Exhausted doesn't even begin to capture how we've felt recently, hence the lack of blogging. But, as I find myself with the next 10 days ahead of me off trail (I'll get to this later), I finally can manage to update y'all on our recent shenanigans.
So we last left off when we were in Bishop, eh? Gosh so much has happened since then! Okay, so we got back on the trail on June 11th, after Casey arranged us a ride back to Onion Valley. We amped ourselves up for the climb back over Kearsarge Pass to rejoin the PCT, and then came Glen Pass to welcome us back to the trail. This pass was snowy, as all of them are, and we sled down part of it before finally winding up at Rae Lake for the night. Little did we realize, but this day marked the beginning of 10 days of mad hiking.
The following morning we got a late start at 9:00, as we feverishly awaited the sun to come over the ridge to dry out our tents, sleeping bags, shoes, clothes, etc. But the lesson learned here was that your things will always be wet in the Sierras, and it's futile to wait around for them to dry, typically. Anywho, this day was Pinchot Pass and as all days up here, it was hard to find the energy to get to the top of this loooong ascent. I didn't reach the summit this day until 7:00pm, and at the top I met another exhausted hiker who kept chanting "We're not going to die today! Say it with me, 'we're not gonna die today!'" So with that realization, I trudged along down a bit to our spot along a lake.
Our third day out was my worst day on the trail yet 😑 This day we had Mather Pass in front of us, and the app we have to navigate the trail even said it was the ''most fear inducing pass because of the steep head wall." Before the pass, however, was Kings River, merely another river to cross (or so I thought). River crossings are a very regular occurrence out here, and every time you naturally try to find a log to cross, but when no log presents itself you make the decision to either plow through with your shoes on, or go through the effort of taking them off to then have to waste 10 minutes on the other side putting them back on. Long story not so short, this particular crossing I thought I'd take off my shoes, hold them, and cheerily cross to the other side, but wrong. I lost my footing with the strong current and away went my shoes and trekking poles. In a feverish attempt to follow said items down river, my sunglasses fell off my head as dos my flip flops off my feet 😞 With the help of our new friend, we miracuoulosusly recovered my hiking shoes, and one trekking pole, but sadly I watched my other pole go down river 😢 Alas, this event left me feeling very defeated, and once I regrouped and warmed my bones after running into the raging river to save my shoes, I took off in a fit of rage towards the pass. We got to the snow of Mather Pass with about 3 miles yet to go to the top and the wind and cold set in. The final half mile of the climb was admittedly a steep wall, as had been warned, and I got to use my trusty ice ax once again! The feeling of accomplishment you get when you summit these passes, however, makes it all worth it and you really feel empowered! So with another pass under our belts, we went down into the valley below to camp for the night.
Thursday morning we woke up to wet things, like always, but we've learned that blasting happy tunes really does a number for the morning routine. So after listening to some Sam Cooke, we got going with the honest intentions of hiking Muir Pass this day. 9 miles in to our day we made our usual lunch break, maybe only 5ish miles from the summit. While getting ready to pack up our things and get back on trail we met some JMT hikers coming southbound who warned us to wait and take on the pass first thing in the morning when the snow isn't melty and everything is more crisp. We all mulled over what this meant, counted our food and decided to heed the advice of the fellow hikers. So this day was a bit relaxed, with three afternoon consumed by playing cards and doing laundry in the river.
We actually managed to get up early the next day to truly make the most of the fresh snow and early light. Poco a poco we made our way up to the snowy pass, but not before crossing our fair share of rivers. We finally made it to the top of Muir Pass, where there was a nice shelter and some entertaining folks inside. After a nice chat, we kept moving to keep our toes warm! Down to Evolution Lake we went, where we had a really nice lunch in the sun with a guy from Minnesota. Post lunch we made our way down to Evolution Meadow, a beautiful spot despite all of the mosquitos which started gracing our presence 😣 Unfortunately, I woke up this night with a bit of snow blindness from not having any sunglasses to cross the pass with. The burning was only during this first night, but then it was just more annoying then anything else, as my eyes watered incessantly for a few days after ☹️
The next morning we had to cross Evolution Creek, which even had the option of a detour, which psyched us out a bit because why is there a detour unless the river is truly that treacherous?! Needless to say, we decided to forge the river, and it wasn't even that bad haha! We were mostly motivated this morning by the prospect of arriving to the John Muir Trail Ranch - a ranch in the Sierra National Forest that can receive resupply packages for you. Blazing through miles to get here, I arrived to only find out that they wanted $75 a package due to the fact that they bring the mail down by donkey. Needless to say, already being a bit sensitive from the exhaustion of every day, I had a bit of a meltdown at being asked for $75 for my own mail. I begrudgingly bought one of my packages and left the other and left it at that. We didn't want to leave the ranch, however, because it got really hot this day and yet another pass awaited us. Knowing we had no choice, we took off to tackle Seldon Pass, and checked this one off our list.
Sunday we awoke with the prospect of a resort that was just off trail! We had to hike 13 miles before 4:45 to make the last boat of the day to reach Vermillion Valley Resort before the day's end. We took on multiple river crossings to hustle to the boat dock just in time! Convincing the boat driver to take 7 of us (whereas he normally only takes 5) we found ourselves at VVR a mere 35 minutes later after crossing the beautiful Lake Edison. This resort was a welcomed reprieve in the Sierras as we were greeted with a free drink, a hearty meal, and plenty of fellow hiker friends to play cards with until the generator was turned off.
Monday morning we woke up not so eager to leave, but we knew we only had two days before we would reach Mammoth Lakes, so this was our inspiration. Another 7 person ferry ride later and we were back on the trail. The first major river crossing of the day left Casey cutting her foot, and this was the first of many for the day. A few hours (miles) later we found ourselves at the top of Silver Pass with some other hikers, and we all slid down the pass together. We slept near Lake Virginia this night, and tried to remain calm despite all the mosquitos.
Solstice! Happy Summer! We woke up on solstice to the sound of frogs chirping on the lake, and the prospect of town by evening, so everyone was in good spirits! With not any big passes to tackle this day, we were at Reds Meadow in the early afternoon! For a mere $7 round trip, we got a ride all the way down to Mammoth and were so excited to be back amongst civilization! The beautiful full moon this night was a gorgeous sight as we trekked off to our cabin to round out a great night.
We took a full day of rest in Mammoth the next day, and it was truly a lazy day of eating and watching movies (I don't recommend ever bothering with 10 Cloverfield Lane). It was back to the trail the following day, but I'll make a separate post for the final part of the Sierra journey.
Another day, another river and another mountain pass was truly the theme for these 10 days. We were so physically and mentally exhausted after this stint, and we knew that'd be how it was, however it's impossible to prepare for being this drained. See the bruises/scrapes/new scars on Casey below for a bit of photo evidence of this 🙊 That said, don't doubt for a minute that we haven't enjoyed the beautiful things we have been so lucky to see. Each pass is more incredible then the last, each lake is more pristine then the one just before and it's crazy to see how truly spectacular our planet is.
So hopefully you all can appreciate the tardiness in this post, as each night we are so knackered and then each brief stint in town you have just enough energy to call everyone and let them know you're alive before falling asleep after eating your weight in calories to make up for the days eating trail food!
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