Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Walking California

Carlisle Pryce is a naturalist. Old school. He reserves for himself one day every week and hikes seven, eight, nine miles. He paints and takes photographs. He knows the names and characteristics of all the plants and animals he sees. He knows weather. Three, four times a year Pryce hikes for ten days -- meaning, he drives to the end of the road, parks his Honda, straps on a backpack, and walks into the bush. Walks ten days. Almost always in California, almost always in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Pryce is tall, 6 foot 6, has longish white hair and beard, fierce black eyes with a basketball player's physique, and a Harvard Ph.D. in his back pocket. He's been walking California for the past 51 years. We're sitting at his round oak dining room table talking about the October hike. Kick off was Kennedy Meadows in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. This time he was accompanied by his son and two friends.

I ask, "You knew you were going to hit snow?"

"We knew we could; we didn't know we would hit it as much as we did. We had three days and three nights of snow and high winds. The wind was a killer.

"The first day of high wind, we walked eight or nine miles. It got pretty bad. We stopped, got in our sleeping bags, only got out to fix dinner. The next morning we stayed in our bags. Finally, at 11 o'clock, we decided we had to move.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"One of the guys was showing altitude sickness. The triggering event was getting chilled to the bone by the wind. I wasn't prepared for the wind. The wind was picking up rocks the size of quarters and skipping them uphill.

"The insidious thing on this trip was, we went in on horses. The idea was to get dropped off and walk back. Going in, your gear is on pack mules, and the packers don't like to stop. And we all wanted to go as far as possible in one day.

"When you're going in, you're going up in altitude. You're in a very dry atmosphere, sunlight is bouncing up off rocks and so on. You're getting significant radiation. Your tissues are going to swell, and the liquids are going to have to go somewhere. At the same time, you're working off the adrenaline and thrill of being on the hike. It's windy and you're perspiring. If you're wearing cotton, the wind will chill you down to your skin."

I can picture that. "And everybody says to themselves, 'I'm not walking, I'm not carrying anything.'"

Carlisle nods. "Everyone pushes it. And once you're there, you run around like a bunch of monkeys because it's so good to be there."

"Were you surprised when you realized you had altitude sickness?"

"No; I was disappointed. My son got it first. I should have noticed. His pace started getting smaller and smaller and smaller. The last three days he was taking 12-inch steps; he was really suffering."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Either your lungs or your brain fills up with liquid. In your brain, you get severe headaches. That's the one to look out for. If that happens, you do whatever you have to do to get him out. You've got to get him down to 7500, 7800 feet."

"Helicopters, medivac?"

"Anything. In this case, my lungs filled up as did his. We were coughing continuously. I was coughing up a bit of blood.

"The other problem is, you stop breathing. Suddenly, you're starved for oxygen, and you start breathing very quickly. Then, the next thing you know you're not breathing again. When people get altitude sickness, they're so sick they don't want to eat. You have to force them to eat and drink and rest. Hard to do with grown men.

"I knew we had to get to a lower altitude. We were above the timberline and needed to get to where we could burn firewood. We walked all day and found a suitable campsite after dark.

"We spent two nights there, burned wood, put a tarp around the fire, trying to keep the worst of the wind away. Drank a lot of cocoa and a lot of soup. Finally, it looked as if the storm was going to lift, so we started walking out. We still had to make our way over two passes that were more than 10,000 feet high.

"I chose a route out that was closest to the trail that all the packers use. I was hoping we'd meet a packer on his way in because they carry radios."

"We did. He radioed the office and told them we were coming out. The foreman radioed back and asked, 'Do they look as if they can make it on their own?' Packers are smart; they've seen real train wrecks up there. The wrangler said he thought we'd make it."

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance

Carlisle Pryce is a naturalist. Old school. He reserves for himself one day every week and hikes seven, eight, nine miles. He paints and takes photographs. He knows the names and characteristics of all the plants and animals he sees. He knows weather. Three, four times a year Pryce hikes for ten days -- meaning, he drives to the end of the road, parks his Honda, straps on a backpack, and walks into the bush. Walks ten days. Almost always in California, almost always in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Pryce is tall, 6 foot 6, has longish white hair and beard, fierce black eyes with a basketball player's physique, and a Harvard Ph.D. in his back pocket. He's been walking California for the past 51 years. We're sitting at his round oak dining room table talking about the October hike. Kick off was Kennedy Meadows in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. This time he was accompanied by his son and two friends.

I ask, "You knew you were going to hit snow?"

"We knew we could; we didn't know we would hit it as much as we did. We had three days and three nights of snow and high winds. The wind was a killer.

"The first day of high wind, we walked eight or nine miles. It got pretty bad. We stopped, got in our sleeping bags, only got out to fix dinner. The next morning we stayed in our bags. Finally, at 11 o'clock, we decided we had to move.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"One of the guys was showing altitude sickness. The triggering event was getting chilled to the bone by the wind. I wasn't prepared for the wind. The wind was picking up rocks the size of quarters and skipping them uphill.

"The insidious thing on this trip was, we went in on horses. The idea was to get dropped off and walk back. Going in, your gear is on pack mules, and the packers don't like to stop. And we all wanted to go as far as possible in one day.

"When you're going in, you're going up in altitude. You're in a very dry atmosphere, sunlight is bouncing up off rocks and so on. You're getting significant radiation. Your tissues are going to swell, and the liquids are going to have to go somewhere. At the same time, you're working off the adrenaline and thrill of being on the hike. It's windy and you're perspiring. If you're wearing cotton, the wind will chill you down to your skin."

I can picture that. "And everybody says to themselves, 'I'm not walking, I'm not carrying anything.'"

Carlisle nods. "Everyone pushes it. And once you're there, you run around like a bunch of monkeys because it's so good to be there."

"Were you surprised when you realized you had altitude sickness?"

"No; I was disappointed. My son got it first. I should have noticed. His pace started getting smaller and smaller and smaller. The last three days he was taking 12-inch steps; he was really suffering."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Either your lungs or your brain fills up with liquid. In your brain, you get severe headaches. That's the one to look out for. If that happens, you do whatever you have to do to get him out. You've got to get him down to 7500, 7800 feet."

"Helicopters, medivac?"

"Anything. In this case, my lungs filled up as did his. We were coughing continuously. I was coughing up a bit of blood.

"The other problem is, you stop breathing. Suddenly, you're starved for oxygen, and you start breathing very quickly. Then, the next thing you know you're not breathing again. When people get altitude sickness, they're so sick they don't want to eat. You have to force them to eat and drink and rest. Hard to do with grown men.

"I knew we had to get to a lower altitude. We were above the timberline and needed to get to where we could burn firewood. We walked all day and found a suitable campsite after dark.

"We spent two nights there, burned wood, put a tarp around the fire, trying to keep the worst of the wind away. Drank a lot of cocoa and a lot of soup. Finally, it looked as if the storm was going to lift, so we started walking out. We still had to make our way over two passes that were more than 10,000 feet high.

"I chose a route out that was closest to the trail that all the packers use. I was hoping we'd meet a packer on his way in because they carry radios."

"We did. He radioed the office and told them we were coming out. The foreman radioed back and asked, 'Do they look as if they can make it on their own?' Packers are smart; they've seen real train wrecks up there. The wrangler said he thought we'd make it."

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Next Article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.