Day 56-60: miles 703-767

Finally got to Bishop, where I've been enjoying a couple zero days as I recover from my 11 day stretch in the Sierra! It was probably the most challenging section so far, but was also so, so rewarding! I feel like every day was more gorgeous than the last, and felt so privileged to be seeing the views and scenery around me. So much of this landscape is untouched and inaccessible to most people - it was a true honor to get to experience it.

This blog post might be a little hazy on the details, since it's been a while, but heavy on the pictures since everything was so beautiful! Sorry I've got to compress all the pictures to stay under Wix's BS storage limit :// Let me know if you want any of the pictures in higher quality and I can email them or something (prob more relevant to the next blog post actually).

Edit: whoops, I left this too much to the last minute and didn't have enough service heading out of town to post, so I'm actually posting this from Red's Meadow Resort about 5 days after leaving Bishop. Sorry my posts are so delayed, it just takes a bit of time to write it all up, and it's very easy to get distracted in towns!

Day 56: miles 703-717.7

First day in the real-deal Sierra (even though we've officially been in the eastern edges of the Sierra since Walker Pass). Oh my lord is my pack heavy! The scale was broken at Kennedy Meadows, but it's probably around 45 pounds. I'm so glad that my pack takes the weight as well as it does - there's no way I could take this much food in a frameless or ultralight pack. Oh, also, don't know if I've mentioned but it seems very relevant - I got a trail name! I'm Pantry! It got given to me coming into Ridgecrest, since I carry so much food and a myriad of spices and condiments, plus I'm always happy to 'open up the pantry' when someone is low on food, as I'm bound to have extra. I like the name - I'm a very food-motivated person, and it's important that I eat well on trail and actually cook my meals, as opposed to doing premade meals each night. It also means a lot to me that the people around me are eating well and have enough food, and I'm always more than happy to share when people are running low. Even with my godawful heavy pack, I don't regret bringing this much food, since it's extra important to be eating well in this section.

Leaving Kennedy Meadows, we had our first big climb. Not quite a pass, but it felt long and hard, and I was dragging my feet up it. After a while, it started down and we got our first good views of the snow covered mountains ahead as we headed into Monache Meadow. We camped up above the Kern River on a rocky outcrop, and when I went to get water, I stayed for many minutes watching the swallows swoop under the bridge - hundreds of them have made their nests under it, and it was so peaceful to listen to their chirps as the sun went down.

Day 57: miles 717.7-733.8

Woke up this morning to a thick layer of frost covering my tent, my sleeping bag, shoes, and backpack. Brr was it cold last night! It also takes significantly longer to pack up with the new placement of everything due to my bear can. We had another intense uphill out of Monache Meadow and up to Olancha Pass. Whew I felt incredibly slow going up, just huffing and puffing with every step, but at least there were gorgeous views to accompany me. We reached our first snow near the top of the hill, though it was clear there used to be more that melted. As it melts, the trail gets significantly more confusing - the boot-track on the snow rarely follows the actual trail, and as it melts there's always a mix of people walking on the melted boot-track versus the trail itself. It leads to lots of criss-crossing paths where you're never quite sure what the right way is. We had long patches of snow for quite a while going down, and took a nice long lunch break near a snowmelt river. I took a quick nap in the sun, then headed off a bit early to get a head start from Cheers and Shade. The path went down and then flat for a while, through large sandy flats where only the ancient, gnarled foxtail pines grew. In places, it felt even more barren than the desert, which at least had a myriad of shrubs and lizards running around.

Shade and Cheers caught up to me in Death Canyon, where I was filling up at the last water for a while - it would be a night of camping and 8 or so miles til the next, which was a rarity in the Sierra, where we've only had to carry a liter at a time so far. But we filled up for the night and the next morning and then headed uphill to our campsite three miles on. The uphill was still rough, but this felt graded a little better and it wasn't so brutal of a climb. I got to camp right as Cheers caught me, and we admired the fantastic view of Mt Langley and the meadow below. Shade was right behind, and we set up camp for the night, then had dinner on a rock outcrop that had the best sunset view over the mountains. My food doesn't quite fit in my bear canister yet, so I did a bear hang after watching the sunset (the requirements for bear cans don't kick in until Cottonwood pass, but proper storage, like a bear hang, is still necessary for the entire Sierra).

Day 58: miles 733.8-750.7

Started the day by finishing the rest of the hill - we got a couple patches of snow on top but nothing too bad, and had a great view of Owens Valley way below us. We came down into Ash Meadow, then back up to Mulkey Pass, where we had a long continuous section of snow. It made wayfinding a lot slower, but wasn't too bad even though it was the afternoon. The uphill continued until we came out at Poison Meadow, and walked through the flooded, slushy meadow up to our campsite. Today was the first of many long sections of snow - it was slow going but not too terrible! Our campsite for the night had a fantastic view of Cirque Peak rising above us, and we went to bed nice and early, around 7:30. Tomorrow, Shade and Cheers will be heading off on Cottonwood trail into Lone Pine to resupply, while I carry on all the way to Bishop Pass. It's sad to leave them, since I really enjoy hiking with them, but it'll also be fun to do this section on my own. We'll meet back up in Bishop, where I'll definitely enjoy a couple extra days in town.

Day 59: miles 750.7-767.5 + 1.1 off-PCT

First day on my own in this section! Started off early while Shade and Cheers slept in, making my way across Cottonwood meadow and up to Chicken Spring Lake, which was frozen over but absolutely gorgeous. The trail then went way uphill in full snow, making navigation tricky, but not bad enough to need my microspikes. The view of the Great Western Divide at the top was so incredible! The trail then trended down, but it was either covered in snow or full of big boulders, making the trip down extra slow. I lost the trail a couple times - always the risk of following the boot-track instead of looking at the map. Near the bottom, I crossed Rock Creek - one of the first bigger rivers in the Sierra. I managed to cross on some big logs a ways up trail, and then ate lunch on the other side while my shoes dried. After lunch, it was another big uphill on Guyot Pass, which flattened out a bit to allow for another big river crossing, before continuing the switchbacks up. After the pass, I went through Guyot Flats, which was a big sandy meadow full of foxtail pines. Then down to Crabtree Meadow, where I saw the first person I'd seen all day! And then to the campsite at Crabtree, where there were maybe 20 people all hanging out. Crabtree is at the base of Whitney on the PCT side, so anyone doing the side trip to summit Whitney will camp there. Most of the folks there had come down earlier that day and were about to head out farther down the trail, but it was definitely weird to encounter so many people after a day alone. I said hi and set up my tent, then had an early dinner. To do Whitney, it's best to do it really early in the morning so the snow stays firm, and a lot of people time it so you get up to the summit just in time for sunrise. That means most people leave at midnight to make it the 7.8 miles before 5:30. So I went to bed around 7 and prepared for a very early alarm clock.

Day 60: 15.6 miles off-PCT

Today is my Whitney summit day!! Unfortunately, my excitement was tempered by the way I woke up at 9pm to puke violently out the side of my tent. I was sick a few more times before I felt well enough to attempt to sleep again, around 11. When my alarm woke me up at 11:45 pm, I had to decide whether or not I would still attempt to summit. If it was something I ate, then that sucked but wasn't imminently dangerous. But if it was from altitude sickness, then that's a pretty serious symptom, and climbing another 4,000ft isn't in my best interest. I wasn't having any other altitude symptoms, besides frequent bloody noses which I always get at high altitudes, and the puking came on very suddenly and I felt better afterwards. So I decided to attempt it, and if I came close to being sick again then I would immediately turn back.

I set off right at midnight, with my empty backpack carrying some food, water, extra layers, and my microspikes and ice axe. I had just forded the river when I looked behind me to see a wave of headlamps pouring out of the campsite - about eight other hikers would be summiting with me.

The trail started out going up to several lakes, including Whitney lake and Guitar lake, and I quickly put on my microspikes. It was eerie going across the snow in the dark, trying to locate the bootprints of people who came before. After Guitar Lake, the trail opened onto a big snowy expanse that continued upward at a steady pace. It was there that the headlights behind me caught up, and a group of six hikers passed me. We started the switchbacks up, which were half covered in snow and half in rocky talus. It was slow going and extremely strenuous, and I was cautious about eating any snacks or electrolytes in case it upset my stomach again. Once on the mountain, the switchbacks started for real - long sections each with a scary, steep snow area across. We all took out our ice axes and headed across, one careful step at a time. The bootprints were good here, with each foot placement well defined, though it was definitely hard not to swing my headlamp down and look at the steep drop below me. The switchbacks seemed neverending - I started out thinking there can't be more than five, but an hour in I was convinced there were ten, no twenty, of them. I started feeling nauseous most of the way up them and stopped to take a long rest and catch my breath, letting everyone else pass me. Then I continued on, getting to the ridge section that wound in and out of the rocky needles for a long time. I could see flashes of headlamps in front of me as I continued up, seeing glimpses of the start of sunrise in between rock walls. The ridge went on for longer than I thought possible, with the trail always finding a new slope to traverse. I finally got to the base of the final ascent, where the trail takes a turn and heads up to the end of the mountain. The summit is shaped like a horizontal parabola, requiring one final push before it flattens out considerably. This section was free of snow but all rock - there wasn't much of a trail besides walking in the direction of the small shelter at the top. On the rocks next to it, the other hikers were huddled, waiting for the sun to crest the horizon. I'd gotten to the top right at 5:30 - a couple minutes before sunrise. It was horrifically cold at the top - I already had my raincoat, balaclava, and double gloves on - and I stopped to put on my rain pants as well. I got some pictures of me holding the Mt Whitney sign (I'd always wondered how it didn't get taken off the summit - the secret is that it's probably a good 10-15 lbs haha) and of the sun rising before us. After only 15 minutes or so though, I was too damn cold and had to get down. Plus, my nausea had abated for the last section of the climb, but I still wasn't feeling amazing so I didn't want to linger too long at such a high altitude.

I headed down in between two groups again, though we quickly got spaced out on the descent. Going up in the dark felt novel and thrilling, going down was simply scary. Suddenly I could see all those heights that I was trying not to think about, and I also had to contend with hikers coming up later from the east side of the mountain - the snow made it so only one person could be on some sections at a time, but there were enough big rocks and corners that you couldn't always tell in time. Twice, I had to do a sketchy backtrack to let another hiker pass on their way up. By the time I finished the ridge, I was feeling a little shaky, so I stopped to have a snack and a drink. I'm really glad I had a bottle on my shoulder strap, because the water bottle I had in my side pocket had frozen on top, and I couldn't drink from it at all. The switchbacks felt just as long going up, but in some sections even worse - I always feel more comfortable going up on the steep snow traverses, since going down your center of mass has to shift below you, and I always feel a little off balance. Luckily, the snow was firm and my ice axe and spikes had a good grip, plus the boot-track was very solid and it was always clear where to put each foot. The switchbacks seemed to take forever, but finally I was at the base of them, where I caught up to a few hikers who'd passed me going down the switchbacks. We stopped for another snack break, and then I continued on across the snow. Everything looked really different in the light, and I got off-trail a few times before getting back to Whitney Creek. I took another break, dug a cathole (tmi but relevant because you can't dig one anywhere near Whitney - it was a long few miles to get back to a forested area lmao). I finally made it back to Crabtree Meadow around 10:30. I ate a bit more, my stomach feeling much better, moved my tent into the shade, and took a nice, long nap.

I woke up from my nap around 2:30, got up and stretched, and was just in time to see the group of hikers I summited with packing up and heading out. They were going to do another 5 miles to the base of Forester Pass, the highest point on the PCT. I was a little tempted to head out with them, since they were a fun group to hike near, but decided I was going to stay at Crabtree Meadow for one more night. That way I'd get plenty of rest and wouldn't have to wake up at 3 the next morning to do another high pass. I was feeling better and didn't have any further nausea, but I didn't want to tempt anything. One thing that was really sticking with me was what happened to Riddles two years ago. She was 23 years old, studied Mechanical Engineering, and died of high-altitude pulmonary edema at the top of Forester Pass. She had done Whitney the day before and was feeling lousy, but pushed on before collapsing at the top of the pass, where her trail family tried to help but there was simply nothing to be done. Her story hit me hard - we have a lot of similarities and god knows I've carried on despite the warning signs in the past. And maybe it was reckless of me to even attempt the Whitney summit - the least I could do was give myself another day to recover before doing another pass. So I said goodbye to the other hikers and settled into camp. A couple folks rolled in around 5 and we chatted for a bit, then I had an early dinner and headed to bed by 7:30. This day was quite the adventure!! Definitely one of the most thrilling but terrifying experiences I've ever had!

That's all for now, sorry! I'll hopefully have the rest written by the time I get to Yosemite Valley in a couple days!