June 2-Glen Pass-Glissade Anyone
I camped the night of the 1st with Easy A, a horticulturist at UC Davis, and Gotta Walk, an amazing triple crowner in her late sixties. Easy A got up early and was trying to get two passes (Glen and Pinchot) in one day. I met him later and he succeeded. Gotta Walk and I made it up to Glen pass.
The pass was beautiful, we got there early. The fun began on the way down. It was incredibly icy. Most hikers (including Gotta Walk) did not carry microspikes, ice axes, or crampons. Trail runners instead of boots were the preferred footwear.
I had switched to boots for the Sierras, and questioned my decision. After this day I realized I had made the right choice. Gotta Walk, and most others, had a treacherous time. I was so glad for the boots, microspikes, and ice axe! If a person could have set up a concession for microspikes on Glen Pass they could have become rich.
Gotta Walk gingerly made it along. Finally I saw where someone had glissaded and decided it was a good idea. The walking from footprint to footprint on ice was painfully slow, even with microspikes.
With my ice axe in hand I sat in the chute someone else had used. Immediately I shot down the hill. The chute was solid ice! I went to put the ice axe in to control the ever increasing speed, like I had easily done a few days before coming down from Mr Whitney. However, this time it was different. It wasn't snow next to the chute, it was solid ice too! Never before had I paid attention as to why the end of the ice axe was pointed and sharp.
I applied downward pressure as hard as I could, the sharp pointed end of the ice axe scraped along the ice and slowed me down.
This was an entirely different experience from the relaxing glissade of Mt Whitney. This was terrifying. On the positive side, it was quick. I waited for Gotta Walk to catch up.
We finished the trek down. Gotta Walk and one other joined in as we glissaded two uneventful times (with great flat run outs at the bottom) to get down and out of the snow of Glen Pass. I prefer the uneventful latter type glissades.
I took over the porch of this unoccupied Wilderness Ranger's cabin at Rae Lakes for making lunch and an afternoon nap.
The view from the porch was spectacular.
The 800 mark has now been passed.
That evening I joined about ten other hikers to camp. Around the campfire tales of the terror on Glen Pass flowed. One hiker, Robin, fell, broke her fishing pole and a trekking pole. She banged up her backpack, and was sore. Mostly she was scared. It could have been much worse.
I had felt silly heading out of Kennedy Meadows with ice axe and microspikes when hardly anyone else had them. It was warm/hot, and it didn't look like much snow at all up high. The extra weight was worth it! Microspikes worked incredibly.
June 3- Pinchot Pass
There was snow and ice on Pinchot Pass, but except for the challenge of the elevation gain it was a nice trip over. Again, the microspikes made it much easier for me than others.
Beautiful, and rugged.
Robin, Gotta Walk, and I were together for the pass and for the fords. I'm sick of fords and wet feet. For the evening we were joined by Papa Bear and his niece, Chardonnay. Discussion about food supplies took place and I opined that it may be possible to reach Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) by the evening of the 6th with a hard push the next three days. Gotta Walk and Robin had enough food so didn't need to rush, but Gotta Walk was not happy with the challenge of the snowy passes. When she had done these passes before there was more snow, but it was easier snow. She was leaning toward taking a week or so off and letting snowmelt ease hiking.
Chardonnay isn't as fast as Papa Bear, and reaching VVR by the 6th was questionable. They were leaning toward pulling off at Independence and resupplying earlier than planned.
I decided to get up early the 4th and push hard for VVR the night of the 6th. I knew a resupply bucket was waiting for me there, and I had just enough food to make it that long.
June 4-Mather Pass-Almost as bad as Glen Pass
Mather Pass matched Glen Pass for being nasty, icy, and tough.
I left camp early, expecting the others to follow closely. The only one I ever saw was Robin, and she was struggling. Because of her previous fall she was overly tentative. I met up with Hog, whom I had met before, he's a section hiker from Vermont. He had met with a Park Service Ranger who was right there with Robin, which gave me comfort as I went ahead.
Again I was thrilled to have my microspikes and ice axe. I glissaded again, this time mostly successful. A jammed middle finger reminded me for a few days of this attempt. If I had the need to flip anybody off for a few days it would have been impressive. The worst part of the glissade was one of my water bottles flew out of my pack on the way down, and kept going, and going, and going.
I sat at the bottom of the glissade, deciding whether to go after it, or just leave it. The good angel won, and I went after it. The microspikes were incredible on that particular snow, and Hog was blown away at how easily I was able to go down, and then back up.
I put in a long day, knowing that it was important to get as close as possible to Muir Pass for the morning. As I pulled into a camp at dark I noticed two tents below me, but didn't go down to see who it was.
I hoped to get up early to do Muir Pass before the snow started melting and postholing became a problem.
June 5-Muir Pass = Posthole Hell
The night was warm, as it turns out that was not a good sign. When I got up at 6:30 the first hiker from below, Liverpool (from Scotland, not Liverpool) was heading up the mountain. The other hiker, Willem (Lightfoot) from Denmark was moving slowly like me. I left camp a little before 7:30 and Willem was close behind. About a half hour into the hike Willem, and now Rasberry, and I joined together for the push up to the pass.
The battery on my IPhone, and my backup charger were virtually spent. That meant limited GPS. I had to keep up with Willem who had a functioning GPS. The huge snowfields had numerous tracks on them, it wasn't possible to tell which tracks to follow.
About three years ago, on the PCT immediately south of the Oregon border, I had an unpleasant experience in a snowfield. One weekend I decided to take a "simple" 15 or 20 mile hike down the PCT from Cook & Green Pass to Seiad Valley. I was with my friend from Happy Camp, Frank Henderson, and my daughter Ashley.
The PCT on the Happy Camp/Oak Knoll District is kept in fabulous shape, thanks to the likes of Bill Roberts and Phil McNeal. Who needs a map. We were dropped off in the morning at the top, and were going to be picked up at the bottom at the end if the day.
There was no snow in sight when we started. Then, about 45 minutes in to the hike we met with the snowfield. We never saw the trail again, and went boonie crashing for the rest of the day through the most miserable brush fields Seiad Creek had to offer.
Memories of that miserable day in Seiad Creek made me cognizant of how important it was to have navigation abilities on areas of endless snowfields. I was going to stay close to Willem and his functioning GPS, no matter how tired I became.
The hut at the top of Muir Pass.
The warm night, combined with our being a bit late to get to the snow, was not good. We started postholing about 8:30 a.m.. We fought postholing and slushy, wet snow for what seemed like an eternity. It was bad on the way up, but was worse on the way down. Muir Pass is different from the other passes in that once over this pass the slope is gentle, so we stayed in the snow for miles. With the other passes one drops quickly out of the snow and moves on with hiking.
A typical posthole. We left many of these on Muir Pass.
We got out of the snow at 1:30, and the three of us took a long lunch break. We were all thoroughly exhausted.
Wiilem and I were both low on food and needed to reach VVR by tomorrow night, the night of the 6th. Rasberry had enough provisions that he didn't have to hurry.
Willem is 27 years old, has long legs, and can move quickly. For three hours I was able to keep up with him, much to both of our surprise. The trail was good once we left the maddening snowfields of Muir Pass. We covered about nine miles in three hours.
There were numerous fords that kept the day challenging, and kept our feet wet and cold. If you expand the picture you can see me fording one of the forks of the San Juaquin River.
Willem and I decided to keep pushing forward to get as close as possible to Selden Pass before camping, then we could still possibly cross the pass and make VVR the sixth. We were both unsure of the plan until we met a group of five young guys from Georgia hiking southbound on the John Muir Trail (JMT). They had just hiked over Selden Pass and let us know it had little snow. We were elated at the news.
Willem and I hiked until dark and finally set up camp. The good news was that the 11,000' pass we were going to go over tomorrow was clear, the bad news was that we were still 28 miles from VVR and low on food.
June 6th-Selden Pass-28 Miles-Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR)
Willem and I got an early start and hiked fast over Selden Pass, which was not nearly as bad as previous passes. We made it 20 miles to the trail that goes to VVR at 5:00 p.m.. We met up with Hog and he gave us some sunflower seeds and dried mangoes. Good solid food at VVR was still what we really wanted. Neither of us had any idea what time the restaurant closed, and we still had eight miles to good food.
For Willem, English is not his first language. When he bought his granola bars for this longest, most challenging, portion of the trail he picked bars that looked good on the packaging. The brand was Skinny Cow. It turned out they were diet granola bars, only 40 calories! Calories are super important in this stretch of trail. Every time he would eat one he would mumble about "Skinny Cow," or sneer about "only forty calories" in his accent. There were words said that I didn't exactly understand, but I got the idea. It was great trail humor. Willem will never buy Skinny Cow again!
Willem does not need Skinny Cow granola bars :).
Hog was done for the day. Willem would go ahead full steam to VVR with hopes of getting there for dinner, and if the restaurant was closing would order a meal for me to eat when I got there.
I got to the restaurant at VVR at 7:50 p.m.. They stop taking orders at 8:00 p.m.. It was a huge meal of fish tacos a d could not have tasted any better.
This restaurant at VVR was an incredibly welcome sight.
The bivy sack was barely set up before I climbed in and was asleep.
June 7- Zero Day at VVR
Eat-shower-eat-laundry-eat-resupply-eat-shower again-eat-satellite call to Theresa-eat-visit with hikers-eat.
What a wonderful resting day. After that long stretch my body was telling me I needed it.
My home, with my resupply tub and lots of food.
Rasberry showed up, exhausted and discouraged. I did the best I could to keep him motivated. He has an amazing story in that two years ago he had a major heart attack. While in the hospital he decided he was going to hike the PCT. He's already had to get new clothes because the ones he started with are way too big now. To say the least the trail is good for him. He is, however, one of only two thru-hikers I've seen who smoke cigarettes. It's a rare sight. He was dehydrated when he showed up at VVR, peeing brown. He described how careful he was in the desert to stay hydrated, but became complacent with so much water around.
This canvas wall tent was home for the second night.
The night of the 7th I split the cost of a real tent, with cots, with Liverpool. He told the story of leaving for Muir Pass only one hour before us, and the snow held up for him. He had a nice passing. One hour made all the difference.
California is in the midst of a terrible drought. VVR is located on the shore of Lake Thomas A. Edison. This is what it looked like from the canvas wall tent. The reservoir is incredibly low, and this is just the beginning of the summer dry period!
June 8th-Silver Pass
After a final good breakfast at VVR I headed out. It was time to say goodbye to Liverpool, Arizona (who is from Pennsylvania, but hiked the Arizona Trail this winter), Stephanie (Arizona's Trail Angel who agreed to mail my ice axe and microspikes), and Rasberry (who felt much better after rest, water, and food).
My pack was now loaded down again with food, a good thing.
After so many fords I became a big fan of footbridges.
Another view of the pathetically low Lake Edison.
Again, there are lots of marmots!
The hike over Silver Pass was uneventful, and beautiful.
I settled in to camp for the night and built a campfire to try and dry out boots and socks. I was joined at dark by Indy (he looks like Indiana Jones).
June 9- Nine Hundred Miles!
Indy left early, and I slept in and didn't get on the trail until 8:30. I was passed by Solitude. Then, toward the end of the day I was passed by Glitter. The last time I saw Glitter was about two months ago, at about mile 250, south of Big Bear camping at Coon Creek Cabin.
Glitter told me there is a little restaurant at Red's Meadow that serves breakfast starting at 7:00. Red's Meadow was less than 1/2 mile off the trail! I now had a plan to be there tomorrow morning for real food.
Again, another stretch of great scenes!
I'm now past the 900 mile mark!
June 10-Devil's Postpile and a Thunderstorm
Red's Meadow was a great surprise. In addition to breakfast (actually two breakfasts...I was really hungry) they had a little store. I picked up some needed batteries for my headlamp, and calories in the form of candy bars. Snickers are preferred because they pack so many calories.
After breakfast I hiked to Devil's Postpile National Monument, which is fascinating
A thunderstorm made things interesting. For the worst of it I climbed under a fallen log. The lightning and thunder were fun. I just waited out the heavy rain and started hiking again when it slowed down. Everything smelled so fresh!
This was my evening view from camp.
I rigged up a makeshift cover over my bivy sack, but it wasn't needed.
June 11- Donohue Pass-Blisters
I had the crazy idea of hiking over Donohue Pass, and then making it all the way to Tuolumne Meadows this day. It would have been a 23 mile day. Nasty blisters on my heels changed everything.
The repeated fords, and wet boots from walking in slushy snow, finally
made it impossible to keep dry socks. Blisters developed, and slowed me down to a virtual crawl. The climb, which shouldn't have been that bad after the last two weeks, turned into a literal and figurative pain. Even so, it was still beautiful.
I was walking like a German World War II soldier doing the goose step, only much slower. With the blisters I was unable to flex my ankles. Even with a long day I was only able to make it thirteen miles. They have hot food at Tuolumne Meadows, and I was anxious to try it out, but it wasn't meant to be.
When I stopped for the night the mosquitos came out. The DEET also came out, as did the screen in my Bivy Sack. The warnings that the mosquitoes actually get worse from here on were disconcerting. I decided to get a head net for the mosquitoes at the first opportunity.
June 12- Tuolumne Meadows
With a real early start I was able to make it to breakfast at the little grill at Tuolumne Meadows by 9:00 a.m., but I was hurting. The first thing on my agenda was to take off the boots and put on flip flops.
Then I ate, a lot, then visited with other thru-hikers. Hemlock was there, she was recovering from hurting her ankle postholing. Liverpool was eating and preparing for his take off. I was able to help him with a stove problem. Roy and Sarah (from Israel) were preparing to go down to visit Yosemite Valley. It was a hubbub of activity.
My friend John Mager picked me up at the store about 11:00. John had been fishing and enjoying the views at the bridge of the Tuolumne River, less than 200 yards away. A river, and fish, and John couldn't resist! I'm glad he chose fishing over watching me eat and commiserate about blistered heels.
When John picked me up I left my boots at a picnic table by the restaurant.
Next up was John and Debbie's house and meeting up with Theresa and her three cousins from Illinois. I cleaned up, resupplied, and had great food.
June 13-Zero Day
Finishing with resupply and taking care of blisters were the highlights of the day, along with eating lots of good food.
In the evening Theresa, her cousins Ruth and Betsy, and I drove back to Yosemite National Park to camp in the truck for the evening and get me off to an early start the 14th.
Ice cream cravings hit, so we headed to a park store, and look what we found along the way.
It got down to twenty-five degrees in the evening, everyone was anxious to get moving early.
Two days after leaving my boots at the picnic table by the Tuolumne Grill, we returned and the boots were still there. The boots aren't needed right now, but I didn't want to lose them so I was shocked and excited they were still there. Theresa, Betsy, and Ruth joined me for the start of the hike north from Tuolumne Meadows the morning of the 14th (I was in my trail runners, not my boots.)
With blisters now rested and doctored up with moleskin pads and brilliant orange duct tape, I was ready to go.
