"But it was a dry hail"

I went backpacking with my friend Angie this weekend. I've wanted to through-hike the Alpine 7 (the course of the Swan Crest 100) for some time, and Angie was willing to give it a go. We planned some time back that we would do it 4th of July weekend. I think at the time it was looking like an early-melt year. It has not, in fact, turned out to be an early melt year.
We planned to hike from Napa Point to Strawberry Lake, or in the 60ish mile range. Both of us can make good mileage in a day so this seemed perfectly reasonable over 3 days. The first few miles of the hike, which featured clear trail, went by very quickly. However, it quickly became what we determined was some sort of cosmic drinking game, with one obstacle/aggravation after another. Ha ha ha now let's hit them with hail.

By the way, these pictures are in no particular order. The picture above is by our campsite last night. Anyhow, back to the tale, after a few miles we hit solid snow. We spent hours and hours upon hours routefinding. I realized my map is sort of worthless and we relied mostly on visual cues and the compass to tell us we were going in the generally correct direction.

It was also pretty cold and foggy. We were frequently enveloped in clouds. And, of course, it hailed on us. Repeatedly.


But Angie, being an optimist, remarked that "at least it's a dry hail." Below we are seeking refuge from some of the larger hail that hurt.
Literally, we spent probably 8 hours to make 3 miles of trail. We probably hiked 10 miles if you were to go by our footprints. We were laughing hysterically (a lot during this trip) in the tent about how if we were to be rescued they'd see all our footprints all over, the pictures we took in the tent with our flasks and note that we'd only made it a few miles. The story would probably note "alcohol was a factor." In truth it was just really tought to find the trail most of the way. Remarkably, we did!

At one point we decided we should just turn around -- we couldn't find the trail. But both of us are OCD and goal-oriented and couldn't let it go. Just couldn't. So we eventually found the trail and stubbornly but wearily continued onward.

Unfortunately, the snow started getting worse insofar as it was slushy and extremely slidey. To continue on the trail we would have had to take a fairly significant risk. Like, a risk to our safety. I would have probably been ok as I was wearing crampons, though they didn't help that much in the slush, but Ang just had my kahtoolah microspikes which weren't really enough traction. So we turned back.

At that point we were so fatigued we didn't care that much. Sliding around in snow is exhausting. Route-finding is mentally fatiguing. And at one point I slipped and started sliding down the mountain, but was able to grab a tree not too far from the "trail." It was scary enough that we were both pretty much "done" with the snow hiking adventure.

This picture, by the way, is the very first. We were crying laughing so hard about how this would be the picture in the paper. With the story that said "alcohol was a factor." Anyhow, it was actually a lot of fun and we found a pretty fantastic place to pitch our tent up on top of a mountain peak. We were protected by some trees but basically had a 360 degree view. It was incredible. We did not stumble upon any bear compounds and no one was hurt. All in all, it was a great time.

Of note: the Starbucks instant "Via" coffee is awesome. Although I have a backpacking french-press, the Via was excellent.

P.S. Ted graciously dropped us off AND picked us up which was unplanned -- we left Angie's car at our intended finish at Strawberry Lake TH. Thanks Ted I love you you're the best :-) What a supportive husband!