Day 61 – 25 miles/859
While the most extreme terrain was behind us, we still had a handful of mountain passes to get over in the coming days. Next up was Muir Pass. Again, Maggie and I woke up at 4am and got on trail at 5:55. We had a couple miles of dry trail before the snow started in earnest. Muir Pass had by far the longest continuous stretch of snow to traverse. Waking up early paid off because the snow was solid, and with microspikes on, we were able to make quick work of the climb up the south side of the pass.
There were some interesting stream crossings, but otherwise it was a fun, easy snow climb on mostly low angle terrain. At the top, a round stone hut stands, the Muir Shelter. There was some cloud cover, a rainbow ring around the sun, and a little bit of wind, so we were happy to take a break in the shelter, protected from the elements. Another hiker, No Breaks, joined us as we were getting ready to head back out. Even he had to take breaks in the Sierras.
We set off again, down the north side of the pass with snow as far as the eye could see. While the slope was easy, these few miles were simply a slog. We were frequently postholing, the hard icy crust on top occasionally scraping our shins. It’s really quite jarring to be walking on solid snow for several hundred feet, then suddenly punch through for no apparent reason. The heavy packs don’t help when digging yourself out. Then the water and the mud entered the mix, adding more frustration to these hard fought miles.
Two hours and four miles later, the snow relented and we took a lengthy lunch break near Evolution Lake to decompress. Onward, we had a long, easy descent down Evolution valley. The trail was snow free. Evolution Creek provided plenty of cascades and waterfalls to ogle as we hiked.
Then came the crossing. Evolution Creek was wide and swift, but we both made it across with ease by walking through a shallow section. The descent continued down some steep switchbacks, and the trail joined up with the S. Fork of the San Joaquin River. The slope finally was letting up, but I was feeling tired and peckish by the end of the day. Naturally, we took our afternoon snack break. The San Joaquin and Goddard Canyon was quite scenic, with steep walls and mostly 10-15 foot sheer rock lined the river. The trail was very rocky though, occasionally twisting ankles and poking pressure points into our shoes.
We stopped to get water at Piute Creek, another raging waterfall here near peak runoff. On the way back to the trail, Maggie bumped her head on the Piute bridge. Hard, and right on the corner of a steel beam. We took a few minutes to let the goose egg grow and relax, but we needed to keep moving to get within range of Selden Pass. Across the bridge, we feft Kings Canyon National Park and entered the John Muir wilderness. It was only a couple more easy miles. However, mosquitoes swarmed us for the final mile to camp. We were power walking to get out of the blood sucking cloud. We made it to an open tent site on the edge of the forest, where the mosquitoes thankfully weren’t as numerous. We were done before 7, feeling worked from a long and somewhat frustrating day.
Day 62 – 16(+7) miles/875
Maggie and I woke up around at 4:30am again. It was an overcast morning, something we hadn’t experienced for a long time. It was honestly a bit strange to not see the colors of the sunrise, just a slowly brightening gray dome. Some light drizzle started to fall as we packed up, making me nervous to climb up to 10,900 feet on Selden Pass, but we were getting near the end of our food and needed to resupply at Vermillion Valley Resort. It was a steep climb right off the bat, but we were feeling pretty good.
Around 10,000 feet, the precipitation turned into light snow. It was very pretty, but I was concerned of experiencing bizzard conditions at the top of the pass. We bundled up with warm layers under our rain gear. The snow didn’t last long, thankfully. The hike up turned out to be fun and easy. It was a modest slope with minimal snow travel on the south side.
The hike down was a cake walk compared to previous passes. After the punishment we endured on Muir Pass, the half mile or so of snow on Selden was no big deal. Down through lodge pole pine forest, we got to the Bear Creek crossing. This was definitely a crossing that required three points of contact, slowly taking one step at a time. We heard that in high snow years, hikers may have to swim, so we were thankful it wasn’t a big deal when we crossed. We ate lunch on the other side of the creek, watching a handful of hikers come up behind us to do the creek crossing.
Most everyone sat with us for a snack and to dry out shoes and socks. The drying would end up being futile, as the next stretch of trail had numerous water crossings with no options to keep your feet dry. Just accept the wet feet and keep walking. The trail took us up bear ridge. By now, the clouds cleared up, a complete turn around from the morning snow storm. We made it to our turn off towards VVR, 7 miles off the PCT. Along the long drop back down Bear Ridge, big fir trees stood high overhead. Somewhere in there, we had to cross a swamp. Luckily there were dry logs scattered around and we kept our feet from getting soaked again.
We emerged at Edison Lake and made it to VVR at 6pm. After getting some info, we sipped some beers around campfire with hikers. The bell rang, and everyone flocked inside for BBQ dinner. Maggie and I quickly set up our tent in “Mushroom City” along side the other hikers, then got in line for dinner. The food was delicious and the staff was beyond friendly. We went back outside. It was a cold night, but everyone returned to the fire pit for more beers, and we were up shooting the shit until 10pm.
Day 63 – 5(+4) miles/880
Maggie woke up at 6, I slept in till 8. We stumbled back into the café for breakfast. We filled up on massive breakfast burritos and a fruit bowl, then topped off with a couple pancakes. The food coma setting in, we sat outside in the sun, talking with a few hikers for a bit. We weren’t in a rush since another high pass was up next on the trail, and we certainly weren’t going to tackle it on this day. We bought food for the 2 days to get us to Mammoth Lakes. By the time we organized and packed up, it was already noon. We ate a hiker food lunch before leaving VVR to save a couple bucks, but the café was serving hot sandwiches. We were envious of the hikers who opted for the hot lunch. We finally started walking again, hiking out on the lake trail back to the PCT.
The trail climbed up a little towards Silver Pass. In the last mile, there was a river crossing that required getting your feet wet. We decided to take our shoes off, slap on the Tevas, and we hiked a mile in our sandals to camp. We were done at 5:30pm, feeling refreshed from good food and a short day of hiking. I made ramen for dinner with fried spam and a sea food rice ball on the side, very gourmet for backpacking.
Day 64 – 21 miles/901
With yet another pass ahead, we were up and moving before 7am. It was quite chilly. The trail climbed steadily and we came to a creek crossing. There were some rocks, but they were iced over and impossible to walk on. We opted to take our shoes off for the crossing, not wanting soaked feet so early with temperatures in the upper 30s. This eats up quite a bit of time, but it seemed worth it. Up and up, another water crossing appeared at the base of a waterfall. Shoes off again…
While Maggie was crossing, she slipped and bumped her knee, but she kept her shoes dry. The injury was minor and we kept moving to stay warm. When we got above treeline, it was easy going with firm snow from the solid freeze the night before. We got to the top and naturally stopped for a snack break. We met two JMT hikers, recent grads of the DPT program at Regis University in Denver. We made sure to ask them for physical therapy advice before they set off south bound.
We traversed a bit more snow down the north side of the pass, but it wasn’t too bad. Plodding on down dry trail, we got to Fish Creek, where a bridge spanned the gap over a roaring cascade of water. We went a little further and crossed a log to eat lunch on the other side of the creek. The trail took us up to Virginia Lake, offering some wonderful scenery.
A couple more ups and downs through lodge pole pine forest. After the lakes and all the effort thus far, it was kind of “meh” for the latter half of the day, just covering ground to get closer to Mammoth Lakes. We got to 900 mile mark, then just 1.5 more to camp. Most folks we had seen all day also decided to stop there as well, probably a dozen hikers, but the camp area was huge. We were antisocial and ate dinner in our tent while a handful of folks gathered around a small fire. Oh well. We went to sleep, exhausted but stoked to get into town the next day.
Day 65 – 2(+3) miles/903
We slept in knowing it was a short distance into Mammoth Lakes. We were the last to leave camp at 8:45. We hiked fast over a couple cruisey miles to the Mammoth Pass trail. Lots of blowdown littered the forest, but the trail had been cleared making progress over the pass very doable. There was a little bit of snow, but small patches of snow felt like child’s play at this point. We emerged from the forest at the Horseshoe Lakes parking lot. We half heartedly tried to hitch, but it was not a long wait for the free trolley into town. A deli was a short walk from the bus stop, where we got sandwiches for lunch. We walked the rest of the way towards town, found a bar, and got a beer while we waited to checked in to the hotel.
The room was ready early, so we wandered back to the Mammoth Inn. Our room was basically a studio with the shower in full view of the bed. Interesting, but it was cozy and the bed was comfy. We showered and chilled for a while before hitting the laundromat. We picked up burritos ($60! For 2 burritos and salads) and ate back in the room. We tried to watch TV, but nothing was worth watching, so we scrolled through our phones before going to bed way too late.
Day 66 – 0 miles/903
Resupply day. We slept in, a lot. I realized we were in the bed for over 12 hours. We got an awesome breakfast at the Breakfast Club. Hit the Grocery Outlet for some cheap finds. Next was the mountaineering store for fuel and new shoes for Maggie. We got most of our food at the grocery store – spent over $300 for the two of us. Yikes. While walking around town, we ran into Bennet and Burrito-with-a-J, and we made plans for a dinner meet up. Back at the hotel, we ate grocery store sushi and giant fruit platter for lunch in bed. Talked to parents. Worked on the blog. Maggie and I had purchased a 5th of José Cuervo to share, so we went to B&B+j’s hotel for some tequila drinks. We talked about all the interesting characters we had met on the trail, and some of the trials we had gone through in the Sierras.
The four of us went out for a pizza dinner double date, where we talked about plans after the trail, and potential trail names for Bennet – “Dorkfart” is the leading contender, which I think I would be next in line for if he didn’t take it. We walked back in the cool mountain air, adding to our bonus town miles. We cleaned some gear to let it dry overnight and got to bed.
Distance Over Time 