My first time backpacking trip, 35 years ago, featured some High Sierra drama. Recently I took the same trip with Micah and was able to take the photo above, showing the route that accompanies the infamous tale. When I got home, I marked the route in red on the photo, with the key theoretical discussion.

The Story of My First Backpacking Trip

As a graduate student in about 1987, I was invited on a backpacking trip by my fellow student and experienced trailblazer, Mike Sipusic. It started innocently enough with a hike from the trailhead to a campsite beside Lake Ediza, at the bottom of the red line in the photo.

A Little Day Hike

I slept well on my first night in the wilderness, and awoke excited to spend the day exploring the environs of our Lake Ediza campsite. Mike suggested off-trail adventure to the gap in the mountains at the top of the red line. Although we couldn’t scale Mount Ritter nor climb a Minaret, Mike thought we could get to the gap in the mountain and we’d be sure to see a great view out the other side.

So on a bright blue morning, we began our hike. First we crossed a small stream, hopping across stones. We noticed a black cloud passing overhead, but soon it disappeared and the sky was again clear and blue.

The View from the Top

We worked our way up through a high mountain meadow, with thinning low grass. When we reached the top of the meadow, we traversed towards our goal–the gap in the mountain. Then we skirted a large snow field (not shown in the photo, which was taken later in the season) We were clinbing to an elevation well over 10,000 feet, and the going was slow as we had to stop often to catch our breath. After the snow field, we realized that to get the top, we’ve have to climb over chaotic, loose slabs of fallen rock: talus. That was really slow going, as we neared the desired viewpoint.

Not What We Expected

When we got close to the top, we suddenly realized there would be no view. Instead, the black cloud was back. And it was coming our way!

On the Run

With black cloud vapor beginning to pour over the mountain towards us, even a newbie backpacker like me realized it was time to make like a granite slab and split. We slip-slided our way back down the loose talus slope as fast as we could. When we got to the snow field, we didn’t skirt it. Instead we took big long strides through the show, going 4-5 feet down with each step. As we neared the bottom of the snow…

Hail!

Big, hard hailstones became to fall on us. It was painful and cold. And it was raining a hard cold rain, too. After completed the traverse, we found a boulder that was so big it made a cave underneath. We hid in the cave to wait out the hail. After 10-15 minutes, the rain and hail began to subside, and yet…

The Theory of Lightning

Now lightning began. You can’t understand the bible if you haven’t heard lightning in a mountain range. The sound defines “awesome.” This form of heavenly communication terrified our ancestors, and now I knew why. We realized we really should get out of there and started down the mountain as fast as we good. The lightning seemed to get closer, with loud CRACKS just seconds from the flashes of light. We could see lightning strikes behind us and the storm seemed to be coming our way.

Mike said: “Don’t worry, Jeremy, the peaks will draw the lightning strikes.”

At that very moment, we saw a huge flash! A bolt of lightning smote a lone tree at our campsite, thousands of feet below us.

“There goes that theory,” I countered.

Crossing the River

We scrambled down the meadow we had climbed up earlier, but now with blue sky replaced by lightning bolts all around us. The safety of camp seemed within reach. But when we got to the little stream we had crossed in the morning, we had another surprise. It had turned into a torrent!

There was a fallen tree we could still walk across, but it seemed quite slim and the current was scary.

Mike jumped in the stream and braced himself on the tree. “I’m strong!” he offered. “I’ll help you cross.” And indeed, Mike helped our group get across the tree to the side of the river with our camp. Then, soaked, he climbed out of the raging river.

Hypothermia and Recovery

Mike was starting to get hypothermia. We hustled to our camp and got his wet clothes off and dry long underwear on and got him into a sleeping bag. I got into the sleeping bag with Mike to warm him up. Gail made him a hot drink. Mike recovered. And the rest of the trip was uneventful.

Yet, the famous line and rejoinder lived on “The peaks will draw the lightning” and “there goes that theory!”

Wondering, 35 Years Later

Now, revisting the same area, I wonder if we were even on the right trail. Micah found the really great view of the Minarets. It was indeed up and across a loose talus slope, but different from the one we climbed. He found the great view at a gap near Iceberg Lake. Iceberg Lake today has a well-marked trail and even a faint trail across the rock slabs. I wonder if we were actually looking for the pass near Iceberg Lake instead try to climb to a gap in the Minarets?