(Temporary Backup) GPW-Days 3 & 4-I Don’t Think This is What My Eye Doctor Had in Mind!

Day 3-More Bushwhacking 

Realizing we would probably need all the daylight we could get, as we were supposed to go 9.25 miles, we got an earlier start. I woke Annette at 6:00, even though she said she needed her beauty sleep. We were on the trail shortly after 7:00. Sadly, we were not on the trail for long. Every time we would find some trail, we would get all excited, thinking it would be smooth sailing, only to lose the trail again (and by lose it, I mean the trail would vanish). 

We ended up finding some trail where we crossed the White River. According to the app map, we would cross the river three times. After we crossed the river, the map showed the trail going up away from the river, then coming back to the river. Only, of course, there was no actual trail, and it pretty much went straight up. We climbed up, then sort of traversed across through thorny bushes and small ravines, all the while checking to make sure we were still on the non-existent trail. When we got back to the river, but up above it, we once again found the trail. This section was good! We were cruising along, actually making some distance! We were happy! We were hopeful! We even came to a campsite! We took a break, but needed to continue on. That was okay because we were on the trail! Then...just like that, it was gone again. Dang! Back to bushwhacking. 

Some nice views aamidst the ferns and bushes.

Gotta get through this to hope to find some trail in the trees. 



Taken while waiting for Annette to finish her potty break. 

More views. 

That’s trail over there!

Crossing the river on this log. 

Oh, and the flies were terrible!

Annette bushwhacking down into a ravine (we also had to go over many many downed trees). 

Time was ticking away. After another section of bushwhacking, we came to the trail again. As it was getting late, we decided to call it a day. There was no campsite, or even a clear spot, except for snack in the middle of the trail. So, that’s where we set up. Garmin said we had gone all of 2.6 miles in another 11 hours of hiking (it had to be more than that, though). Now we were definitely falling behind schedule. I calculated (probably incorrectly) that we had 5.5 miles to go on the White River Trail before we would reach the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).

The trail, such that it was, and our tents in the middle of it. 

Day 4-Climbing Straight Up the Mountain

Again, we got an early start. Now that we had the trail, we had to make up some miles. We had the trail for a short bit, then lost it, then found it, then lost it. We did this several times, all the while following the app map. In one particularly difficult traverse, Annette made like Tarzan’s Jane, and swung herself around a tree while hanging on for dear life to that tree. We climbed up, only to realize we’d gone too far, and had to come back down. Annette used the slide-on-your-butt method. I back-climbed. At some point, we crossed the river (by now a small creek) again. 

We took a break for lunch at a spot where we had the trail. We both donned our bug nets due to the overwhelming population of flies. 

After lunch, we cruised along the trail, once again hopeful that we would continue to have a trail. Things were going pretty good until the trail did a switchback (according to the map). Then it was gone. I could tell on the map that it would switchback again. We figured if we just went straight up, we would come to the trail again. Well, there was a very good reason the trail employed switchbacks. It was steep...very very steep. We pulled ourselves up by hanging onto trees, vines, anything we could grab ahold of that didn’t break off in our hands. We were crawling on our hands and knees, pushing through tree branches, getting smacked repeatedly. I thought to myself that when my eye doctor cleared me for all activity, this is not what she had in mind! I tried as best I could to not get whacked in the eye. Branches grabbed at my glasses, and frequently pulled my buff. Annette would periodically lose a pole, and not know it until I came upon it, and handed it back to her. Every few feet, where I could get a stable enough perch, I would check the map. It still showed the trail was above us. More climbing....more checking...more climbing. Finally, I said to Annette that it looked like we had about 500 feet to go until we should come across the trail. As she continued to climb, she said, “Or maybe 10. I think I see the trail!” I pulled and sweated my way up to Annette. Sure enough, there was the trail! 

Doesn’t look like much, but it was definitely the trail. 

There were some nice views here. 



It was a long way down. 

Finally, we were able to keep the trail in sight. We traversed across the hillside. 

This rocky slide part was a little scary. 

At 4:30, we popped out onto the PCT. We were ecstatic! We had finished the dreadful White River Not Really a Trail Trail! Whew! 

Can you tell how happy we are?

Now, this is what a trail is supposed to look like!

I looked to see where the next water source would be. It didn’t look like we would come to one soon. We decided we would hike another 2 hours, and then the next day make it to water. 

Even though we were both completely exhausted, we had a surge of adrenaline now that we had the awfulness behind us. We hiked along at faster clip than we had been able to do since the beginning. The views were very nice too!

We had gone about a half mile when we came around a corner to this. 

This is Reflection Pond. 

We initially planned to just get water, and continue on, but we decided to stay as there was a nice campsite. A little while later, we saw some hikers pass by, and then two who decided to stay at the pond too. Hipbone (Amanda) and Mountain Goat (Eddie) we’re from North Carolina. I told them I was planning to do the AT next year. They gave me their phone and email, and said to contact them if I needed anything. Eddie works for REI. They were doing White Pass to Manning. We ate dinner together, then retreated to our tents. 

I had perched my tent on a spot with a beautiful view of the sunset. 

The White River Trail was supposed to be 14.25 miles long. Since the Garmin was not tracking correctly (does fine in open areas), and we had zig zagged so much, we had no idea how many miles we really did. What we do know is that it was the hardest thing we have ever done. We were really proud and amazed that we made it, and didn’t get seriously injured. We both had numerous bruises, but those would heal. We were now, however, even further behind schedule. Did we catch up? Stay tuned...