Day 61-63: miles 767-804

I'm in Yosemite Valley right now, having a fantastic time being a tourist for a day, but the service is really horrid except at this one cafe which lets you have wifi for two hours. So I'll see what I get done in that time, and then will have to post the rest later, sorry!

Day 61: miles 767-776

The day after Whitney, I enjoyed a nice sleep-in before heading out around 8:30, walking out amongst a sea of collapsed tents (from folks going up Whitney with their trekking poles). There was an immediate hill, then down, then up again, with a few big river crossings in between. I then emerged up onto Bighorn Plateau, a gorgeous high Sierra plain with a few twisted pines and plenty of marmots, and Tawny Peak rising in the background. Then a nice gentle downhill to Tyndall creek, another rough crossing, before I got to camp for the night. Two hikers, Steffan and Axeman, where already there drying out their clothes, and the two nobo JMT hikers I'd passed earlier that day rolled into camp a couple hours later. We were camping at the last snow-free site before Forester Pass, which we'd be doing early the next morning. The JMTers were planning to leave around 5 am, and Steffan and Axeman at 4:30, so I decided I'd head out around 4:40 to be in between groups.

Day 62: miles 776-790

After an early alarm, I quickly packed up, put on my microspikes, and headed off, starting with an immediate grueling uphill as the climb to Forester began. At 13,200ft, Forester Pass is the highest point on the PCT (while obviously higher, Whitney is a fun side-trip and not on the actual trail). It garners a lot of trepidation from hikers due to the intense climb and the ice chute at the top. It was about four miles of hiking up these huge ice plains and high Sierra lakes before I could actually see the pass and approach. I caught up to Steffan and Axeman about a mile before the approach, as I'd hoped, and was glad not to do the final switchbacks alone. While the switchbacks are pretty nicely graded, the boot-track in the snow simply went straight up, so up we followed. While it's rough work, it's often safer to follow the boot-track rather than make your own trail up. The snow felt pretty solid going up, but I was incredibly happy to have my microspikes. The last couple switchbacks were mostly snow-free, so we switched to dry ground and carried on for the last few switches before we rounded the corner and saw the ice chute. I hadn't been too scared of the heights until then, when I looked down and saw tiny specks of hikers below, and then looked back to the ice chute and saw the drop off down to the rocks. I had to take a moment to steady myself, then pulled out my ice axe and followed Steffan and Axeman over it. It luckily looked worse than it was, as each footprint was well-defined and solid. I still breathed a huge sigh of relief after crossing, feeling a big weight off my shoulders to have completed that pass.

We were at the top, but still had to make our way down, which can be just as challenging as going up at times. There was a great glissade at the top, and we eagerly slid down a few hundred feet, ice axes held at the ready for steering and braking. Then it was a slow trudge down, with another few glissades and quite a few miles in snow. It started getting slushy right as we finished with the big snow fields. Once we got back into the forest and away from lots of slushy snow, we took a short break before carrying on. Still lots of patches of snow and plenty of river crossings, but it was faster going out of the deep snow and on flatter land. We took lunch in Vidette Meadow before carrying on, climbing up to the turn-off for Kearsarge Pass, which most hikers climb to get off trail for resupply but which I'm skipping. We passed the first turn-off and carried on for another mile or so before finding a snow-free campsite below Glen Pass and settling down for the night. Steffan was going over Kearsarge in the morning, and Axeman and I would continue on over Glen Pass. It was lovely doing Forester with those two and hearing about the hiking they've both done in Germany and the states.

Day 63: miles 790-803.8

Glen Pass this morning! I left around 6, and it was a long slog up. I caught up to Axeman who'd left a bit before me, and also ran into two other hikers, Arthur and Stache, who joined our posse as we climbed up the snow and navigated towards the trail. We finally got to the switchbacks, which were half covered in snow and half in loose scree which slipped underfoot and felt very unsteady. It was a slow climb up those switchbacks with each step placed with care. We finally got to the last few switches and I pulled out my ice axe to feel a little steadier. The final ascent was steep but over with quickly and it was a relief to get to the top. Our job wasn't over though, because on this pass, the downhill personally felt way more dangerous than the uphill. The snow was already slushy by 8 am, and the boot-track was ill-defined, with the steps so far apart I had to do a full squat just to reach the next step. The track also skipped the switchbacks and went straight down in places - which feels ok going up, but incredibly sketchy going down. The snow was also soft enough that my ice axe would sink into the snow almost to the pick, and my microspikes had trouble gripping the snow. My legs were shaking by the bottom, and the group had been waiting for about ten minutes for me to descend behind them as I had to stop to take some deep breaths and remind myself there was only one way down the mountain. It was definitely the most sketchy and dangerous feeling section so far, and I was so happy to be over with it. The next couple miles were equally slushy, but at least it wasn't steep. There were a couple big water crossings, and then a big avalanche destruction zone that required lots of rerouting around blowdowns and destroyed trails. We passed mile 800 in the blowdown area, but saw a rock sign for it a couple miles later at a big suspension bridge going over Woods Creek. Then the uphill started, as we were trying to camp at the last snow-free site before Pinchot Pass. The uphill was rough, with lots of big rock steps, and included two of the worst river crossings yet, one which reached up to my hips with a strong current. I finally got to camp around 4, and laid out all my clothes to dry. I've been wearing waterproof socks, which are fantastic in the snow and when the trail is flooded, but as soon as they get wet inside, they take forever to dry out.

Arthur and Stache arrived around when I did, and we set up our tents. Axeman came a bit later, and we had dinner together before heading to bed.

That's all for now, sorry! Turns out I had a couple other things I needed the wifi for haha. I'll update again when I have better service :)