Week 4 Mileage: 200.5
Snowpack, Reroute and No Food
To finish up week 3, I left Kennedy Meadows (South) and started back up the trail at 6:15 am. My pack was the heaviest it’s going to be. Adding my bear canister, ice axe, micro spikes, 6 days of food and 3 packs of cigarettes, it weighed in at just about 30 pounds. That might not seem like a lot, but I don’t use a waist belt and I’m doing big miles. Finishing out the week at the Kern River and Monache Pass, I closed with 254.5 miles for the week. Solid for the desert, but I knew those numbers weren’t going to be attainable for this next section.
From here I had about 8,000 feet of elevation gain to do. The trail twisted and turned up, then down, and then up again. I ended the day with a 32.9. Camp was above 10,000 feet and I paid for it with cold. I’ve lost some down since my last hike so I would venture to guess my sleeping bag is more like a 30 degree than a 10 degree now. The following day I started to hit sporadic sections of snowpack. Trying to avoid them only added to my day when the trail went left, and I went right. I must remember to not do that. Finished with a 34.9 just before a river and had 9.7 miles in the morning to get to the top of Forester Pass — the first and the highest through this stretch. My shoes and socks were frozen in the morning. Ahh, the joys of thru hiking! The last two times I’ve hiked the Sierra, ’21 & ’22, the snowpack would start between 1-2 miles before each pass and continue another 1-2 miles after each one. This time it was 5-6 miles. I hoped that maybe it was just this Forester section. For now, however, it was a long, painful slog to the top. I passed about 8 hikers on my way up and we all converged on top. One dude, “Lost Boy”, was also doing a triple crown hike. Not for any record, but he added the AZT in between the AT and the PCT. I’d been hearing about him for a while, and finally caught the man. He looked a little beat, and when I lit a cigarette he said, ” hey man, I’ll give you all my food for one of those!”. I gave him 2 and didn’t take any food, which I will later regret.
Off the top, down into the Valley. More snow, creek crossings and route finding. Slow going and I was limited to about 2 miles per hour, .7 off my normal pace. After having lunch with that crew, “Lost Boy” mentioned that VVR was open (Vermilion Valley Resort). It’s a campground resupply in the Sierra about 7 miles off trail. It’s about 25 miles before Mammoth and I figured if the snowpack continued like this, I might need food sooner than I packed for. I left and headed for Glen Pass, about 8 miles away. The snow continued. Post-holing through sun cups in the middle of the day is rough. Slipping, sliding, tripping, falling. It’s so hard to get a rhythm and pace. Like hiking in Pennsyltucky, but instead of annoying rocks it’s collapsible snow bowls. After a steep ascent up the final pitch with some loose rock and scree and snow, I reached the top of Glen Pass at 5:30 pm. The descent of this one is always the most nerve racking. It’s about 200 yards off the top along a 70-degree snow slope with a 1,000 foot run out to a lake. This would be considered a NO-FALL ZONE. After 15 minutes, I was across and down. Feeling good as I approached the bottom, I stepped too close to a rock and my leg went down 3 feet into a hole, banging my shin and cutting my leg. After a few choice words, I made it to another rock to sit. I looked up and watched for 5 minutes as another hiker made the sketchy descent off Glen. Then I was off again, post-holing, river crossing, slipping and sliding my way to camp. The trail in this section is great when there isn’t a lot of snow, it weaves onto little islands that you’re meandering through for miles. It’s really hard to navigate when the trail in covered 80% of the time. By 9:30, I was wrecked. I didn’t even make 30 miles, but in the Sierra, you got what the trail will give you. I was 10 miles from Pinchot Pass.
I was up early. Pinchot isn’t a technical pass. Actually, it’s one of the easiest in my opinion, and after 5 long hours I was on top and moving along towards my favorite Pass, Mather. Approaching it, I could see a lot of snow on the South face. The trail does this long, sweeping line around the base and weaves switchbacks to the top. However, it was all covered in snow and that didn’t seem like the right approach this time. As I got closer to the base, I saw 5 hikers chatting. They flagged me down. They were discussing whether they should do the pass at that time or wait until the morning. I told them I was going then. They also asked me what I was going to do about the bridge washout at mile 254. I told them about Skurka’s Over the Top Route. They said from what they heard it was very dangerous and hikers who had attempted it were forced to turn around. They showed me this alternate route starting at Darwin Bench trail head at mile 251. It looked good. I committed it to memory, told them good luck and headed for the pass. They asked me how long I thought it would take. I said an hour. The line I chose was direct — about 300 feet straight up and then it cuts to the right onto the first rocks. Scramble up 20 feet and traverse right. From there, directly up 100 feet, traverse another 50, and 30 more to the top. I was there in 30 minutes. I gave them a wave from the top and glissaded a few times down and off. Then a couple 100-foot butt slides to celebrate the later day accomplishment. Also, looking down through the valley, I could see the snow FINALLY letting up. Between that and having a safer reroute due to the washout, I was in good spirits and finished the day just shy of 32 miles and 2 mountain passes.
On the trail at 5 a.m., I was 10 miles from Muir Pass and 17 from the reroute. It was going to be a big day. Muir isn’t my favorite pass. Yes it has a stone hut at the top that hikers clam bake in, but it’s a long-ass slog to it. The snow did end for a total of 13 miles through the valley so that was nice, but it returned for Muir and didn’t end until I reached Darwin Bench Trail and the reroute alternate.
TBC in Week 4, Part 2
