Rush Creek Trail, June Lake

Jesus, it was hard. It wasn't the trail; it was "only" 4.5 miles and 1600 feet gain, a little shorter and a little lower than Castle Crags. Yet I totally pooped out half way up and had to turn around. I wanted to make another half a mile to the switch-backs, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. Then I was blacking out on the way down, I almost thought about pressing the SOS button. I had to sit and lean back against the rock to relax my neck before the blacking out dissipated. When I got up from resting, I was blacking out again and that stopped only when I took the camera off my neck and placed it in the chest clip. 

It was just like the "Ordeal" bike ride in 2018. The common theme is the sun, temperature and the neck. It was 100F then and I was biking fully exposed to the sun most of time. Riding bike puts strain on the neck too, as does the 3 lbs. camera hanging off your neck. So the equation seems to be sun + temperature + neck stress = blacking out. How weird.

I had the same camera on the same neck on Castle Crags trail, so it's not just the camera that stopped me at the half way mark. Castle Crags was in shade half way up. But it was also exposed when the trail began its rocky climb. The sun, temperature and camera was about the same, so that may not be it.

More likely is the fact that I was feeling almost recovered prior to Castle Crags. It could've been the stress from harrowing inverter installation. Or it could've been the 2nd shot of the covid vaccine. For whatever reason I was feeling recovered leading up to the first hobodom trials in Shasta. That improvement must have powered the 5 mile 2000 feet hike to Castle Crags.  Now that improvement has faded, I'm back to struggling. And that would explain the struggle on shaded trails in South Yuba River  as well. 

What that means is that Angel's Landing hike in Zion is unlikely. The best I can hope for is Scout's Lookout for total 4 miles and 1000 feet, which is still outside of my normal limit of 4 miles and 600 feet while on the road. Coyote Gulch in Escalante is also questionable. I probably won't have problem getting there; the terrain is flat other than rappelling down 200 feet at Jacob Hamlin Arch. The problem is getting back. I'll have to trek 2 miles under the sun once I'm out of the gulch. If I'm blacking out there, I'll have no place to hide and rest. I'll have to carry my space blanket and spray bottle.