So for the bad problem. My left ankle was hurting like crazy this morning and I literally made it 20 steps before deciding it was not walkable in those boots. Fortunately I brought my old trail runners for stream shoes and I swapped into those. Problem solved, no more ankle pain. Had it not gone away I was concerned I might be looking at a stress fracture (I may still be, its just not weight bearing...) It was still painful on contact, but at least those shoes don't constantly irritate it. That got me through the first 10 miles of the day, but then a new issue came up. I started feeling shins splints on my left leg - the one that had been good before - and they steadily grew worse. The last three miles after dinner were awful, but I tried going back to the boots and it was excruciating. I'm not sure how I'll address this going forward; I can only hope that my ankle heals up and allows me to wear my boots again pain free.
With all the shoe trouble I had a terribly late start. In fact, I only made three miles by noon. Yikes. I did get to chat with a half dozen people headed south to cottonwood pass which I hit yesterday, and it was best to hear about the trail ahead. One group had planned to summit Whitney but one guy had serous back pain so they altered the plan for less miles and less elevation gain. A pair of thru hikers I met in Kennedy Meadows - Homemade and Post Op - were headed backwards to leave trail and jump up to Oregon. They decided there was too much snow and they weren't going to deal with it. Granted they had no ice axes, but nonetheless it takes a lot to make a thru hiker turn back. Nevertheless I grinned and carried on northward, interested to see these conditions ahead.
Once again today water was not an issue, except for the stuff on the trail. In one spot there was a mini waterfall down onto the path I needed to take. The widest though was Rock Creek. For a few miles we crossed little feeder streams, until the creek on my right had swollen into a massive beast of rushing water. I ran into Steamy at the crossing, and he had scouted around for a good way to cross. The consensus was a three foot diameter log across the whitewater as we couldn't find any calm wide areas on this swollen stream. Steamy went first, considered walking it, then thought better of that idea and scooted across on his butt. I followed suit, but my longer legs dangled down further and one shoe got wet. Dang, I'd been trying to avoid wet feet as much as possible. At the other side I changed socks, rested briefly, then began the final climb for the day. As usual Steamy outpaced me, and he was soon gone from sight. I came down into an open dry meadow where I relaxed and made dinner. As I packed up, who comes walking up but Positive ID. He had run into Homemade, realized he was only a few miles back, and burned rubber all day to catch up. I hadn't expected to see him so soon, especially since it turns out he didn't leave Tom's for an extra day. We did the last few miles to Crabtree Meadow where we caught up with Steamy, stashed all our food safely in the bear box, and headed off to bed to rest for the massive climb up the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states.
Miles Today: 15
Trip Mileage: 766
Photo: Siberian Outpost Wilderness near Rock Creek
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