Mount Resolution and Mount Stairs: You’ve got to be kidding me.

I packed my bag and was ready to go until my husband noticed there was a trail of small ants walking to and from my pack.  OMG, I screamed.  Ants and I have a long history and none of it good. I don’t like them and they don’t like me.  I tore apart my pack, took out all of my granola bars and gave any I thought were compromised to my husband.  He would eat them. 

I repacked it and I put it on.  My pack is heavy, OMG heavy.  I felt like Cheryl Strayed.

I’ve been on the Davis Path before when I hiked Mt. Crawford.  No surprises here.  Loose rocks, sandy dirt trail, eroded in places and steep. Halfway up the trail I reached in my pack for some granola bars… not there! I forgot to put the ‘uncompromised bars’ back in my pack. I had nothing in my pack except for the meal I planned to cook on Stairs.

Okay, what did I have?  I had some orange juice in my pack. It gave me much needed energy to continue.  I scanned the ground for edibles.  I found an Indian cucumber, one half-ripe group of bunch berries, a lot of half-ripe blueberries and ate old Trillium leaves the entire way up.

Trillium and Indian Cucumber

Two years ago while sitting on top of Crawford, I looked across at Stairs and wondered how the heck do you get over there?  I had visions of hiking deep into the valley and then straight up Stairs.  This is not the case. The hike to Crawford is the steepest part of the entire hike. The Davis Path trail (it continues to the right of Crawford trail) is a beautiful, meandering, peaceful, less-traveled, remote wilderness trail. This portion of the trail was my favorite part. 

I continued to scan the ground for wild edibles and missed the Parker Trail to Mount Resolution.  This inattention added 45 minutes to my hike.  The Parker trail is eroded, overgrown, poorly blazed, with a number of small blowdowns.  When the trail opened onto the first set of ledges I had to take a minute to figure out which way to go.  The views were beautiful.  The trail continued through low brush, and opened up onto another set of ledges with beautiful views.  A number of trail logs say there is a bushwhack to the summit of Mount Resolution. My idea of bushwhacking is obviously very different from theirs.  A mild push through some brush is an overgrown trail, not a bushwhack.  So, I was looking for a bushwhack.

My GPS registered 361 feet to the summit so I kept walking trying find the best place to bushwhack to  the summit.  I continued on until it said 168 feet away. I couldn’t imagine there was a view in this mess of trees, but I pushed through the trees with my all my gear, pine needles flying everywhere, branches snapping, spiders landing on my face, until my GPS registered 2 feet.  I looked down and there was a small rock.  No views, just a rock.  I am surrounded by a dense thicket of god forsaken pines.  I am being touched on all sides, there is nowhere to move.  A wave of pure panic floods through me.  Claustrophobia.  Definition: an extreme or irrational fear of confined places.  It took everything I had to shut it down.  I pushed through, got out.  Only 100 feet but it felt like forever. 

Still trying to get my heart rate down, I sat on the qualifying summit and took a selfie. 

 51 down, 1 to go.

I got back on the Davis trail, I was hungry and tired of Trillium leaves.  I drank some more orange juice.  I expected some real scrambles to get to the top. I expected Carter’s Ledge, or South Baldface.  Nope, just a few rocks to climb over.  If the ERD was with me he wouldn’t have had any trouble darting up them. 

I quickly get to the Stairs trail.  There is a nice, easy to see, trailhead and tent site sign here. It is a short, beautiful, trail leading you to the Stairs.  There is only one problem.  I’m not the only one there.

I hear grumbling and talking.  I see it’s one person talking to themselves.  I’m disappointed.  I wanted to be alone on the summit.  My last hurrah alone.  Oh well, I’ll make the best of it.

I set up my tent, made fire and cooked my food.  I was ready to spend the night on Stairs.

We talk a bit, I can see he has some problems. He has difficulty speaking.  But we all have struggles. Then the conversation took some turns.

I’m in pain a lot, my back.   I’m on morphine for my pain. 

Oh..

I grew up in group homes, they’re worse than jail.

I felt sad for him.  We talk about hiking. 

I have to walk everywhere; I had to sell my car.  My wife has my kids, she couldn’t handle my addiction. 

Oh.. Where do you live?

I’m homeless.

What do you do in the winter?

Homeless shelters don’t want me.  They are worse than jail. I try to stay out in the woods. This guy let me live with him for a while, he wanted to have sex with me (he explains what kind). But I’m not gay, at all, so you know. 

Oh… uhm… oh

Then I had a job but the guy fired me.  He said I scared him.  I get so angry from the pain.  I frightened his customers.  He let me go.  Now I’m here. 

Oh… What do you do when you get angry?

I get so angry, I have to get away from people.  I scare myself.  

Oh... Well hiking is good for that.  

At no point did I feel threatened or frightened.  He is a person, alone, trying to climb out of a downward spiral.  But I didn’t know him or the depth of his history.  I didn’t know what his anger triggers were.  I made him some bacon and pancakes, gave him some canned milk and a packet of Starbucks coffee.  I made the decision to go down.

He didn’t want me to go.  He wanted the company and needed someone to talk to. He wanted me to stay.  I told him my husband was uncomfortable with me staying on the mountain, alone, with another man.    

Wouldn’t you be worried if your wife was on the mountain with another man?

 I would be glad if she was lost alone on a mountain.

Well, I mean, if you liked your ex-wife, wouldn’t you be worried?

I guess. But now I’m going to worry about you hiking down in the dark.

Thank you. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Be well, enjoy your sunrise tomorrow.

I packed my gear and headed down as the sun set. 

Another one of my fears, besides being trapped in a sea of claustrophobic trees, is hiking in dark, unfamiliar woods.  Now I had 5 long miles to descend, in the dark.  I was surprisingly comfortable on the narrow trails with my headlamp facing down, on the trail ahead. There seemed to be safety in the confinement of the narrow trail.  I watched spiders scurry and slugs slime their way across in my lamplight. I continuously had to brush away dozens of small white moths, attracted to the light, off of my face.  Their eyes reflected a shimmery gold as they darted past. They looked like fairies. It felt alien and beautiful.

A few times the lamp created fast moving shadows from branches on the trail.  I’d jump and squeak like an injured rabbit but quickly composed myself and continued on.  The only time I really felt the ‘lizard brain’ jitters was when the trail opened up onto sprawling ledges.  I felt vulnerable from all sides.  White blazes reflected the light from my head lamp leading the way.  Every time I saw one, I wanted to hug the person who painted them! 

At mile four I was tired and had to resist the urge to go faster.  The last mile of the trail is pebbled sand with loose rocks just waiting for an errant step. I heard rustling, I stopped short and stared into the woods, looking all around, ‘lizard brain’ active again.  Then I heard the barred owls, a group of them, whooping it up with their happy calls.  I joined in, they called back welcoming me into their song.  They stayed with me until I reached the car.

A beautiful end to a wild ride.

And then there were none.

Parker Trail

the turnoff to the Parker Trail, the one I missed

Mount Resolution views

my fire setup ready to go

Chickens (of the woods) Laetiporus cincinnatus found too late to eat.

another use for my flint striker 

Sauteed trillium leaves, pancakes, and bacon

making faces on blue-staining boletes :)

lovely garter snake along the trail :)

sunset on Stairs

the tent before the takedown

Someone did some damage to this sign

Fire prepped ready to be set.

I made it :)