I woke up around 3:50am, and realized that my alarm would be going off in a few minutes, so I just lay there for a few minutes until I felt like falling out of bed. I grabbed my pre packed backpack, staggered down the stairs, and got in my car to go pick up Melissa. Provo was desolate at 4am, and there might have been one other car on the road. In just a few minutes, Melissa joined me and we departed to meet up with the McEntires. Our rendezvous point was at the Denny’s off of 106th and we made our way up to the trailhead in Dave’s car. We met a gate which turned me around last time in my Suzuki, but this time Trevor hopped out and checked the lock which happened to not even exist. We proceeded to drive on up towards the Jacob’s Ladder trailhead. We passed a pair of hikers along the dirt road who muttered, “wow” in shock of the nerve we had in driving up the “trail”. Hehe. We parked and started up the road a ways before realizing we had to backtrack in order to find the trail which should have jetted off to the left. We eventually found it and started on up the ridge. We hiked with headlamps up and up the dusty trail. The sun started to peek above the horizon and we could see the sun rays shooting out past the ridgeline ahead, illuminating the morning air. This was bittersweet that we would be treated with views, along with blasted with heat. It was about this point where my lungs started having trouble. Recently I had been in the Seattle area breathing sea level air, and now with a starting elevation of 5,500 feet, and hiking up to 11,250ft…. yeah. Probably not the smartest thing to do without spending some time adjusting to the climate.
I took up the rear and slowly trudged up the trail until we got to the top of Jacob’s Ladder and joined the other trail. From here we took a break, and enjoyed the views painted with low angle sunlight. I switched lenses on my camera and snapped away. We had a little snack break and Dave offered me a delicious apple. We started off again hiking towards the summit which was now visible. We went through trees which sheltered us from the sun rays, and provided a pleasant alpine scent in the air. We made our way upwards, and followed on of the several dozen unorganized trails littering the mountain. We ended up having to backtrack and dropped down some elevation in order to find another trail that didn’t disappear next to the cliffs. Trevor went out looking for another way around, but was unsuccessful. We played it safe and dropped down to a gulley, and worked our way up. At this point I realized I had forgotten my sunglasses…. Again! With no clouds in the sky, I knew that I would be hating life later on. Yet there on a rock placed near the trail were a pair of sunglasses (which Dave found, and placed up there for me to find) and I was relieved that I could see again!
While going through some trees and talice slopes we saw a few deer scamper about. While taking a step up on granite, Melissa slipped and took a hunk of skin off her shin. It bled a good amount, and I realized that my first aid kit was back in my car. I only had a few OLD bandages with lousy aged adhesive. However, using these and some medical tape used for blisters, we were able to get it cleaned up and bandaged. It later resulted in an epic tan line in the shape of a “H” Our progress slowed as we hit 9,500ft since my lungs didn’t seem to want to replenish my blood with any oxygen. I would take dozens of breaths, and I still felt as depleted as I did moments earlier. We then made it to the plateau where Bryan, Mihaela, and I camped back in 2007. From here we talked to some rock climbers, took a break, and scrambled up a steep slope north heading to the ridge approaching the summit. We were right under the massive cliff face which looked amazing. Soon enough, we found some kairns that guided us up to the ridgeline. I assured Trevor and Dave to go on ahead without us to the summit that was in view at this point. Melissa and I took a few more breaks along the ridge crest where we drank our rapidly diminishing water, and reapplied bandages. Ahead I could see Dave and Trevor scrambling along the jagged ridge just near the summit, and had to take a few zoomed shots. Eventually they made it there and celebrated with much whooting and gestures of manliness. Melissa and I made our way along the ridge crest slowly and cautiously. We eventually made it to the summit where my lack of acrophobia made others queasy. The second time being up there, the shear drop off wasn’t all that unsettling. We had a snack, and drank a little more water. Dave tried to signal his daughters by using a mirror to reflect sunlight, but was unsuccessful. Afterward, he called Marjorie, who put the conversation on speaker, and talked to my dad a little.
On the way down we took our time carefully negotiating the cliffy rocks. Eventually we were in the rhythm of descending the summit. It was still hot, and water supplies were pretty slim. Trevor and David went on ahead, and Melissa and I took intermittent breaks to reapply bandages that were falling off every now and then. By the time we reached the Jacob’s Ladder, we split the last bit of water we had, and started down the near infinite ridgeline that never seemed to end. Dry, rocky, and dusty. When we finally reached the jeep road, we just went into a sort of zombie walk down, and somehow managed to catch up to Dave and Trevor. The little trail that descended from the jeep trail to the trailhead was a casual zigzag through some scrub oak. I stubbed both my toes on roots and rocks because my legs did not want to lift all the way up. We made it to the car though, and plopped into seats and blasted down the road effortlessly straight towards the nearest gas station.
Once we got to the gas station, we all consumed mass quantities of fountain drinks. I downed pretty much an entire large fountain drink of Poweraid, refilled it, and then purchased some more water. Both were consumed by the time I reached my car at the Denny’s on 106th. I then took Melissa back to her place, went to my hotel to get cleaned up. I was shocked at the consistency and color of my urine, and probably the most dehydrated I’ve been in a LONG time. Later after feeling a little better I went back and met up with Melissa for Cafe Rio. There we consumed more liquids as well as large Burritos. On the way back, we got stuck in traffic from the UW and BYU football game that was getting out. Some self-righteous BYU fan threw a bunch of rubbish at my car, possibly due to my vehicle having Washington license plates. Again…. I f***ing hate Provo. We then chilled back at my hotel’s hot tub for a bit to relax the tired muscles. Dropped Melissa off again, and returned to get some much needed sleep. Good day.
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