if not would we count two lakes that were close together, such as the two Beck Lakes on tomorrow's route. In the end, we decided to not put a limit on the number of lakes, and to count both Beck Lakes, since I think Chris wanted a chance to catch up to me (he had not swam in a lake on day 1, and only 1 on day 2, giving me a 3-1 lead). Eventually Jim and Don arrived at the Whoa Nellie, having taken more than an hour longer than Ning and I to return to the trailhead. So much for the shortcut back to the cars!
I was feeling energized as I drove down to Mammoth, where I knew I had a shower and a bed waiting for me. The first two days of the Challenge had been awesome, with great weather and wonderful companions. The excitement of finally having our lake swimming category being somewhat official only added to my happiness. This would suddenly come to a screeching halt however, as that night while I was in the shower, I picked up one of my feet to wash it, and my other foot slipped on the bathtub floor. This caused me to go into a dramatic fall that must have caused a whole bunch of noise to whomever was in the room below me. As I picked myself back up again, the second toe on my right foot was hurting quite a bit. I could move it along with my other toes, and wiggling it with my fingers didn't make it feel much worse, so I figured it wasn't broken. Still, the next day was going to be pretty long, and I did not know how it would feel when crammed into my hiking shoes. Could this be the end of my Sierra Challenge? A stupid silly accident in the shower? I would find out in the morning...
Video link for Day 2:
Matt