June 3, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 801.5) to bushcamp (mile 813.3)

Miles: 11.8

We have both been looking forward to hiking the JMT the opposite direction.

In the current conditions, it feels like an entirely different trail. We know when climbs are going to be tough but even the mellower ones seem difficult.

Maybe it is the snow, the fact that going down something never seems as hard as going up, or maybe it is just fatigue from 9 continuous days of hiking.

The day started great. We anticipated 3 streams before the pass but managed to keep dry feet through all of them.

Then pass for today was Pinchot Pass. The approach to it was gradual. The snow was hard and easy to walk on. We started early and enjoyed walking into the sunlight.

As we got closer to the pass a number of other hikers caught up with us. We climbed as a pack – 7 in all. The top of the pass was another 10 ft vertical climb. There were steps but we put on our crampons just to be safe.

The top was windy so we didn’t stay long. The descent was gradual and we were very thankful for hard snow. We both glissaded on our butts and feet. We took in the views of Lake Marjorie and admired the gushing rivers we didn’t have to cross.

Around 11am we found a slab of granite to dry out the rain fly and tyvek while eating lunch.

We continued down towards the South Fork of the Kings River. We veered off the trail following footsteps in the snow between trees and boulders. It was like an obstacle course and we enjoyed sliding down little hills.

We got to the South Fork of the Kings River around the same time as a German couple. Willywa (a guy we first met when hiking the Big Bear Reroute – he was walking the opposite way so we chatted but never hiked together) had just crossed. He pointed to the easiest place to cross and we all followed suit.

It significantly boosted Laurie’s confidence to have other hikers around, especially older ones whom she believes are more wise and experienced.

We both crossed in our hiking boots without socks or insoles. This was the biggest and strongest river crossing yet, but we got through it.

At the other bank we dumped water out of our shoes, attempted to wring out our socks and carried on.

From here the trail started uphill towards Mather Pass. We crossed 2 other streams (requiring us to take off socks and insoles each time) before getting to camp.

The last crossing exhausted Laurie. It wasn’t the crossing itself but the effort it took to disrobe and put everything back on. Walking with wet feet wasn’t comfortable but we had no other choice.

One of our options for camping was right after the crossing a stream. It was 5 pm and we decided to call it a day. Laurie was excited about the possibility of drying her boots and socks in the last few hours of sunlight.

We put up the tent and sat on a granite slab. Laurie expressed her anxiety about making it to VVR. The snow felt doable but the amount of water and the intensity of the river crossings terrified her.

We were exhausted after 11 mile days and needed to do at least 15 to get to VVR before our food ran out.

Both of us were outside of our comfort zones.

Laurie’s fears were increased by the fact that nobody else was camped nearby. She likes to be part of a pack.

We talked about talking with other hikers tomorrow (we anticipate and hope to see the same crew going up Mather Pass) about what their plans are and see if we can form a group.

If we don’t feel comfortable we can go out Bishop Pass. It is nice to have a backup plan.

As for tonight, Andy held Laurie as she cried, reassuring her that we can always turn around or exit if we aren’t comfortable continuing on.

We will go one step at a time, taking things slowly. We have to remind ourselves that we aren’t in a race. We are here to have fun..safely.

Tonight we are grateful for fellow hikers and our commitment to each other.

June 2, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 789.8) to bushcamp (mile 801.5)

Miles: 11.7

Today was an ass kicker.

We woke up at the usual 5:45am but gave ourselves permission to sleep in until 6:30.

The last 2 nights had resulted in minimal sleep and our guidebooks warned about climbing Glen Pass too early and encountering lots ice.

We also figured the descent down Glen Pass would be icy since it was north facing so extra time would only make the snow softer and more enjoyable.

Boy were we wrong!

We left camp at 8am. It was already warm and the snow was getting slushy. We followed footsteps to the bottom of what looked like a loose rock wall. From there our path alternated between loose dirt, rocks and snow. At times the switchbacks were visible but most were hidden under a wall of snow.

It was not fun. And Laurie had no energy today.

We both felt like it was hotter than it had been in the desert. We were sweating and smelling ripe! It was only half a mile to the top but it felt like an eternity!

We took many breaks and slowly made it to the top at 9am. We enjoyed the views, took a few pictures, celebrated our accomplishment and headed down.

There were good tracks to follow but the snow was soft. We started postholing immediately. Sometimes as much as thigh deep.

It was exhausting.

With every step we didn’t know if we would sink or if the snow would hold or weight.

After about 400 ft Laurie saw a glissade track. Tired of postholing she gave it a go. She slid very slowly due to the wet and soft snow.

At the end of her first glissade she stood and walked about 30 ft to another glissade track. This one was much faster.

She was headed for a pile of sharp and exposed rocks.

She attempted to slow herself down by self arresting using her ice axe.

The ice axe would did not hold in the snow well but it slowed her enough to stop short of the rocks.

Laurie was ok but the snow gashed her nuckles in the process.

Andy, who had continued on in the tracks above, saw Laurie sliding on her side and then she was out of sight.

He called to her and only after she had stopped was she able to respond.

It was scary for both of us and made for an even slower descent now that Laurie preferred walking over glissading.

We postholed our way down. Going less than 1 mile per hour we eventually made it down to Rae Lakes around 12pm.

Towards the bottom and on a much gentler slope, we both glissaded. Andy went first and Laurie followed. It was important to her to have a corrective experience since glissading is the best part of hiking in the snow!

Laurie is such a strong person. You’d have to be strong to attempt something again that led to injury only a few hours earlier!

We hiked down towards Woods Creek Bridge. Once we dropped below 10,000 feet the trail was mostly snow free. Our new challenge were the streams which had turned into rushing rivers!

Andy walked across one with boots and gaiters after getting soaked feet scoping out where it would be easiest to cross. Laurie wore the crocs but the strong current took one about half way across. She was able to snatch it again before it floated away as it rested on a downed log.

A few miles up the trail Andy attempted to walk across White Fork, a ‘creek’ that was gushing, without shoes but the current was too strong and the stones too sharp. He turned around midway.

The streams swell with snow melt and are largest and strongest at the end of the day. We discussed camping and wait until morning to cross but there were no flat spots other than the trail. And it was not wide enough for our tent.

We decided to try again above the trail where the current didn’t look as strong. This time Andy wore his shoes for protection from the rocks.

Laurie again wore the crocs. She again lost a croc, this tome towards the end of the crossing but we both made it across safely.

Andy’s chin got scratched from a tree we both used to help stabilize us toward the end and strongest part of the “creek.”

We were cold and wet but relieved. We hugged and both took a large sigh of relief.

We were prepared for the snowy passes, but not for these small streams turned into rivers.

At least not this many of them.

Bear Creek and Evolution Creek are notoriously difficult on high snow years. And they are days away. However in the blogs and pictures we have seen of hikers ahead of us, even these crossings seemed manageable.

Things change in a hurry out here!

It makes us wonder what other hikers are doing that we aren’t? Do they just walk across and deal with wet soggy feet? Do these crossings scare them? I guess we will have to ask!

We were hoping to hike another 1.5 miles but there were two more “stream” crossings between us and camp. We opted to camp early and see what the streams are like in the early morning. Hopefully they are less intense.

We have learned from today’s posthole hell that we need to start early – no matter what the guidebooks say.

We have crampons and if we encounter ice we can manage. It will be easier and faster than postholing. Plus, there are at least 8 “streams” tomorrow so the earlier we cross them the better.

We have decided that we would be better off with trail runners rather than our waterproof boots. The boots are great on snow but once they get wet they don’t dry quickly.

We hope to find a way to get our trail runners sent or brought to Mammoth. It is nice that we can adapt and learn as we go.

We got to camp around 7:40pm and it is now 9:45pm.

Today was demoralizing.

Glen Pass was sketchy going up, long and arduous going down and the scary creek crossing at 7 pm was the icing on the wet cake. Neither one of us talked about getting off trail but today as a whole was not fun.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Time for sleep since our alarms are set for 4:45 am. Ouch.

Tonight we are grateful for each other and bandaids.

June 1, 2016

Kearsarge Pass Trailhead to bushcamp (mile 789.8)

Miles: 8.2 (0.8 PCT miles + 7.4 miles from Kearsarge Pass Trailhead to PCT)

The alarm went off at 5 am. Unable to open her eyes Laurie asked to reset the alarm for 5:30 am. Andy obliged and we both immediately fell back asleep.

At 5:30 am we reluctantly got up. We had things to accomplish before Strider picked us up at 6:30 am to take us back to Onion Valley (Kearsarge Pass Trailhead).

Laurie showered, Andy tried uploading blogs unsuccessfully, we spoke with family and ate cold pizza for breakfast. It was delicious!

The Mt Williamson Motel offered a wonderful 1 night respite from trail life.

We scored and did most of our shopping yesterday in the hiker box (toothpaste, aluminum foil as a wind screen for cooking, face sunblock (which Laurie squeezed into a ziplock) and Chapstick! The only thing we had to buy was fuel.

We got to the trailhead around 7 and started the climb up and over Kearsarge Pass.

It was already warm. The trail switchbacked up, sometimes covered by snow. It was slow going. Our packs were heavy with 7 days worth of food. The snow was already softening in the sunlight so we had to be careful where we put our feet to prevent post holing.

We climbed up snowy inclines, placing one foot in front of the other and using our poles to prevent slipping.

We climbed up and up. We had been down this trail the day before and knew what to expect.

After 2 miles we stopped in a boulder field to finish uploading our blog posts. We knew this was the last reception we would have for a week and wanted to finish everything on our town list.

We reached the top of the pass around 10:30am. Just as we turned the corner 2 hikers joined us from the other direction.

They were Bourbon and Chris. Moments later Krispy and Pancakes came up the trail. We first met them in Warner Springs (mile 107) and have seen them sporadically since. It is feels like running into old friends and is fun to see how people have changed after 2 months on the trail.

We chatted for a while and then parted ways. We headed down more switchbacks to a junction. From here we took another trail that would lead us back to the PCT.

It stayed higher than the Bullfrog Lake trail we had taken the day prior. We admired the views from above and walked/glissaded our way down.

About 0.7 miles from the PCT we stopped for lunch. We sat on a large granite rock and watched ants crawl up our legs as we ate.

From here we continued on another 1.5 miles to camp. The snow was soft and the post holes deep. We were both tired and ready to be done hiking for the day.

There were 2 established campsites on this side of the pass and we had planned to camp at one of them. Unfortunately, as the trail crested over 11,000 ft the trail turned to snow. The campsites were there but covered by at least 2 feet of snow.

We found a flat spot amongst a bunch of rocks and decided to set up camp. We were happy to find something off the snow in hopes it would be warmer and drier.

We set up the tent, Andy went to fetch water and Laurie inflated the air pads. We tied our emergency blanket to the side of the tent to act as a sun shade and crawled in. We snacked, blogged and both took naps.

When we awoke 30 minutes later the bottom of our tent was wet. Laurie unzipped the tent to find a puddle of water in front and under our tent.

Apparently we were either camping on a spring or our body weight disrupted some normal flow of snow melt. Either way, we were now camped on a puddle.

We placed the emergency blanket under our sleeping pads as an additional layer of protection. Hopefully that helps keep us warm tonight and tomorrow we will dry everything on one of our breaks.

We also built a dam out of rocks to keep water from coming onto our ground sheet. We will see how it all turns out in the morning!

We ate dinner outside as we watched the sun fade. We ate 2 mystery meals we got from the hiker box at the Mt Williamson Motel.

Supposedly they were lasagna and tacos. They were cheesy (of the artificial variety) and meaty. It provided nice variety to our typical meals but not something we could eat every night.

As soon as the sun set the temperature dropped. We organized our food for tomorrow, dividing it between our bear cans and “smelly proof” bags since we can’t fit it all in our bear cans.

We crawled into our tent, organized and stored gear and clothes in stuff sacks to keep them from potentially getting wet and wrote/edited blog posts some more.

The Sierras are draining and we are tired. We know if we slip and fall behind on blogging it will be really hard to get caught up again.

We really enjoy blogging and it’s important to us to continue to document our adventure. We work well as a team and will have to continue to do so if we want to stay up to date.

Time for bed. Goodnight.

Tonight we are grateful for emergency blankets and flat camping spots.