Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tofte Ranch

Larry: Yesterday was a rare day of not checking in with my journal. We arose early yesterday morning and left for Shirttail. Hiked almost up to Indian and spent the day sniping. We had to take our boots off and roll up our pants to cross the creek. All of 3 grains! There is tons of very fine gold and lots of black sand on the bedrock but it would take some kind of concentrator to work it. It was a really hot day but I was in the water. Charlotte panned but spent time in the shade often.

What happened on the way back to the bridge is another story and very important lesson learned. I know now it was because we didn't drink enough water. It was really hot but there was a breeze. I spent most of the time in my wetsuit in the water so when we got ready to head back we didn't fill the empty water bottle which meant we only had half a bottle between us. I hoisted my heavy pack and headed up the the very steep trail to join the main trail. It was really hot when you got up in the trees away from the river. I got really winded. About 1/3 of the way back, I totally lost it. I had to sit down. I was dizzy, couldn't seem to catch my breath, nauseous and had no strength. C was rightly worried and persuaded me to let her take the pack - I'd guess 50 pounds worth. To my amazement and tinged with guilt, she hauled it all the way to Shirttail. She just sucked it up and did it even though she was nauseous, too. She finally told me she couldn't stop with me any more because she had to keep going - she couldn't sit down and rest anyway with the pack on and her legs were going to give out if she didn't get going. She said she'd come back for me after she dropped the pack off. I limped along behind her, resting often. I wasn't too far behind her and as soon as I got to Shirttail I broke out our filter pump and got us some water to drink. The only shade we could find was below a blackberry bush and it was boiling hot in the sun. We think we were both suffering from heat exhaustion. We had only taken 2 bottles of water with us - big mistake! We should have refilled our water bottles at the river before we started back! I am very proud of my wife. I could not have made it back with my pack.

Charlotte: What to say about yesterday? Our most difficult hike, ever, mentally and physically. Thank goodness it wasn't any longer than it was. We arrived by 8 AM and after a short break headed up river. It was already pretty warm on the trail and there were those pesky "no see ums", flies that swarm around your eyes. We found a steep trail down to the river just beyond Salvation Creek. Larry didn't drink much water all day because he was in the water and he said he wasn't thirsty - big mistake! The other mistake - never, never be without water on the trail. We didn't fill our water bottles before leaving the river to head back. DUMB! What were we thinking?

Larry was in trouble almost immediately after we had climbed back up to the main trail. He kept having to stop to rest - not like him. This trail has lots of climbs and descents and he was having to stop about every 100 feet. I got sick to my stomach pretty fast after we were back up on the trail and there was no access to water until we got back to Shirttail. About half way out - although at the time I thought we were closer - I got really worried about Larry. He insisted I wouldn't be able to carry his pack but I insisted that I try. Once I stood up with it on my back I knew I couldn't sit down again. It was all I could do to stand up. It was all my legs wanted to do to carry it up and down the hills on the way back. Larry kept needing to stop to rest. I finally said I had to go on or I wouldn't make it. I told him I would go as fast as I could and come back for him. I couldn't go very fast because I didn't want to lose my footing and fall off the trail.... pretty steep down to the river. Thank goodness Larry wasn't too far behind me. After we got some water and rested for awhile we felt quite a bit better. We took our boots off and crossed the creek and found some good shade on the other side where we rested some more.  Larry was actually able to haul the pack from Shirttail back up to the car. Thanks goodness.... because my legs were so shaky I don't know if I could have made it. We had a large jug of water in the car and one ice cold beer. We sipped the water and shared the beer. We revived fairly well, which was surprising, and headed back to the ranch. What is the lesson? Drink lots of water on hot days even if you don't feel thirsty.