Electra Loop 2015: Inspiration

Over the winter, I was searching for the summer’s next big challenge, and came across a blog by Leor Pantilat (https://pantilat.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/electra-loop-electra-peak-lyell-fork-merced-river/) which described a loop into a remote area of Yosemite. Phrases like ‘remote and rugged’, ‘amazing view’, ‘chiseled ridgeline’ and ‘spectacular alpine lakes’  leaped from the screen and instantly had me hooked. The loop he described was about 45 miles long, had 10,000 ft of elevation gain and loss, and included a cross-country traverse of the Sierra Divide. This animal covered the distance in 11 hours; I figured five days no worries.

Leor Pantilat’s Electra Loop – from Mile 15-25 is off-trail, but I added in some extra off-trail miles (both planned and unplanned), and did the loop in reverse.

Six months of training and preparation ensued. How light could I make my load and still be safe and partly comfortable? My creaky knees thanked me for every item deemed unnecessary and I even resorted to learning to use a Kindle, a major step for a Luddite like me. After much deliberation, obsessive weighing of every item, and paring down of food (I was once stuck in the Alaskan wilderness for an extra day due to a recalcitrant grizzly bear, and ran out of food. It clearly made a lasting impression as I tend to pack too much ‘just in case’), the final pack weight was a shade under 25 pounds including all gear, clothing, boots, food and water.

 Packed and ready to go.

On the training side of things, the picnic table again became an essential tool, but only when Alistair wasn’t looking – I had previously broken it by walking over it loaded with my pack thousands of times for a previous trip and Al has been forced to rebuild the thing. This time around the rebuilt table remained intact judicious use, and Al’s fearsome wrath was avoided.

With the rest of the family dispatched to various places around the world – Tenaya to Nicaragua on a Girl Scout service trip, Al to Australia on business and Tara to New Zealand to stay with family, I was finally free to go adventuring. Well, not really – technically I was meant to be able to be contacted in case of emergency….. but that was just the small print.

Veitch locations around the world – T1 = Tenaya, T2 = Tara; and you can guess the rest.

The mountains sang their siren song and I succumbed without resistance. As John Muir said: " Mountains are calling my name and I must go".