As promised I'm here to talk about our eleven miler from hell. John and I still being intermediate level on the eleven milers thought we would put another under our belt. I had to keep in mind my best friend, fore she was not used to these miles upon miles hikes (except for the time we got lost at Squire Castle, but that's a different blog post). When I was looking into hikes I figured this would be one of our easier eleven milers yet. We've done two involving steep inclines. One of those involved an over 6,000 foot incline that we felt like we were dying at the end of it. This one the highest elevation incline was 300 feet. I can do 300 feet in my sleep. After convincing the best friend to go on this wild exertion with us since it was the only hike with the best view of Pictured Rocks itself, we embarked on our journey.
The first time we had seen a sign for stable flies was at Twelve Mile Beach. The sign said if it was warm and humid there would be a potential for these suckers to be out. No bug repellant could hold them back. These things were truly from the fiery pits of hell. We shrugged this sign off because it was supposed to be cooler the whole trip. We don't have to worry about them. They won't be out.
Fast forward to the day of the hike. Chapel Loop Trail. This trail was technically 10.6 miles round trip (but there were a couple of times we diverted to see the sights). The biggest sights this trail had was Chapel Falls, Chapel Rock, Chapel Beach, Mosquito Beach, and if you are feeling real spunky Mosquito Falls. This trail has ample views of the Pictured Rock rock faces with little overlooks here and there.
This was the warmest day on the whole trip. Seventy five degrees, and feeling pretty good after being in the fifties the day before. That day we put DEET on to keep the community of mosquitos at bay, and headed out on the trail. That first three miles were great. It was cool underneath the trees. There was a few mosquitos that were pests here and there, but it wasn't too bad. It was great. Thought it was a piece of cake.
When we got to Chapel Beach we all stopped on this bridge where a little water feature was located. You could divert to the beach from there, which is what my partner and I did. My best friend on the other hand. She had not. For a good five minutes I was in full mother hen panic mode. We didn't have service out there to call each other. I checked the beach three or four times. John went further up the trail incase she didn't see that we turned off. I told him I would stay and wait at the beach in case she turned up. I was going through worse case scenarios. What if we can't find her? Would she make her way back to the car? Would we find each other?
All of a sudden John and Crystal turn up from the trail. Sure enough she didn't see us turn off and just kept going. It sounds like she had the same panic mode as I did. I wasn't keeping her out of my sight after that. Even when the flies kicked her into fifth gear down the trail.
Side note this was also the first time Crystal got to experience the more primitive toilets that some trails may have. All I could tell her is they will never compare to the ones at Supai Tunnel on the North Kaibab Trail (will post about that trail later).
Chapel Beach was the start of the hell. We left that beach and started to notice the flies. It was like all of a sudden we crest a hill and there they were. They weren't as bad to me as they were to John and Crystal. We joked that it had something to do with their sweet tooths and my saltiness.
Any time we would try to enjoy an overlook there the flies were. It was getting to the point that both of them were about to let me fend for myself since I wanted to stop and take pictures. They would be on you like a bag of shit if you stopped anywhere on the trail. These flies were so bad that they were biting through Crystal's leggings. John and Crystal wore their rain jackets to keep them off their arms.
We found an overlook where you could go on the rocks. We thought we would be safe with the wind blowing as hard as it was. We were for a minute. The flies soon learned that we were there, and swarmed us. Every outlook after that if you so much as moved away from the comforts of the forest you could legitly see the flies starting to swarm in on you. It was like something out of a horror movie.
We couldn't stop for breaks. Usually when we hike an eleven miler we try to take breaks here and there to feel less like we are dying. That wasn't an option with the flies. By mile seven I could feel my feet ache. All of our feet ache. The hike at this point felt like it was going to last forever.
When we finally got to mosquito beach we didn't even stop. I stopped for a brief moment to take a picture, but that was it. We were tired at this point. We were just ready to be off the trail. That last mile or two wasn't bad with flies, but the mosquitos threatened to come out. We could understand why they called it mosquito beach and mosquito falls.
The trailhead was a blessing to us. I had never been so thrilled to see a trailhead in all my life. We were all just ready to sit down in the car, and just process what happened. I won't ever forget what my best friend told me after that. The hike changed me. I honestly think that hiked changed all of us. Our perspective, and to be prepared for any situation.
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