Two simple words. Opposites. Together they defined my state of mind.
I wanted to exit the trail and end this string of long sleepless nights. Bishop Pass trail was a mile from my tent. 12 trail miles and I could be watching Sunday night football from a motel room in Bishop.
After all, back in 2010 I had already hiked the next 50 miles that were now in front of me.
I knew I wanted to finish atop Mt Whitney but the ease of quitting was overpowering.
I was locked in a mental tug-of-war during the last hours before sunrise. At some point I asked my late brother Steve for his advice. I wrote about him in the My Team tab of this Blog and now I was asking for his help. "Steve, what should I do? What would you do?" His answer became my decision.
" This camping is a bunch of BS! Lets get a clean room and a decent meal!", Steve said.
At that instant I knew I was going to finish atop Mt Whitney.
I just laughed at the clarity of the message my mind had conjured up.
Steve was not a camping type. He would not do this nonsense. I would.
So snap out of this mid-journey funk and carry on.
After Trip Note: A few weeks later my good friend John (see day 17/18) sent me an enote with a motivational message attached. I wish I had it with me then. I am certain it articulates the inner voice that kept me in the debate that night, to stand up against the overpowering voice to quit. Thanks again John.
It was a great morning with cool temps and blue sky. My goal was to get to the golden staircase around mid afternoon so I could find my old camp by around 5pm. The walk down to Grouse meadow was a breeze. I had a nice chat with the ranger at his new cabin at the junction to Bishop Pass. He mentioned that there were Brown Trout in Bench Lake so I filed that away as another reason to stop there tomorrow.
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| Grouse Meadow |
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| Headed east up the Palisades Valley |
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| Starting up the Golden Staircase. Looking back west to where this Palisades Valley meets LeConte Canyon in the distance. |
Climbing the Golden Staircase up to Palisades Basin
After my bout with doubt this morning I realized that this stretch of trail was helping me. It was like a familiar street that I knew well and the miles seemed to go by faster. As it turned out, my old campsite from 2010 was waiting for me. The nearby stream was just as I remembered it and the trip up to Mather Pass in the morning was easy to visualize. I am so glad I continued. This will definitely be worth it.
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| On the Staircase |
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| Happy Camper at Lower Lake. Thanks Steve! |
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| Headed to the laundromat |
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| The end of a good day: A table for one, with a view. |
Daily SPOT Messages
Morning
Latitude:37.10509
Longitude:-118.60074
GPS location Date/Time:08/11/2013 09:35:39 PDT
Message:Back on JMT. Happy Birthday Allie!
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.10509,-118.60074&ll=37.10509,-118.60074&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Evening
Latitude:37.05219
Longitude:-118.47145
GPS location Date/Time:08/11/2013 17:28:46 PDT
Message:Same Camp as2010.Good karma,good day. Luv2all
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.05219,-118.47145&ll=37.05219,-118.47145&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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