*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*
Location: High Sierra
Start: Bishop – 790.2
End: Tentsite – 790.2
Miles: 0.0
Ascent: 2767 | Descent: 1198
Sleep: Tent
Back on the trail! My alarm went off in the motel room at 6:30am. Breakfast started at 7am and I wanted to give myself plenty of time to wake up and make it to the lobby. Pinky wasn’t feeling good when she woke up and spent the morning trying to decide if she felt up to hiking out or not. We all told her it was completely her call and that we understood if she wanted another day to rest.
I went down to breakfast unsure if we were hiking out or not, but I wasn’t about to miss out on my coffee and waffles. Truffles and Hangman came to join me and we headed back up to the room to see what Pinky had decided. She said she was feeling better and wanted to stick with the plan, so we continued packing up.
U-Turn decided that she didn’t feel like hiking out and wanted to spend another night in town. She decided that she’d stick around and wait for Pimento to catch up and hike out with him in several days. We said our goodbyes and check out of the motel.
Thankfully the bus from Bishop to Independence was running over the weekend so we planned to catch the 8:45am bus and head back to Independence where we would then hitch up to the trailhead. The walk across town to the bus stop went back quickly and we arrived just in time to hop on the bus.
It was a smooth ride and we got to Independence just before 10am. We made a pit stop at the gas station before moving to the corner to try and hitch up to the Onion Valley trail head. A car pulled over within 15 minutes and offered to take 2 of us to trail. We loaded Hangman and Pinky in the car and said we’d see them up the trail.
Truffles and I reminded on the side optimistic that it wouldn’t take long to get a hitch. We stood there for another hour or so before finally someone pulled over for us. 2 other hikers joined us for the ride up to the trail. The woman that picked us up was named Nessa and she is a seasonal backcountry ranger. She was so nice and informative, I really enjoyed learning about her position as the Lake Charolette Ranger and hearing about how the park service manages search and rescues.
We got to the trial head just before noon and found Pinky and Hangman still there waiting for us. It didn’t take long for us to all get ready to begin to climb back up to Kearsarge Pass and then back to the PCT. Shortly into the ascent I was stopped on trail by someone that recognized me. Turns out it was Jenny, a girl I went to high school with! She is section hiking the PCT but had been following my posts and we just happened to run into each other. It’s such a small world!
Truffles and k kept a steady pace while climbing, but it was still hard with 7 days of food. There were so many day hikers and short term backpacked out on the trail. This was easily the most people we’ve seen on the trail in a single day yet. Thankfully everyone was nice and practiced good trail etiquette.
We caught up to Pinky and Hangman around Gilbert Lake and stopped to filter water and eat lunch. We were halfway up the climb and I wanted to get it over with. We ran into a little bit of snow, but it’s amazing how much the snow has melted in the day and a half since we came down the trail. We powered up the climb and made it over the pass and began working our way back down. We stopped to filter water for our dry campsite and continued on.
On a thru hike you’re always hiking in the same direction, so today was nice to see the same trail from a different perspective. The views were just as amazing, and I liked that I knew roughly where I was just because I’d been there before.
Along the way Truffles and I saw several Pika and stopped to admire their cuteness. They look like a larger mix between a mouse and a hamster and are absolutely adorable!
We got back on the PCT around 5pm and found a campsite close by. We didn’t want to post hole on Glen this afternoon so we decided we’d try to tackle it and Pincho tomorrow. We set up the tents and made dinner before crawling into bed.
Location: High Sierra
Start: Tentsite – 790.2
End: Tentsite – 803.9
Miles: 13.7
Ascent: 2776 | Descent: 3766
Sleep: Tent
Today was a weird but good day. I slept great and didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag this morning. It was chilly when we started so I set out ahead of everyone as they were finishing packing up. I left the campsite around 6:15am and the trail was pretty cruisey in the beginning. There were views of Charlotte Lake in the distance with more snowy peaks as the backdrop.
The trail began to climb and wove in and out of snowy patches. It was easy enough to follow the trail thanks to the bootpack, but I still got FarOut out in places to double check that I was on the trail or close to it. The trail took me by several smaller unnamed alpine lakes before it started climbing in earnest towards Glen Pass.
Truffles caught up to me and we were heading out after a short break when we saw Pinky running up the trail behind us without her pack on. We knew that meant something bad so we hurried to meet her. She told us that Hangman’s foot was bothering him to the point of tears and he decided that he needed to hike back into town. She had ran ahead to let us know that they would be going back down Kearsarge and trying to hitch into Bishop. We knew Hangman didn’t reach that decision lightly and hated to hear that he was in so much pain. Pinky promised to keep us updated via the Garmin and set off to find Hangman and begin their descent.
Truffles and I didn’t really know what to do at that point… we debated on hiking out with them but decided that we couldn’t contribute much. We ultimately chose to keep going to made loose plans to reconnect with them either from VVR or Mammoth. I know Truffles hated to leave his little brother behind, especially since thru hiking has meant so much to them together over the years. Hangman felt like he likely has a stress fracture and will likely have to get off trail for a month or two to let it heal. At best maybe we can come back and do Oregon or Washington with us. It just sucks and we feel bad for him.
Truffles and I talked through everything as we climbed up to the pass. There was still snow in sections but we didn’t get our aces or spikes out until the top. Near the top we chose to rock scramble rather than navigating the snow, but it wasn’t anything too sketchy. When we made it to the top we were greeted by views of the Rea Lakes.
The back side of the mountain was still super snowy and we stopped to put our spikes on and pull out our ice axes. The first cut across through the snow was packed down super deep and made me feel very secure while crossing. I tried to just keep my eyes on my next step and refrained from looking around at the sheer drop off beside me. Truffles went in front and about halfway through it looked like the trail went straight off the side of the mountain. He assured me it wasn’t as scary and it looked and thankfully he was right. I kept moving slowly but steadily and eventually made it across the snow.
From there the trail continued winding down the mountain through a series of steep and tight switchbacks. The snow was slushie at this point and I kept going back and forth between ice and rock. It took a while but we finally made it to flatter ground and some snow fields. It was just after 9am and the snow was already starting to melt in places. I post holed several times and even got my shoe stuck again and had to dig it out. I tried to glissade down a section after Truffles and failed miserably, I ended up just walking down the chute.
It felt like it took forever but we finally made it off the snow and began walking along the lake shore of Upper Rae Lake. We’d follow the shoreline for the next several miles and pass by Upper, Middle, and Lower Rae Lakes. This was easily my favorite part of the day! The lakes were so beautiful, especially with all the snow and mountains surrounding them. When we stopped long enough to stare at the water we could even see trout swimming around!
We stopped to filter water at a beautiful campsite and joking debated just calling it a day there. It was nearly 11am and we’d only gone 5 miles, which is significantly less than a typical morning. Coming down Glen just took a really long time, but we planned to make up for it on the big descent. We had 5ish more miles to a bridge that we set our sights on for lunch.
The stretch to the bridge felt long and grueling in the sun. It was hot out today and I was sweaty even going downhill. We had several creek crossings to help cool us off, though, and we just waded straight in with our shoes on. We passed through a section that we’re convinced had to have been bulldozed over by an avalanche because of how mangled and gnarled the trees were. The trail became a creek in some area and it felt like a slog to continue going down. We crossed the 800 mile make during this section, though, which was exciting.
Around 1:30pm we reached the bridge. This suspension bridge was pretty impressive out in the middle of nowhere. There was a big sign that said only one person could cross at a time, and when I got out over the water i understood why. The bridge bounced and swing and moved with the slightest touch. I hung on to the railing for dear life as I made mt way across.
After Truffles crossed we found a shady spot to eat lunch. Our initial plan for the day was to get close to the top of Pincho and then do Pincho and Mather in the same day. We read more FarOut comments over lunch, though, and decided we shouldn’t do Mather in the afternoon because of melting snow. We decided to stop shorter today and climb Pincho in the morning then camp about halfway up Mather tomorrow night. That meant that from our lunch spot we only had about 3 miles left, so we took our time eating and relaxing.
When we finally did get going again, it was straight uphill. The only reprieve came in the form of creek crossings, which there were several of. I am getting more confident at crossing rushing water, but I still like for Truffles to go first so I can follow his steps. We saw tons of waterfalls along this section and walked near the flowing river for the majority of the afternoon.
Our campsite appeared around 4pm tucked in a grove of pine trees. It was still early in the day so we weren’t surprised no one else was around. We took our time setting up and even had time to dry out our wet socks and shoes. I used my phone’s satellite messaging to send a text to Hangman and got a response that they made it back to Bishop. Truffles and I cooked dinner and got ready for bed at a whopping 6:30pm. Another shorter milage day tomorrow, but still with a lot of climbing! I’ll be grateful for extra rest tomorrow I’m sure.
Location: High Sierra
Start: Palisade Lake Tentsite – 803.9
End: Tentsite – 820.6
Miles: 16.7
Ascent: 4519 | Descent: 3462
Sleep: Tent
What an awesome but exhausting day! We woke up early with plans of leaving camp around 5:30am. We left closer to 6am and right away started climbing. We had about 4 miles to the top of Pincho and expected most of it to be uphill, but it felt really hard first thing this morning. We had several stream crossings right off the bat, so the day started with wet feet and tired legs.
As we climbed I was pleasantly surprised to see that we didn’t encounter much snow. All the comments on FarOut said there was tons of snow from here until Mather Pass, but they were obviously outdated and no longer accurate on the snow. About 2 miles from the top of the pass we ran into the prophesied snow. Thankfully it was still early in the morning so the snow was firm and we didn’t post hole as we followed the boot tracks up towards the pass.
We had a hard time keeping track of the trail in the snow and were constantly checking FarOut to make sure we were close to the trail. There were several rocky islands dotted throughout the snow that offered a respite from slogging over the snow. We would hike to one island, check the map, and then continue on to the next one. It felt like snow going but I think we were actually making decent time.
Less than a mile from the top we had to scramble over rocks to get to the trail. There were still some snowy sections but over all we were primarily hiking over rock. I didn’t even put my microspikes on, but I did get my ice axe out for the final ascent. It was quick and easy over the pass and when we got to the top we could see for miles and miles down into the basin below us.
Thankfully the back side of the mountain was mostly snow free and we were able to hike down easily. We put our axes away and used our trekking poles without any issues in the snow. We continues crossing firm snow fields and eventually made it down to a frozen Lake Marjorie. Truffles went to dig a cat hole while I filtered some water and enjoyed the view.
We continued descending for the next several miles. We passed countless streams and large creeks but thankfully managed to keep our feet mostly dry. The trail kept taking us further and further down until eventually we were at the bottom of the mountain and had another large stream crossing. This was easily the widest stream crossing we’d done to this point, but thankfully the water wasn’t moving as fast as it looked and we made it across just fine.
It was only 11am at this point but we decided to go ahead and stop to eat an early lunch. We weren’t planning on going much further because we didn’t want to do Mather in the afternoon with slushy snow. We enjoyed lunch with the sounds of the rushing water in the background.
After lunch we had a general climb for the rest of the day. I listened to my book and it helped the time go by. We had several more creek crossings which we waded straight through. Our feet our constantly wet to the point that we’ve stopped bothering to put our camp shoes on to cross. Thankfully our shoes and socks have dried out well at camp and wet feet haven’t been a problem.
At some point in the afternoon a guy we’d been leapfrogging all day caught up to us and stopped to chat. His name was Footzilla and he is from Bakersfield, CA. We talked for a bit and he asked if we wanted to hike together for a bit. The 3 of us set off in the line and chatted up a storm. We all talked constantly for the next several miles, uphill and across multiple creeks.
We eventually got to the campsite we had planned to drop at for the night at 2pm. We had known it would be an early ending day, but we were so close to the pass. From the campsite we could look up and see the pass just a mile in front of us. Footzilla talked like he was still planning to go up and over this afternoon. There was minimal snow on the side of the mountain that we could see, and the switchbacks that were snow covered could easily be cut out with rock scrambling. Truffles and I decided to keep hiking over Mather Pass with Footzilla.
We set off and rock scrambled to get up to the trail. Once we were on the first switchback, it was mostly smooth sailing. The standard dirt and rock trail continued for a while before the end of the switchback was cut off by snow. Every switchback that we could see was the same, so we decided to rock scramble up the bank to reach the next passable section of trail. The scrambles were sketchy because of all the loose rock and sand, and the majority of the time I was crawling on my hands to feel more secure.
Miraculously we made it past the snowy sections and just had a few switchbacks to the top. Once we arrived at the top of the pass we could see the snow fields waiting for us down below. It was just after 3pm at this point and the afternoon melt was happening in full force. We knew that meant we’d likely post hole a ton, but that was the risk we took in crossing the pass so late in the day.
We set off down the trial and quickly ran into some serious snow. We pulled out our axes and donned our spikes before continuing on. Thankfully there were several glissade shoots that took out a lot of the descent. We discovered that glissading in slushy snow is ideal because it prevented us from building up too much speed. We save a ton of time glissading down at least 3 or 4 sections with minimal odor holing in between. I did go waist deep in a hole once, though, and got my shoe stuck for a third time! Truffles had to help me dig it out again, but thankfully the shoe was recovered and I was able to continue hiking.
The snow made route finding difficulty and it felt like we were blindly following boot tracks the majority of the time. It was aggregating and physically draining, but Footzilla was good company and we all continued to talk to pass the time. Eventually we started getting back on the rocks that made up the trail and were able to move a little bit more smoothly.
We finally made it down towards Lake Palisade and started looking for campsites. Footzilla decided to hike a little further and we bid him farewell. Truffles and I found the most beautiful campsite of the trail so far situated on a rock ledge overlooking the lake with views of Mather Pass in the background. We were pooped from a long day and proud of ourselves for going further than we planned and conquering 2 passes in a single day. We ate dinner and dried out our socks before crawling into bed. Such a great day on trail!
