Day 56, 20.95 miles!!

And I would walk 900 miles, and I would walk 900 more; just to be that man who walked 900 miles two times in just two years... It’s official folks, I’ve walked 1800 miles on the PCT! I did the same thing twice, and starting tomorrow, I’ll be hiking 1,800 more miles to Canada, on all new, unseen, mystery terrain! :) I’m so excited! 

I’m 1/3 done with the trail this year and so far it’s been great! I completed this much trail in 19 days less than it took me last time! I haven’t been sick once, no injuries, blisters essentially all gone! We haven’t had a single drop of rain or snow in the Sierra so far!! How did I get so lucky/blessed?! I’m really excited guys, I get to see Claire in 4 days, and within a few days from now I’ll finally be able to share the last two weeks of blogs with you guys! Life is good on the PCT!!

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Omri, Feather and I woke up in what I still consider to be the best campsite both two years ago and this year so far! I was so stoked, I got to eat a fancy dehydrated Mountain House breakfast skillet breakfast! Yum! We were less than 3 miles from the top of Silver Pass, we didn’t know what to expect, but we were ready!

What we discovered was more beauty! So much of it! We climbed up and up, passing beautiful half frozen lakes, and scrambling over huge snow/ice fields on the way to the pass. My phone is irritating me a lot. When it’s cold out, my camera will not work unless I turn the whole phone off, and then turn it back on again. But after I take one picture, I have to do that whole process again for the next picture!! Gahhhhh technology!! Anyways, I made it work with me until it warmed up outside, and luckily still got a few cool shots..

Silver Pass

A lake on the N side

The Pass itself was not too shabby except for a ~10 minute icy mountaineering chute-route that Feather and I accidentally took and didn’t use microspikes!! After we left the snow the trail descended waaaaay down into the next valley, where we followed another nice river until it met with a wide open meadow, and then climbed a series of steep switchbacks! 

River

Meadow!


Switchbacks with a view!!

The trail continued to be that all day, a long climb up, then down to some beautiful lakes, then a long, gradual climb up, then repeat! I can’t say I could complain too much!

Virginia Lake


Ahhhhh!!

Huge peaks

Hidden lakes of unreal colors!

The three of us stayed together until around noon, when I knew I had to stop soon and get some food, and nice they were headed into Mammoth tonight, I told them to go on without me and I’d see them soon! I really really enjoyed hiking with Feather and Omri yesterday and today, I’m gonna miss those guys! (Just like I already miss Julian) Hahaha.

I did stop for some snacks and to pre-soak my dinner. I found these mystery triscuits in the hiker box at VVR and when dipped in the expired feb 2018 peanut butter I got there, it’s the best snack! I ate most of them in about 10 minutes! Dinner is also a mystery... there was a ziplock bag simply labeled “Cheeseburger”, but the aesthetic features of the dry mix lead me to believe this is a high quality dehydrated meal, so I went for it..

Mystery hiker-box triscuits!

Mystery hiker-box “cheeseburger”

I still had a few more miles to knockout before I felt like stopping for the night. I went up one final climb which was absolutely beautiful. Paralleling the trail and I were countless (ok maybe about 12) snow capped peaks. This is the most open and in-obstructed is ever seen an entire range up close like this, except maybe for when I was down in Lone Pine looking up at the mountains.. After the climb the trail then went way back down into a nice sandy and grassy burn and live meadow area. 

What a view!!!!

On the way down I passed the 900 mark! The signs were not the best, and there were too many mosquitos to stop and make a new one out of pine ones or rocks, so no pic this time! Soon after I passed Deer Creek, where Claire and I spent our final night in 2016. It was still only ~3:30pm, and I figured I still wanted to get a few more miles in, or else I would’ve done one last re-enactment! 

Oh yeah, I know I said I couldn’t complain much, but I’m about to complain... I just have to get this off my chest: There are SO many freaking mosquitos out here, it doesn’t make any sense!?! Are we borrowing all other mosquitos from all over the world and releasing them in the Sierra this year?!?! I DO have long sleeve clothing which I AM thankful for, but I probably have 7 bites just in my hands, about 8 on my face and neck, they even bit me between my pant bottoms and top of socks when I was sitting! These buggers are relentless and ruthless! Hate is a strong word, but I HATE mosquitos!! Oh yeah, I also literally got ants in my pants today while trying to take my lunch break, while simultaneously swatting more mosquitos (never-ending!!) ...Whew, much better, now I can sleep in peace. Good night everyone!

P.S. as I was all ready for bed, some nearby 3-day hikers came by and asked if I wanted chocolate pudding! So of course I accepted and joined them/talked with them for a bit. How nice!

Thanks for reading!