Lisa’s Report

We just returned from the Incredible Hulk, a 1,500 ft. wall high in California’s Sierra Nevada range that sits at 11,000′ and we have taken up residence at Mono Village, a small RV city near the trail head to the Incredible Hulk. It has everything a person would want…laundry, internet, a lake to swim and fish in, great showers, a little store and a restaurant. You can even rent a movie.  After 4 days in the back country it all feels very luxurious. I had the best shower and sandwich of my life yesterday after our hike out. The hike into the Incredible Hulk was so beautiful! You start on a trail through a Sequoia forest for a mile or so, which leads into a beautiful Aspen meadow with gorgeous wildflowers and high peaks all around. It was quite a hump in there…5.5 miles and 3500 ft. of elevation gain, most of the gain was in the last half of the hike. It went up and up and up. The packs were heavy and the trail steep! I’ll bet Jasons pack was 75 or 80 lbs. What a stud he is! We planned to spend 4 to 5 days back there, so we had lots of food and gear.  There was definitely some suffering getting up there but well worth it and my knees held out pretty well. I think the cross fit training we did in Ouray really helped us both. Thanks Allen and the gals!

The first route we did, Red Dihedral, was pretty much a disaster.  We got to the base with out a belay device, experienced gale force winds and cold causing us to retreat midway, rapping off horns with cord…then to top it off we got one of our ropes stuck.  We couldn’t free the rope after an hour or two of trying so we retreated back to base camp.  Luckily, we were on the ground at that point, but short one rope.
The second day went much better. We climbed Positive Vibrations, a beautiful climb going up the left side of the formation with our friend Cody. We managed to stay on route for most of the climb, with the exception of Jason’s 5.12 variation of a 5.11A pitch. I got lead a beautiful exposed crack pitch. It was a long day for the number of pitches we climbed and we were all exhausted when we arrived back at base camp near dark. The next day was supposed to be a rest day but we woke to a swarm of newly hatched mosquitoes. I kid you not…I hadn’t experiences Mossy’s that bad since Thailand. I guess they must have just hatched because they weren’t that bad when we arrived a few days ago. We decided swatting bugs was no way to spend a rest day so we decided to head back down, cutting the trip a little short. Our friend, Cody packed in several loads of stuff, as he was planning on living up there for a while, and was pretty bummed about getting chased out. He still has gear up there. He had two packs loaded full of stuff on the hike out yesterday. They were as big as him!

So we’re going to rest and work a couple days. I’m exhausted! I’m always amazed at how much work it is to just get ready for these things…packing and unpacking everything.

I left my brand new Teva’s back at the stream crossing…about 2 miles in so I have to hike back in and try to find them today. My legs feel like rubber. Luckily, that part of the trail is pretty flat. It’s so beautiful here. I love this stuff!

Photos online at: http://flickr.com/photos/27232714@N08/sets/72157605903403818/