Date: 2003-07-17
From: Carl Newhall Lean - to

To: Cloud Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

Wow! What a day, my original schedule called for 10 miles today leaving Nehall and decending 5.5 miles across the west branch of the Pleasant River and then up 4.5m across the Chairback Mtn. to Chairback Gap L2. I got on my horse early and completed the downhill in 2 1/4 hours. The ascent was a little different. The first part of the climb was steep and my cardio sucks. So I slowed down a lot but picked up the pace as the grade became easier. Oh yeah, I caught up with Bullet Hole at the rive and leant him one of my trekking poles to cross. We had to ford the river and he only had his hiking shoes. So he went barefoot. The pole helps with ballance if you do it that way. Anyway, the ascent was easier after the steep section, tough, but great. I peaked a ridge, the chair seat, and could see for miles. To my right was an enormous rock faced peak and no matter how hard I prayed, the map showed that it was the summit of Chairback Mtn. and my final destination lay on the other side. Soon I came to the rock face, about 60 feet of a hand over hand climb straight up. The trekking poles were put away, I reached down to grab a pair but they were already in my throat. So I climbed and climbed and as my heart raced, I reached the top. After walking through the trees I saw what I was working so hard for, the view, which not only showed my path but also my previous days hike, White Cap! The view was so phenomenal that it filled me with so much energy that I decided to go the extra 7m to the Cloud Pond L2. At the time I didn't realize the challenge of that decision. The difficulty of the climb, lack of water sources, and carbs would weigh heavy on me.So I climbed Mt. Columbus with ease but Third Mtn was more challenging w/ it's steep slopes. Water started to become an issue as I climbed Fourth Mtn. Fourth Mtn Dragged on and on, what a tough Mtn! Steep ups and downs the whole way and that's what killed me. My head, feet, back, knees, and stomach (from the hunger) hurt as I negotiated the bogs and bog bridges to the mapped water source, my salvation. Unfortunately, the water source turned out to be a bog and I didn't trust it. The only thing left for me to do was to push forward and consevre my drinking water. SO I pushed to the top of Barren Mtn. to get to the next L2. Ariving at the top, dizzy from lack of food and water I still had 1.5 miles to go and at my current pace that would take an hour. As day fell into night, I put my headlamp on and kept moving. Finally, I saw the sign to the L2. With relief I hiked the last .4 miles to the site. Waiting on me there was Bullet Hole, Rainbow Slick, and Goosebump. They were expecting me and were happy to see that I had made it. Bullet Hole gave me some water he had filtered and I ate a small dry dinner. I set my tent and fell into a deep sleep. In retrospect probably not the smartest thing to do but I had to push myself to know my limits. To that date I didn't really know if the Marine in me still existed. If I could push myself beyond all that is comprehensable and mentally survive a situation that seemed desparate. And now I know I do still have it. What a great sense of pride I have in knowing that I accomplished such a challenging day and that I had friends on the other side waiting for me. What a great feeling, what a great life!