As is usual, my summer vacation began with a scientific conference, this time in Long Beach, CA. This conference was 3Dsig, a conference dedicated to computational structural biology, the closest broad description of the kind of research I do. Unlike previous conferences that I have attended, 3Dsig was a short two days. Unfortunately, I was not able to see very much of the city as most of my time was spent listening to exhilarating scientific talks or having scientific discussions around a poster. One thing I enjoyed in Long Beach was the weather; we hit the city with two relatively cool days. After the heat of NC this was very refreshing.
Ketchup(Bradley), Swati, and Banana(Daniel)...my two lab mates
Me and my poster (my poster is cloth...NEATO!!!)
I then headed to Utah where my vacation really started. Other than visiting family, my plan was to do three major things in Utah; backpacking (solo), backpacking (with Three Summit's Ranch), and attend Ryan Jackson's dissertation defense at Utah State. Before I tell about what really happened in Utah I have to tell you about something that happened a day before I flew out to Long Beach. I was commuting to work on my bike when I suddenly fell for reasons that remain a mystery. This was a relatively bad spill with a bonked head and plenty of road rash on both knees. Although the road rash stung quite a bit I knew that in short order the road rash would heal. The bonk in the head was something a bit more concerning, it tweaked my neck. My neck hurt for a long time after the incident, I am talking a significant amount of pain. This made sleeping at night fairly difficult. This fact, combined with my aching body, had me doubting whether I'd be able to go backpacking. However, if you know me and my summer backpacking trips you'll know that only something substantial could get in the way of my backpacking! I decided that the only option was to try it out.
I went to the upper reaches of the Roch Creek drainage in the Uintas. To get there I took the Uinta Highline Trail. For those who know the area: the trailhead is just past Mirror Lake if you're coming from Kamas. This trail was well traveled; in all I saw no less then fifty people on the trail over my time up there. I had planned for 4 days, two for hiking in and out and two for day hikes/relaxing. Even though I had a new pack, sleeping bag, and tent designed to lessen the weight of my pack I still managed 40+ lbs, heaviest back yet...not sure why. Being in the mountains was great, I'd say therapeutic :). Even though it had been a VERY dry winter the Uintas were as wet as ever; there were plenty of wet bogs to navigate. I ran into several scout groups taking their summer high adventures. I even saw two pack goats and three llamas in training. I may look into renting a llama or two in the future :).
The hike in was long, I hiked all the way into Lake Brinkley, which is tel plus miles in. I don't know why I alway am surprised at how long ten miles is. To be fair this ten miles was not flat in the slightest. The trail head started just under ~10,400 feet and I had to go over Rocky Sea Pass, which tops out at ~11,280, and back down to Lake Brinkley at ~10,480. Despite the less then ideal shape my body was in I made it. After setting up camp I filtered water and made dinner (thank you Mountain House!). I was pretty tired and actually crawled into my back before it was completely dark. The night was long and cold. Sleep was hard to come by for two main reasons, my neck and the ground. My new sleeping bag, which I brought along, was rated at 20 degrees and thus considerably smaller and lighter than my other bag rated at -10 degrees. Although my hands and feet were toasty warm I literally felt cold radiating from the ground. I never experienced this before; I guess it is time to get a sleeping pad. Because of the bad night I decided to cut my trip short and stay two nights instead of four.
The next day I was still feeling the effects of trekking over ten miles with 40+ pounds on my back. Nonetheless I had to explore the area. As such, I decided to take a hike. My plan was to try to go to Lightening Lake, a beautiful lake at the base of Priord Peak (12233 ft). without exerting myself too much. The Uintas never disappoint, there were a lot of gorgeous small lakes surrounded by towering 12,000 + foot summits. I wish I had pictures but alas I was alone, typically cameras and I don't get along :). I was just at tree-line, the point at which only stunted sub-alpine fir grow, enjoying a lunch overlooking Gladys Lake when I hear thunder in the distance. This is never a big surprise as it typically rains every afternoon in the Uintas. The question I had to ask was whether I really wanted to be at a lake named after lightning in the presence of thunder. Further, did I want to be above tree'line in such a situation? The answer to these two critical questions was a definite no. I quickly descended back down into the trees and when safely there a healthy rain began. Since I had experienced the Uintas in the past I knew that this storm would likely pass within 20 minutes, thus I stood in the boughs of a fairly large fir. Since the storm came with a stiff wind the rain was coming in at a slant and I stayed dry without a poncho.
After another sleepless night I decided it was time to start heading back toward the trailhead. I didn't know whether I'd make it all the way back to the car but knew regardless I needed to get back over the steep Rocky Sea Pass that day. From the way my body was protesting the full pack on my back I was not looking forward to the steep ascent up the pass. However, my physiology gave me a gift and took it up a notch when I first hit the ascent and I sailed up the pass like it was nothing. In fact I passed a group of boy scouts that were also ascending and I left them in the dust. On the other side, during the gradual decent, I notice a group of four hikers headed toward me. Pretty soon I hear one of them call out my name. It was April and Melanie (and two others), two sisters that lived right by me on Darwin Ave. in Logan five years previous. It was very cool to randomly meet someone I knew on the trail, what are the chances?! Because I was moving so good I decided to go all the way back to the car, the prospect of sleeping in a bed was too tempting to pass up.
At one point I took a break for lunch and to filter water. The trip back was relatively uneventful until I was two miles away from the car. Even though I had filtered water at lunch it wasn't enough. I knew that filtering more water was the right thing to do but filtering water was a huge pain that I did not want to deal with. So I didn't and I walked the last two miles without water. I was feeling the effects of this poor choice the last half mile. At this point I also noticed a pain in my right foot, I had no idea why. Suffice it to say that I made it back, I was thirsty and had a hurt foot but I made it. I quickly descended the Mirror Lake Highway back into Kamas where I consumed 20 ounces of Gatorade in less than five seconds.
When I got back to my parent's home the pain in my foot got worse. It was a pain akin to a sprain or a break. I didn't thick it was either as it did't 'kill' me to walk on it. Nonetheless I was able to get it x-rayed by my sister's husband, Scott, who is a chiropractor. Luckily there was nothing to indicate a problem on the x-ray. Scott postulated that I stressed the tendon by doing 25+ miles in three days, my feet were not used to that kind of harassment, I'm a biker not a runner. Lesson: walk more, biking is not sufficient in preparing for long backpacking trips.
My foot hurt so much that I had to cancel my other backpacking trip with the Three Summits Ranch, a service ranch for boys 12-15. In the past I have talked to these boys about my story focusing on overcoming challenges. Luckily I was able to spend a Sunday up at the ranch where I met a lot of awesome boys. The highlight for me was after my talk a boy showed intense interest in my research. Of couse I couldn't tell him the details but his eyes lit up at the basics I could explain. The neatest aspect was the questions this kid was asking were very impressive, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in science.
The last thing I did was attend Ryan Jackson's dissertation defense. Ryan was a graduate student I Sean's lab at USU, we were pretty close as far as lab mates go. It was neat to ba able to make it to see the defense, Ryan did a spectacular job! Visiting with the old lab was really neat too. Sean and his lab are doing great, but was there ever a doubt with the kind of person and scientist Sean is?!
So there you have it. If you'ver read this far I congratulate you. I am now back in Durham getting the house ready for the new tenants coming over the next two weeks. Yippee!
