Mile 942.5, Day 84

Day 63 – Day 65 Kennedy Meadows to Cottonwood Pass (5/30– 6/1):

Wildfoot (Diana), Fiber King (Joe), and I set out from Kennedy Meadows loaded down with bear canisters, but in high spirits to finally be in the Sierra. Kerrie’s plantar fasciitis was horribly bad for the last week, and was only getting worse, so she ended up leaving the PCT from Kennedy Meadows. We didn’t find out until we got cell service, and many tears were shed 😦 Luckily she lives close to trail so we’ll get to see her a lot, and she will join us for sections when her feet recover.

The first day out of Kennedy Meadows felt magical: the air was thinner, the temperature was cooler, and we camped at 10,000 feet for the first time on the PCT! There was supposed to be a visible meteor shower that night, so we cowboy camped and set our watch alarms for 10pm. Unfortunately, I was sleeping too deeply and never woke up to my alarm!! I was pretty bummed, but I guess I needed the sleep. It was also in the 20s that night, so I was pretty proud that we survived cowboy camping.

The next few days were filled with beautiful bristlecone pines, crisp cool temperatures, and fighter jets zooming VERY closely and loudly overhead.

We exited out at Horseshoe Meadows to get to Lone Pine to resupply. It’s much harder to get to and from towns in the Sierra because our trailheads are 20+ miles and thousands of feet of elevation away from towns. After a stressful and expensive resupply in Lone Pine, we spent 3.5 hours trying desperately to hitch back to our trailhead to begin hiking our next section. More and more PCT hikers joined our hitchhiking attempt to get back to trail. Luckily, just when we were about to quit the PCT entirely (kidding), a kind person in a big old sprinter van offered to pile all 9 of us hikers in and drive us an hour out of his way back to trail! The saying is: the trail provides.

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Day 66 – Day 70 Cottonwood Pass to Kearsarge Pass (6/2– 6/6):

After hitching back to trail, we officially entered the High Sierra and were greeted with our first pass, Cottonwood Pass, and our first beautiful high altitude alpine lake, Chicken Spring Lake. It felt just SO good to be back in the Sierra. After 2 months of desert hiking, worrying about water, and a lot of sun and heat, it felt so nice to be in the mountains with bountiful water. One quote of the day was: “we hiked 750 miles to get here, was this worth it?” -Joe looking at an incredibly stunning view of Chicken Spring Lake. “I don’t think so, Washington has way better views” -Shower Shakedown, an awesome 67 year old man who we’ve known since Day 8- that apparently has experienced much better views 🙂

On Day 67 we reached Crabtree Meadows, which would be our home-base for our sunrise summit of Mt. Whitney. We slept for a few hours and left at 12:30am. It was absolutely beautiful hiking under the full night sky (complete with the Milky Way) for most of our ascent. We hiked by headlamp and were joined by around 20 other PCT hikers with the same sunrise goal. We reached the summit of Mt. Whitney at the perfect time, right before the sun broke over the horizon, and it was STUNNING. Best views of my life! With the wind chill it was under 9 degrees on the summit, and it was absolutely freezing. All of our plans to enjoy a hot meal and relax on the summit were dashed, and I scurried around taking pictures and pacing to stay warm. I never even sat down because it was too cold! After descending the mountain back to my tent, I slept for an hour and then Joe, Diana, and I decided to continue hiking another 5 miles in order to set us up better for climbing Forester Pass the next day.

Forester Pass is the highest point on the PCT (Mt. Whitney is not a part of the PCT) and the views were amazing. It’s fun to experience the Sierra with people who have never seen it, because it allows me to see it through fresh eyes. On the way down we encountered snow and had our first glissade! The snow novelty would eventually wear off, as it also meant wet socks, soggy feet, and ice pieces that fall off my butt when it thaws 5 minutes later.

On Day 70, we hiked out over Kearsarge Pass (which was exhausting) to resupply in Bishop. Sleeping in a bed for a night was so rejuvenating. Wildfoot gave us a very accurate quote of the day when Joe asked her what was wrong and she said “nothing, I just hate walking” as we trudged through town doing our chores. Sometimes hikers hate walking just as much, if not more, than everyone else in town!

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Day 71 – Day 80 Kearsarge Pass to Mammoth (6/7– 6/16):

Holy cow this stretch was a doozy!! Our longest food carry (7.5 days + 1 day extra), heaviest packs, biggest climbs, and most beautiful scenery all in one. This section was pretty hard for me, I think for a couple reasons. Having just completed the John Muir Trail two years ago, everything was honestly TOO fresh in my mind, and I would anticipate what was coming (and how hard it might be). Plus, the snow and many many creek/river crossings made the miles even harder, but that also kept me really mentally present in order to keep my feet dry! I also did most of this section alone because Joe and Diana were going to hike out of the Sierra, so I had pushed on, and I didn’t know that they had decided to stay and were just one day behind me. I camped alone for my first time on the entire PCT, and let me just tell you, it’s way less fun..

That being said, the Sierra was incredibly beautiful and I met many strong and determined PCT hikers. During this week I did 8 passes (Kearsarge again, Glen, Pinchot, Mather, Muir, Seldon, Silver, and Duck Pass to get out to Mammoth). I crossed countless streams and rivers flowing with the might of a lot of snowmelt, and somehow I managed to only get my feet wet 7 times (sometimes I would walk an extra quarter mile to find a fallen log or rocks hop across). Fear of wet feet is a powerful motivator.

The snow was significantly less than it should have been for early June, so I feel lucky to have been able to get through this section without encountering anything too dangerous. The worst pass was Muir Pass because it had miles of snowfields that turned into absolute slush by 9-10am. I woke up at 4:30am to get through the snow while it was still hard, and still barely managed 1-1.5 mph. A more-inspirational quote of the day was “you have much time, but only one life” -Tex, as we did a sketchy rock scramble down, and yes, took our time.

I was absolutely exhausted by the time I hiked out to Mammoth, but it was time for the much anticipated DOUBLE ZERO!! Kerrie got an Airbnb and met us there, Diana and Joe hiked by headlamp to get to town that night, and we had an amazing rest in Mammoth. Kerrie and I met a couple named Nikki and Johnny playing beach volleyball at a local park, and we played doubles against them a couple times. My favorite parents drove all the way from Rocklin to spend a few days in Mammoth while my dad hiked this next section with me.

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Day 81 – Day 84 Mammoth to Tuolumne Meadows (6/17– 6/20):

It was fun to have my dad join me for a this section! It had really beautiful lakes and more gentle climbs. The only downside was that it was FREEZING and quite windy! The big bummer is when it’s that cold we don’t get to have our nice relaxing family dinners (usually the highlight of my day), and instead have to quickly shovel food in our mouths and go to bed before 8pm for warmth. Both of the nights my dad was on trail it dropped into the low 20s, brrr. One quote of the day was “I’m wearing all seven of my layers!” -Dad. He almost got the trail name Bean Dip from this, because bean dip has seven layers. Instead he got the trail name Windshield, because he constantly looked for a wind-break to hide behind for meals, sitting on breaks, and pitching his tent. One night he even ate dinner 20 feet away from us because there was not an adequate wind-break where we were sitting.

BUT, we survived the cold snap and even managed to have some fun 🙂 On Father’s Day we summited Donohue Pass and did extra miles to get out that day, instead of the next morning, in order to avoid becoming a popsicle again (Dad’s words, not mine).

That meant I got another zero day in Mammoth the next day! I got to hang out with my mom and eat some more delicious food. Thanks for visiting Mom and Dad!!