Hiking - 2016 PCT - Day 54 to 62

After a relaxing afternoon a few of us headed to the local micro-brew to get loaded... err... up with the extra calories needed for a thru hike! With all those extra calories I needed an extra day in town. Great bacon breakfast then tried to find a steak for lunch. 3 places that serve steak only serve it for dinner. No lunch steaks! Finally hit up KFC for lunch, KFC over here don't have chips! Blasphemy. 

I lazed about the hostel from most of the afternoon with a few other hikers before heading out for dinner (yes steak) and then back to the hostel to get an early sleep for the next day.

Caught the bus back to Independence and then got a fairly quick hitch back to the trail head. Despite my thoughts coming down this pass the up hill wasn't too bad. It also make you feel a little better when you come across day hikers, with hardly any gear, then speed past them. It's good to be back in the wilderness!

After getting over Kersarge and back down again it was time to head up Glenn Pass. Beautiful alpine lakes on the way up to distract from the climb. Still a bit of snow covering the switch backs so there were some... interesting trails to get around them.

Coming down the northern side had even more slow. At a few places this was awesome though as you could glassade (AKA ass slide) down the mountain.

Rae lakes down the bottom were awesome as well. Just as we were reaching them someone was taking a quick dip! Snow melt water at 445pm, no thanks. Finding a camp just a little further on was fairly easy and in the sun it even felt kinda warm. Hope it can stay like that for the night!

Well it didn't stay warm. Wasn't too bad but cold enough in the morning to delay my exit from the comfort of my sleeping bag. A long way down today to the bottom of the valley. Feet got wet on a few creeks but the main river at the end had a cool suspension bridge to keep hikers dry.

Then I started the 7 miles of uphill. Lots and lots of uphill. This one, Pinchot Pass, felt harder than all others... even Forrester.  I think it was because of the amount of steps. Seemingly endless at some points. Most of the way we were beside fantastic cascading falls though, so I didn't mind taking a break to look at the view.

Finally made it to the top and began heading back down. Snow covered track with footprints going everywhere made me lose the track for a few min. I knew it was near me though and pushed on down the valley until I came across it again. More beautiful alpine lakes made the afternoon pass quickly.

Although covering roughly the same height over a shorter distance the next pass didn't seem as bad. There was a really steep bit at the end made even steeper by some of the switchbacks covered in snow.

Getting down was steep again, but with plenty of snow it meant more sliding! There was 4 slides in total one only 10m long but others cutting through quite a bit of trail.

https://youtu.be/rlpDbJv0lzc

Once over the snow we were walking along a mountain  side for a while and had great views of the valley below. Went down a very steep section before the trail mellowed out and followed the valley floor. Made for great views.

Following along a crystal clear creek for miles made me long for a swim. All those thoughts were squashed when I soaked my feet. Yep still snow melt! It did look very beautiful and really inviting though. Made camp just at the end of another gorgeous meadow. Might not have been the best idea thugh,  had to eat dinner in the tent due to all the mozzies!

Luckily it seemed the evening chill had driven the mozzies into hiding so I was able to have a pleasant breakfast. Luckily too as Muir Pass today was pretty difficult.

This time we were heading up the steeper side so all the good slide spots meant snow ladders to me... It was so steep that some of the track was even blasted out of the mountain side. You could make out the drill holes and where the explosives were placed during construction.

The reward up the top was a cool little stone hut and more glorious views. While not a steep descent (meaning no slides) it still proved difficult. The snow was weakened by the sun and there was a snow field almost 4 miles long to cross.

Post holing (where one leg falls through the otherwise solid snow) really slowed progress. When one leg is thigh deep in snow and the other is still on the surface it takes some effort getting out. Shoes were already wet due to snow but post holing into a stream was especially invigorating. 

I had also noticed I was getting a bit of a sore back yesterday, which continued today. I thought it was just all the uphill and leaning forward putting more pressure on the shoulder straps. I went to check my straps incase they needed adjusting and discovered the aluminium support had snapped. It's job is to transfer the majority/all of the gear weight onto my hips. First major gear failure :( and 4 days from the nearest town with any kind of decent shops.... bugger.

Morning started pretty well with a few intricate creek crossings. One stream had 3 main flows and required you to double back across the middle stream to stay dry. Evolution creek had no way of crossing dry. I took (as did everyone else) the high water alternative... not sure I would have like to see the main crossing, the shallow one was already wast deep. Luckily through the meadow it had a pretty gentle flow, about as strong as Eli creek on Fraser Island. Where we passed close by down streams it was pretty fast rapids.

Another steep exit out of a valley for Selden pass. A lot more exposed today too, without the shade of the trees it felt quite hot. The big climb was only because the valley was so low. The pass itself still had its fair share of snow but was just under 11 thousand feet so a lot more than I was expecting! Even had to push on past a few potential campsites as I didn't want to set my tent up on snow.

The morning started out pretty resonable. Got away from camp a little earlier as the sun rose in a gap in the mountains and actually managed to hit my tent early! About 2 miles on was the crossing of Bear creek. It was flowing pretty fast and was kind of deep. Andrew (pictured) is 6'3" it was a lot higher on me...

Further down the trail I took a side ridge trail into VVR, a little campsite with a small store, hot food, showers and beer. They have a ferry across the nearby lake that saves 4 miles but only runs twice a day. On the trail I came upon a group of Forest Rangers that stopped me and asked for my permit and to see my Bear can. They were friendly but it felt a lot more formal than my previous meetings with Rangers.

Shower was amazing after 6 days in the woods with only cold water. Hot food went really well too. Breakfast burrito in the morning before catching the 'ferry' back to the trail head. By ferry I mean fishing tinny, our ski boat could comfortably fit more people... but they squeezed in 5 hikers+gear and got us safely across.

Of course the trail started by imediatly heading up. Silver pass took a long time to climb but didn't feel very difficult. Trail up the top was covered in snow, however I'm kinda glad that I got to do it on a elativly high snow year. So much water flowing down amazing falls almost every turn.

Camped near a great lake but the wind coming off was a bit cool. The next day was only a short 13 mile hike without too much climb but the day felt like it went so slow. Finally made it to Mammoth ski resort, heaps of downhill hike runs going about was cool to watch for a bit.

Caught the free shuttle down to Mammoth Lakes to arrive at a huge chateau hired by a fellow Hiker. Beds for 10 people and about $15 cheaper than the hostel. Taking a zero here to get a new pack sorted and get refreshed before hitting Yosemite!