2MoreMiles…

Day 66: (19 miles)
(FYI – just got WiFi so many posts coming. Fewer pictures as our phone battery was running low.  This post has none…sorry)

We set out sights on VVR as we truly don’t have enough food to make it to Mammoth.  We are not looking forward to the extra “bonus” miles (aka. Non PCT miles) but we hear VVR shouldn’t be missed. Up early as usual, with a goal of 22 miles so we would have a chance to make it to the ferry by 8:30am. VVR (Vermillions Valley Resort) is at the west end of Edison Lake.  On good snow/water years the resort will pick you up in their pontoon boat at the east end of the lake where the PCT/JMT runs nearby.  This saves one a 8.7 mile walk to the resort.  Even though the lake is down, they are running an aluminum boat.  You just have to walk a little farther into the lake bed (nearly 2 miles) and be there between 0830-0900 for a ride that will cost you $12.  Pressure on we blaze along, arms and legs pumping,  we run numbers in our heads, divided by hours. Checking the map against the GPS we’re nervous. We ask the trail gods to give us some easy trail, but to no avail.  We still have Seldom Pass to get over.   It’s never ending steep ups and downs with lots of roots and boulders to step over. It’s slow going. We stop at a creek for lunch and soak our feet. We check the mileage … we can’t make it. Damn! This means we’ll miss the ferry ride and have to do the extra 8.7 miles (the things we do for food on the trail.) So what to do now? Easy. Take an hour and a half lunch, lay in the sun watching the clouds go by, and forget about it! That worked. We adjust the daily schedule and shoot for Bear Creek. Pressure off we relax to a comfortable hiking pace and enjoy the day. About 6pm we reach the creek and it’s roaring. It’s really a river at this point in the snow melt. Paul checks it out first without his pack just in case he goes for a swim. He returns with a thumbs up and says it freezing. Packs on, straps loose, and belt detached we enter together. He’s right the water is freezing. The water was thigh deep and the current pushed us down stream a bit. We had made our entry with this in mind and walked in an angle down stream to the opposite bank and making an exit on a sandy shore. Perfect! Back on shore we quickly dried our feet and put our boots back on complaining how cold the water was and how we were glad we didn’t have to do that again.  We quickly found a flat place to camp and fell asleep knowing that tomorrow we would be at VVR  (Vermilion’s Valley Resort).

For some reason some photos just won’t load properly or fully so I’m adding the two that didn’t seem to load.  The first is me in the hut door and the second is the plaque on the outside of the hut.

Hope this worked…

Top of Muir Pass and the hut

Day 65: (19 miles)
mile 833.5 – 852.5

The alarm goes off at 0430 this morning (second day in a row) as we are still trying to make up miles from two days ago, and get over Muir Pass while it’s still frozen. Only five miles to the top of the pass and the Muir rock hut. The trail was a gradual climb at first, and Paul thought out loud “this is too easy… wait for it…wait for it.” We turn a corner and there is that dreaded snow. We don the micro spikes and the climb begins.

Now, snow does have an advantage, you often get to make your own path. A straight line without switchbacks can cut your mileage significantly. Flashing back to Pinchot Pass we stop and break out the map and GPS. We aren’t stupid…all of the time. We located the trail along one wall of the valley leading to the pass, checked the GPS and everything checks out. Three more miles and about 2000 feet to climb over an icy snow valley. We can’t see the pass because there are many false summits, and a right hand turn to the top. We hike on and pass two small frozen lakes. The scenery is breathtaking! Way out in the distance we see two hikers appearing to toe kick straight up a steep incline. “Oh shoot!” (or something close to that) Paul mutters. It looks tough, but we agree we can do it. Is there really another choice? The sun has been up for awhile now and the snow surface has begun to thaw. This is not a big deal, yet, but our boots are no longer “dry” and feel as though they are starting to take on water. When we arrive at the large incline, it’s steep. We decide to make short goals and challenge ourselves to make it to certain locations rather than do the whole climb non-stop, and die. No fun in that. After some time Paul reaches the the last false summit and can see the rock hut. He’s excited and calls to me his discovery. Needless to say, I’m pooped! He motivates me to climb on and waits for me so we can walk to the hut together.

What an amazing structure. Old, yet historically interesting and intriguing in the sense that the foresight and effort it took to errect this rock fortress almost defies logic. We walked around the outside and stop when we see the door. Too bad its locked, we think. It would be cool to see the inside and explore. Paul checks the door and to our surprise it’s unlocked.

A small latch locks the door. What were we thinking? It’s not LA! In we go… instant ooooh factor. It’s a round rock building with bench seating lining the interior and a large fire place.

Looking up at the ceiling

A set of antlers rest in front of the fire place on the floor.

We took a seat and sat silent as we both looked around and absorbed the ambience. After a few minutes Paul started looking around and told me that people like to hide notes or coins and even little trinkets in places like this, it proves they were here. He looks in the rock cervices and cracks as if he’s looking for his car keys. Convinced they are here some where. When eureka! A note behind the mantel. It reads about two men who were stuck in the hut for three days during the recent snow storm and had been waiting for two other hikers to arrive. Apparently they didn’t arrive so the men moved on. Cool! Time for us to get moving also. The snow is getting softer. We locked the door behind us and set a course for the valley below, not before checking our maps and GPS to ensure we’re heading for the right valley.

We use the snow to our advantage this time and make a bee line to Evolution Lake.

At one point we realize we are walking on the frozen lake which scares me to death, but not Paul. He chuckles before adjusting the course toward shore. Its about three miles before reaching “dry land” as we drop below 10,300 ft. and eventually the snow level. Stopping for lunch now is the option. We’ve beaten the sun and the post holing. As we relaxed with our boots off, another hiker joins us , Brainstorm. He’s from Chicago, an artist who worked in NY and hated his job. Nice guy who had similar trouble at Pinchot Pass. Guess not everyone goes up the right pass every time.

After lunch we get a move on. Evolution Creek crossing is our destination for the night. It’s known for its ferocious current and the guide book suggest crossing in the early morning when water levels are lowest. Why should we follow the guide book now when we haven’t followed its advice for nearly 800 miles. We are making good time when we meet five south bound hikers heading to Evolution Lake to camp. They are about our age and are mostly from the East Coast area. We say hello, make small talk, and when they hear our destination (Canada) they become interested in our hike. We explain the objective, when we started and how far we have traveled. They’re impressed! They ask questions about our trail names and laugh at each other when we ask for theirs. The best comes when they ask if we need any food. “Well…..” we answer, “as a matter of fact we do”. We are short a day of food due to our 8mile day and while we won’t starve, we know we will be short and are smart enough to admit when we might be able to garner some help. Without any hesitation they drop their packs and dig for their extra food (weight). Yum chocolate bars, protein bars, oatmeal and trail mix. We shower them with many thanks as we munch on trail mix. Brainstorm arrived in time so we could get a group photo.

We dubbed them the Fabulous Five and said good bye. I have to say the chocolate was awesome! We pounded out the 8 miles to Evolution Creek and decided to cross in the meadow where the creek was wide and the water moved slower. It was cold and safe but not without blood sucking mosquitoes. We later camped down stream close to the “dangerous” crossing area and agreed we made the right choice. After the week we’ve had doing crossings we didn’t need any more drama!

Day 64: (19 miles)
mile 814.5 – 833.5

Up super early and into completely frozen boots.  The approach to Mather’s Pass looks fairly straightforward.  We can actually see the trail and switchbacks.  The snow is hard packed and frozen so the risk of post holing is nil.  The only problem is the snow that is covering parts of the switchbacks is so hard and steep that even our micro spikes aren’t useful.  Time once again for another scramble up the scree covered pass to the switchbacks free of snow. 

All this is done with frozen feet and rock falling underneath our feet.  I think the next major hike we do should be somewhere flat, like Nebraska or something.  Paul leads. I follow doing my best to focus on keeping my feet moving and not to look down and/or worry about falling.  Finally we make it to the snow free trail and to the top of the pass (12,096 ft) unscathed.  Is there snow covering the other side?  Silly question. 

Low snow year my ass.  We should have paid better attention to when Ned Tibbets, a high sierra mountaineering instructor, said that the snow levels over 10,000 ft were “normal”, and that was before the late snow storm we waited out at Kennedy Meadows.  In “normal” years it’s not recommended to enter the Sierras before June 15…Ooops!  Down the backside we goose step in the snow (digging our heels into snow) down to the trail which runs along side a lake and into a canyon with steep and powerful waterfalls that roar louder than an airport runway. 

Today we make lots of miles as steep descents with awkwardly spaced steps and narrow switchbacks turn into soft valley floor.  We meet up with Borealis (Borealis is a “rock star” as he was the first hiker up to Whitney after the late May snow storm.  He cut the steps up to Whitney…said the snow was thigh deep and the last mile took 4 hours) and Russell (when we first saw Russell he was literally running down the Kearsage trail sans backpack because he was hungry for “town food”.  Russell was/is a Marine and is raising funds for the Wounded Warrior Project by walking several long trails…his website is http://www.woundedwarriorwalk.com ) and determine that we have the same end mark (mile 833) to set up for Muir Pass in the morning.  Borealis and Russell are way faster than us so we tell them we’ll see them at camp.  Russell says he’ll have a “roaring fire” for us when we get there.  Good kid.  Happy guy.  We finally make it to camp.  Russell has a fire, and we all share conversation and trail adventures as we absentmindedly eat our varied trail food concoctions.

Day 64: (19 miles)
mile 814.5 – 833.5

Up super early and into completely frozen boots.  The approach to Mather’s Pass looks fairly straightforward.  We can actually see the trail and switchbacks.  The snow is hard packed and frozen so the risk of post holing is nil.  The only problem is the snow that is covering parts of the switchbacks is so hard and steep that even our micro spikes aren’t useful.  Time once again for another scramble up the scree covered pass to the switchbacks free of snow. 

All this is done with frozen feet and rock falling underneath our feet.  I think the next major hike we do should be somewhere flat, like Nebraska or something.  Paul leads. I follow doing my best to focus on keeping my feet moving and not to look down and/or worry about falling.  Finally we make it to the snow free trail and to the top of the pass (12,096 ft) unscathed.  Is there snow covering the other side?  Silly question. 

Low snow year my ass.  We should have paid better attention to when Ned Tibbets, a high sierra mountaineering instructor, said that the snow levels over 10,000 ft were “normal”, and that was before the late snow storm we waited out at Kennedy Meadows.  In “normal” years it’s not recommended to enter the Sierras before June 15…Ooops!  Down the backside we goose step in the snow (digging our heels into snow) down to the trail which runs along side a lake and into a canyon with steep and powerful waterfalls that roar louder than an airport runway. 

Today we make lots of miles as steep descents with awkwardly spaced steps and narrow switchbacks turn into soft valley floor.  We meet up with Borealis (Borealis is a “rock star” as he was the first hiker up to Whitney after the late May snow storm.  He cut the steps up to Whitney…said the snow was thigh deep and the last mile took 4 hours) and Russell (when we first saw Russell he was literally running down the Kearsage trail sans backpack because he was hungry for “town food”.  Russell was/is a Marine and is raising funds for the Wounded Warrior Project by walking several long trails…his website is http://www.woundedwarriorwalk.com ) and determine that we have the same end mark (mile 833) to set up for Muir Pass in the morning.  Borealis and Russell are way faster than us so we tell them we’ll see them at camp.  Russell says he’ll have a “roaring fire” for us when we get there.  Good kid.  Happy guy.  We finally make it to camp.  Russell has a fire, and we all share conversation and trail adventures as we absentmindedly eat our varied trail food concoctions.

Day 61:(13 miles)
mile 793.5 – 806.5

The morning alarm goes off, we roll over and say, “Happy Anniversary”, but Paul, the sly dog, hands me a card that he has carried just for today.  We consider how nice it would be not to have to get up and move each morning, but then Canada, nor Pinchot Pass will come to us, so we must go to them.  We make our way up the trail paralleling a ragging river (probably considered a creek) with powerful waterfalls.  There are a few crossings of “creeks” we attempt without removing our shoes.  Paul makes them generally with ease, however I’m usually tentative when it comes to “rock hopping”.  I was hoping to add a video to demonstrate my sad balance and coordination, but I am also a luddite, and have no high school kids available to help work through (actually do it ) the process.  Use your imagination with this photo.

This crossing took me an usually long amount of time to pock my route

We have another river crossing,

but this time we have bridge…a suspension bridge in the middle of practically nowhere…go figure.  We passed the 800 mile mark and stop for a photo op.

We continue to climb in elevation toward Pinchot Pass and are met with snow once again.  It is late afternoon and the post holing becomes more frequent and dangerous in the sense that we fall deeper and deeper increasing the odds of getting a foot or ankle trapped under a rock or even worse, breaking a leg.  We are also unsure as to which of the three “passes” we see before us is actually Pinchot as the trail is unrecognizable due to the snow. 

We meet another thru-hiker, Rags, who is just as perplexed.  We all agree that it’s too late in the afternoon to continue on and search for a place to camp for the night.  Rags, who is a little older than us (recently retired from Costco) finds a great spot on a dry knoll amongst some trees.  We set up camp and begin comparing trail stories and other hikers we’ve met.  Rags tells us he’s been cowboy camping lately without an air mattress or pad of any sort (his sprung an unrepairable leak, so he tossed the thing), and at Kennedy Meadows someone stole his stove and pot, but left him his spoon, thus he’s been eating his food cold.  Rags was not mad or bitter as he figures apparently who ever took his stove must have really needed it.  He plans however to buy a new one once he gets to town.  We tell him he’s in luck cause we have a JetBoil stove, so he can at least have a hot meal tonight and if he’d like he can use our two Z-rest sit pads to sleep on as well.  Rags responds, only if it’s not too much trouble and if you can spare the fuel.  We add that we have coffee too and he smiles brightly, “this is my lucky day”. 

Our camp (far right in the trees) down below the pass

Day 62: (8 miles)
mile 806.5 – 814.5

We awoke today to a very frosty cold morning, having camped surrounded by snow above 10,000 feet. The snow surface was frozen which was a good thing and we wore micro spikes on our boots for traction. No longer post holing we made good time following the tracks in the snow toward the pass in the middle of the colossal bowl. Straight up we went huffing and puffing gaining elevation quickly. Rags was in the lead and about half way to the top of the pass called back, “do you think this the right pass?” We all recheck our maps and the GPS maps as well.  We conclude we’re not sure and continue to climb. When Rags reaches the top he looks over the top. His posture tells it all. Hands on his hips he looks left and right several times before turning around. I knew what he was about to say “wrong pass!” Out comes the maps again and we agree the pass to the right was where we should be. We decide to traverse the mountainside rather than give up any elevation. This was easy for Rags and Paul, but not for me. The traverse went through a boulder, rock, and gravel field. Not to mention, it was EXTREMELY steep! Following Rags and Paul I began my 2 hr struggle. Did I mention I don’t like heights, I’m not very good with rock hopping ( I fight gravity and use tracking poles to stay up right), and freeze (nearly hyperventilating and seriously terrified) when rocks would release and tumble hundreds of feet below me. Do l have to say I hated this! Paul stayed close giving me literally step by step instruction.  He on the other hand appears to be enjoying this unexpected challenge… I guess it’s a “guy” thing. Rags on the other hand made good time and was over the pass in about 30 minutes. As we were almost to the top we saw another hiker making the same mistake. Paul tried calling and whistling to redirect him but he was out of range. If he followed our tracks he was in for a long morning as well. We finally crested the pass and looked over, and what a surprise (not really) down into a snow covered valley. We are both seriously beginning NOT to like snow.  Rags was long gone. Dejected from what we thought would be an hour climb (now 3 hours) we spot two candy toffees atop a small rock in the trail.

Rags! He shared the same candy with us last night after dinner. We smile and laugh. He understood what we had just gone through. Or at least me. Thanks Rags! We needed something positive to lift our spirits. Down we went as quick as we (me being the pace setter…if you can call it a pace) could, trying to make up time. We both were still feeling stupid for following tracks and not completely verifying them with the maps. We vowed to never make that mistake again. After several miles we cleared the snow having dropped elevation and find the trail. We stopped for a well deserved break and agreed we were not going to make the miles today we had set out to make. Stuff happens! We had hoped to make it over Mather’s Pass today too. The decision was made  to get to the base of Mather’s Pass, make camp, and climb the pass very early in the morning. This will put us a day behind and we will have to rethink our food supply. The day continued “normally” as we made our way up toward Mather’s. The views of the Sierras are incredible. With the snow melt increasing, waterfalls cascading from above are more common. Even though we are physically and mentally worked over, we haven’t become callus to either the views or waterfalls and point them out as they come into view. Most of the time you hear the waterfalls well before you see them. Making it over or through the creeks/rivers is becoming more difficult and the temperature of the water is so cold that your feet ache beyond belief. Late in the afternoon we had several creeks to ford and after several successful crossings we reached the King River. We don’t like cold wet feet to hike in and because your shoes freeze solid at night we prefer to take our boots off and cross in our camp shoes(crocs). Well, as if today already wasn’t rough enough, one particular crossing didn’t go well. Paul made the crossing and waited for me. I made the crossing, sat next to Paul, and began to dry my feet when I realized my boots were missing! Paul in disbelief and after saying some choice words, along the lines ” You’re kidding!”, begins to frantically search where I had crossed.  Down stream he goes weaving around bushes and rocks looking for my boots. By now I’m thinking of writing a book on how I crossed the Sierras and snow covered passes in a pair of Crocs. (Sheryl Strayed eat your heart out. Oprah, or is it Queen Lateefa, here I come!…trying to make lemonade here) I see Paul enter the river 75 yards down steam, reach down, and then hoist my boots in the air. Thank God!!! No really… Thank God!!! If I didn’t have a trail name already I would have earned one here. I’m sure you can think of a few. Feel free to enter them in the comment section. After my reunion with my boots and Paul finally stopped looking at me and shaking his head, we had a good laugh. The type of laugh you have after having the crap scared out of you. I lace up my seriously soggy and hopelessly waterlogged boots and trudge on.  This time there is no need to remove my boots or even rock hop for further creek crossings…at least I got that going for me.  Paul remarks that I’m a “real “Thru-hiker now.  Around five o’clock we reach the base of Mather’s Pass and make camp. 8 miles! It feels much farther.  It will be good to put an end to this day but not before a hot rehydrated meal. Tent set up, sleeping pads inflated, sleeping bags laid out, time to boil water and eat. Not! The day is yet not over and we run out of fuel and eat a cold meal. We recount the day’s mishaps.  How many?  We know things seem to run in three’s.  Do we have anymore to look forward to or be prepared for? Hmmm.  Wrong Pass, mutinous boots, out of fuel (with 3 more days to go…at least), that makes three.  We’re good.  Tomorrow will be a seriously better day, but then there go the talk shows.

Looking down the backside of Glenn Pass

Day 60: (12.5 miles).
mile 788.5 –  793.5 + 7.5 (Kearsage Pass trail)

The slog up the pass was not as “bad” as we expected.  The Kearsage Pass trail however was like a hiker freeway.  At least 20 hikers passed us heading down and into town, while another 10 passed us heading back to the PCT.  Our goal was to make it over Glenn Pass before it got too bad as we did not want to replicate our experience at Forrester Pass.  We had conflicting information as when to best summit Glenn Pass. It was either you need to do it early in the morning so you don’t posthole, or because it’s so steep and icy, do it in the afternoon.  We figured we’d split the difference.  As it turned out, either way we were in for another adventure. 

The initial climb was steep with some snow on the trail, that led to some post holing, but liveable as the snow was well compacted.  The climb to the top of the pass was steep and arduous.  I was pretty much gassed by the time we reached the top.  Then the backside, snow once again as far as the eye could see, and unbelievably steep too. 

An ice Axe would have been a good tool to have at this juncture.  Hmmm.  How to get down. Walk or glissade.  With no ice Axe, glissading would have been more stupid than not having an ice Axe in the first place, so walk (post hole) all the way down we did.  Shit.  Meltdown coming.  Incredible heights, slippery surface, poor lower body appendage motor skills.  If it were not for Paul, I think I may still be up there.  “Pull yourself together, it’s not that bad.  We’ll do it bit by bit”, says Paul.  So I ” pull it together” and down we go.  This trek was both physically and emotionally exhausting.  By the time we get almost to the Rae Lakes we are wet once again.  Our goal was to get to mile 796 or 798, to set up for Pinchot Pass, and, even though we technically have enough daylight to go 3 or 5 miles, my legs and knees are too shot too really effectively go much further, so we call it.  But what a beautiful setting to call it at.

Rae Lakes

Day 58: (18 miles)

The next morning we got going as early as we could to take advantage of the snow pack having being re-frozen. 

We doned our micro spikes and got a move on.  We had some serious miles to do.  It was nice walking on top of the snow rather than in it.  When we stopped for a break and to stow our spikes (they worked great for river crossings with logs too), the couple from the night before caught up to us.  They said they battled hypothermia through the night but did not think to start a fire…only sleeping bag and hot tea.  They were stopping for a break as well, but we had to keep going.  We got this “bright idea” to take the Bullfrog trail off the PCT/John Muir Trail, that meets up with the Kearsage Pass trail. 

Although we were treated to beautiful sights it added an unnecessarily steep climb to meet up with the pass.  When we reached the top of the pass, we wished we had carried extra food from the beginning, as we realized looking at the path down to Onion Valley Campground (which we could not see) that we would have to slog a full bear canister back up and over this 11760 ft pass. Argh!! 

Down the trail we trod, kicking ourselves for not planning better or at least paying better attention to the elevation changes.  As we descended toward the campground we were treated to more deer than we have seen our entire hike so far.  They stood and stared at us, completely un-phased by our presence.  As luck would have it, near the bottom we were passed by SloBro and MeToo.  When we got to the parking lot, SloBro had a great idea. Let’s call the Courthouse Motel in Independence and see if they’ll pick us up, and we can stay there at least for the night. Good plan as it was 6:30pm and getting cold.  SloBro had heard that the operators of the motel were very hiker friendly and if they had the time they would pick them up from the campground.  With two bars of signal, the call was made.  They’ll be there in 30 minutes, if we were okay with waiting that long…ah yes, how else were we going to get down the 13 mile single purpose steep paved road, walk?
30 minutes to the second  the owner of the motel arrived.  We loaded up and were in Independence with a beer in our hand and a hot shower in no time.  Atlas, Bearclaw and a few other hikers we recognized were there too.  We all shared horror stories of Forrester Pass, and mostly didn’t feel so dumb.

Day 59: (0 miles)

With a good meal at the local taco stand (only open Tues-Thurs) and a good night’s sleep we were up early to hitch to Lone Pone for breakfast at the Alabama Cafe, laundry and a visit to the outfitters (Elevation) to get Paul’s trekking poles fixed and the market for resupply. 

We were picked up almost immediately by a avid hiker and trail runner, Mike.  We talked about the trail and the snow conditions which made him feel better about nixing the idea his daughter (college age) had to do a section of the Sierras this week as he had redirected her to Mt. San Jacinto.  He dropped us off at the cafe and gave us his cell number to call, when we got to Mammoth.  Cool beans.  Once chores were done, we hitched back and prepped for a 6am departure.