It was a town day, so naturally, I was on trail before six and motivated to mash some miles. It was cold and kind of windy, which helped me to hike fast. Not to mention my pack felt really light. All I have left for food is some peanut butter, two sleeves of Ritz crackers and about a pound of trail mix. I can’t believe I ate all that food from Bishop/Kearsarge. It felt great! I can’t wait to drop my tent, micro-spikes, and some other stuff. I think once I get rid of this bear canister, I will really be loving it.

Honestly, this has been a very hard week. If a few days ago the trail had crossed a road where I could hitch to town, I would have left the trail for sure. Quit? I don’t know. Advice from past thru-hikers is “Don’t quit on a bad day.” Fortunately, I had no choice. But today was a good day. Pack felt good. Body felt good (mostly). Weather was good. I was happy to be hiking.

I hiked the 13 miles to Reds Meadow by 10:30. The shuttle isn’t running yet so I headed toward Devils Postpile National Monument to try to get a ride from some tourists. I was on the pavement about 60 seconds when a car came by and picked me up! Truly, I have had great luck hitching. He was a biologist and finally told me who that bird-call I’ve been hearing for 900 miles belongs to (chickadees). He took me right to a nice hotel in Mammoth Lakes and I checked in before noon!

I went to the outfitter for food and new sun glasses, patched my pad, took a bath and then went in the Jacuzzi and swimming pool, which was wonderful. I had a large pizza and salad delivered to my room which was also wonderful. I still have a lot of chores to do tomorrow, but at least I got something done.

On Tuesday I guess I am going here:

I had a hard time getting started and didn’t hit the trail until 0630. It seemed like I kept having to stop for this or that, and I felt clumsy, tripping over my clown shoes over and over. But I managed 16 miles in 10 hours, so that’s not too bad. By clown shoes I mean that I have found the best shoes for hiking have a giant toe box area. Normally, I wear a size 9 but these are 11’s. You wouldn’t think an extra few millimeters would trip you up, but it can.

I made it to the top of Silver Pass a little after 11. Got a little lost on the way down, but a quick look at my topo map (yes, I carry paper maps!) and a little easy bushwhacking and I was back on the trail.

I might have gone further, but it looked like there was no place to camp for another five miles and while I was pondering whether to push on or stay, the skies opened up with some serious rain and hail, so I made camp. The “tarp tent” wasn’t so good with the hail, because hail bounces, so it was bouncing up into my shelter. I did what I could with my trekking poles and shoes and local materials (dirt, pine cones, sticks) to block the gap.

One of the nice things about these early camps is that instead of eating dinner and falling into an exhausted sleep, I eat dinner early and then a little later I am hungry again and snack snack snack for hours. Maybe I don’t have too much food after all.

Today was nice because it was more like what I want everyday to be like. If it would have been around 22 miles or less to town I probably would have pushed hard to make it. If it would have been around 30+ miles to town I would have pushed hard to narrow the gap. But 26 was just right where I knew I couldn’t make it, but there was really no need to push. All I had to do was walk all day, taking breaks if I wanted, and I’ll go as far as I go and it will be fine.

I have 13 miles to go to get to town, mostly downhill, so I’m hoping to be there around noon.

Everything was nice and dry again except for the rainfly itself. I hit the trail at 0610. It was close to freezing and windy. As I got higher, I walked through last night’s fresh snow. I got to the top of Selden Pass by 0800.

I saw these animal prints, probably only a few minutes old, but I don’t know what they are from. Coyote? Bobcat?

I forded Bear Creek around ten, which was much worse than Evolution (knee-deep, with big boulder substrate), but I went across fine. I stopped on the other side to have lunch and dry my shoes and socks and everything out. I saw some hikers go by on the trail about 60 feet away, but they didn’t see me. With my white shirt, tan pants, and grey pack, I blend in pretty well here. I like to think I’m enhancing their wilderness experience if they don’t know I’m here.

Then I hit some cruiser trail and just walked all day.

Well, I think I see someone with small footprints! Looks like a weasel.

After 18 miles, and with thunderstorms threatening again, I called it good and made camp around 1645 again. My feet were really hurting.

I have 26 miles to town, which is too far to make it tomorrow, but I should be there early on Sunday.

I woke up completely dry again. I think I’ve finally figured out my shelter. My tent (MSR Hubba) has a feature where I can put up the rainfly without the tent underneath it. This leaves about a one-inch gap around the bottom, and it has two vents at the top. It’s a lot like cowboy camping, but keeps the frost and dew and rain off me. I know a lot of people use a tarp tent, but it usually involves trekking poles and staking support lines or tying them to trees. Mine is free-standing. If there is any condensation from my breath it drips safely on the edge and not onto me. And the only thing I have to dry out at lunch is the rainfly itself, and not my tent and sleeping bag as well. I think this is the way to go. I’m going to mail the tent away as soon as I can. I can still deploy my bug bivy inside if the skeeters ever show up.

My stupid schedule only has me hiking 12 miles today. I’m a few miles behind, so I’m using today to try and catch up. Which was pretty easy since the first 12 miles was downhill.

I was worried sick about crossing Evolution Creek for the two hours it took me to get there. I couldn’t eat breakfast. I kept telling myself, “Dude, you’re a Hydrologist! You’ve spent hundreds of hours in steams. Probably no one is better at crossing creeks than you are. You’ll be fine.” But it didn’t help. There is an official alternate crossing spot for when the water is too high, in the meadow where the water is slow, but it’s also deep. It’s supposed to be a drought year, so I thought I would take a look at the main crossing and hike back to the alternate if it looked too scary.

It certainly was a lot of water to cross. But then I got there, and it was nothing! About 8 inches deep and a nice gravel substrate to cross on. Cold, yes, but not at all dangerous. I felt much better when I got to the other side.

So, I got my 12 in by 1300 and walked another four miles back up to 10,000 feet and made an early camp around 1700. I am now one mile ahead of my stupid schedule.

Post Trail Edit:  I missed a day here in the blog. The day I crossed Evolution Creek I did hike back to 9700 feet and made a camp by Sanger Creek (mile 862). There was a well-established spot there but I went a little away to a spot with more cover and more privacy (in case anyone showed up).

I guess this is getting routine, because I didn’t take notes or have much memory of the next day. They kind of blur together. My notes say I hiked from Sanger Creek 17.7 miles to a wonderful stealth camp surrounded by boulders. Made camp at 1645.

And it was a great day for an early camp. I had everything set up and had just finished dinner when it started to precipitate. I just ducked inside. I must have been around snow level because I got graupel, then hail, then rain, then snow, then more rain. But my tarp kept me snug and dry. I loved hearing it on my shelter from the comfort of my bed. Too bad my air mattress has a hole in it which I can’t fix until I get to town. I duct-taped the hole in my shirt and listened to podcasts of Fresh Air on my phone.

It was overcast when I woke up. It’s not supposed to rain until tomorrow. I had a wonderfully sheltered little spot, and would have loved an excuse to stay there and rest all day, but I had to keep hiking. The fog burned off early and revealed that it was, in fact, another beautiful day.

Going up was slow, took me 8.5 hours to go 10 miles. Going up is tough too because going down I can eat and drink and smoke while I’m walking, but going up I have to stop to do all those things, and I don’t feel like I have time to stop very much.

I’m in this weird bad place. My pack is too heavy, mostly with food. I would feel better with a lighter pack, so I should eat more. But in addition to the time factor (not wanting to stop to eat), pushing myself so hard has decreased my appetite. The high elevation might be contributing too. And not eating enough makes me tired, which makes me slow, which makes me not feel like I have time to stop and eat. It’s a vicious cycle.

There was a lot more snow on the south side of the pass than I expected, and the snow was super soft. But I made it up by 1430.

Yogi’s guidebook says if you go down Muir in the afternoon, expect to post-hole for hours, and that’s no lie. Did my last posthole at 1730. The worst was a 20 or 30 yard stretch where I was postholing through 18 inches of snow into 8 inches of ice water. Water that cold really hurts after a minute or two.

Clouds were building and I really wanted to get back below treeline if it was going to be a stormy night. I walked until 1930 to do it. Very tired and sore, and now with leg cramps! I keep pushing myself to the absolute limit. I thought I would be in shape by now, and I suppose I am, but that doesn’t really matter if I am hiking as fast as I can for 13.5 hours every day.

My shirt has a big tear on top the right shoulder. It was kind of sore so I felt up there and there is this bony protrusion. I have a matching one on the other side. Also, when I got another leg cramp in bed, I tried to massage it away and my legs are also pitifully thin. I’m getting like a concentration camp survivor. I need to eat more.

I’ve got the big Evolution Creek ford tomorrow. In the rain?

My camp was up around 11,500 feet, so I wasn’t surprised to see the frost this morning. I was on trail by six.

I had few cruiser miles down and then started going up Mather Pass. The up wasn’t too bad. Not too steep.

I got to the top by 1115.

The snow was just right going down the north side, but still slow. Then the real down started- 4,000 feet of it. I think this is called the “Golden Staircase”, and I pity south bounders (mostly JMT hikers) who have to climb up it. It beat me up good going down and I had new foot pains I haven’t had before from the new shoes, new socks, or having wet feet all day, I don’t know.

I finally got some cruiser trail and busted ass to make some miles on my crippled feet until I couldn’t take it anymore around 1830. Adding up the miles I couldn’t believe I went 19.4 miles today! I feel so slow and my pack is so heavy.

Saw my first mosquitoes here (like three of them). Only ten miles tomorrow to the top of Muir Pass, but it’s all uphill – 4,000 feet up.

I thought it was a warm night, I even took off my down jacket (which I often sleep in), so I was surprised to see so much frost on top my sleeping bag. I just wanted to get away from all those people. I was on trail by 0550. I hope I left a good impression of a thru-hiker: rolling into camp at dark and gone before sunrise.

I was really tired after yesterday, but my stupid schedule has me down for 18 miles today. I managed close to 2 mph going down, but going up all seven miles of Pinchot Pass I slowed to 1 mph.

It’s crazy how much water there is! Not long ago my life revolved around where I could find water. Now it’s everywhere and the game has changed to trying to keep my feet dry! There is water, sometimes inches of it, running right down the trail.

I saw the Korean guy throughout the day. He kept stopping with me if he saw me taking a break and tried to strike up a conversation, even though we don’t speak the same language and he’s terrible at the sign language, pantomime thing. Very awkward and really harshed my buzz. Breaks are when I take in the beauty and contemplate where I am and what I’m doing.

My pack was soo heavy and the giant stone steps were tough. Many are knee high or a little more. Apparently, this is a good height for mules. Since this trail wouldn’t be here without mules (and dynamite), I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Nevertheless, very slow going.

The Korean guy caught me at the pass, so I had him take a picture of me at the top. He’s big on pictures and would have taken a lot more but I shut him down after three.

The snow wasn’t too bad on the north side but I still took the first campsite I could find, at Lake Marjory, at 1830. Totally exhausted and not having fun.

The rest of my slog up Kearsarge Pass was uneventful.

I got to the top around 1400. Met a Korean guy there who didn’t speak any English. I went down around the lakes and around and up Glen Pass. Yogi’s guidebook says not to descend too early. No problem there! I summited around 1800.

Yeah, my heavy pack was really slowing me down. So much food! Plus snow and mosquito gear. I had way more food than I could fit in my bear canister, and the guide book says there are bears near Rae Lakes, so I really wanted to make it to the bear box to properly store my food. With my late summit, I had to hike through the evening to get there.

I knew it was a perfect moon for night-hiking, not quite full, so I wasn’t too worried.

Nevertheless, I was very tired when I got to the bear box at Rae Lakes right around dark. There were lots of people there. Two big bonfires despite the rule against fires above 10,000 feet, and when I went to put my extra food in the bear box, I could barely wedge it in because the bear box was full with four bear canisters!! WTF? How stupid and inconsiderate can hikers be?

I was too tired and it was too dark to find a campspot, so I grabbed a nearby flat spot and cowboy camped right there, right then.

I still have service, and I have time, so I thought I would do a quick update so I’m that much less behind when I get service again.

I got incredibly lucky getting here today. I got up at six and walked down to the highway to hitch before seven. Bishop is pretty sleepy at seven on a Sunday morning, but within five minutes I got ride from a cool dude who lives in Tahoe City and just spent the last week or so climbing near Whitney. He dropped me off in Independence.

I walked a half mile or so up the road towards the trailhead, by the museum of old wagons and stuff sitting in the yard across the fence, and waited for someone to come by. I even deployed my “Hiker To Trail” sign across my pack, in case that wasn’t obvious. Talk about a sleepy town on a Sunday morning! It was about 15 minutes before the first car came by. They didn’t pick me up, but right behind them was Lefty (Poncho’s Dad) the proprietor of the Mt Williamson Motel and Base Camp where I stayed the other night! He had Pika in the back but room for me too! Such a cool guy. I can’t imagine a better ride up to Onion Valley.

So, I was going to be happy if I got to the trailhead by noon, but I got there about 0820. My pack is heavy, but I can do anywhere from 10 to 13 miles today (I need to camp where I can put the food that doesn’t fit in my bear-canister in one of the bear boxes), so I can go slow, and take breaks, today. Truly, it’s a beautiful, warm day, I am feeling really happy about all my new gear, and I expect to have an awesome day. The kind of day I came out here for.

(Post Trail Edit: This post is a little misleading, and maybe I didn’t even realize it myself at the time, but the “10 to 13 miles” are PCT miles. It’s a tough 7.5 miles from Onion Valley back to the PCT. So it should have been “I only have to hike between 17 and 20 miles today”. Yeah, I don’t think I realized it at the time. Turns out, I hiked that heavy pack 24.5 miles. Ouch. No wonder I was hurting the next day.)

I had a wonderful night in Independence. I highly recommend the Mt. Williamson Motel and Base Camp on the south side of town. Very hiker-friendly (even sell Mtn House dinners) with nice quiet cabins. I was very happy there.

I could have stayed there for my entire town time, but I needed a lot of gear, so I took the bus to Bishop in the morning. Somehow, I had great internet service on the bus so I was able to start catching up on my blog.

I got to Bishop and went to Wilsons outfitter and bought new shoes (that hopefully won’t give me blisters like the last pair), new socks (ALL of my socks had holes in them), gloves to use with my trekking poles, a snow basket (they gave me an old, beat-up one for free), two handkerchiefs, sunglasses, and some dehydrated dinners. The staff there was friendly and helpful. Too bad they’re so far from the trail.

I had asked my Dad to book me a room, which he did. It was quite aways off the main drag, but I’m used to walking. I got there around noon, but check-in isn’t until 3. I asked what it would take to get in there now, and they said $20, so, done. Not like I’m going to sit on the curb for three hours.

I spent the next several hours updating my blog and drinking beer with my shoes and socks off. It felt really good to get caught up. Hopefully, I won’t have to go two weeks without service again.

Because, I tell ya, two weeks is a long time on the trail. It’s hard to remember that far back! I see the moon is getting full again, which means it’s coming up on two moons since I was looking up at it from my porch, full of pre-trail anxiety. It really boggles my mind to think of all the miles and experiences I’ve had and it hasn’t even been two full months yet! It seems a LOT longer to me. More like four months. It’s really amazing how small things like footsteps can add up to major miles so quickly (I’m at 788).

Not that I’ve been loafing. I’ve actually been pushing myself really hard. Just about everyone I’ve made friends with is behind me. I’m actually a pretty slow hiker. Just two days ago I passed my first hiker while on trail. Usually, I am the one getting passed while walking. But I don’t take many breaks, and I start early, so even though I’m slow, I end up hiking some big miles and my new friends fall behind. Anyway, one of the reasons I came out here is to see what kind of physical ability I still have at my advanced age (I turned 47 last week), and I think we can all agree that Adam/Glide is not quite dead yet. I’m still capable of some impressive feats. We can cross that one off the list.

Which brings me to my plans for the next leg to Mammoth. The schedule I made to meet my Dad in Tahoe says eight days, but it looks like it’s only 121 miles. I have a few 18- mile days planned, which sounds fine, but there’s some 12’s in there too. As I’m getting to know Glide, I can tell you Glide can do 12 miles by noon easy, and Glide doesn’t stop hiking at noon unless there is beer and town food. In the woods, I might take long break, but then I would want to walk some more. If these new shoes actually don’t cause me pain, potentially a lot more (I think I have “trail legs” now, but unfortunately not “trail feet”). I think hiking from 0700 to 1700 with an hour’s worth of breaks sounds pretty easy, and that’s probably around 18 miles. Frankly, there’s not much else to do. If I camped at 1600, then what?

So, I’m thinking most likely I will get to Mammoth a day early. Which is great! Because my crazy plan to hike from south of Forester all the way to Bishop kind of worked, I have a double zero here, and frankly, I am beginning to think a single zero is so crazy busy, there’s just not enough time to relax. Naturally, I’m trying not to walk much and I’m spending as much time as I can with my shoes and socks off. If I could have happy feet, I would be a happy hiker.

Except maybe not tomorrow. I went to the grocery store (way on the edge of town, at least a mile away) for resupply and maybe I should not have gone when I was hungry because I have so much food! I carefully stuffed the bear canister with everything I could fit, and what was left almost fills my food bag!

It’s probably too much food, and I’m not looking forward to carrying it, but at least I will be eating well. I also decided to keep this one pair of socks that only have one hole apiece, so I washed them in the sink. This dirt is from one pair of socks:

Anyway, the bus doesn’t run on the weekends, so I’ll be hitching 40 miles back to Independence and then up to the trailhead at Onion Valley. I’ll start early and if I can get to the trailhead by noon, I’ll be pleased. Wish me luck!

In other news, within a few hours of coming down to the desert floor, I got the nasty, bloody, nose boogers again. I haven’t had a full-on nosebleed, so that’s good, but I hope it clears up when I go back to the mountains. Also, for the last 12 hours I have had a sore throat. I hope that’s from the low humidity too, and that it also clears up when I get out of town. Whatever’s wrong with me, being out in the woods will be good for me, I think.

I should have internet service in Mammoth, so it won’t be two weeks without service again, but it will probably be a week. I hope you and me all have a good one!