Our Hike To Frog Lake

So, yesterday, I went on a hike. How about from say 7200ft to 8600ft. Someone gave me a granola bar, and to be polite I ate half of it, but it did not sit well, and by the time we started I was soooo nauseous, and I could not stop yawning. So was it the elevation or was I having cardiac problems? I had to make a decision, but I could not get over the nausea. So ultimately everyone else went on ahead, except my dear friend who stayed behind with me. We had options of doing an easier hike, but what did we do? We persevered and pushed on. The nausea persisted. I tried so hard to do the big V, but it just would not happen. So we would stop, I would get myself together and we pushed on. Maybe just twenty feet, but it was twenty feet and foot by foot we kept moving on. I could not believe I was doing this. Insane. Well, not me of course, but trying to fight this nausea and the effort it took to keep on moving. And the yawning. Why was I yawning like this? Actually, all I wanted to do was lay down, curl up and take a nap. I kept thinking if I could just take a nap I would be okay, but we kept climbing. Crest after crest and up ahead yet another ridge. And just when you thought you could climb no higher, there was yet another ridge just up ahead and so it went.

At some point the nausea subsided and being just plain tired set it. Why was I doing this? Why was my friend who was in no better physical condition than I doing this with me? Crazy! But yet another twenty feet. Finally we made it to the top. We could not believe it. I would like to say that we were joyful and happy, but we were not. We were flat out exhausted. We did not see any of the forward group and the trail continued down the other side of the mountain and all we could think was if we go down that mountain, we have to climb back up. So, seeing no other trails we made the fateful decision to start down the mountain on the other side.

We walked and walked until I slipped and fell. I looked at my friend and said, "You know, this seems like a good spot to stop for a while." We were laughing, but it was not a funny situation at the time. We had no idea what we were doing. So I took my pack off and pulled out it contents. I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potatoe chips, bananas, carrot sticks. I had enough carrot sticks to feed an army. I had made breakfast and lunch for the both of us. What was I thinking? I couldn't eat that stuff. I had peanut M & M's! But way down at the bottom of my pack I had watermelon. Wet, sweet watermelon. I pulled it out and we indulged ourselves. It tasted so good.

At some point I opened a cut on my finger that I had cut the night before fixing our feast and since I was full of Aspirin to keep my blood thinned on our hike, it bled and bled. All of a sudden my girlfriend was taking off her shoes. "Why are you taking off your shoes?" I asked. She just laughed. When she removed her socks I saw bandaides. She had put them on her heels just in case her shoes rubbed, which they had not. She peeled one off and handed it to me and told me to wrap my bleeding finger with it and then she gave me a second bandaide off her heel to secure the first. We were laughing so hard. How funny can a sad situation be?

Then we saw some hikers coming our way from lower on the mountain. When they got to us, and they certainly could not have missed us sitting in the middle of the trail like we were, they told us that they were climbing up from the lake itself. We were suppose to be going to a look out point 1000 feet above the lake. Oh no, we were not suppose to be here. Oh no!!! We had to climb back up this mountain for nothing! We could not believe it! But it was still easier to laugh than cry and so I began to repack my little backpack and then figure out how to get myself up. My body was not cooperating at this point and I felt if I stood up I would tumble on down the mountain side, so I turned myself over and climbed myself up and my friend did the same and we headed back up the mountain side.

Now it must be said that it was a beautiful day. More beautiful than we could have imagined. The air was so fresh and fragrant as the Sierra's are. There were wild flowers everywhere due to all the extra moisture the mountains have had this year. There was snow all over so close that if we had had the strength we could have walked over to it. It was amazing. Breathtaking. Inspiring. We had to get back up that mountain.

And we did. I think it was the watermelon. Who knows, but we seemed to be doing a little better. When we got to the top there were now people there from our group and they told us that the lookout point was just 100' along the ridge. There was no observable trail. But, if you followed the ridge, you would come across some boulders and climb out on them and you could see our destination, which was to look out on Frog Lake 1000 feet below. We had a decision to make. There were those who thought we should turn back and go with them. But others were telling us how beautiful it was. We decided we had come this far, we were going to see that Frog Lake if it killed us. And someone from the group was gracious enough to stay back with us and accompany us on our personal journey to the lookout point above Frog Lake.

We did it! We made it and we did even more since we had climbed down and back up the mountain on the wrong side. It did not make any difference any more. We were so proud of ourselves. We did it! After spending some time at the lookout point it was all down hill from here. Easy huh? Well, not so much. Coming up I thought my poor thighs could not complain enough for the torture I was putting them through. Going down it was my ankles. They got twisted every way but loose. Going down can be as difficult as going up, just of another kind. And shoes, well, never having imagined what I was getting myself into, I just had tennis shoes, tennis shoes will balls on the bottoms. Brilliant you say? Yes. Biriliant. So okay, I have learned the hard way. The bottom line is I made it and so did my friend. We did it . . . together, with laughter, friendship, support one to the other. We did it!

I cannot tell you how happy I was or how tired I was when we finally reached the parking lot and when we had joined up with some of the leaders on the hike who pointed back to just how high we had been. We had been up by Castle Rock, only farther to the left, not sure what direction that was, but it was amazing to look back and see what we had accomplished. We both felt like, "Winners!."

Getting into my car was difficult. I had to help lift my poor legs into the car. They just could not quite do it by themselves. My girlfriend had boots on and she immediate began taking them off. She wanted something to eat and found my peanut butter sandwiches. I was unable to eat a thing. My poor body was in a full state of SHOCK. My friend had on the most amazing hot pink socks you every saw. And she lifted her socked feet onto the dash of my car and soon I heard the soft purr of her breathing. She was out! We had another traveling companion in our car also and she too was out. She was an experienced hiker. We were novices. Actually we were less than novices, whatever that is, we were far less. Now it was my job to get us home. I drove in a trance.

Ikeda's. Have you ever been there? They have the best fruit shakes you have ever tasted. That is where I was heading. I knew if I could make it to Ikeda's I could make it home. And we did and I did and I also had the knowledge that I had accomplished something remarkable and that I had shared it with a friend.