Category: Long Distance Trails

It’s almost 5pm and I’m in my tent, in my quilt, and can barely hold this phone to type this up. Holy cow, I’m spent! But.. I SUMMITED MOUNT WHITNEY! (For the second time lol) The tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, coming in at a whopping 14,481 feet!

I slept really well and got up at 6 to get ready. I had already decided I didn’t want to do a sunrise hike, simply because it’s been so dang cold! So, at 6am I got up. I had to take the essentials with me: pack, rain gear, microspikes, TP, wallet, headlamp just in case, food, water and water filter. Everything else I shoved into my pack liner bag and set it on top of my sleeping pad, scootched it all to the center of my tent, then finally propped my umbrella up to cover it.

It sounds excessive, but I knew I’d be gone all day, and I wanted my stuff protected from anything that could happen while I was gone. I then took out my trekking poles while keeping everything else staked tight, tucked the ends and put a rock on each side-hopefully to protect everything inside from rain, wind, critters.. I was nervous leaving it all, that’s for sure.

I was hiking by 6:30 and the first 3 miles weren’t terrible. They were up and down and around water sources, creeks and snowmelt streams.. many flooding the trail. I sat and filtered water at Guitar Lake inlet stream, the last official water source listed, although there was plenty more for the next mile. It was cold, the trail was shaded from the sun because of Mount Whitney looming overhead, AND those little streams all over trail were half frozen and so very slick.

I fell once, on my right hip and jammed my left hand. It hurt at the time but I honestly forgot about it until just now. I was actually quite happy to reach the dreaded rock switchbacks everyone hates-simply because that meant the meadow of mushy and icy streams were over. I trudged along, taking my sweet time, sucking in air like an asthmatic. At one point I thought I could hear myself wheezing. Good stuff. Just. Keep. Moving.

I passed some trail maintenance workers, I will forever be impressed with any trail maintenance crew-but these guys were moving boulders, digging out rocks to make the trail even, all kinds of stuff, but they were doing it at like 13,000 feet! My goodness it was astonishing. Here I was barely able to breathe and take a step and they’re BUILDING actual steps like it’s nothing. Whew.

About half a mile from the junction to the Whitney Portal (where people can come in on a day hike or JMT hikers can leave out of), I saw the couple from Canada I met the other night with Miles. They did sunrise and were already heading back down! They were going to take a nap and consider hiking out this afternoon.

From the junction, the summit is 2 miles more. Now that I was on the trail with day hikers, I was actually passing folks left and right. Some of them worried me, looking like they were seconds from keeling over. Somewhere in the middle of that 2 mile section, I crossed paths with CliffJumper! He was coming down, but somehow we summited on the same day! I was happy to see him, we hugged and talked a bit.. then I sadly had to keep climbing.

The last chunk of trail had snow on it, so people had made rock cairns marking an easier way to rock scramble to the top around the snow. I purposefully didn’t touch even the tiniest bit of that white stuff. When I finally made it to the top, it was only a few minutes before noon. I was pooped! But honestly, I was also proud. I knew it would take me awhile, especially with the altitude getting to me more than it usually does, but 5.5 hours was better than I thought I’d do!

I took pictures and signed the log book. I tried to get service to call mom.. and it said I had service, but nothing was coming in or going out. I probably needed to just give it some more time, but I could see smoke and clouds rolling in and that scared me. I didn’t not want to get caught up here in bad weather. Plus, my head was starting to hurt, which isn’t a great sign at high altitudes. So, I started heading back down.

I checked in with mom on the garmin, so she wouldn’t be waiting for the phone to ring. I had so been wanting to hear her voice. I also checked in with Andrea, because as I was coming down the switchbacks, the smoke was coming in thick and it was getting hard to breathe. I had to use my headband to cover my nose and mouth. She was able to find out that it’s from a contained fire in the Sequoia National Park (the one I’m in) and she even called the wilderness office to verify that I’d be safe camping tonight. God I love her so much.

As I came down I stopped and talked with any and everyone I passed. Many hikers were headed to Guitar Lake to camp and then summit Whitney tomorrow. One lady, Pat, gave me her number and said to let her know if I ever need any help getting to and from trail.. she lives in LA and would be happy to help me, even if it’s somewhere to stay overnight or something! The crazy thing is, I’m flying in and out of LA for my sister’s wedding! Talk about the trail providing!

I eventually filtered more water and got back to my tent. I got my poles in and retightened it all down. I unpacked and I’m laying here, in and out of the sun (I wish it would just stay right on my tent and warm me up like an oven). I’m so tired I think I might cook and eat dinner now just so I can go to bed.. otherwise I won’t eat. Tomorrow, I’m going to try to get up early and be on trail by 6, so I can get to Lone Pine as early as possible tomorrow afternoon. I have 20 miles but I’m praying they won’t feel like the last few days since the elevation gain and loss is much lower.

Ok, that’s all for today. Goodnight y’all.

Start: 1871.5

Stop: 1887 (+0.5 on side trail for Whitney)

Today’s miles: 15.5 (16 total)

Total PCT miles: 1739.2

Today was another phenomenal day! Although I spent it primarily alone, I’m currently not feeling lonely. I have a feeling the miles coming up will end up getting that way.. with most of the flippers finishing and all the SOBOs being so spread out.. my friends on either side of me.

Anywho-when my watch vibrated at 5:30am, I reached up and touched my tent wall to see if there was condensation.. there was: AND IT WAS FROZEN! I sat up, realized just how cold it was outside of my quilt cocoon, and I pushed snooze and snuggled back in. Shorter miles have to be good for something, right?!

When my watch vibrated at 6, I peaked across the way and saw that Miles’ tent was still up. I took out an earplug-didnt hear him moving, put my earplug back in and set an alarm for 6:45. I just could not move in that cold! I did finally start packing at 6:45 and left by 7:15, only a couple minutes after Miles. That couple of minutes difference means besides seeing his shape on switchbacks above, I didn’t see him again all day!
It was cold going, in the shade of the mountain.

The trail was still kind, even with the switchbacks.. they were graded and gentle, no huge rock steps except for every once in awhile. I filtered water within the first mile, but not from camp.. I needed to warm up a tad, get my heartbeat going, before touching ice cold water.

The views as I got higher were unbelievable. It was a rock covered fortress of mountain walls with snow and lakes all around. There was a small patch of snow I had to walk across, but someone on horseback had recently come through and covered the snow with dirt, making each step very stable. Then it was switchbacks up and around, up and around some more. There was a huge patch of snow on a ridgeline, but someone had made a trail to follow down below it, allowing me to completely avoid it. It was perfect, and spit me back out on a switchback.

The switchbacks up ahead had tons of snow along one side, so there were rock scrambles to get around them, and one section of rock and snow to get over, maybe 5-6 steps total on snow.. although it was more like ice. I made it to the top by 9:40, which, I was assuming it would take me until 10am-knowing I’d go slow because of the elevation. Forester Pass is the highest pass on the PCT, coming in at 13,120 feet.

I took some pictures at the top and had another hiker take a picture of me with the sign. I passed into my 7th national park at the top of this pass! I’m now in Sequoia National Park.. hard to believe I’ve made it so far! It feels so very surreal!

I started heading down the pass pretty soon after the other hiker left, simply because the air felt really thin and the best remedy to that was to get down! The switchbacks along the descent were steep until hitting the “floor” about 3/4 of a mile down. After that? The trail was GLORIOUS. Easy, smooth path twisting and turning around lakes and through trees and across water.. but never anything difficult. It went by so quick!

I had to take my shoes off for a creek crossing, so on the other side I ate lunch and left my shoes off and laid out my tent to dry that now soaking wet condensation. I sat around for 45 minutes or so, then packed up and kept moving. The afternoon held some climbs and descents, but nothing difficult and nothing that took my breath away.

I talked to a ranger with about a mile to go to get to camp. He said the weather should be good tomorrow, but that it changes very quickly. We chatted a few minutes about my hike and my plans, then went our separate ways. I hiked down the side trail half a mile before setting up camp. That leaves 15.2 miles total to go up Mount Whitney and back here tomorrow.

The odd thing is-I’m the only one camped here! I’ve seen several other people pass, but they’re all wanting to make tomorrow shorter, to where I’m more concerned about making the following day shorter-when I leave here and hike to Cottonwood Pass to get into town. Oh well. It’s a little unsettling here, I can hear a lot of creature movement outside.. but it is what it is and I hope I sleep well because I’m sleeping here tomorrow too!

In the morning, probably 6 ish, I’ll make sure to put everything in my pack liner and set it on top of my sleeping pad-scoot it all to the middle of my tent and pop up my umbrella over the bag-then when I take out my trekking poles and my tent collapses, I’ll tuck it and place rocks on the edges-in case it rains while I’m hiking.. hopefully that will keep everything inside safe and dry. Since I’m hiking up and back, I’m taking only my pack, water bottles and filter, snack foods, and clothes.. like rain gear. Anything I might need while on a mountainside.. but not my tent, pad, quilt, bear can, jet boil.. you get the drift..

Ok. Time to pop in my earplugs! Pray for good weather! Sweet dreams!

Start: 1854.2

Stop: 1871.5

Today’s miles: 17.3

Total PCT miles: 1723.7

Today was great! It’s amazing how much better you do and feel when you decide to listen to your body and slow down a bit.. and eat more calories. I slept fantastic, without earplugs, even.. the creek was the perfect white noise. When I was packing, Strider came and gave me one of her homemade dinners, because she should get into town this afternoon and won’t need it! HELL YES! Now I’ll definitely have enough calories to get me through the next several days!

We left camp at 6am and within a mile we hit the avalanche zone with a mile of mangled trees covering the trail. Yesterday, a hiker gave Strider directions for how to bushwhack around it all, by climbing up to the rocky ridge on the right hand side and following it along until after a stream crossing, then come back through the mess, cross the meadow, and reconnect with the trail. Thank God he told her, and she remembered it all so well, because it would have been a disaster if it were me leading us this morning.

We found the rock cairn and headed right, up a steep ridge, then carefully made our way around the chaos below. It was still slow moving, because the rocks were loose and sharp, making you really pay attention to every step, but it was way faster than climbing under, over, and around thousands of snapped trees and their roots. We crossed the stream, and when I saw the way Strider’s long legs had to leap off the last rock to make purchase with the ground on the other side, I got nervous. Eventually, she just reached for my arm and as I jumped, she pulled me, giving me the momentum to land safely on ground.. I would say solid ground, but it was most definitely not solid! Ha.

Before we came down off the ridge, I ended up needing to dig a hole. Classy. Strider carried on but still waited for me before getting too far ahead, to make sure I got back to trail ok. We talked and walked for a little while once back on the trail, and sadly we went ahead and said our goodbyes for now.. she is much faster on the ascents than I am, and she has to get into town today-I really didn’t want to slow her down! We snapped a selfie and made sure to swap numbers, and she was gone!

Including the bushwhacking business, it was 8.7 miles to the top of Glen Pass. I had been cold all morning, the trail always seeming to be in the shade of the mountains surrounding.. but I didn’t want to wear my nice jacket, rain jacket, gloves or beanie while bushwhacking. You know, incase something got ripped-and as it was creeping into later morning, I knew I should be warming up soon, walking uphill and all, but I stayed cold.

About 10am I made it to a level chunk of the climb: Rae Lakes! I saw the spot Andrea and I camped, near a ranger station, after I fell in a creek and busted my head. I had a pretty big goose egg and we were fairly certain I had a concussion, too. But we survived the night-I slept so good that night but poor Andrea was worried sick I’d die in my sleep. Oh, what fun times a first backpacking trip is!

Around the corner from that camp spot, I found a nice sunny lake overlook, so I filtered water, ate a snack, and rested. Before too long, it was time to get a move on the last few miles to the top of Glen Pass. It really wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I passed the creek I whacked my head in, this time I crossed without issue, praise. Then it turned into winding and twisting rock switchbacks.

I came to a false summit, only to start the real steep switchbacks. I passed a couple people and quite a few folks passed me. About 200 feet from the top there was snow. The top traverse looked very steep and less traveled, there was a middle one with slightly better boot track across, and then the bottom one was like a trench. Snow came up on either side of the “trail” to about my height. The inside of the trench was half melted out to rocks and the upper half still snow, but there were steps visible in it.

I rock scrambled down the jagged boulders to the trench then made my way through. I didn’t slip or slide, I took my time and stayed calm. I knew if I fell in the trench, I’d go no where.. but it would hurt like hell. Once on the other side, I had to rock scramble my way almost vertical to the ridge line above where the actual pass was. It was pretty dang scary, but so exhilarating! There were a few guys sitting up there and they congratulated me when I made it. It was just after 12pm.

I took my pack off and sat a bit, talking. Then, I headed down the other side. It was snow free and had a ton of switchbacks to start with. There had been a rock slide so the ground was very loose and the steps at times were a bit sketchy, but I never felt unsafe. If anything, the softness of the ground felt good on my feet. I was cruising down hill, surrounded by open sky and a tiny stream. When I got hungry for lunch, I realized I had already passed the last water source for a little while. Dang it.

As I walked and got closer to water, a day hiker caught up to me and we started chatting. He’s done the PCT and the CDT! We maybe walked together talking for close to 25 minutes before we got to the junction for Kearsarge Pass (also where Strider left out to get to town). He ended up giving me 4 protein bars! And then, as we said bye, we spotted another one that someone dropped! Holy crap! That’s trail magic AGAIN!

I thanked him profusely and then within half an hour I was posted up at a stream, water filtering, shoes off, and eating potatoes. I was going to eat Strider’s homemade ramen with spices and peanuts-but I decided I’d rather have it for dinner, so I can savor it more! I stayed resting after lunch a good 15-20 minutes, so close to an hour all in all, before I continued hiking. About a mile after lunch, I got to the valley floor, Vidette Meadows, and started the ascent that would eventually lead up to Forester Pass.

It was actually smooth going, the climb meandered and wandered calmly. I wasn’t expecting the trail to be so gentle. Not even a mile into the climb, I came across more trail magic! FOUR TIMES TODAY! This was a metal locker that a pack rancher left for hikers, because the pack animals had too much weight to carry so they had to lighten the load. I unlocked the box with the spoon provided and it was amazing! Oranges, Doritos, cookies, starburst! There were other things too, but I only took one snack pack of everything I named above. Oh how the trail provides!!

I kept climbing, getting closer and closer to my destination: 3 miles south of Forester Pass. With half a mile to go, I crossed paths with Pinecone and her boyfriend! The nurses from Reno that I met back at Shelter Cove! It was so fun to see them here, in the Sierra, almost done with their hike! We chatted a couple minutes and then carried on our separate ways.

I found the area I was aiming for, but at first the sites in the trees looked close to being all taken. Several older gentlemen were eating dinner and said I could fit in there near them no problem, but up around the corner there was more spots to choose from. So, I told them I’d go take a look and I might be back. They were protected from the wind, and at 11,256 feet of elevation, it’s cold-with or without the wind!

The spots up around the corner were too gorgeous to pass up. I chose one, then went to tell the guys and let them know if anymore SOBOs come up the hill they can tell them there’s at least 3-4 more spots near me. Then, I set up my tent. As I was staking it out, Miles showed up. He’s a hiker that will be finished in Kennedy Meadows South, so he’s super close to being done with his thruhike!

I unpacked and he set up his camp, then we ate dinner together watching the sunset, marveling at the views, and talking about trail life. He was very nice and I really enjoyed the company, especially my first night away from Strider. Hiking with her helped my mood tremendously after separating from Margot back before Donohue Pass. Now, it’s like Miles is helping alleviate the ache of being separated from Strider now too.

I ate the meal that Strider made, and it reminded me of pad Thai, with the peanuts and peanut butter.. plus she had soy sauce AND lime juice powder! Holy hell it was incredible! Instead of rinsing my bowl like normal, I literally licked it to get all of the spices left on the sides! Ridiculous, I know, but my god it was DELICIOUS!

Now I’m all tucked in my quilt, glad it’s keeping me warm, because it’s cold as hell out there! I hope tomorrow goes well.. should be relatively “easy” in the sense of I’m doing less miles than today. Although it is the highest pass on the PCT.. ha, we’ll see how it goes! Goodnight!