July 9th, 2021
Lake Marjorie to Mather Pass to Palisade Lakes
There’s something about being the first one awake and out of camp. It’s light outside, but it’s still cold until the sun comes up over the mountains and touches you. It’s quiet and the animals are out. Early mornings alone quickly became one of my very favorite vibes. I woke up before everyone else, packed my things, and hit the trail. I saw my first person about two miles in. The man passed me heading in the opposite direction and said, “You’ve GOT to be a PCTer!” I deeply hope he made that assumption because I had the confidence of someone who had 800 miles under their belt, and not because I smelled like one. I continued through the woods. I found a feather.
I made it into a clearing and crossed paths with the PCTer I met on Pinchot Pass. He was struggling with knee pain. I was thankful I wasn’t me.
I could finally see Mather Pass in the distance when it started to storm. I hid under a tree and took a snack break. I could see the storm in the distance and watched it float towards Mather. It’s funny how our intuition guides us when we don’t have access to technology. I subconsciously watched the storm moving, and watched how fast it moved, and I decided to stay in my tree for a bit so it would pass me. I didn’t need a weather app. It stopped raining, and I kept going.
As I got closer to Mather, I saw another storm rolling in. I could see the dark clouds and the rain falling from it. I ran into a group of kids with the PCTer. He had pushed his SOS button and was planning to leave because of his knee pain. I didn’t want to break his heart, but I wanted to tell him he would probably have to hike out anyway. It started to rain again and I was cold and wet, and I passed a group headed in the opposite direction. The group leader asked if I was hiking alone. I said yes. “Legend!” He responded with a thumbs up. I didn’t feel like a legend. I felt like a child wearing a big girl costume. I was ready to be in my tent, dry, warm, and happy.
I decided to stay at the base of Mather and wait out the storm. I was not alone. I met a group of guys there from Ohio, and I ran into them many times over the next week. We waited for the rain to slow, and when it did, we made a run for it. The last steep uphill to get to the top of Mather seemed to go by pretty quickly, and we were on the other side before long. I could see Palisade Lakes in the distance. I decided to camp there when I saw the couples that I camped with at Lake Marjorie. I got in my tent immediately and was happy and dry. I started to give people names in my head. The couples were “the couples.” The guys I met at the base of Mather became “the Ohio guys,” and the group of kids who were sitting with the PCTer became “the college kids.” When I talked to myself in my head, which became frequent, that’s how I referred to them.
