Who is Peter Grubb, you ask? Well you are just gonna have to read on to find out.
After getting dropped by our Uber, we picked up the trail behind the rest stop and started hiking. We are continuing from 1157, so I’ve skipped 457 miles of High Sierra. That will be on my long-term list to hike in future years. Given my proximity to this section, it will be easy to schedule and fun to do.
I’m in my Asolo boots, which already feel like lead weights. It is just shocking how wet and green it is up here, compared to KM at 700. There are streams flowing everywhere.
Soho and I were chatting about the water report (pctwater.com). During our runs in the desert, we were obsessing over it. Now it just says “good flow” at every point. With all the snow melt, it is “good flow” running down the trail and into my boots. Some gal named Optimistic Turtle keeps sending in updates on water, creek crossings, snow, etc. She seems a little neurotic. Her obsession is my gain. Good Flow, Optimistic Turtle, Good Flow.
A mile in and we start hitting snow. At first it looks a little something like this.
Then a bunch of snow/stream combos like this
A little dry trail
Then a little snow
We are mostly in shaded South and Western facing slopes so the walking is not too bad at this phase. There are some nice views from the first peak we crossed.
On the North side, it was a different story. By now we are up to 8k and man there is a ton of snow. This stuff is all consolidated and easy to walk on, but omg it is still 10 ft deep in many areas.
Right after this sign, the trail entire mountain was snow covered. Soho started off while I was digging out my spikes. Fortunately first a dog then some dude from the Sierra club showed up. His name was Richard and was day hiking out to the Peter Grubb hut to check out damages and mark some fire wood to cut up for next year. He offered to guide us in, so I put away the chains and we followed him slip-sliding down th slope to the hut.
Richard is some kind of researcher at Stanford (radio astronomy, I think). Didn’t talk much. We made it to the hut and he showed us around. It has a solar panel and batteries, interior lighting, stove, wood storage, and an upstairs for sleeping. Wish I’d taken some pics of the place. Normally this is used as ski hut for the Winter season. You snow shoe or cross country ski there, hang out, then ski/shoe back.
Now, why is it called Peter Grubb? Well, Peter Grubb is some rich kid from San Francisco, who apparently spent some time in the back country, went to Europe, then managed to die from heat stroke in ’37 on a bicycle. He was 18. Well grandpa dropped some coin to build the hut in his memory. If he had drank a couple more liters of water, we might not have the hut….so thanks Peter.
In the hut there is also a guitar and a big bong made out of a smart water bottle. That is a powerful combination. The creative output from these stoners was “The Peter Grubb Song”.
“He built his own skis”
“He lived his life free”
“Peter Grubb…<tap>….<tap>…<tap>…<tap>….Yeah!”
I should have photo’d the song with the chords. Can’t find it online. If you know the Peter Grubb song, send it to me !
“YEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH !!”