I admit that I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I started reading what had been dubbed a “wilderness novel.” However, a few pages in I understood what that meant. The woods and land that Grace explores is a big part of this novel, almost becoming a character of its own. All of the sounds, textures and creatures of the woods come alive on the page and I could almost imagine myself there. Grace knows how to survive in these woods and I was very impressed by her knowledge of tracking, fishing, hiking and other survival skills.
DAY TWO: Sunday, July 31
Got up early this morning eager to hit the trail. Because we had the benefit of starting our trek from the comfort of Todd Thompson's cabin yesterday morning, this is our first full day from start to finish on the trail.
As a practical exercise, it is our first experience stepping through what we expect to be a morning routine: breakfast, tents down, all gear repacked, morning constitutional, water supplies replenished, energy supplies for the day easily accessible....
As with any first time experience, there are lots of "dos" and "re-dos". Is my pack as tight as it can be? Is my water topped off and did I distribute it evenly in my pack? Is the bear cannister positioned where it will be most comfortable on my back? Where did I put my walking stick? Sun screen and mosquito repellent on? Leave no trace.
We leave our accommodations near Gilmore Lake by 9:30 as the sun is already beginning to warm the air and the mosquitos are on the hunt. We have seen almost no wildlife on the trail except a rare sighting of an occasional bird or marmot. So, how can there be so many mosquitos with so little to feed on? With the heavy and late snow falls this year and the delayed spring, the mosquitos are birthing late and are in survival mode. That might explain the constant swarms around us---even hundreds perched on our packs as we hike, waiting for an injection/extraction opportunity.
The only natural defenses seem to be a stiff breeze or the cold air surrounding us as we hike across snow. And did I mention real estate? Apparently, mosquitos didn't get the memo re: location, location, location. Based on the number of bites (I stopped counting at 200) in places where there shouldn't be bites, let's just say mosquitos are not picky eaters. Granted it is anecdotal evidence from a limited sample of one using a small spade in the forest. But I can attest to a validated research finding suggesting an untapped market niche for TP infused with "Essence of Off"!
Leaving Gilmore Lake, we hit a steady uphill with several large snow fields to cross. If the slope faces north, you can count on snow. Navigating across even narrow stretches of snow is a challenge with a pack on your back. But after losing the trail too easily east of Aloha Lake yesterday, we are tuning in much more closely to where the trail should continue on the other side of each patch of snow. Although we only lost the trail briefly on the approach to Dick's Pass (elevation 9,380 feet) this morning, it has taken us over three hours to hike up through the pass and back down to Dick's Lake (elevation 8,360 feet).
The relatively easy hike on the "down" slope leaving Dick's Pass has made the decision easy to pass Dick's Lake by, opting instead to pump water at the north end of Fontinillis Lake, about 1.5 miles further on. We are celebrating that decision on two fronts: the mosquitos have totally disappeared and Fontinillis Lake is strikingly picturesque, beautifully set amidst lots of large boulders all along the shoreline.
After replenishing our water and recharging with GORP, energy bars and gels, Middle Velma Lake is our next landmark, which we should reach by
This post is the start of a series of posts summarizing a recent backpacking trek along a section of the Pacific Crest Trail (or PCT as it is known), which extends 2,627 miles from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. I was priviledged to share the trail with four others from Boy Scout Troop 259 in Sacramento, CA, where I am the current Scoutmaster. Others in our party included Ike Krieg (Assistant Scoutmaster), Matthew Puliz (Eagle Scout), Mark Matney (Eagle Scout) and Joseph Krieg (Star Scout).
As treks along the PCT go, our six-day trek was relatively short by comparison, covering only about 66 miles. Many others have hiked far longer stretches, including the full length either on one trip or in pieces. But I would have to say, the 66 miles we covered were plenty challenging enough to create memories that we will no doubt be talking about for a long time---including how much we might have left behind to lighten our packs.
Before striking out on the trail on July 30, we overnighted at the Thompson cabin near Echo Lake, about 1.3 miles from the trailhead at the Echo Lake spillway. We were grateful for the hospitality---a huge loft with plenty of flat space to bunk our group on July 29.
That layover night was money in the bank on two accounts. First, we had a chance encounter with three "through trekkers" who had left Mexico two months before and were on their way to Canada. Their packs looked like not much more than day packs compared to our over 50-pound packs. Second, the layover allowed us to acclimate to the elevation at around 7,500 feet before kicking it up a few notches on the trail.
Hereafter, the action will be in the present tense.
Tonight (July 29), we are eating our sack dinners as our last meal before embarking tomorrow. Having a little time on our hands, we are also jettisoning some non-essentials from our packs to get our pack weight down---probably not nearly enough but it's a start: Camp shoes, gone. Fleece sleeping bag liner, gone. Three small fuel cannisters, gone. 50 feet of climbing rope, gone. Long Johns, gone. I'm feeling better (and lighter) already.
DAY ONE:
The first day our destination is Dick's Lake, nearly 15 miles away. Under normal trail conditions, that distance would be very doable. And based on our start at the Echo Lake PCT trailhead at 7:30 this morning, we like our chances. An earlier start would have given us a little more breathing room. But estimating a steady yet comfortable speed of 1.5+ miles per hour, how can we not make Dick's Lake by sundown? Little do we know what lies ahead.
After some moderate "ups" and "downs" along the trail, we left Lower Echo Lake and Upper Echo Lake behind us. The trail is good and we are eager for a memorable trekking experience. Soon after passing Lake Tamarack, we are seeing the first traces of snow along the trail. By Aloha Lake, the traces are becoming more frequent and more expansive. To boost our water supply for the remaining long miles today we decide to pump water at Aloha Lake. The rest stop with packs off is welcome as we snack on GORP, jerky an
Here’s something that will make you stop and think.
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%. The percentage of the U.S. that is wilderness: 38%. When I came across this factoid, my reaction probably mimicked that of anyone slapped in the face. Amazement wasn’t my immediate response. Absurdity had that position covered.
Incredulity warred with honest surprise. Didn’t everyone know that Africa was HUGE? Didn’t everyone know that two masses the size of the U.S. could fit inside the African continent with room to spare? Didn’t everyone know how much open land with nothing on it but animals existed in that equatorial hothouse called Africa? I guess I was only one of the few who found the entire idea of us having more wilderness than them beyond reckoning.
So, I took a step back and thought about that situation for a long minute. I looked it up, too.
Webster’s definition of wilderness is: a tract or region, uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings. Okay, I can agree with that definition. It’s the one I learned in school. No one has changed it since then. I just had to be certain.
I looked up a few other facts as well. The U.S.A., as of the 2000 census, had a population of 309,402,228 and a land mass, minus Puerto Rico, of 3,537,433.44 sq. miles and a population density of 95.66 on average.
Africa’s numbers suggest something quite different. The latest figures I could find were for 2010: population of continent=841,627,750, approximate area of continent=30,000,000 sq. miles. That’s a density rate of 26.05.
Does anyone else find this just a tad on the disparate side? That means that the U.S. has some 1,344,224.6 sq. miles of wilderness as opposed to Africa’s only an approximate 8,400,000 sq. miles. And they have almost three times our population and nearly ten times the land. Hmmm.
I know, I used to do statistics, too. A person can make numbers mean whatever they want them to. All I’m doing is simple math here.
I think what intrigues me about all of these numbers is the conceptual disparity. We–at least I–tend to think of Africa as endless wide open savannas or jungle or coastline dotted with small fishing villages. We don’t normally think of that continent having very little unused land.
Here we have our national parks where only a few park rangers and workers live during the year. Visitors don’t count in that sense. We have huge swaths of land designated as wilderness, to be kept in trust for the people of the country. We also have states like Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, and Nevada which don’t have huge populations. Each of those states have tremendous regions of open land used for timber, mining, ranching and the like.
Africa has huge swaths of mostly unused land. They have the Sahara where only the Bedouin tribes travel and live, the animal reserves, the savannas of the sub-Saharan lands, the deserts along the Atlantic coastline, and the like. Except for the larger cities and villages in some of those areas like Libya and Morocco, not to forget South Africa, we think of small villages as being the norm within the continent.
Perception of ourselves versus others sometimes comes back to smack us in the head without warning. This is one of those times. We hare crowded into cities where having to pay millions of dollars for a tiny apartment is considered normal. We have taken quantity over quality to the max. We have our sports, our ind
Well, for this coyote it's more like 'lost wilderness.'
No worries, there's lots of conservation land behind him!
(You know I like happy tales...and happy tails!)
watercolor and ink for Illustration Friday's prompt: wilderness
My submission for Illustration Friday's "wilderness" is a doodle piece on a scrap of arches paper notice the deckle edge. I call this "leave a little light on". I have lived in a lot of little houses that look like this :)
2010 valerie walsh
This should qualify as a wilderness of sorts. If I could, I would be there right now.
A youth struggling to survive in the wilderness makes for compelling reading, and "Touching Spirit Bear," by Ben Mikaelsen, 2001, is another addition to the genre, with an interesting twist. The wilderness struggle is set up as a juvenile justice experiment. This sort of rehabilitation has been applied in Native American justice, and in this MG/YA novel it is portrayed as being tried for a non-Native American youth offender in Minnesota.
Cole, a violent tempered high school student has badly mauled a classmate in a fight. A chance to avert a jail sentence is offered to him by an experimental Circle Justice council brought in by the court. The Council offers Cole a chance to spend a year in isolation on a deserted island, somewhere in Minnesota, as a means of promoting justice and healing for the criminal offender, the victim, and the community. Cole is interested only in escaping a prison sentence and accepts, though inwardly mocking those trying to help him. While on the island, he destroys the shelter and food he was provided with, and tries to escape, but fails. His rage is directed at a white bear that ventures near his camp, a bear known to Indians in the region as the spirit bear, and he is badly mauled by the bear. After he is found by his Tlingit Indian supervisor who visits the island periodically, he is nursed back to health and elects to return to the island to try and complete his trial. The story is interesting, with compelling wilderness aspects, but the character of Cole, the violent young boy who was beaten by his alcoholic father while growing up, and the father, was a bit flat and stereotypical, though believable.
Illustrator Peter Brown...
I attended a session with the delightful young illustrator Peter Brown w
ho talked about his work from the time he was six-years-old and created The Adventures of Me and My Dog Buffy to his recent work on picture books like Chowder and Flight of the Dodo. It was interesting to see how his illustration style evolved and the path he took finding his "visual voice."
Author/illustrator Brown said that for him, "writing is not a graceful process" and that his writing and illustration influence each other as a picture book project evolves.
Some fun Peter Brown facts:
- He's been pooped on by a bird seven times (but this gave him the idea for Flight of the Dodo).
- He spent a year traveling Europe alone.
- He loves to draw trees (and showed some amazing tree illustrations).
- Chowder has his own the dog blog.
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This episode of Just One More Book! is part of our showcase coverage of the
Thanks for the thoughtful and constructive review.
I agree - the ending is surprising and Grace can be sooooo infuriating!!! :)
yes, grace is kind of a go by the seat of her pants kinda girl. now i just need to know what happens in the next book. ;)
I can't wait to read this. Love the cover too!