Day 80
The author enjoying a free root beer at Vermilion Valley Resort.
When my alarm went off at 5:30am, I got up and noticed that Anna was still asleep. Normally she wakes up 30min before me to make coffee, so I took that as a sign that she needed to sleep. I killed my alarm, and we ended up sleeping in until 7am! Once awake, we slowly packed up, tired and fearful of the already swarming mosquitoes outside. Once we were up and moving, we quickly climbed up and out of the lower-lying area we camped in, and thankfully the dang things abated a bit when we hit the road. The first couple of miles to Ward Lake Campground were pretty hot and exposed due to a burn that had evidently occured in recent years. Ward Lake itself was very pretty though with massive sequoias and loads of campers. As we hiked on, we went in and out of burn areas, dry exposed granite outcroppings, lush mosquito-filled meadows, and various bits of infrastructure. When we eventually hit the turn north towards Mono Hot Springs, we passed by a large aquaduct and saw loads of people soaking despite the warm temperatures. It was right around here where little 5 year old Sean and his kind grandpa pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride! They were headed up to fish in a small pond near Lake Edison, so Vermillion Valley Resort was on their way! They then gave us a ride the remaining 6 miles. Sean immediately adopted Anna as his new best friend while his grandpa told me all about the region and what it was like to hike and fish the area as a kid. After our short ride, we thanked them profusely and got comfortable at VVR.
We immediately ran into Caveman, who we had met on Muir Pass, so we chatted for a bit over lunch before diving into our various chores and relaxation. I strung up one of their hammocks and read for a while and waited for the temperature to cool off a bit. Once it had dropped enough, I grabbed a much needed shower, cleaned my wounds from my fall on Mather Pass, resupplied, and knocked out laundry with Anna. By the time we were done it was already 6pm, so we had dinner with Caveman and watched a bit of game three of the Stanley Cup finals between Edmonton and Florida. Around 7:30pm, the mosquitoes became unbearable, so we called it a night and retreated to our tents. Needless to say, it’s been amazing having a much needed easy day. I think Silver Pass is going to suck based on snow reports, but Mammoth is only two days away!
Day 81
The author fording a decently strong river.
We slept in until around 6:30am when the generator kicked on, and man was it nice to have a relaxing morning! We packed up some of our things and then headed to the main building for breakfast. Everyone there was in good spirits, happy to be out of the high passes and excited for the massive hot breakfasts served at VVR. Since Anna and I’s stomachs were a bit messed up, we split a meal and even then I ended up feeding part of my half to another hiker. After breakfast we hung around for a bit before finishing packing up, loading on to the ferry, and cruising out across Lake Edison. The ferry ride was gorgeous, and we were all joking about just staying on and cruising around the lake all day instead of doing the 3,285ft climb up to Silver Pass…
Once dropped off, we said goodbye to the nice captain, and then everyone rushed off into the woods, eager to make some miles and get over the pass. Anna and I took our time to coat up in bugspray and sunscreen, and then slowly made our way up the trail, still drained and tired from the previous week. Like the rest of the section, the mosquitoes were pretty bad and the trail was flooded, but otherwise the trail conditions were good for once. We forded a few stronger rivers and passed under a waterfall before hitting the final climb to the top. Once at the final section, we were quite relieved to notice that it was largely melted out! For the most part, we were able to stick to dirt, and for the few sections where we had to walk on snow, it was melted enough that the layers were consolidated and packed down meaning no postholing! In fact, this was our first pass where we didn’t have to use ice axes or microspikes! At the top, we had celebratory snacks with Hopper, a hiker from Japan that we had been hiking around since Pinchot Pass. From there, we carefully made our way down the snowier north face of the pass, but again, the snow was nice and compacted, and we made it below the snow without any drama. The next few hours were a blur of hoofing it down to the raging Fish Creek in the valley below and then trudging up the 1,300ft climb to Lake Virginia (mile 893), our intended campsite for the night. We had to hike a bit later than usual, but we wanted to ford the lake’s inlet tonight in order to avoid doing it first thing in the morning. It ended up being just as cold as all of the other spots, but thigh deep, which was rough in the cool evening air. Once forded, we set up the tent in one of the most beautiful spots we’ve ever camped around 6:30pm, had dinner, and then enjoyed the sound of frogs while we watched the brilliant sunset produce incredible colors on the surrounding mountains. Despite the tough climbs, the weather was great and the terrain didn’t try to kill us. Maybe this is how the Sierra is supposed to be?
Day 82
The author taking in the views of Lake Virginia.
Since we are still dead from the past few weeks of hiking, we slept in a but and enjoyed our gorgeous campsite at the edge of Lake Virginia. After breakfast, coffee, and tea were had, we slowly packed up and went on our way. The first few miles were unfortunately frustratingly slow due to snow that had been boot-skied out on the north slope of our ridge. Anna and I were also experiencing an alarming number of GI issues making us question the integrity of our water filter. We pressed on, albiet more slowly, and passed up Purple Lake and Duck Lake, but of which had wet foot crossings. From there we continued on, up and down several ridges until our final climb down to the exit trail to Mammoth, the Horseshoe Lake trail. With soaked shoes and feet, the blowdowns were a bit annoying to navigate, but slowly the trail improved. As we approached the exit point we noticed more and more people out for day hikes or returning to trail. We met a few dogs along the way, and after a last, very sweaty climb, we rolled into Horseshoe Lake day use area. There, we saw people everywhere and learned about how carbon dioxide was seeping from the ground and killing the local vegetation. Weird! We waited around a bit and soaked in the views of the alpine lake before the free trolley arrived and took us into town for free!
On the drive down we passed a number of amazing alpine lakes and bike trails. I will definitely need to come back here! Town itself was a typically ritzy ski town. There were loaded of mountain bikers taking a bus to the top of some converted runs, a few skiers and snowboarders enjoying the last week of runs, and boujee housing everywhere. One sign was proudly advertising small condos for $3.95 million! When we arrived at the other side of town, we promptly checked into our cheap Motel 6, showered, ran laundry, and settled in for the night with takeaway sandwiches from the Mexican market. We had arrived a bit later than planned, but it was amazing to finally be in town, out of the snow and mosquitoes, and to not have to hike tomorrow!
Day 83
One of Mammoth’s free trolleys.
Zero day! We slept in a bit, with me only waking up from the sounds of Anna getting up. Still, we left the room just after 7am in search of coffee for her and breakfast for the both of us. We stopped into a gear shop along the way for fuel, and then ate at “The Breakfast Club” since it seemed like it was one of the few reasonably priced spots in town. After our quick bite, we headed to another gear store where I acquired new shoes and gaiters since mine were shot. We then went into the packed Grocery Outlet followed by Vons to knock out our resupply. Finally done with most of our shopping chores, we went to one more gear store (there are a ton of gear stores in Mammoth!) for my insoles and a new water filter before returning to our room. Back at the hotel, I sprayed our clothes with permethrin as a precaution for the next section and then called my Mom and caught up while it dried. The hotel staff wasn’t a fan of our impromptu yard sale, so I ended up having to carefully relocate it while it was still drying. After my phone call, Anna and I went to dinner with Dario, Deveney, Red Beard, and Tumble. We had not seen D&D since Wrightwood, nor had we really seen Red Beard or Tumble since Sergio’s so it was awesome catching up with everyone! After dinner, Anna and I went back to our room and watched The Dead Don’t Die, which she promptly fell asleep to. It’s annoying that we had so many chores on this zero, but I’m glad we still got to have fun with friends!
Day 84
Miles and miles of mud…
We slept in a bit after our late movie night yesterday, and when we finally did start to move, we grabbed our last showers, packed a few items and then headed across to the street to Schat’s Bakery for donuts and bacon egg and cheese croissants. Afterwards, we came back to our room, wrapped up a few last minute chores, and then grabbed the 11:30am trolley. There was a bit of confusion with the trolley and we ended up needing to make a transfer, but regardless we still arrived back on trail for free just a bit after noon. Gotta love free public transit!
Once back at Horseshoe Lake, we coated up in sunscreen and took a different connector trail to Red’s Meadow to see some new terrain. The connector ended up being a much better trail than the pass trail we took in, so we made it back without much drama (compared to Kearsarge Pass). From there we hopped on the official PCT detour trail to avoid the washed out bridge at the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, which turned out to be an amazing couple of miles of hiking. Super nice, rock-free, freshly cut trail with the gorgeous scenery of Red’s Meadow around us. All of the river crossings had small bridges, so we were even able to keep our feet dry for once! Once the detour ended, we hopped back on the PCT and enjoyed a few more miles of cushy hiking. Since we had gotten a late start, we decided to stop around 5pm at the Agnew Meadows Campground (mile 916). While from afar it seemed like a perfect spot, we quickly found out that the bug pressure was terrible from the nearby stagnant meadow… Needless to say, we got the tent up in record time and quickly got inside of it. The mosquitoes are by far the worst we’ve encountered, and they do not seem phased by our permethrin. Hopefully this is not an omen of the section ahead.
Day 85
A marmot surveys his kingdom on top of Donohue Pass.
Our sleep ended up getting interrupted first by some sort of animal outside and then by nocturnal hikers not speaking quietly in an established campground… Needless to say we were both a bit groggy when we got up at 5:30am. Thankfully, the cooler temperatures had caused the mosquitoes to abate, so we weren’t eaten alive when we broke camp. As we were leaving, we noticed that Hopper had set up his tent nearby as well, but he appeared to be fast asleep. The first few miles were a climb up 1400ft, but it was nice and friendly due to good trail conditions and cool morning temperatures. Once on top, we had our Lenny & Larry cookies for breakfast (this is now basically a ritual) before continuing on. Shortly thereafter we had another 800ft climb up Island Pass, with the gorgeous Thousand Island Lake below. Thankful to have finally found a shady spot with no mosquitoes, we took advantage of an area on Island Pass to have an early lunch before the climb up the much larger Donohue Pass. It was amazing to be able to sit outside in peace for what felt like the first time in days.
After lunch, and a bit fearful of potentially bad pass conditions, we started the climb up around 11:30pm. Thankfully, since we had already done a fair amount of climbing, the final climb up Donohue Pass was only 1400ft and a few miles. We ended up having perfect conditions as there was a nice cool breeze, intermittent shade from clouds, and the trail was 95% snow-free! We did have to do a bit of route finding around snow covered trail, but we still made the pass just a bit after 2pm. On top, we stopped briefly to watch marmots and chat with some other hikers before immediately beginning the descent, fearful that the north side would be buried in snow. Thankfully, after a few hundred feet, we got a good view of the top of the climb down, and except for a few short 10ft-long patches, it was also snow-free! We then took our time climbing down, only stopping for water and the occasional route finding. Best of all, I was able to keep my feet dry all day! Unfortunately, once we were back below treeline, the mosquitoes returned with a vengeance. Once we got to the bottom of the climb in the Tuolumne River valley, we were disappointed to find that the width of the valley was one giant marsh… When we stopped to set the tent up at mile 934.6, we were immediately swarmed despite our permethrin. Since we are now well practiced though, we got the tent up quickly and settled in for the night, once again prisoners in our own tent.
Day 86
Lionell (far left) and Nick (far right) provided us all with trail magic!
Unfortunately some other hikers rolled in very late again, and woke me up by shining their lights directly in our open doored tent, and then proceeding to make a ton of noise around 11pm. So when the alarm went off at 5:30am, our packup was slow and we didn’t hit the trail until a bit after 6am. The trail though, was amazingly friendly. We were able to maintain a quick pace, and the mosquitoes were relatively nonexistent in the morning. We took in awesome views of the Tuolumne River and the surrounding meadows and cliff faces. We saw a number of birds and deer, but surprisingly not much other wildlife or any people for that matter. 8 miles into the day, we were about to cross a footbridge when we saw a smaller (but still large), fuzzy, juvenile bear walk across the bridge! At first, I honestly thought he was a dog until I got a better view of him. Anna got a video of him, and as soon as he saw us he booked it into the woods! Funny enough, as soon as we crossed the bridge, the trail joined up with a major road full of weekend campers. We saw a few more deer along this road as we followed it to the Tuolumne Meadows General Store. There we were surprised to find Delicate Flower, Timber, and Santa all hanging out and enjoying breakfast. Apparently the store had a restaurant next to it, so we promptly took advantage of it and hung out with the others.
We decided to hang out and wait for our friends D&D, and while we were there we received trail magic in the form of pancakes, and Delicate Flower’s group scored permits to hike into Yosemite Valley. While they waited on a friend as well, we all tossed a frisbee around and enjoyed the gorgeous day. At some point in the afternoon, a guy named Lionel arrived and offered us a ride back to the trailhead where he was hosting trail magic! Right as we were about to leave, D&D rolled up, so we told them we were headed to trail magic. There, Lionel and his friend Nick made fresh risotto, had fresh fruit, and plied us with stories and drinks. We were accompanied by Hopper, Fire Hydrant, and a few others. We ended up hanging out until 2:30pm, when we called it and set out since the next nearest campsite was 5ish miles away. Fire Hydrant ended up hiking out with us, and we enjoyed chatting while enjoying the gorgeous Yosemite scenery. At some point, I stopped to put on bug spray and he continued on, eager to make camp. Afterwards, we enjoyed the amazing views of Tuolumne Falls and because I was having a terrible stomach ache, it was at that point that we decided to stop early at the Glen Aulin backpacker camp instead of pressing on to the PCT tentsite. The mosquitoes were absolutely hellacious, forcing me to put on my rain gear and headnet while I set the tent up. We didn’t end up making it very far today, but it was an amazing day of hanging out with others, which is what I enjoy most about thru-hiking. We’ll push tomorrow to try and get some mileage down so that we can cruise into Kennedy Meadows North.
Day 87
Anna bundles up for mosquito protection.
I once again had a hard time going to sleep due to some people noisily arriving late and setting up their tents. However at some point, I did pass out and slept quite soundly. When my alarm went off at 5:00am, I was up, eager to get morning miles in before the heat and mosquitoes, and honestly eager to get our daily mileage back up. When I exited the tent I was shocked to see that about 12 other tents had popped up around us over night! I was also happy to see that D&D were packed up already and just about to head out. Anna and I caught up with them and we hiked 9 miles together over the first 1200ft climb. We chatted about all of the crazy global news we had received before we left service and they talked about how they were worried for their friends back in the Middle East. We also chatted about other hikers we knew and how terrible the mosquitoes have been in the evenings. They stopped around Spiller Creek for a long break, but we motored on, eager to get up the next 1000ft climb before it got too warm out.
The climb ended up being incredibly steep and exposed to the sun, meaning it was very sweaty. Since it was early in the day though, Anna and I were able to power up it quickly, and stopped for a water break on top. Annoyingly, the top had rolling hills, which meant we really didn’t get any nice flat breaks before the downhill. Right as we were about to head down, we ran into Fire Hydrant whom we had met the day before. We ended up hiking the next 5ish miles with him, down the steep decline, across a flooded meadow, and partially up the next climb, Benson Pass. We all stopped for water and lunch around Wilson Creek and chatted with a few other hikers that passed by. Once lunch was over, Anna and I put in some headphones and flew up the 1600ft climb to the top of the pass. Thankfully, the trail was really friendly, just steep, so we made it to the top a bit after 2:30pm. Again, we took a quick water break, and then hurried on, eager to make miles. Unfortunately the climb down had other ideas and all but killed our pace. The trail was flooded and muddy, with Smedberg Lake actually overrunning its bank into the trail. We also encountered a few steep walls of snow with no apparent bootpack, forcing us to waste time route finding. So, when we arrived at a good flat tentsite at 971.8, we stopped and called it a day. We thought that the wind would keep the mosquitoes at bay, but man were we wrong. I was once again forced into my raingear and head net to set up the tent while Anna was eaten alive. These mosquitoes are hell. Only 46 miles to Kennedy Meadows North, but we still have a hell of a lot of climbing between here and there.
Day 88
Our prison for the next 12 hours as we hide from the mosquitoes.
Another hellish day to report unfortunately. We both slept well but when we left the tent to break camp we noticed that unlike every other morning, the mosquitoes were still kind of active… We quickly packed up and hit the trail to avoid getting eaten alive. The first 2 miles of the day were a brutally steep 1000ft downhill where we had to carefully pick our steps to avoid eating it. At the bottom we were rewarded with a knee deep wet foot river crossing followed by a bog traverse and an immediate 1500ft climb over 2ish miles, so very steep. At the top we tried to take a water break but we were quickly thwarted by swarming mosquitoes. After a few up-downs at the top, we started the 1100ft descent which, due to the flooded trail and lingering snow patches, took hours and beat us up. At the bottom, we once again had another wet river crossing before again, immediately climbing up 750ft. At the top, we again tried to find a rocky exposed area for lunch, but we were again immediately swarmed by mosquitoes. So we had a very quick lunch and then started on the 700ft downclimb which was again, steep and slippery… Once at the bottom we again had another marshy river crossing followed by a 1200ft climb. This last one was completely exposed to the sun, and it was a warm day, so we were getting roasted on the climb. Finally done with climbing for the day, we started on our way down, with the hope to make some progress towards our Dorothy Lakes, which was our next pass. The initial downhill was very steep, but about halfway down we hit a plateau filled with stagnant water. It was at this point that the bug pressure became unbearable, around 4pm. We then booked it down the hill and set up in the first dry exposed site we could find at mile 988.6 right next to Falls Creek. While setting up, we were getting swarmed again so I had to don my “bug suit.” Then, once we were safely hidden inside, we were comfortable for maybe half an hour before the sun shifted and turned our tent into an oven. We just can’t seem to win today. Likewise, this has to be some of the worst hiking I’ve ever done. I cannot wait to get out of it.
Day 89
The author having a snack at the top of Sonora Pass
Another rough one down. We both slept pretty well with the white noise of Falls Creek drowning out the haunting drone of mosquitoes outside. When we awoke though, we were disappointed to find that all of the mosquitoes were still alive. I left the tent to attempt a cathole but immediately gave up since I was swarmed while digging. When I returned to the tent, we carefully packed everything up inside, and then quickly hit the trail. Despite our permethrin-treated clothing, and picaridin-treated skin, we were still getting annihilated. I was also having a bit of trouble with a stiff back, which at some point turned into a fully pulled muscle, killing our pace and hurting like hell. We went on like this for a few hours with me hobbling until Anna said she needed to stop to have breakfast. I had zero appetite, wasn’t sure I could get back up if I sat, and I was horrified by the mosquitoes so I hobbled on slowly and she would catch up. I continued hobbling for a few miles, through swamps, meadows, and bogs getting attacked the whole way. A few miles in, Anna caught up with me and she was hiking with a nice guy named The Jeffer who we had seen swatting mosquitoes off of himself last night with a pine branch. Once they caught up with me, Anna slowed down to my pace, we chatted with The Jeffer a bit and then he dashed off. From there on, we slowly made our way up and over Dorothy Lake Pass. Dorothy Lake was gorgeous, but its thunder was stolen by the mosquitoes.
We stopped at the lake very briefly to filter 2 liters of water, and in that time we were both swarmed and coated… We continued on out of necessity, but we were tired from the climb and lack of rest. Around noon we decided that we absolutely needed a break, so we pitched the tent and took an hour-long break, safely inside of it. We had already done 13.5 miles, which was amazing considering my back. After our break, we packed up and braved the mosquitoes again. Thankfully, on all of our afternoon water crossings we were able to rock or log hop. And, more importantly, as the vegetation and water started to thin out, the mosquitoes thinned out as well! Since we were doing so well on pace we decided to load up on water and climb Sonora Pass today. The climb itself was quite steep, but went pretty well all things considered. We reached the first campsite at the top (mile 1010) around 5pm, set up camp, and called it a day while watching the sun set on the Sierra Nevada behind us.
