-> Kearsarge Pass to Mammoth Lakes ->
6/5 – 6/12
Heading back to Kearsarge Pass, I planned to hike with the same group as the week before. Daisy Chains, Dream, Free Bird, and Manon had already left with a trail angel while Vibes and I lagged behind.
After standing with our thumbs up for an hour in the warm sun, a car swerved to our side of the road and we hopped in.
Our driver’s name was Melissa. She was the manager of the Motel 6 in Mammoth, which was where I would be stopping to travel back home for Jaden’s wedding. She was eager to help us and even booked a discounted room for us from her tablet. She also asked us what snacks and drinks we liked so she could have some ready for us when we got there!
Back at the trailhead to Kearsarge Pass, we happened to meet Mac while he was doing some trail magic. He created halfwayanywhere.com which compiles the most useful survey about the PCT (and other trails) that I had been reading through for years while planning my hike. His website was an invaluable resource and it was cool to talk with him for a bit and thank him in person.
It was 5 pm by the time we got to the trailhead so we stopped at Gilbert Lake and I fit in a quick swim before bed.
I had too much food to fit in my bear can so I left some food with Mac to give to other hikers. I was still overstocked so we put our extra items together to hang from a tree using Mona’s leash. It got tangled out of our reach and managed to become an hour long affair that Vibes eventually fixed.
The next morning, I got to see Pete as he was heading down off trail to go into Bishop. Pete was in my first trail family that I left behind in Wrightwood. He had flown back home to New York to quit his job and is now planning to hike the whole PCT! Seeing people again at unexpected points is one of the small beauties of the thru hiking.
It was a relief to see how quickly the snow patches were receding. We wore microspikes on this section three days before!
Once we rejoined the official PCT, we were only a couple miles from our next climb over Glen Pass.
There are eight notable passes in the Sierra section of the PCT, each about a day apart. That means climbing up above the treeline every day and then dipping back down into the valleys.
Although I had already done Forester Pass and Mt. Whitney the week before, I would need to do Glen, Pinchot, Mather, Muir, Selden, and Silver Pass before my stop in Mammoth.
Glen Pass was slushy and slippery but manageable. The common practice on trail was to get up really early to go over passes while the snow was frozen solid. Mac recommended not bothering and doing them during the day instead. I was happy not to be getting up at 3 am again.
It was inconvenient to posthole in the soft snow, but it did feel safer knowing that I would probably just sink into the snow if I fell. If I fell on frozen early morning snow, I would have to self arrest with my axe or I would slide until I hit rocks.
The view from Glen Pass was incredible. We made our way down into the tree-filled valley and were excited to get to Rae Lakes down around the corner.
Vibes on the backside of Glen Pass.
I tried sliding on my feet down the snow which eventually led to a snapped trekking pole. Manon and I cut our fingers on the fiberglass while trying to get it out. I wouldn’t be able to pitch my tent regularly without it but I had still been sleeping on the ground so I didn’t expect to use my tent that week.
We swam in upper Rae Lake and rested on the soft grass before covering the last miles for the day.
Minute rice, soy sauce, chicken, avocado.
We hit 800 miles the next morning and got to cross a suspension bridge that was bouncy like the ones on playgrounds.
From this point on, my feet were wet all day every day. There was no way to cross the endless creeks with dry feet and there were far too many streams to justify taking my shoes and socks off each time.
Daisy Chains and Free Bird.
The climb up to Pinchot Pass was sooo long. We didn’t realize there were two ways to go over the top, so Daisy Chains, Free Bird, and I sat for a while waiting for Manon and Vibes. It turned out that they took the other route and rushed down because they thought we were ahead of them.
A couple hours later, I found Manon laying by a lake and we laughed because she had been trying to catch up when we were behind her the whole time.
The rivers had started to grow a lot, and we had to work around or through them in the safest way we could. With the sketchier river crossings, whoever got there first would walk along the bank to scout out the safest ways across. Then, we’d wait for everybody to catch up to cross together.
Every night, I was so amazed by my bedtime view.
The next morning, Mona came over to wake us up because we all slept later than planned.
Another day, another pass.
It was time for Mather Pass which was probably the one I had heard the most about. A hiker that Vibes knew had been evacuated off of Mather by helicopter the week before. She slid down the back and her husband saw her crash into the rocks. It sounded pretty horrific, but she survived and was anticipating only a couple weeks of recovery.
We climbed straight up over some very loose rock slides on the way up. I could see why this pass was notorious, and cutting the switchbacks didn’t help. At one point, I got stuck on a ledge and had to take my pack off and lower it down to climb around a precarious section. I did not like that feeling.
Whenever I got to the top of a pass, I was curious how much snow I’d have to deal with on the other side. I was getting accustomed to sucking it up and walking through the slush, but I love me some dry trail!
We all swam in this snowy lake with Traffic Cone and Knots.
Once we got below the snow, we could cruise through the gorgeous valleys and often split up to enjoy some solitude. There was nothing better than some clear downhill miles while listening to music.
At lower elevations, spring was in full bloom. I saw many interesting flowers during my afternoon stroll and didn’t run into another hiker. Most hikers do passes really early in the morning so we were set on a different schedule from them that made it feel like we had the whole place to ourselves.
A couple of deer were hanging around our camp all night, despite how much Mona tried to ward them off.
After a good night’s sleep with the loitering deer, it was *surprisingly* time to climb up to another pass. As tiring as the ascents were, it was nice to have so much variety in each day.
Muir Pass ended up being the snowiest of them all which makes it a great place for Muir Hut. Vibes played some throwback songs to help us push up the last steep section to the top and we enjoyed our lunch at the hut.
Most passes have a steep climb down the backside, but Muir did not. It was a loooong snow field.
At this point, I decided I didn’t mind the slushy snow miles anymore. With hours of walking in the snow each day, tolerance was beaten into me. Having to walk slowly and focus on each step became meditative so I started to like it.
Daisy chains for scale (walking in the grass).
After Muir, we had our usual lake break before finishing off our miles. It sometimes felt like the day was over after going over a pass, but we usually had around 10 more miles afterward.
That night, we slept across from a lovely waterfall and prepared for a new challenge after four consistent days of climbing passes in the mornings. The next morning wouldn’t be about a pass, it was river time.
The bridge over the San Joaquin River was removed after being severely damaged in the intense winter ‘22/‘23 snow season. Of all the rivers on trail, this was the one I was least interested in trying to swim across.
The official PCTA suggestion was to hike off trail and to hitchhike ahead 25 miles which would have involved doing around 30 non-PCT miles and missing a significant chunk of trail.
We didn’t want to skip 25 miles of trail for one broken bridge so we chose to follow a route that we researched in Bishop. It would involve a steep three mile climb up and down a rocky face to get around the river. On trail, it was referred to as the “up and over.”
“Did you get off trail for the San Joaquin?”
“No, I did the up and over!”
On our way to hike around the San Joaquin River, we got to walk through plenty of cold marshland. We laughed off the fact that we had just woken up and our feet were numb.
Then we laughed off the fact that we shouldn’t have crossed the creek at all. We didn’t notice we needed to skip this creek crossing to do the “up and over” route.
Realizing we were on the wrong side. We then had to cross the river again a couple miles down trail where it was running more aggressively.
We successfully made it up and over the river with Free Bird’s navigation.
It took nearly three hours to route-find almost 1000 feet up and a couple of miles across big granite slabs.
My knees were shot from the huge steps down but it was rewarding to problem solve and I enjoy a good rock scramble sometimes.
We climbed down steep slopes and huge rocky faces.
This was my last full day of hiking with this trail family because I needed to get to Mammoth to ride home for my brother’s wedding. I was grateful to be with a group for all of the tricky passes and river issues.
Even after a tiring climb in the morning, there was a pass waiting for us. Selden. It was the easiest yet and we slept by the frozen lake on the other side of the pass.
One of the last sketchy river crossings was Bear Creek. I had a hard time placing my feet securely on the round rocks and I felt unstable despite having a big height advantage.
I learned with these rivers that they don’t have to be that deep to be dangerous. Sometimes I couldn’t see where I was placing my feet and even my trekking pole wobbled from the force of the water. With a huge pack on, it would be hard to get back up after being swept away.
Manon got knocked over in this creek and a guy was right on hand to help her back up. She had to empty everything out of her pack to dry and I gave her a small bag of rice to help save her wireless headphones. I felt bad and she was shaken up and ready to be done for the day.
I was very happy to check off some of the last known big crossings and workarounds on trail. The high Sierra is notorious for all of these elements and most of them were condensed into this one week.
We eventually made it to the fork in the trail where it was time for us to split up. We took a long break and didn’t talk about me leaving.
Vibes had been joking about tying me to a tree so I couldn’t leave. When I stood up and announced that I needed to keep moving, he told me to pick a tree.
After hugging goodbye, my trail family hiked down into Vermillion Valley Resort (a popular PCT stop) and I kept going on the regular trail towards Mammoth.
I made it a total of 24 miles that day and went over Silver Pass by myself. It was rewarding to knock off the final pass and to have some time to reflect.
I ran into a hiker that night that I had only seen one other time. I saw her the day before I got off trail in April. It was funny telling her for a second time that I was going home for a brother’s wedding. I never saw her again!
My last morning on trail was gorgeous and the silent reflective lakes were my favorite view.
When I got cell service, I texted Melissa to schedule a night at the Motel in Mammoth. She was the person who gave Vibes and I a hitch a week before and she responded right away with a booked room at an amazing rate.
The bus down to Lancaster would be leaving Mammoth the next morning at 7:50 am so I just needed to stay a night.
To get off the PCT, it was only a 3.5 mile hike down to Horshoe Lake. The moment I arrived, the free trolley was pulling up and I hopped on. It feels like the timing always works out perfectly on trail:)
Melissa had a note in my reservation to give me a Coke since we talked about trail cravings when she gave us a ride. She was so helpful and kind.
I grabbed some pizza and a smoothie in town and had a great stay at the motel.
I was planning to put in my headphones and work on this blog post during the long drive home but I ended up talking with people the whole time. Ricky is a ski instructor and shuttle driver in Mammoth, Tracey is from Canada and was in the army, and Guia is moving up to Mammoth from Southern California.
Ricky bought Thai food for us all while we waited for the train. It’s so funny to me how being on the PCT can throw you into the most random groups of people. Tracey was the only other hiker in the group!
I made it home in the afternoon and my grandparents picked me up from the station. They had dropped me off in Agua Dulce so it was special to see them again 5 weeks later.
I was grateful to be home again and it was time to shift gears and get ready for Jaden’s bachelor party the next day.
The last week on trail was the most consistently challenging so far but I never found myself wanting to be done with it.
Every single day had one or two long pushes up above the tree line and through multiple miles of snow. The trail was often wet, slushy, or muddy. There were rivers to work around and uncertain alternate routes, but we made the most fun we could of the whole experience and set aside time to relax in beautiful spaces.
At one point, Vibes and I were looking across the vast mountain views and reflected on how we didn’t expect to be doing any of this while growing up. It wasn’t a world we thought we’d be in and I wouldn’t have thought I could get in shape for it. I wasn’t interested in hiking until 2017 and backpacking was a big world of gear and too many trails and best practices I didn’t understand (but wanted to).
I certainly wasn’t envisioning being up at 12,000 feet every day with microspikes and an ice axe on my back. I can’t believe it feels normal to see all of these natural features and creatures one step at a time!
With more of the snow melting while I am off trail, I’m excited to see what lies ahead when I return in a couple of weeks!