Day 51, 12.60 miles

Alright, I know what you’re thinking, how come he’s going so slow now?! But keep in mind what I was talking about with the high snow passes. Pinchot which we went up and over today, and Mather, which we’re going to do early tomorrow morning, are only 9.7 trail miles away from each other. There’s definitely more snow this year than 2016, and what we don’t want to do is go up and over a snowy pass in the early afternoon while the snow is too soft, as we could slide off of chutes or fall through otherwise solid-looking snow bridges down into creeks and streams beneath the snow! Because of all this, it’s strictly one pass a day :)

In order to not have a sub-10 miles day today, we had camped over 5 miles from the summit of Pinchot last night, (although the MAIN reason was Julian and Keglegs really really wanted that fire!) here in the Sierra fires are prohibited above 10,000 feet. So last night we stopped at 9,300.

Julian’s least favorite sign...

This morning I let the youngins once again go ahead in front of me while I “slept in” until 5:30am. I knew I’d catch them before reaching the top, and they were really eager to get going early. I also wanted to cook a big breakfast of oatmeal with all the fixings since the Mountain House scrambled eggs yesterday morning did NOT fill me up. 

When I finally did get moving, I ran into Slip and Slide, who I had met back on trial just before Tehachapi. We hiked together for awhile and chatted. He lives in SE Portland. The scenery was SO beautiful during the climb!

Photo by Slip and Slide

I passed many many people on the way up, probably over 20; some on trail but most still in their tents. This kind of surprised me as I felt that I had woken up “late” for a 5+ mile pass approach. The morning was great and I felt ready to tackle the day! I soon hit the snow and soon after caught up with Julian, Keglegs, and Alright.

Jules approaching

Snow fields 

Shortly after meeting up with them, we also came up on a German hiker named Sunshine, who I hiked with for the rest of the pass. He’s a pretty cool guy!

Sunshine

It was a tough climb for sure, but I loved it! There was lots of route-finding, boulder-hopping, scree-sliding, switchbacking, and even a little snow ladder! At the very tippy top we saw Early Bird and a few other hikers. The wind was whipping strong up the North side, so we all huddled behind some large rocks facing South and ate some food before headed down.

Protected from the winds AND a nice view!

The way down was just as beautiful! Big frozen lakes and a lot of fun sliding/running/skating down the still hard, crunchy snow. I do like when the snow is soft enough to glissade down on my but, but when it is, it’s usually soft enough to post hole for hours, a double edged sword for sure!

Fun rock-hopping

We picked up some more people on the way down!

I had some pretty bad condensation last night as I slept so close to the river. So as soon as we were out of the snow and wind I stopped in a nice sunny campsite to do a pack explosion and air out some of my gear! It was here I hung out and talked with Sunshine some more, and got some free sunflower seeds!

Pack explosion 

Julian and Alright hadn’t had any condensation, so they had continued on downtrail with Early Bird and a couple other hikers. I continued on to try and catch up and saw everyone hanging out on the other side of a big watercrossing. They had all walked through and it was apparent I’d have to do the same. With some

Searching I found a great safe place to cross barefoot to not soak my shoes. Keglegs was behind a bit, so we all waited ~15 minutes to make sure she forded safely as well. 

S Fork Kings River (Don’t worry, I didn’t use the log)

It was super early in the day still, just after noon. We only had a few more miles to go until we would reach Mather Pass, but there were many other stream crossings on unknown difficulty still coming up, so we decided to push on so that the others would have time at camp to dry out their shoes.

The last water crossing of the day

We started seeing patches of snow and started getting closer to the tree line. The winds started picking up and soon we saw a HUGE number of hiker tents camped out on the side of the trail. We were ~2 miles from the top of the pass, but there appears to be a lot of snow, and it was already 2pm. Not quite enough time for a safe double pass. We decided to head about .2 miles off the trail to escape the “crowds” and found some nice sites tucked in away from the wind near some trees. I camped even further away from the others (about 200 yards across another stream and down into the valley.)

View from tent (minestrone presoaking in pot)

I think my campsite has the best view :)

Definitely th most scenic campsite so far! There’s probably about 10-15 other hikers over near the trail. Everyone had the same idea of sleeping as close to the pass as possible! After we all set up our tents, I headed back over across the small creek to eat and hang out with the others. Early Bird had her display of food out and we were all jealous since she’s at the start of a 7 day stretch and we’re close to the end of ours.

So much food! 

It was still so early that we were able to play some cards! Keglegs has a tiny set (and I mean tiny..) we used a bear canister lid to keep the cards separated, and Alright taught/refreshed us on how to play Hearts! (I came in second after Alright). Some sketchy looking grey clouds started forming in the distance, but they aren’t moving quickly at all, and I think we’ll be alright. We all adjusted/tightened our tent setups just in case to prepare for the worst. We ARE camping over 11,000 ft...

Genius! 

Throwing down with some tiny cards! 

Well, it’s only 7:15pm, but we have a huge day tomorrow; we’re going for 20 miles! (Which is TOUGH in the Sierra!!) I’m excited for all of you to read this when I get into VVR in 3.5 days!

Thanks for reading!!