Kaiser Wilderness, August 3-4, 2010

On Tuesday I helped Micki pack gear into Nellie Lake for a group of people she referred to as "ologists" - the scientists checking the health of the meadows where cattle graze in the Kaiser Wilderness. Nellie Lake:

We had planned to camp with the ologists, but we would have had to high-line the horses and mules and the ride wasn't really long enough to get them tired enough to behave on the high-line all night. We rode back out and camped where there was a corral near the trailhead. Wednesday we went back in to pick up the ologists' gear. We stopped just short of the lake to climb up to the top of a hill which the cattle permit-holder told us was near the top of the Kaiser Wilderness and had nice views. A rock with grinding holes:

Micki lamented that she was "out of shape." To me, being IN shape means I can make it through 2/3rds of my ancient VHS Jane Fonda's step aerobic workout tape without pausing the tape more than twice to catch my breath. To Micki, based on the way she scrambled up that hill, being out of shape means she is only fit enough to top ten in a Long Course Triathlon, not an Iron Man Triathlon. Gorgeous views at the top:

I did my best to keep up with Micki, gasping for air and sweating, but eventually lost her. Hmm, what to do? I had no water, no radio, and only a vague notion of where we had left the horses and mules. Lucky for me, when I am exhausted and walking uphill, as I was while chasing Micki, I generally count my steps, so I had an idea of how far we had come. I circled back, went what felt like way too far, raced back and forth a few times trying to decide what to do, then sat down on a rock and reconciled myself to the idea that I was lost. It was an amazing experience really, I considered several options, then decided I needed to head back uphill to try and see where the horses and mules were. After I went about twenty steps, there they were - I have never been so happy to see Piglet the mule. I had to sit down for a minute to shed some adrenaline, then I realized I had to figure out the mysterious fire-box (the radio) that hangs on my saddle so I could call Micki and tell her I wasn't dead. Just as I found a tone that I could transmit on, she popped out of the bush, shouting my name. (She assumed I had passed out at the top of the hill.) We continued up to the lake, where Lisa the mule spooked at a bear box and kicked out, catching my arm at the very end of her kick. I spent the rest of the afternoon subjecting my arm to various stress tests to verify about every five minutes that it was not fractured. In spite of all this, I did enjoy the Kaiser Wilderness.

Thursday I helped Micki and her crew pack up the mules and horses and leave from the Maxson trailhead at Courtright Reservoir. A group of people were unloading and packing up their jeeps for a trip down the Dusy-Ershim OHV trail. I love this picture, it looks like I am about to take off four wheeling in the Prius: