It was a perfect morning. My alpine camp caught the early sun and I even took my down jacket off before I hit the trail at 0640. Also, my MSR Hubba tent has a feature where you can put up just the rainfly without the tent. Sort of like a tarp tent. Lots of ventilation and keeps the dew/frost off. My driest night in a long time.

Everything was frozen and the ground sparkled in the sun. Little rivulets of water on the trail had frozen into those thin sheets of ice that are irresistible to step on. I could see there were two people ahead of me.

That V notch in the center, that’s the pass.

There was supposed to be water right before the big climb but it was covered by a snow field. I headed up with half a liter.

God, it was a beautiful day! Bluebird skies, no wind, and about 50 degrees.

I took it slow but the actual face is only about 500 feet. When I got to the infamous chute, where you look down to your death, I put on my micro-spikes, but really, it was nothing. I didn’t feel in danger at all. The sketchiest part was just past that where I had to scale this snow drift to get over to the trail, but the snow was just the right softness that it was fine. I got to the summit around 0930.

I had a bit of cell service, I texted my Dad and he called me! Really strange to be getting a phone call right then, right there. But kind of cool too.

The north side of the pass was much snowier. A giant snow bowl. You could see where others had glissaded down, but it wasn’t that steep and I had my micro-spikes on so I thought I’d just walk down. Then I post-holed to my knee. The snow was very mushy and soft. Then I post-holed to my waist. Then I thought, “This may not work out.” I tried to glissade on my butt, but the snow was too soft. I got my Tyvek groundsheet out (careful not to let my pack go sliding away) and that worked if I stayed in the packed down groove of those before me. The sun was beating down and it was almost hot. I’m glad I wasn’t any later. I wished I had some water.

I think it was about two hours going down the snow, trying to follow the footprints but not posthole. Some of the holes where people before me had broken through were deep and blue like a crevasse in a glacier or something. Don’t step in there! And there were sections where I had to basically cross-country over giant, jumbled, steep scree. Slow going and dangerous.

I stopped at the first water, tanked up, had a snack, and felt much better. From there it was down down down Bubbs Creek. I had my first sketchy stream crossing on a wet log. Took a half-hour lunch break, mostly to dry my gear in the sun, then started walking again.

Pretty soon I was hiking up again, steeply. But I just took it slow. The trail here is not “cruiser”. Got to keep your eyes on the trail and lots of knee-high stairs, which are bad up or down.

I thought I might camp at Bullfrog Lake, but when I got near, there was a sign prohibiting camping. Besides, it was only 1530. So, I tanked up with enough water to camp, so I could stop anytime, if I needed to. But I looked up at Kearsarge Pass and thought, “I can be up there by five.” Which I pretty much did.

But there sure wasn’t anywhere to camp there! And it was only five. I was more foot-hurt and exhausted than I’ve been yet, but what are you going to do? I kept walking.

I admit, I really wanted to get to town. I need to get to Bishop, which is not that easy from Kearsarge Pass. I had a million scenarios that might get me there, but I figured the sooner I got to the road, the sooner I would get to town. Keep walking. I figured I could get to the trailhead by 1930.

I was so hurting. Really limping in, leaning heavily on my trekking poles. And then, about 100 yards from the trailhead, what’s this? A day hiker heading back to his car??? I couldn’t let him get away, and I put on some speed from some hidden reserve.

Super nice guy! Yes, he was going to town and would give me a ride! He took me to the place he was staying in Independence, the Mt. Williamson Motel, and I got a room there. Super hiker-friendly and a nice room. I hobbled across the street for some beer before taking a shower and just couldn’t believe how awesome this day was. The gods are smiling on me tonight!

(Post-trail Edit: Today I hiked 19.5 miles, climbed 4200 feet and descended 6200 feet. In the last 4 days: 80 miles, 15800 feet up, 14800 feet down)

Very cold morning. Didn’t get on trail until 0645.

 

I only saw two people before the PCT joins the JMT, then I saw four more. Where is everybody?

Long day and slow going but I made 21 miles in 11 hours 15 minutes (including breaks). Only four miles to the top of Forester Pass. Everything looks good from this side. It was great weather today, so I hope it holds one more day.

 

I’m camping with a nice view at tree line about 11,500 feet. My highest camp ever.

The new shoes I got in Tehachapi are killing me. My feet hurt all day and I just can’t wait to get to Bishop and get new shoes. And socks. All mine have holes now. Anyway, if you have to slog down the trail, it was a pretty place to do it.

I knew I needed to mash some miles today to get in position for Forester so I started early and hiked my ass off all day. Twelve hours hiking (not including breaks). 23 miles!

I felt good until around 1400, and by 1730 I was exhausted (hiked until 1845). Thunderstorms started at 1530 and I got some snow and later some hail, but mostly it was a beautiful day.

The trail is deserted. I passed four tents around 7, otherwise I only saw two people all day.

I only have to do 20 miles tomorrow to get in position for Forester. I hope the weather holds.

 

So, now that I have my tent, I slept in it last night. Seems like everyone sleeps in a tent every night regardless of conditions, so I thought I would try it too. Well, I woke up and everything was wet! My bag, tent, rainfly, even my pad. It was around freezing and my breath was condensing on the inside, dripping down to this seam where it dripped down onto me and everything else. This was absolutely the wettest I have been at night, and it wasn’t even raining! And it was stuffy and humid and damp. Honestly, I don’t see the attraction.

My campsite on a ridge got sun right at sunrise so I decided to dry everything out before packing up. It took until after 8, by which time I was very anxious to get moving. I won’t do that again.

I admit this gave me time to take a closer look at the trail ahead and my itinerary. Wait, what? Day six (the day I theoretically run out of food) has me hiking ten miles to the top of Forester Pass, then another ten to the Kearsarge Pass trail, then 7.5 miles over Kearsarge Pass to Onion Valley, then “hitch into Bishop”. Who comes up with this shit? For one, that’s almost 30 miles over rough terrain. For two, I should really be up and over Forester by noon in case there’s weather. And three, I’d get to the road at nightfall, which is not a good time to hitch at all.

Anyway, it was a nice day and the trail was pretty cruiser.

 

I definitely felt the elevation, but my feet and legs felt good. I did 17 miles and might have done more but the map showed the trail going way up a mountain for the next five miles so I was glad to stop at 1730 at a nice spot on a ridge.

I woke up at six, but needed to mail my bivy sack home, so I spent about two hours just sitting. Waiting.

My neighbors called me over. They couldn’t find biking/hiking gloves, but they bought me some fingerless, neoprene, fishing gloves, that were a little too big. Oh well, nice try. Unfortunately, I had already thrown out the old ones. Oops. They were better than nothing.

I was more excited when they said, “Hey, this umbrella blew over here yesterday, is it yours?” That was a happy moment!

By the time the store opened (to mail my package) they were serving breakfast, so I stayed for that, and didn’t leave for the trail until after ten.

It’s been stormy every afternoon for a week or more, and this has meant snow in the Sierra. There is a rumor that someone died on Forester Pass a few days ago. Tons of people are skipping ahead and plan to come back and hike the Sierra section later in the year when it is safer. Lost&Found thinks he might flip.

I decided to keep walking and have a look for myself. I’m not skipping ahead based on rumors and fear. I’ll have a look for myself, thank you very much. But I admit, my mind was filled with doubt as I walked off, especially with my heavy pack. At KM I ditched my bivy bag but added a tent, pile pants, micro-spikes, and a three-pound bear canister. I think my base weight went up about six pounds. That plus six days of food and four liters of water made for a heavy pack. I trudged along watching the thunderheads build and really wondered what I was getting into.

It started raining around 1300, but not too bad. I found a nice campsite around 1730 and stopped. Kind of a short day (14 miles), but I had a late start and a heavy pack, and that’s the mileage I had planned, so everything is good, right?

There was supposed to be a ride to the local restaurant (Grumpy’s, 3.5 miles away) at 0715 for breakfast, but when I went out front there was over 40 hikers waiting. I think there is over 60 hikers here. I decided to skip that, which turned out to be a good move. Some people didn’t get their breakfast until 11:30! And pretty much everyone was stuck there waiting for a ride back. I stayed behind and started drinking beer when the store opened around nine.

I did laundry and cleaned up in the outdoor shower.  Finished off the day with an awesome burger and some hot dogs. Town food!

 

 

 

(Those are not my bottle cap crampons, but I though it was a creative idea)

Some hikers are going to town (Lone Pine). My hiking gloves are shot, so I gave them $40 and asked them to get me a new pair.

 

I went over to Tom’s place (who I met back at Mike’s house (mile 160)) and played some disc golf. It was after noon, and it was hot, and I was getting drunk. We only played 7 or 8 holes before I was too embarrassed to continue. Tom was cool with it. Cool guy.

When I got back, my “Chrome Dome” had blown away. There was a brushy field downwind, and a barbed wire fence, but I looked and looked and couldn’t find it. Should have tied it down, I guess.

Very frosty morning!

I was on trail by 0540. I could already see thunderstorms building by 0800.

Goat caught up to me so I had him take a picture. We hiked together to Kennedy Meadows. He was pretty excited about celebrating my birthday, and I’m cool with that.

It started raining a little after ten. So, I had some major motivation! Beer! food! Expecting four packages! And get out of the rain! With no food and no water I even ran down some sections of trail and we made it to Kennedy Meadows by 1215.

Goat bought me some birthday beer and we drank it on the porch, right by the front door of the store, but also not in the rain. I requested the packages that were sent to me, and it took awhile (like an hour), but I got all four I was expecting! Like Christmas! or a Birthday!

One of the new items was my tent, so I went in the back forty behind the store and pitched it, and “made camp”, before heading back down to the porch party.

I drank beer and socialized until bedtime.

It was really warm last night until the upslope daytime winds turned downslope around ten. I couldn’t sleep and stayed up long enough for the clouds to move off. I saw the first crescent moon and learned the constellation Leo.

Up and on trail by 0540. Nice morning.

I felt awesome with so little food, only one liter of water and no people. I made three miles by 0715. But then I had to load up with four liters of water and do a big climb.

Up until break at 1130 I felt great, like I wanted to hike, and wouldn’t have wanted a short easy birthday even if I had a choice. That changed by 1400 when I had to load up with another four liters to do another big climb. All of a sudden my feet hurt real bad, like three weeks ago bad. Around four I walked into a huge burn and there was no place to shelter from the cold wind.

I finally bushwhacked down to a road by an old quarry which was out of the wind. My feet are trying to get blisters between almost all of my toes. Sad dinner of instant mashed potatoes and tuna, birthday or not. Good thing I have a short day tomorrow and then a zero. I’m hoping to get there early for food and beer and to beat the afternoon thunderstorms.

Big toe killed another sock today. Not many left.

Couldn’t sleep and had company all night (woodrat?). Hit the trail by 0550 and made it to Walker Pass by 0815. There was Trail Magic!

I fell today. I figured I would somewhere on a 2660 mile hike, but trekking poles are really good at preventing that. Of course, I didn’t have them deployed when I fell. It was a downhill stretch and I wanted some water. I’ve got the move down now, take the straps off, both poles tucked under the left arm, reach around to the side pocket on the right, drink, put the bottle back and rock on.

Somehow, while I was trying to put the bottle back in its pocket, my foot hit something and I went down. I did a face-plant into the trail and got caught by a sage bush overlooking a steep drop. My water bottle went skittering down the trail.

Somehow, I was completely unhurt. I collected myself, my water bottle, and kept walking. It was a good “wake-up call” to be more careful. I know there’s a lot of places coming up where doing a face-plant into the trail will get me seriously hurt.

At the Trail Magic at Walker Pass I met a hiker named “Goat”. He had a heavy Middle Eastern or East European accent (although he actually hails from Phoenix, AZ), and we hit it off like peas and carrots. He felt free to tell me at first he thought I was rude because I passed him on the trail (around 0615, he was cowboying right on the trail) and he said, “Good morning”, and I didn’t say anything. I explained that I had said “Good morning” but I used my “the sun isn’t up yet voice” and he just didn’t hear me. So, it’s all good.

I also passed CatWater a little later, although she was up and social. We talked about why cats like to drink really cold water, naturally. She didn’t fess up, but I found out later that, unlike the dead rodent water that I drank, she had drank from a source that had just had a dead bobcat fished out of it, hence the CatWater. You have to be careful early in the hike what kind of Trail Name you get. Although actually, I love it and am a little jealous.

I ate two small breakfast burritos and a pastry at the trail magic. I could have eaten a lot more, but I was still grateful since I seem to be low on food. Thank you Twinkle Toes! I filled my water, dumped my trash, and got back on the trail by 0850.

I felt pretty good today. The usual pains came and went. After Walker Pass the mountains seemed to get bigger, and the trail is much more steeply up and down. But I cruised.

I got to a nice view spot and stopped for lunch at this cool ring of wood that people had stacked up. To block the wind? It made a great structure to hang my stuff out to dry. Goat caught up to me and I was able to give him some First Aid supplies for his poor feet (in exchange for an orange). He’s planning to hike fast, so I may not see him again.

I got four liters of water from Joshua Tree Spring (the radioactive one with the lurking bear), and it would have been a nice place to camp, but I didn’t have my 20 in, and it was only 1630. The trail was solid uphill, but I felt uncommonly good, even with the water weight. Once again there was nowhere to camp, but I made do on this little knob, which turned out awesome except for the stickers and burrs. It had a perfect leaning rock with a view to the west.

I think I felt good today because of the change in scenery, and because my pack was so light (very little food and not too much water). Also, I saw very few people. Apparently people are skipping the “hard” parts. Hmmm…

Slept great. On trail by 0540. Most pains were gone.

Almost got ten by ten (0.3 short). I felt great until I got lost on the way to Yellow Jacket Spring. I swear there was a sign pointing down a road, but when I got down it a ways I noticed the lack of trekking pole marks. I checked my map and it looked like I could bushwhack up this valley, which I did and it wasn’t terrible. I found the spring and bushwhacked back up to the PCT which was pretty hard (steep and brushy and hot). I never did see the trail that supposedly goes from the PCT to the spring. I got back up to the trail with 5.5 liters of water by 1400. But I was tired and slow again.

A few minutes later I passed Goulet, taking a break. He was feeling slow too. But not long after, he passed me again. I never did catch up to Space Kitty.

Found an awesome campsite with good rocks for leaning on and a view but I decided it was too windy, although it wasn’t much windier than the spot I settled for 45 minutes later at 1800 with no leaning rocks, but by then I was too tired to care.

I called this post hump day because it was the middle day of my “week”, I went up and over a big mountain, and in many ways my spirits and attitude toward the trail are much improved. Let’s hope they stay that way!