^^Dane^^
From left to right is me, Dane, Dave, and my dad on the far right. It all started here. So as we started, it was a little icy but nothing too bad. Dave hadn't brought crampons or even snowshoes. My dad had packed my snowshoes and his as well as crampons. When we came to our first *with Bear Grylls accent* "Glacier," (that's what I liked to refer the small bridges that crosses the stream as), my dad had went ahead and then left me to lead Dave and Dane. As I was halfway across the slippery log when my dad told me to stop so he could take a picture.After we crossed this, we decided to put on our crampons. Of course, my dad didn't bring the instructions because he thought he remembered how to put them on, but apparently not. So Dane had my left foot and my dad had my right foot. Dane's crampons were very similar to mine (only more expensive) so he tightened mine and then just looped back through the excess cord and tied it in a knot. My dad kept trying to argue with him about how it wasn't right but i didn't really care how they were on, as long as they stayed. So throughout the beginning of the hike, Dane told me that I'd be the judge on whose knot was better; a fireman's knot (Dane's) or a policeman's knot (my dad's).
Below, video with Dave the "cerebral palsy hiker"








The next stop we made was at the meadow. We put our stuff under an awning against one of the little cabins and took a break. I ate a chalky peanut butter brownie. Dane drank some of his infamous dog food colored energy drink stuff and had me feel his new reflective shirt. It was a royal blue color and it had this kind of reflective material in it and gave it a different texture. It was cool though because he took it in the cabin and the little bit of light coming in made the shirt totally glow. Then we all got together and took another group picture.


*top: Me with my brownie in my mouth at the cabin




*Bottom: Dane after he shed some layers of clothing holding his drink and Dave



Above is Dane, Me, my dad, and Dave. Notice the height difference between me and Dane? Yeah, that's exactly what the height difference between me and Anze Kopitar is, and maybe add an inch. Anywho, we kept going through the snow which was still falling harder. My dad had asked Dane and to get a picture of him and me from the waist up. They took the picture and then started mumbling and giggling afterward and I could hear them saying "no, we're going to get a picture from the waist down." They were being sarcastic but i still couldn't figure out why they were giggling so much. It bugged me the whole way up and I didn't find out until I got home that I was the butt of the joke... Apparently when they were laughing about the "waist down" thing, Dane decided to take one from the waist down anyway.


We took a few more pictures as we got close to our next break spot called Poop Out Hill. Dave decided to throw himself in the snow and make a snow angel, we all laughed though when he got up because his back was covered in snow and he didn't know it.




When we got to Poop Out Hill, my right leg was hurting where my femur and hip connect. It had been hurting for over a week already and it still hurts now. So my dad looked for some aspirin but he only had 600mg pills and he didn't want to give me any of those. Dane though had tons of Advil because his sister is a rep for them. So after he made some yellow snow behind a tree, Dane gave me two 200mg Advil. I also took one of his Pringles but then he came back and gave me another one because he told me "you can't have just one." San Gorgonio wasn't able to be seen due to the low clouds, fog, and falling snow. But then suddenly a huge gust of wind came and blew out all the clouds. Wala! You could see the mountain! Everyone rushed for pictures before the clouds came back. After pictures, Dane passed out some of his Teryaki Beef Jerky. I particularly wasn't too found of beef jerky but I was hungry, and food was food. As i would later find out, I loved that jerky.

*Top to bottom: My dad and I, Dane, San Gorgonio

We had a long way to go from here. We were basically hiking all the way to the bottom left corner of the mountain. A total of 6 miles each way (up and down). Along the way we ran into three boys around the age of 19. They were coming back from Dollar Lake (complete opposite side from where we were going). My dad told them about how he does a podcast about hiking and whatnot and asked them if he could interview them. Dave started laughing and I just shook my head and turned away. As he was interviewing them (using his digital audio recorder), me, Dave, and Dane just stood and listened. My dad had occasionally asked me if my leg was still hurting. It was. Dane searched through his backpack and pulled out two more 200mg Advil and put them in my hand. He pulled my water bottle out of my backpack and handed that to me too. "Two more aren't going to hurt you," he told me. I swallowed the two transparent teal pills and drank some water. He handed me some more jerky. "The salt will taste really good," he said, handing me a piece. I took it without protest and slowly chewed it. It kept me occupied having something to chew. But all too soon the interview with the boys was over and we had to keep going again. I really felt that when we hit the next meadow I was going to be done, but nobody else seemed to be as tired as me. In the picture to the right, you can see the fog and cloud bank coming in from below.

We hit the meadow and had to cross the beginning of the Santa Ana river. It was really cool because some parts of the stream had frozen over like a waterfall and the ice was in smooth swoops. Dane stepped off the path a little to get a picture.

Here I am with Dave in the background, watching Dane trying to cross the stream. We didn't stop here though. We decided to take the "shorter but steeper" route to Dry Lake through the gully. We climbed for what I felt like was forever. I collapsed to my knees and just stayed there on my hands and knees for a few minutes. My dad, who was behind me with Dane, yelled up to see if i was okay. I didn't say anything but used my poles to lift myself to my feet. Dave was way ahead of us and I just tried to keep up. Dane caught up with me and we waited for my dad to catch up. He was yelling down to my dad that his money was on me that I'd beat my dad to the top. He kept telling me that throughout the climb through the gully and tried to motivate me. It worked some of the times, other times it just didn't seem to matter because I was literally wheezing. My vocal cords were making their own noise as I was breathing. The gully didn't seem to end. Dane would stay behind me and tell me he could see the end but when I looked up, all I was saw more snow and trees. He stopped and told everyone to keep going because he had to go make yellow snow. I shuffled my way forward, my feet taking steps no larger than 8 inches at a time. I was moving at an ant's pace. But then Dane caught up again and passed up my dad. He came up from behind me and then I suddenly felt my pack get lighter. Dane was behind me pushing on my pack, making my load easier. "You don't have to speed up," he told me. "It should just take six or seven pounds off your back." If my leg wasn't killing me I probably would have done better, but Dane's 800mg of Advil just wasn't cutting it. But Dane continued to push me along until we saw the sign for Dry Lake. My hopes went up. Dave had gotten there first and Dane and I caught up after him. We just needed to wait for my dad. We took pictures next to the sign to prove we had gotten there. I tried to smile, I really did. But the face I made in the picture was all I could manage.

Thank you, Dane (left), for the push. I really needed it.

When we actually reached Dry Lake, Dane walked out into the untouched snow. "Katie, you're going to have to save me if I fall in," Dane told me as he walked out. Like hell I would, I was too tired. I stood there with Dave as Dane walked out and made fresh footprints into the shin-deep snow. He started to make a shape in the snow and then walked back out the way he had come in. It was a heart. I giant snow heart. Which actually turned out very nice.

I drank some super hot chicken noodle soup that my dad brought and ate some snacks.

Video of me, Dave, and Dane at the lake

Dane tossed me a Ziploc back with a bunch of white capsules in it. "Take three," he said. I pulled out three and took them, not bothering to ask what it was until after I took them. "What is it?" I asked. "Pure salt. Sea Salt, you need the electrolytes," he told me. He had been telling Dave about them at the sign and how he usually puts them in his water, but forgot to this time. I looked over at him as he swallowed his capsules and then tossed the bag back to him. Only, I missed. The Ziploc bag hit Dave (who was sitting between us) right in the face. It humored everyone. "Nice!" Dane laughed. Even Dave laughed too.

Dave (above) lying in the dirt against their creaky tree. Dane (below) looks like he's saying "what the hell are you doing?"

We rested for about 45 minutes before heading back down. It took us probably over an hour to get up the stupid gully and only maybe 15 minutes to come down. Dane kept telling me that it would be a breeze coming back down. I hadn't believed him when he told me, but I knew I should trust him. He was right. Easy it was. It took a total of about 5 hours from the car to the top, and 2 hours and 15 minutes to get down. I was actually looking forward to seeing those horrible smelly bathrooms at the bottom.

With his completely covered face, Dane was making me laugh the whole way down. He looked kinda scary at first, but it was funny.

It was icy though on the way down and Dave didn't have and crampons or snowshoes. I was leading the pack on the way down but I stopped when I heard Dane yell "hurry! get a picture!" Dave had slipped and fallen on the ice and was just getting up. We all thought it was hilarious the first time, but then he fell again and stayed on the ground. We thought he broke his hand at first, but he slowly got up and was okay. I offered him my snowshoes since they had a little bit of crampons on the bottom and it would make my pack lighter, but he insisted he was fine. Dane had to hold Dave though the rest of the way down to help him over the icy spots. We all joked that Dane should get a job at the convalescent home helping old people, because that's what it looked like with Dave. All Dave needed was a walker with the tennis balls on the bottom and he'd be good to go. At least that what it looked like by the way Dane was helping him along. He looked like he was walking an old man across the room or something.

The plants lower down had a fresh covering of snow. I saw one plant with snow that had been blown to the side, making it look thorny with snow. I put my mouth over it and licked a little snow off. My dad thought it reminded him of when the kid gets his tongue stuck to the pole so he had Dane take a picture. It was actually quite tastey. "It's probably actually really fresh," Dane said as he put his mouth around a snow-covered branch. He sucked off the snow and swallowed it. I had also gotten him to try a few pine needles up the gully too. I tried some the time before and my dad would eat any. Bear Grylls had eaten some so I wanted to try. Dane just thought they were bitter.

Video: Nearing the end, me, then Dave shaking his head saying "Katie, Katie, Katie" (he joked that it was all about me in the pictures), and Dane. I dunno why he stopped at the end, but it reminds me of a ad for an Everest Expedition

I peed at Poop Out Hill on the way back. Dane took my pack for me and everyone waited for me over the hill. We got back to the car soon after and were on out way back home. It was really foggy and dark and we could only see a few feet in front of the car. We eventually got back to the ranger station where we would be dropping off Dane. "Am I moving back up to the front seat?" I asked my dad as Dane was getting out. "If you're smart," Dane replied. Dane shook hands with Dave and my dad and then reached around to sake mine. When he took my hand, he held it for a few minutes and said to me, "geez, you're hands are freezing." I had tried to warm them up in my Angels blanket I brought with me but it didn't help much.

I collapsed on the couch when I got home. My feet were sore, my leg was killing me, and I felt like I was getting blisters. I fell a little better I guess today but I'll probably still be limping a little tomorrow at school.

R.I.P. Heath Ledger. You were too young.