PCT mile 770.3 to PCT mile 788.5
Section mileage: 25.8
Days: 6/20 - 6/21
After Whitney, we didn't think anything could possibly top it, but our next day, I was blown away by the transition into Kings Canyon National Park. The hike through the Sierras is defined by mountain "passes". These are low points where you cross over a mountain ridge. We had passes in the desert (ie Walker Pass), but they involved a steep descent to a road, and a steep ascent up a mountain. Passes in the Sierras are the opposite: a steep climb up a ridge followed by a steep, snow-covered climb down. Every day, we crossed one pass, and the first was Forester Pass. The highest point on the PCT at over 13,000 feet above sea level.
We were over a mile into the climb when I realized that Craig had left a bag with my journal in it down by our last stream crossing. I guarded the packs from marmots while he hiked back. For a few minutes I was annoyed. And then it dawned on me where I was: a meadow in the Sierras, with a blissful half an hour of stillness to myself. The sun was warm with a soft breeze. There were blue skies and no mosquitoes. I took out my map and gave each of the surrounding peaks their proper names. When Craig caught up, we continued on our climb.
From Mt Whitney to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite (almost 200 miles), the PCT is identical to the John Muir Trail (JMT), and most JMT hikers are southbound. This means that we were suddenly running into dozens of hikers every day.
South side of Forester Pass |
Looking south from Forester Pass |
North side of Forester Pass |
We had planned to descend that night as far as possible, in order to set ourselves up for a short day into town. We were resupplying our food at Kearsarge Pass the following day. Thruhikers have a variety of strategies for resupply in the Sierras and none of them are easy. There is only one road that crosses the Sierras east-west, and that wasn't until Yosemite. That means that we had to each hike bonus miles over the eastern slope of the range and hitchhike into a town, or mail a bucket of food to a horse pack station and pay them $70 to carry it into their backcountry ranch. We decided on the former. If you're really intrepid, like our friends Spice rack, Hippo, and Thirsty, you can (theoretically) carry all of the food you'll need in the Sierras (about 12 days' worth) from Kennedy Meadows. Either way, we were all hungry by this point.
This means, when several JMT hikers told us that a few trail angels were ahead "about four miles" cooking dinner for hikers, we launched into our rare 4 mph pace, blasting down the canyon. It was more like 6 miles, and we started thinking that the hikers were messing with us. "What kind of people would make that up?" We grumbled to each other. I had three-quarters of a packet of ramen and a granola bar left. That would have to do, because it was getting dark and we were tired. And just when we'd given up hope, we saw a Canadian flag strewn across the path. A man dressed in full Monty costume approached to welcome us across the "border" with snack bags.
Us and Sherpa at the "Canadian border" |
View from Bullfrog Lake Trail |
Rainbow over Kearsarge Pass |
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