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From July 18 – July 21, 2024, I joined a team of 11 people for a high adventure backpacking trip to the High Sierra, led by my friend Gary Middlemiss. (My interview with him about his death-defying climb of Mt. Aconcagua was published on 10 Plus Brand website as an interview of Notables and Influencers).
It turned out to be the most difficult, the most strenuous hiking and mountain climbing I have ever done.
At more than 12,000 feet above sea level, Gary was making a high tech video and asked me what I thought of this trip. “Humbling. I could not have done it without 10 team members’ help”, especially Gary, the leader.
It was a truly humbling experience: A week after the trip, I am still recovering. If I had at least a month to prepare for it, it might not have taken such a toll, but I only had one week advance notice. My body endured altitude sickness, pains, strains, and shocks, so did my mind and soul. Even though just a year before I climbed Half Dome and did a Yosemite backpacking trip, doing this trip without preparing and conditioning my body in advance was a big mistake.
Nonetheless, I came back, a changed person for the better: less frazzled, more centered and tougher but in a quiet way, like the mountains. I found myself less reactive to stress. My fear threshold has increased a lot. I handle work and life now with a bit more internal grace and ease. The High Sierras have imparted their solid groundedness and clarity in my soul. The mountains and our Team have transformed me in a way only known to myself.
Young, old (young at heart), Republicans, Democrats, white, black, Asian, Indian, Latino, immigrants, religious, atheist, vegetarian, carnivore… the 11 of us were as diverse as America. We were all in it together. We helped each other. I have come to love the wonderful people who are so genuinely caring, loving, and supportive: Daniel, Gary, Peter, Clare, and others.
Gary is a veteran of the terrain, first taken there at the age of 12 by his Boy Scout Master, and never fell out of love with it. Over his 47 years of life so far, he has taken a number of friends, family members, and employees to the same place. He knows all the nooks and crannies.
I witnessed first hand what true leadership was – it was never perfect, but was always genuinely and caringly trying to do better. True leadership brings out self reliance and empowerment while building teamwork. I will remember every bit of this trip and the selfless love, care, and generous help (some scolding too), and all the kindness and support from everyone, for the rest of my life.
On this trip, there were his 16-year-old son Max, and his 18-year-old daughter Clare and two of her girlfriends, and the rest were young men in their 20’s and early 30’s – employees from his work. I am 63 (but I did not tell them that. Only Gary knew my age.)
The afternoon before Day One, the most strenuous day, Gary drove all 11 of us in one large white Ford van that he rented, on a one lane bumpy road shared by oncoming vehicles, relentlessly up too many sharp blind turns. Even though there were not many vehicles in either direction, and they both stopped before passing each other, I knew why Gary had said this to me: “Joanne, if you yell at me when I am driving up the mountain, I cannot hear you.” (Haha, he was right. I was biting my lips not to).
We spent the evening at more than 7,450 feet above sea level to acclimate. After Gary treated us all to a hefty American dinner of delicious burgers, he ordered us all to take out and leave behind redundant and non essential items. My backpack weighed about 30 lbs after shedding about 3 lbs of weight: a cell phone battery bank, a first aid bag (other team members have them), my swimsuit, some clothes.
All 7 men and myself slept in one cabin room (Gary and another young Indian vegetarian slept on the bed while the rest of us on the floor). I used someone’s backpack to block my head as a wall and a tall recycle bin at my feet to demarcate my sleeping space. I did not sleep a blink due to both altitude and the loud snoring throughout the night. In the morning, I emptied two tubes of instant coffee Daniel gave me in my water bottle and drank it all, after drinking up a carton of Muscle Milk which also had lots of caffeine. I soon felt jittery from being over-caffeinated.
We were going to hike up 3,600 feet over 11 miles to our first campsite by a beautiful lake at the bottom of mountains.
About 30 minutes into the hike, when crossing the first creek of rapidly flowing water on slippery and unstable rocks, I slipped and fell facing down into water, completely immersed. The wet boots, socks, clothes, and hats added more weight. Thank God the water did not get inside my Osprey backpack, keeping my sleeping bag, clothes, food and tent dry. In hindsight, I congratulated myself for having the best brand of backpack and packing everything in Ziploc plastic bags.
Embarrassed, I pulled myself out of the water as fast as I could, but only after my second attempt was I able to stand up, dripping from head to toe. “Baptism by water!” I said to Gary. It was a full immersion, the Mormon style. Gary had encouraged me to bring a swimsuit (which I took out the night before), to jump off the cliff into snow-melt cold water in the high mountains, to which I shook my head. “I don’t need to jump into cold water any more, I already got dunked!”
From that moment on, Gary was carrying my sleeping bag, Daniel was carrying my tent, and Peter was carrying my bundle of clothes for the entire three days. You’d think that being so lightweight, I’d be the first, far ahead of them? Most of the time, I was among the last, gasping for breath, struggling to keep up. Without them sharing my weight, I’d not be able to make it.
This trip was already very strenuous for all these young people, it was harder for a 63-year-old. The amount of climbing down steeply vertical rocky slopes, up slippery, watery cliffs, then down the dried up waterfall path, holding onto rocks with hands and feet… it far exceeded my wildest imagination.
After falling into the water once, at every creek-crossing, I was scared. My team knew that too. Gary was directing me to turn my body towards the shore I was reaching, while he and others waited and watched me on the other side, attentively. Daniel and Peter were reaching out to take my trekking poles, and stretched out their hands for me to hold on and gently pulled me toward them, every single time.
Finally, I learned to use my eyes to first map out my steps: which rock to step on first, which second, and third… like playing a chess game, figure out all the steps beforehand, leading onto the shore. Then, with super concentration of both the mind and body, steadily, surely, slowly cross one rock at a time. Daniel sometimes pulled me with his hand from the other side, sometimes holding one end of my poles while I held the other end.
Over three days, we crossed about half a dozen creeks over fallen trees, or on random rocks in the water which triggered fear each time. Each time, Gary and the rest of the young people would wait for me on the other side, directing me, cajoling and encouraging me, taking my backpack over first, and stretching their hand out to hold my hand across, … they knew I’d be afraid, they wanted me to cross over without falling into water again. Without their support and love, I’d not be able to cross these creeks (I didn’t fall again.)
I was never trained for rock climbing, when we all had to climb down a steep (about 100 degree) drop, holding on with feet and hands. “Which rock do I step on next?” I asked others on the ground to direct me moving from one foothold to another.
Soon, we used all fours to climb up an almost 90 degree ascension on wet and treacherous rocks, through a narrow gap among the rocky walls.
The worst rock climbing was down a long descent about 200 feet of a dried path of a waterfall that felt like 100 degrees vertical. Gary asked us to face towards the rocks, using both hands and feet, to reach down the slope by finding handholds and footholds. To find the footholds, I had no way to know which rock to trust, since the granite seemed slippery, while the ones with loose gravels and sands also seemed slippery.
I was panting for breath out of exhaustion, fear, and frustration not knowing how to climb down the rocks. “I am EXHAUSTED!” I shouted to Gary, and sat down on the rocks to take a drink of water, while sweat rolled down my face. Gary stood midway and directed everyone how to descend. I was the last one, sitting on a rock half way, not knowing what to step on.
I felt a pure Godly love when Gary calmly guided me, walked beside me, and patiently taught me how to step on granite surfaces. He held my hand, and said calmly to me: “Trust your boots, they have traction. They won’t slip on the granite. They won’t.” I remembered how my boots had traction against the granite when I descended Half Dome, and followed Gary’s instruction. He was right.
Once I heard from him how to spot the right rocks to step on, I soon descended on my own, while he still held my hand. That gave me comfort and calmed me down. Soon, we reached the bottom of the steep, rocky slope, ran down a sandy stretch, and saw the setting sun in colors of muted red due to the wildfire smoke in the air blown in from the distant south.
We finally reached the first campsite by a beautiful lake, after a hell of a day.
I was too tired to eat the Mountain House freeze-dried Chicken and Rice Dinner. The altitude also took away my appetite. “You need to force yourself to eat it”, said Clare. I did force it all down against my own will.
Insomnia again, the second night without sleep. I took 2 pills of Advil PM, a 5mg pill of melatonin, but still could not sleep. I did not dare to take more antihistamine or sleep pills because I was afraid of waking up too groggy. At about 10,000 feet above sea level, the altitude and snoring sounds kept me awake the entire night when my overexerted body badly needed rest. Moonlight was so bright that I had to cover my eyes in the tent. I tried everything: deep breathing, counting while breathing in, holding breath, counting while exhaling, over and over again. I tried the army’s method of imagining my body relaxing, one part at a time. Nothing worked. The next morning, I was completely exhausted. I worried that I would not be able to hike with the rest of the Team and become a burden to everyone. Gary asked me to just lie down and rest, before the entire team started to hike up the mountain.
(To be continued in Pt. 2, which will give you a lot more to laugh about. Hint: It did NOT get any easier!)
© Joanne Z. Tan All rights reserved.
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