Thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2016!
After Muir Pass, we only had to get over two more major passes to get to Mammoth Lakes, our next resupply location. Selden Pass (10,910′) and Silver Pass (10,750′) are both about a thousand feet lower than Muir, Mather and Pinchot Passes. Continue reading “Days 58 to 60 (Miles 861.5 to 903.2)”
Day 56: Woke up in a winter wonderland! Even though we were camped somewhere well under 10,000′, several inches of fresh powder had dusted everything. Continue reading “Days 56 & 57 (Miles 833.6 to 861.5)”
Day 52: We made it over two passes today!
We left the Mount Williamson Motel at 6:30 in the morning. Strider, the owner, gave us a ride back to the Kearsarge Pass trailhead. The motel is very hiker friendly – great place to stay!
It took us a couple hours to get up over Kearsarge Pass. No wind this time!
A couple of miles later we were back on the PCT. We immediately began climbing toward Glen Pass. Definitely needed the ice axe and crampons for Glen Pass; it was steep both on the way up and on the way down. Continue reading “Days 52 to 55 (Miles 788.5 to 833.6)”
We had plans to meet friends the day after climbing up and over Forester Pass. After coming down from the pass, we camped in a relatively snow free spot near Vidette Meadow. We were only a few miles from Kearsarge Pass (the planned meet point), so we slept in until 7 and took our time packing up. Continue reading “Days 49 to 51 (Nearo and Zero Days)”
Day 47: We saw other people today! It rained and hailed/snowed off and on all night, but the sky was relatively clear when we woke up, so we packed up and hiked toward Crabtree Meadows. Continue reading “Days 47 & 48 (Miles 760.5 to 786.8)”
Day 43: We left Kennedy Meadows campground after stuffing ourselves and our packs with food. It’s always tough getting back on the trail after a break. It feels like the time off makes us weak, but it’s probably just that our packs get much heavier when we resupply. With all our new gear and 7 days worth of food crammed into bear canisters, we were each carrying 30 to 35 pounds. Not bad, considering some people ahead of us were in the 50 to 60 pound range. Continue reading “Days 43 to 46 (Miles 704.7 to 760.5)”
We took the “rock & roll” bus back to Walker Pass at 5:15 in the morning. We were the only two passengers on the bus as it left Lake Isabella. The driver blasted music the entire way, beginning with Metallica then transitioning to The Doors and The Eagles. He drove so fast we made it to Walker Pass just after 6am. Kern Transit is like no other. Continue reading “Days 39 to 42 (Miles 652 to 704.7)”
After less than 24 hours in Tehachapi, we returned to the trail at PCT Mile 558. We spent the next 6 or 7 miles walking through another wind farm. Wind turbines are pretty cool, but after three days of them, we were both ready for a change in scenery. Continue reading “Days 33 to 38 (Miles 558 to 652)”
Despite our proximity to the Iberdrola wind farm, we had a calm night camped amongst the Joshua trees. The wind had been howling the day before. Several people gave us advice on which tent sites would be most sheltered, but we seemed to have some kind of crazy luck and the wind completely died down. Continue reading “Days 31 & 32 (Miles 530 to 558)”
