Week 5 of my top-secret weekly trail diary coming your way!
I’ve been posting my journal daily, cell service-permitting, On Instagram @alandanielchapman
Please forgive any misspellings, etc. I’m using voice to text and fat thumbs to write this on my phone, while also trying not to get swept away in a stream.
Day 29 // Miles today: 17, Total: 785.5
Woke up for the Mount Whitney side quest at 12:30 am and was hiking by 12:50. I encountered first snow 3 miles in, at which point I saw a magical trail of maybe a dozen red and white headlamps going up the set of switchbacks in the distance. 5 1/2 miles up I used my ice axe a half a dozen times to punch holes on snowy no-fall zones. Microspikes weren’t totally necessary but I used them a couple times. I love hearing the tinking of micro spikes and ice axes as people work their way up the mountain.
Finally got hungry around 13,500 feet. This led me to my highest elevation pop tart of my life. Beyond the switchback section and junction with the trail that leads to Whitney portal, it was largely a walk up to the summit. That said there was a fresh layer of dip n dot like snow that added a minor challenge to finding the route.
Summited at 5 AM pretty much on the nose. There were probably a dozen people on the summit by the time I had arrived. Put on all my layers, including my quilt and chatted with some new friends from Madison Wisconsin. The sun came up 30 minutes later and it was complete magic. The newly risen sun illuminated the sea of mountains in which we find ourselves.
When I was thoroughly convinced that the sun had risen, and I could barely feel my fingers, I began the descent. The fatigue from waking up early and from the hard climb caught up to me within a couple miles of camp. So I was very excited to lay down in my tent, when I got back at 9:30 AM, that was already set up. Tried to rest for about 45 minutes, which worked to some degree and then packed up camp and started moving north.
The plan for the rest of the day was to log some actual PCT miles (though the Mount Whitney adventure was 16 miles long. None of those are on the PCT), to see how some of these water crossings are going to be, and to see how horrible attempting a pass midday is. There are several good reasons why most folks try to do the passes and water crossing first thing in the morning. I’m curious to know just how bad it can be.
The crossings were ok (Wright, Tyndall, and Bubbs), though between these and postholing my feet were wet and cold all afternoon.
The pass (Forester) was pretty rough. The approach involved a lot of route finding slogging through marsh. The actual pass was tough but manageable on the ascent and the descent was 100% snow and postholing. A super beautiful pass though. My dang bear canister keeps slipping out of my top loop though – it did so while I was nearing the top of the pass! It’s making me nervous.
Continued on to camp, exhausted from the Whitney/Forester double, did my chores, and passed out.
Day 30 // Miles today: 25.3, Total: 810.8
Snoozed my alarm twice before getting up and moving. Packed it all up and put on my freezing cold, wet socks, and shoes, and prepared to hit the trail. Plan for the day is to cross Glen and Pinchot passes. The latter will be late in the day so conditions could be similar to Forrester.
Had a lovely early morning break to gather water, make some coffee, and jam the bear canister inside my pack. The latter greatly alleviated my stress.
Glen pass wasn’t too challenging on the way up, due to crispy early morning snow. Descending the north side was a taller order – it was steep and snow covered, for which I was glad to have my ice axe and microspikes.
Two river crossings en route to Pinchot Pass presented a moderate challenge, Baxter and White Fork. Each were mid-thigh and poles were wobbling in the flow pretty well.
Pinchot Pass essentially began at the really cool Woods Creek suspension bridge that wobbles as you walk, climbing from 8,500 to over 12,000 feet. The toughest part of that pass was the sustained climb. I poked over the pass as the sun was setting and set up camp a few miles later when I could find a non-snow covered tent space.
Day 31 // Miles today: 26.9, Total: 837.7
Immediately drenched my feet with a couple stream crossings. The scariest of them all so far was the south Fork of the Kings River. When encountered with the traditional stream crossing, I started across, but got a little sketched out. At that precise moment, a hiker showed up and told me he was taking the alternate. I decided to join him for a mile worth of hiking upstream until I found a more optimal crossing.
Over the last few days I’ve encountered a few solo hikers like that, including another one this morning, who are kind but are on the taciturn side. On the flipside people in trail families tend to be friendly, but also their trail family is established. So it’s a little bit like how I imagine dating as an adult – Those that are linked up are not looking others to join and those that aren’t may prefer solitude.
Mather pass went swimmingly. Going down the other side did my first real glissading. The first one felt borderline out of control with a rock at the bottom that I slowed down enough to not have go up my butt. The second two were pretty fun. Worked my way down and ate an 8 ounce log of summer sausage during a foot care/shoes off break by Palisade Creek.
Had a pretty rough afternoon. Probably the darkest of the trip so far. I got on a mental wavelength of worrying about not being able to charge my phone (my power banks are running low), the constant missing family, worrying about having enough calories to make it to VVR, etc. feels even dumber to feel this way while in paradise.
An instance of trail Magic by a mother-daughter team who had packed in a bunch of dehydrated food broke me out of my funk temporarily. They were so nice and let me charge my phone a bit and left with the equivalent of another dinner so I’m less worried about food.
Soldiered on about five more miles climbing 3000 feet to camp 2 miles from Muir pass – which I’ll bop over first thing in the morning. Hope I’m in a better mood.
Day 32 // Miles today: 27.7, Total: 865.4
Laid in the tent for a good 30 minutes after I woke up. Took my time and got everything packed up. Got my icy, cold, wet socks on and shoes and started my way up Muir pass. It was an easy trudge for a couple miles before I reached the hut on top. Signed the logbook inside as well as a trail confessional and started off down the north side. The snow is still firm enough to be able to support my weight although I did posthole quite a few times going down. Overall not too bad.
Hiked with my friend du jour Pigpen a good chunk of the day from about a mile past Muir pass and along evolution creek. She’s been doing van life in Maine and building trails there for the last year since completing the Appalachian Trail. Such an adventurous spirit. She wasn’t trying to, but she convinced me to starve for a day in order to make it to mammoth to resupply and skip VVR. We hiked all day together until the final climb up to Selden pass.
Today was a roller coaster high point. Much better than yesterday – maybe just one more day of recovery from the Whitney peak-Forester pass double?
Finished the day feeling grateful, settling up camp in a picturesque spot overlooking Sallie Keyes lakes, and eating some delicious beans and rice plus roasted corn from yesterday’s trail magic.
Day 33 // Miles today: 26.5, Total: 891.9
Awake by 5:45 AM packed up and heading up Selden pass by 6:30. It got cold overnight and frost was everywhere this made for relatively easy traverse of the past as every bit of snow was solid as a rock. On the far side of Selden, I met a fellow hiker wearing shorts, knee-high gaiters, and microspikes from Victoria BC Canada. His name is seven. We spent most of the day hiking together, doing the scariest river crossing – Bear Creek – in the process. A number of people were scoping it out and turning around to do an alternate. We felt confident in the line that we picked, and we executed it well (water was at about testicle-level).
We rolled together for much of the way to VVR where he said goodbye and I continued my day up silver pass. This pass went on for a long time. The snow was soft as predicted, and the north side was real slushy. Did my best to slide my way down to where snow became patchy and nonexistent.
The goal today was to get within striking distance of Mammoth, ideally within about 15 miles. The camp spot I was gunning for required a burly 1000 foot climb – the shattered bear can was found at the bottom of the switchbacks. Thankfully views to the east were stunning and I was able to muscle my way up the hill, wolf down dinner, do all the chores, lay down, and pass out.
Day 34 // Miles today: 12.5, Total: 904.4
There’s no more refreshing way to start your day than the combination of putting your feet into wet socks/frozen solid shoes and using an ice cold backcountry bidet.
Got going today with a high level of stoke for getting into town. Ate the last of my calories at about 10 AM. I survived! Feeling proud about the calorie rationing that I did over the last few days to make it to mammoth. The trail to the junction to horseshoe Lake – the exit point for Mammoth – was very cruisy. It felt like the southern California section.
Caught the trolley just as it was about to leave and wrote it into town around 1 PM. Stopped at the first food option I could find which was mammoth brewing Company. I walked in and one of the employees ask oh you work here now? Apparently, I’ve gone totally feral, and I have no ability to relate to human rules anymore – I had walked behind the bar area.
Did my town chores, including checking into the hostel, mailing home my ice ax and microspikes, laundry, and grocery shopping. Ate two separate dinners – a burger and later pizza. Chatted about life with a great guy from Reno named Daniel while what sounded like the beginning of ww3 was on the news in the next room over. Went to bed about an hour past hiker midnight.
Day 35 // Miles today: 23.7, Total: 928.1
Today was a weird one. Last night was rough. My roommate at the hostel was sick as a dog and was up all night coughing. I groggily rolled out of bed a little after 6 and went to a breakfast place (good life cafe) I go to whenever in mammoth. Mowed a breakfast burrito and three cups of coffee before heading to catch the trolley back to the trailhead at 9 AM.
Dropped off at the trailhead at 9:30 AM and began the 3.5 mile hike back to the PCT. Rejoined the trail by 10:45 AM. Let’s get back to business!
Cruised to Reds Meadow, which is a ghost town due to construction along the road that passes through. Took the detour around the official PCT that avoids crossing the middle Fork San Joaquin river, as the bridge that crosses it has been destroyed. The bridge is indeed gone. But I was a little bummed to have missed the official PCT as fording the river would not have been a huge challenge.
Ran a little low on energy mid afternoon and took the time to eat a bunch of food. At that point, a fellow hiker came along and we started chatting. I didn’t particularly enjoy it or his company and before we knew it we had gone almost 2 miles on the river trail , which parallels the PCT.
Kelly and the kids and I have a plan to rendezvous at Sonora Pass the evening of 6/16. It’s been dawning on me how ambitious this is as it requires 118 miles of hiking in four days in the Sierra. These miles on the wrong trail got me thinking about how I have to get there by that time. I miss them so badly that the idea of missing out on a night together and me having to camp and then pick me up the next morning is devastating.
Adding to that, the climb out of Agnew meadows is a place that Kelly and I had camped in 2022. Seeing one of our campsites and feeling the flood of memories that came back upon seeing it, including her digging up someone’s else’s cat hole, made me pretty much lose it. I resolved to do however much night hiking I need to do between now and the 16th in order to make this work. I miss my best friends so much. Soaked the tears out of my beard the same way I do when it’s sweat, with the wool liner gloves that I’ve been wearing to keep my finger tips from sunburning, and kept hiking.
At some point, I decided that I wanted to go with the original plan of camping within a couple miles of Donahue pass. So I ended up hiking until a little after 10 PM. Generally a nice night hike with minimal issues, navigating snow and beautiful views of places like thousand Island lake. In the interest of getting to sleep as soon as possible I cowboy camped, ate about 10 handfuls of goldfish crackers, didn’t brush my teeth, and went to sleep.
