Day 78: 888-903, to Mammoth Pass

Today was a doozy. After a solid nights rest me and the dudes packed up and started climbing. We were hell bent on getting into Mammoth Lakes by tomorrow at the latest. We had 18 miles to cover if that was going to really happen.

We charged up a mountain, then passed a couple frozen lakes. I was feeling slightly crappy for some reason. My legs felt weak, and my left ear was aching. I'm pretty sure I've been dehydrated and not eating enough calories to make up for what I burn. I just don't have the same appetite as other hikers. I'm losing weight. My backpack hip belt no longer tightens around my skinny waist, which is creating more pressure and pain on my shoulders. When I get to town I need to see if I can McGyver my shit better.

For being Lazy Fucks, we did good today. We passed Purple Lake, one of the only that I've seen not frozen. The JMT runs along a massive ridge line giving you sweeping views of all the valleys we crossed. Then it dips low into the Mammoth area. This marks the end of the High Sierra section - something I never thought I could physically do. I'm exhausted. Even though today had a good amount of exposed dirt trail, 18 miles out here feels like 30 on your legs.

Horseshoe Lake  

We pushed and pushed until we reached the Horseshoe Lake/Mammoth Pass junction, finishing after 12 hard hours of hiking. We also passed the 900 mark! It's only 500+ for me but for Big Daddy and Righteous it means they've almost walked 1,000 miles.

When we dropped down into the lake we saw a ton of tourists and day hikers- non willing to give us rides into town. We decided to save money and camp illegally on the lake and hopefully find a hitch out tomorrow. Jessica got us an airbnb to stay at over the 4th of July but we need to kill a couple days before that happens. As I laid down to sleep my friend Julia whom I met several years back in Utah offered to come grab me and the boys in the morning. I can't wait to get a shower and a proper meal...oh and do LAUNDRY. The adventure continues.

That feeling when you know you're close to beer  

Day 77: Goodale Pass trail - 888

After a relaxing night drinking beer and eating real food at VVR, it was time to get back on the trail to hopefully reach Mammoth in a couple days time. We ate a fat breakfast at the diner, closed out my tab, and I rearranged my bear can to fit 10 days of food from my resupply box. Even though I'll be in Mammoth in a few nights, shipping my food out of VVR ahead on trail was going to cost me an arm and a leg. I opted to just carry it.

Righteous and Big Daddy packed up their gear and the three of us headed out. Because of VVR's odd location from the trail, we had a couple options for jumping back on the JMT. We could take a boat ride for $15 across Edison Lake, nope too much money. We could road walk for several miles back tot the trail, nope road walking makes you want to poke your eyes out. We could get a $10 shuttle from a VVR staffer, nope need that money for beer in town. We could take another alternate trail up a completely separate Goodale Pass and rejoin the PCT at mile 886, yes let's do that. We were told it was a "beautiful" hike. Well it was...for about a mile. It turned into a painful climb through dense forest up and out of the valley that VVR rests in. It was hot, like the desert. It was much lower elevation hiking than we have grown accustomed to. Mosquitoes were on a rampage. We whipped out bug nets out and press for higher elevation. As soon as we hit the snow line, everything went to shit. No trail at all. Mostly because this isn't the well traveled PCT. The snow from the long winter obliterated the forest and the result was a trail covered in dead and rotting trees laying across, swamping marshes that eat your shoes, and more snow. A quick and easy day turned into another 8 hour bushwhacking session. We're getting good at this.

It came time to cross a creek on the ascent and two other dudes from VVR were loosely hiking with us. One of them, Opie, crossed the river and was immediately swept away on his feet, spinning around out of control, with his 40lb pack bucked around him tight. We all immediately dropped our packs and ran down the shore of the river praying he wouldn't be swept away. My heart stopped for a minute as I processed what was happening. Luckily, Opie saved himself and was able to pull to the side for us to grab him out of the torrent. You cannot mess around and rush into a river crossing. This can happen to any of us. He got away soaking wet but the river took his trekking poles.

We kept going up the mountain trying to locate the actual Pass.

After several hours of frustrating hiking, slipping, siding, and post-holing, we reached the summit. Man was it a beautiful treat. Another big reveal of the next section of Sierra that we will soon travel through. It was 5pm - late for us to be summitting a Pass, we decided to boogie down the other side to hopefully catch some sun to warm and find a place to camp below tree line. We hauled ass down snowy fields and into the woods, where more snow blanked the parts that hardly get good sunlight. We raced towards the sun and got to the bottom of the next valley. When we reached a good camp I found ViPR, Fun Dip, and Harley. They already had a fire going along another raging river. We pulled over and stayed with them. A bad day turned good.

Day 76: 856-Florence lake alternate

Last night was the best camp site I've had. The raging river rocked me to sleep and I slept good. I did have a weird moment in the middle of then night where I woke up and saw my tent was about to collapse on me from the wind. I quickly got out of my bag and went outside to re-pitch, only to find that my tent wasn't falling over at all. I must have hallucinated or something. It was weird. I peed and went back to sleep. Righteous woke me up the next morning and told me to get going.

Big Daddy (heroin eyes), Righteous and I hiked an easy 6 miles off the PCT and took the alternate to Florence lake: a SoCal Edison owned lake with a little tiny resort on the north end. On the way down we ran into a couple who were JMT hikers that decided to bail because of the snow. They offered to give us a hitch to VVR when we got to the parking lot on the north end of the lake. We hiked a lot faster than they did. The trail took us to the south end near a boat dock. We were hoping to catch a ferry across the lake to shave miles but it looked abandoned, like no one had been there since last season. Big Daddy and I dropped our packs to hike down to the shore and investigate. We couldn't find a soul. Just a boarded up shack and some old trucks. At the dock there was a boat parked. Big Daddy found a phone attached to the dock. He picked it up and another person picked up the other end. It was the John Muir Ranch staff. They said they would send a boat to come get us. What luck we have sometimes. We ran back up the hill to the trailhead to grab our packs and notify Righteous of our plans.

We scrambled down the hill with our heavy packs. I could see a lonesome boat coming across the lake to get us. I was worried they would show up at the dock and not see us so I started yelling "wait!". We got the dock and a woman was the boat angel. She gave us a free ride across the lake.

Big Daddy picked up an old phone at the lake. Someone answered on the other end. 

We waited on that couple to show up at their car but after a couple hours I spoke with some older dudes who were camping in the area and were down to give us a 14 mile hitch to VVR. The main dude was named Bruce. He's a college professor of political science at UCSB. His two buddies were in their 70's and they all seemed super cool. They piled the 3 of us in their truck and off we went up a shitty and beat up single lane road to VVR. They gave us shots of tequila and beer.

free boat hitch across Florence Lake  

At VVR we found a couple dozen other hikers hanging out readying for the next stretch. Most are going to Yosemite. I immediately bought beer and cigarettes and had a delicious steak dinner. I was able to get a $4 2 minute phone call to Jessica to let her know my ETA in Mammoth. I also picked up my package of food far better than the crap I've been surviving on. The best part of the day was a hot shower which I needed badly. I spent the rest of the evening drinking beers at the campfire and shooting the shit. Chill day for sure.

our trail magic: some old professors gave us shots of tequila and a ride to VVR