Day 72: 802-814

This morning was an early one and I didn't want to get up. But the group agreed to head out by 5am. When it's cold I just want to hide in my sleeping bag. We started an immediate ascent up towards Pinchot Pass. Above the tree line it was endless snow fields. The climb never ended until we hit the pass at 12,107 ft., and 4.4 miles later. The views were breathtaking as always. The mountains change formations after each pass. It's like seeing a different neighborhood. A big hood.

one for the team on Pinchot Pass

 We dropped down into the new valley through several more miles before hitting a new tree line. I hiked solo for a while and then linked up with Big Daddy, Spacejam, and Speck. We blasted down through the trees, skiing with our packs on through little shoots. Because there is no trail I just pick a line and have fun.

the lakes  

 We made really good time, covering 8 miles by 11am. Then we hit the south fork of the King river. It was a hundred yards long, with little islands of fallen debris. We scouted a spot to cross and while doing so heard shouts from the other side. It was Ten Gallon. He made it across and directed us to the route. We slowly worked our way through rapids, feet and legs soaked and frozen, before getting across. I slipped on a log while doing so but managed to keep my pack and camera dry. We lunched on the river bank in a beautiful dry spot and waited for the rest of the group. Eventually they came, and I yelled to them, instructed them how we crossed.

crossing a totally safe snow bridge  

Once we all regrouped we decided to hike up above the next tree line towards Mather Pass. We have to hit it tomorrow while it's icey. The plan is always to hike up close to the pass but not too high up because it's exposed area to nasty afternoon storms. But not too low because then we have a brutal climb in the morning. We crossed a couple more large creeks, thankfully via snow ridges  that haven't fully thawed yet. I feel bad for hikers that are a week behind us. Those bridges will be gone.

When we stopped for the night I could see that there is nowhere ideal to camp. It's all snowfields and a couple tree burrows. I decided to pitch my tent on snow which proved difficult, it took me all afternoon. It's so cold up here that all you can do is cook dinner and get in your bag. Tomorrow we head over Mather Pass. They say it's the scariest of all ascents. We'll wait and see for ourselves.

me really happy that we have to camp in wetness

Day 71: 793-802

Yesterday we did 2 passes and today we had to cross/ford 3 large creeks. The low miles are a testament to the slow pace at which we travel when no trail exists.

Left Rae Lakes and headed for Baxter Creek, which we knew we would have to deal with. Every time you cross a mountain pass you have to go through it's valley. This almost guarantees that you will have to battle the torrential creeks and the trillions of gallons of water from rapid snow melt. The Sierra is soaking wet. Everything is wet or frozen.

Passed a couple beautiful lakes early on and couldn't get across where we needed to. Me and Cowboy wanted to try it but too many in the group were uncomfortable. We decided to cut new trail and try and cross the creek further down the valley. We eventually found a sturdy looking snow bridge and crossed it. A few miles later went below tree line and hit Baxter Creek. We're renaming it Bastard Creek because it didn't give us an easy time. We eventually got across it and my feet were so frozen I thought they would fall off. Damn Bastard.

For the first time it felt like we were actually on the JMT. In the valley it was dry and the trail was exposed. Man it felt good to finally walk on dirt again. We snaked down into the valley and crossed a wood and wire bridge. The exposed mountains in this valley have 400 ft waterfalls coming off the side of cliffs. Feeding them are massive glaciers on the peaks. You can hear a massive waterfall in the distance. Water is loud. I hear it every single moment of the day out here. After the bridge I started ascending up into the new valley that will eventually take us to Pinchot Pass tomorrow. The climb was nice and ran along side the intimidating Woods Creek Waterslide. This Creek is no joke, and it's moving at high speeds. It's insane how much power and thrust it creates. No human would last a second if they fell in. Finally the creek crossed the JMT (PCT) and there is no way to pass it. Too dangerous. We al decided to make camp and cut our day short. Hopefully tomorrow the freeze will slow the river enough that we can safely pass. So me and some of the lazy fucks make camp down the trail and prepare for a 6 hour lazy afternoon before bed. About an hour in Spacejam comes to tell us that Happy Hour, being the crazy bastard he is, climbed up a cliff and found a snow bridge 800 ft above where the trail and river intersect. He got across. Everyone in the group opted to just get across before a nasty cloud that had been stalking us all afternoon decided to rain and potentially weaken the snow bridge. So we completely repacked up camp and got back in the game.

I shimmied up the mountain sliding on loose rock, following Spacejam, and the lazy fucks behind me. We got to the bridge and hesitantly crossed, hoping it wouldn't cave into the raging river below it. It supported us. We did a few more miles towards Pinchot and called it a day. I'm too tired to be writing this right now.

Day 70: Kearsarge Pass to 793

I was up before dawn this morning. I really don't enjoy having to get up this early, but if I don't I will most certainly have a slushy hike. It's best to catch as much of the iced over snow before everything warms up too much, particularly when going over passes.

We hiked up and over Kearsarge Pass and then reconnected onto the PCT. I noticed the snow is melting extremely fast but travel is still basically bush-whacking with GPS.

Kearsarge Pass let's you see things  

I feel a bit home sick while I hike through the hard stuff. I keep thinking about how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends and family back home. I miss them all. After being in town for 4 days and being able to see my parents and Jessica, coming back out into the wild takes some readjustment and it's getting harder for me to make the transition. I also have less desire to write my daily logs. It feels more like work sometimes. I didn't come out here to work! Mowgly's decision to quit the trail also was on mind as I hiked up the Pass this morning. I'm bummed that she felt she had to bail. But you have to hike your own hike.

Our packs are also too heavy. Everyone is suffering the climbs and sloshing in snow with 50lbs on their backs. I have 12 days of food for a 7 day trip in a normal year. But if the shit hits the fan and we get stuck out here fording a river or climbing a Pass, it's best to have extra food.

Rae lakes: beautiful but rude to walk through  

Towards the middle of afternoon was started ascending Glenn pass. The entryway to the switch backs required climbing a giant ice bowl followed by a ice and slush wall that went straight up. No switchbacks to be found because of the snow. It's beautiful and scary up here. While ascending, one of the snow footholds gave out on me. My ice axe was firmly locked into the hill so I didn't take a plunge. Happy Hour was already on top yelling curse words down on us as we crawled up to 11,948 ft at the peak. "You lazy motherfuckers! Hurry up!". The sweeping mountain ranges were endless...and so was the snow going all the way down the backside. The slope was way too steep to glissade. We had to side cut all the way down. Off in the distance you could see the completely frozen over Rae Lakes. Glenn Pass was more difficult for me than Forester, and potentially the hardest (and under rated) yet.

We finally got down to Rae Lakes and sloshed through more snow before having to cross the connecting point between the lakes - in freezing cold water. We stripped down to our undies and crossed over the connection between the upper and lower lake. Made camp and enjoyed a little sunlight. I did my best to dry everything off but resistance is futile. I also ate 2.5 dinners to kill some pack weight.