Two Upper Cherries in a Day
I watched the black kayak in front of me disappear as it was engulfed in a sea of Manzanita. The midday sun beat down on us. I heard Ben Coleman grunt with effort as he picked up his kayak and put it back on his shoulder, safely through the first patch of bushes. I blinked sweat out of my eyes and plunged into the thicket Coleman had just navigated. We were in the midst of another masochistic project in the Sierra. This one had all the familiar ingredients-- sleep deprivation, lots of hiking in the dark, sour candy and the kind of vision questing that can only be found by running scary class V 14 hours into your day. Our goal was simple; complete Upper Cherry, including the hike via West Cherry, the river, and the five mile paddle across Cherry Lake, twice in a day. Ben Coleman, affectionately referred to as the “Phantom of the Sierra”, has spent more time paddling the rivers of the High Sierra than anyone in the last several decades. 25 years earlier, he completed the first...