Week of March 12: March Madness

Every year around March, I have a group of backpacking friends that join me in venturing into the snowy mountains to a Sierra Club backcountry wilderness hut. And every year, we manage to get ourselves into some sort of trouble/adventure.

Two years ago (we skipped last year), we snowshoed to the Benson Hut… a 5 mile steep uphill climb from hell that took over 8 hours and took the spirit out of everyone (especially Brian, thanks to the previous late night alcohol induced munchies satiated by the impaired judgement to eat a month old Jimmy Dean Velveeta cheese dip). When we arrived at the Benson Hut, we ate our dinner and went straight to bed… fun!

Three years ago, we snowshoed to the Ludlow Hut. This time the conditions were perfect and the 6 mile gentle hike took about 3 hours. We all arrived at the hut in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun, drinking beer and wine and playing games. It was at this occasion that Andrea seduced me and lured me into our first kiss… *blush* (and now I’m married, own a house and am blogging!).

Four years ago (pre-Andrea), we snowshoed into the Ludlow Hut. The conditions were nice as well. However, someone (I believe it was Ron) thought that it was a good idea to tow a “Booze Louge”. In Ron’s defense, everyone thought it was a brilliant idea at the time. The “Booze Louge” consisted of a huge cooler full of mostly beers, which was secured to a flimsy plastic K-Mart sled. Initially, Ron was heralded as a visionary hero and we gathered around the “Booze Louge” with pride and gusto. We took turns pulling the “Booze Louge” in teams towards the Ludlow Hut. As the hike went on, we discovered two major flaws to the “Booze Louge” concept. First, the snow conditions were not ideal for pulling a cheap sled, made top heavy by a cooler full of beers. The icy packed snow rocked and jolted the sled and it took a lot of effort to keep the sled on course without topping over. Second, everyone who knew the route to the Ludlow Hut was occupied with the futile attempt of “making the Louge happen”. Thus, our group was led by then first comers (mostly Austin …sorry dude, but I’m calling you out, out of love of course) who simply followed a trail. This trail led us in circles around Miller Lake… a mistake that cost us a few hours of extra hiking and a lot of frustrations and emotional outcries. We finally ditched the “Louge”, packed the beers in our backpacks (not sure why we didn’t do that to begin with) and removed Austin as our guide.

This year, we decided to head back to our familiar Ludlow Hut (we vowed last year never to do Benson Hut again). And this is the rest of the story…

At the trailhead, all ready to go!

We started the hike around 11 AM on Saturday, the day after St. Patrick’s Day. Luke had a slight headache (thanks to the Wild Turkey 101 Boilermaker) but all in all, everyone was fine (with all of us being over 30 yrs of age, our holy Saint Patrick could only get us to muster up a celebratory drink or two before being overcome with the case of drooping eye lids). The hike to the Ludlow Hut started off great. The day was sunny and warm and the trail was well groomed by snow mobile tracks. Everyone was in good spirits including Kodi and Blackberry (Steve and Stephanie’s 13 yr old Chow-Lab mix). About a mile or two into the hike, the snow packed trail became softer and we began to experience some difficulty sinking into the snow. We were seasoned veterans of backpacking in the snow and we promptly put on our snowshoes (Lia and Piera put on back country skis) and continued our trek towards Ludlow. As we marched forward, the snow became increasingly deeper. Even with our snowshoes on, we began to sink knee deep which slowed down our pace. It took a lot of effort to go a hundred steps. At times, we had to dig out members of our party who had fallen into sink holes waist deep and were trapped. The hike got so difficult that we took turns in front “pulling”. We hiked in a single file line towards Ludlow. The person in front would blaze through the fresh powder for as long as s/he could and then step aside, catch his/her breath, let the second in line assume the pull position, let everyone pass and jump in at the back of the line. Nan called this strategy “Cup Cake”. We all “Cup Caked” and arrived at the Ludlow Hut in 5 hours… about 2 hours more than it would have taken under “normal” conditions. The hike was tiring but not difficult. But we were all glad to have made it to the Hut.

A little rest after a few hours of "Cup Caking".

The Ludlow Hut is a two story A-framed wooden structure. The main door is on the ground level which opens to the kitchen / dining / living area. From the outside, there is also a ladder next to the main door which leads to another exterior door that opens directly to the second floor which houses the sleeping quarters. When we arrived at the Ludlow Hut, there was so much snow that the first story was completely buried. Only the snow covered A-frame roof was visible. I would dare to say that unless you’ve been to the hut before, you would have had a real tough time finding it. With so much snow, the second floor became the main level and we entered through the second floor door without even climbing the ladder. From the inside of the second floor, there is a ladder towards the back leading down to the first floor. The second floor also has collapsible floor boards on the sides that open up directly to the first floor. These floor boards act as vents that allow the heat from the downstairs’ two wood burning stoves to flow up.

As the hut was previously unoccupied, it was cold and dark inside. I quickly gathered my headlamp and climbed downstairs to get the stoves going. I could hear everyone upstairs unpacking and settling in. As I gathered kindling for fire, I heard Jen scream which was immediately followed by a “thud”. ‘Perhaps Jen’s backpack had fallen through an open floor board?’ I thought. I turned around and shined my headlamp at the “thud”. It was then I realized that Blackberry had fallen about 12 feet from the second floor. I rushed over to him. Blackberry was getting back up favoring his front right paw with a look of shock on his face. I quickly held him to prevent him from moving. It was clear to me that Blackberry had hurt his paw but I was not able to assess how bad he had hurt it. As I gently touched his paw, I could feel some swelling. Then Steve dashed down the ladder and took Blackberry from me and began to attend to his paw. Steve carefully inspected Blackberry from head to tail. Blackberry was hurt but it appeared that the injury was limited to his right paw. Blackberry had a hard time putting any weight on it but he didn’t cry or whimper at all. He simply had a look of concern on his face and responded at the attention he was getting by wagging his tail. After we calmed Blackberry down and had him lay down, we decided that we would wait until the next morning to see how Blackberry would respond. We simply could not tell how bad his injury was. We gave Blackberry some water, food and a blanket to lie on. Steve and Stephanie kept a close eye on him while managing to cook dinner. As the night went on, Blackberry was more responsive and began to interact more. We all began to feel a little better.

After the long strenuous hike, we enjoyed the dinner very much. Steve and Stephanie had brought two large home made sheets of lasagna while Austin made a delicious tomato and avocado salad as well as garlic bread. We also had two of the finest boxed red wines to enjoy as we spent the night chatting away by the warm fire.

In the morning, Blackberry was still unable to put any weight on his front right paw. There was no way Blackberry was going to be able to hike down on his own. Being over 80 pounds, there was also no way to carry Blackberry on our packs. Steve attempted to fashion a stretcher/sled to pull Blackberry but because of the snow conditions and the lack of adequate material, it was impossible for the sled to stay above the powder. Just a few steps pulling the empty sled during the test run took a lot of effort and time. Safely transporting the injured dog out seemed impossible and risked jeopardizing the safety of Steve or anyone else trying to attempt the rescue ourselves. And there was no way Steve was leaving behind Blackberry to get help. For the first time, we found ourselves not prepared and in need of rescue. The only other realistic alternative was for Steve to remain with Blackberry at the Hut and for the rest of us to get help from Search and Rescue. So Andrea, Brandon, Stephanie, Austin, Kodi and I hastily ate our breakfast, packed up and headed out for help. Luke, Nan, Jen, Lia and Piera left about an hour later, after cleaning up the Hut and leaving Steve and Blackberry enough food and water behind just in case the Rescue was not possible until the day after. Kodi and I were the first to arrive back at the trailhead (the trek down only took about 2 hours since it was all down hill and the trails were groomed from our trip up). I left my backpack on the side of the trailhead and ran a few blocks up the road with Kodi to retrieve my car. By the time I got back to the trailhead with the car, Andrea, Brandon, Stephanie and Austin had made it down. Andrea and Stephanie took the car and headed into town to get some help, while Brandon, Austin, Kodi and I stayed behind at the trailhead to get the other cars and to pack away our gears. As soon as everyone (minus Steve and Blackberry) was back, Brandon, Kodi and I hit the road to meet up with Andrea and Stephanie. We found them at Obexer's Country Market (we are forever grateful for all their help. they were so nice and caring. if you're ever in Homewood, please stop by and give them your business. they have excellent food as well) in Homewood. Andrea and Stephanie were fortunate enough to find the Sheriff there. The Sheriff was in the process of getting the Search and Rescue party ready.

After about 2 hours, the Search and Rescue team hit the trail to rescue Steve and Blackberry. The rescue party consisted of a team of professional from the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue Team. They brought with them a mobile command center, 5 snow mobiles and a snow cat. It took the party over 3 hours to get to the Hut. The snow equipment had difficulty moving through 6 miles of heavy snow. In fact, the snow cat was unable to make the final climb up to the hut and waited at the foot of the hill while the snow mobiles retrieved Steve and Blackberry from the Hut. At the bottom of the hill, Steve and Blackberry were transferred from the snow mobiles to the snow cat for their journey back to town. All in all, the actual rescue took over 4 hours and Steve and Blackberry finally arrived at the command center around 6 PM.

We stopped at one of the frozen lakes for a quick picture and some rest. Notice how nice and sunny it was. 2 seconds after this shot, a storm moved in and started to snow hard!

Austin (right) busy at work making his famous garlic bread. After a long day of hiking, everyone was reallying enjoying dinner!


Jen (in blue) and Stephanie (puffy jacket) proudly displaying their box o'wines! And look what's in my hand... Luke's favorite Wild Turkey 101!


The first floor was completely buried under the snow. We used the wall of snow outside the door as our water source and as our fridge. Here Brandon is scooping some snow to melt into water.


Steve (on left) attended to Blackberry while everyone else looked on with concern.


Everyone slept inside except for Piera who braved the winter cold and slept outside under the stars. Brrrr!

The Search and Rescue's mobile command center getting things ready.

Here is the snow cat with Steve and Blackberry inside as they finally arrived back at the trailhead