Sally, Marilyn and I hiked up Vivian and went XC up the Dobbs ridge to San Gorgonio yesterday. As reported by Sam Page and Lilbitmo, some !@#$%^&* had left pink tape on rocks, trees and even dirt all the way up to Dobbs. We removed every marker that we found. At one point, Sally said wryly -- "Wait -- where's the tape? Do we stay on the ridge backbone or slide down the steep slope on the right or left side?"
Made it to Dobbs in a bit over three hours, feeling like Good Samaritans after removing the obnoxious tape. As we headed by the second Dobbs to climb the ridge that intersects the trail, I fell and landed hard on my left wrist. Of course I fell into rocks, so my left knee, elbow and other areas lost skin. Once I stopped moving, I felt that kind of intense pain where you have to just sit for a moment and assess.
The wrist immediately started to swell and become very painful. We put bandages on the bloddiest areas, which immediately fell off due to blood and sweat. Marilyn and Sally loaned me bandanas for a sling and we stowed a pole. We added a bandana snow compress and made our way up the ridge to intersect the ridge trail towards San Gorgonio.
When we reached Vivian junction, Marilyn and Sally thought we would forgo the peak and descend -- hell no! I wasn't missing out on the summit after being so close. As usual, it was quite windy on the ridge. We hunkered down in the summit rocks, enjoyed feeding the critters at the summit and had a wee bit o' Scotch.
On our way down, met a nice trail runner coming up. Turns out, she broke her elbow and nose falling on her first Skyline -- talk about coincidence. About a half mile from Vivian creek, we ran into a hker and his yellow lab Charlie -- the dog was laying in the middle of the trail and wouldn't budge. The hiker had called the Ranger Station -- their suspected Charlie had altitude sickness and told the hiker to get the 110 lb dog down
Charlie needed water also, but the hiker was completely out and the trail was dry.
Sally and Marilyn poured Gatorade into a gallon Ziplock bag, Charlie happily lapped up. We then hiked behind them to keep Charlie going until we reached Vivian creek. At this point, Charlie could rest and drink, so we parted ways. Charlie's dad felt terrible -- he'd hiked this route with Charlie many times and taken him on 1.5 to 2 hour walks each day. I couldn't fault Charlie's dad as he was trying to do everything he could and didn't leave the dog to die like the guy in Colorado.
It was a great relief to reach Marilyn's vehicle and have dinner at El Mexicano. I didn't sleep well last night but got into my orthopedic group this morning. I have a bad sprain with a possible compression fracture of my radius. Treatment is a wrist brace and RICE. Good news, as I still plan to hike the JMT starting July 17. Now if the pain would just subside a bit...
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
