Category: On the Trail

Day 76 started at 1:30am when a gust of wind ripped one of our tent stakes out of the ground. The tent partially collapsed, waking us up. Wind gusts shook the tent violently for the rest of the night. It didn’t let up once we were on the trail. Continue reading “Days 76 to 79 (Miles 1114.7 to 1153.4)”

After spending the night at the mostly deserted Kirkwood ski area, we packed up and made our way back to the trail. As we left the hotel, Rob said “I hope whoever gives us a ride has donuts for us.” I laughed at his optimism. I was expecting a difficult hitchhike back to the trail. It didn’t seem like Highway 88 on a weekday morning would be an easy place to catch a ride, but it took all of about five minutes before somebody stopped. We made it to the Carson Pass trailhead in no time! Continue reading “Days 74 & 75 (Miles 1076.8 to 1114.7)”

Kennedy Meadows Resort was a great place to relax. With no cell service or wifi, we spent most of the day sitting on the front porch of our little cabin, watching people come and go, and consuming large quantities of soft serve ice cream from the resort’s store. Continue reading “Days 71 to 73 (Miles 1016.9 to 1076.8)”

Glen Aulin to Sonora Pass: this was the toughest section of the PCT so far. Every day felt like the most difficult day on the trail. This was the section of treacherous creek crossings, sun cups, post-holing, and water everywhere, especially in the 18 inch rut that is the trail. Continue reading “Days 65 to 70 (Miles 948.3 to 1016.9)”

After a zero day in Mammoth, we took the free trolley back to the Horseshoe Lake trailhead. We were a little wiser this time, and took a slightly different route back to the PCT. We went over Mammoth Pass which was actually a maintained trail with significantly less downed trees and slightly less snow. Continue reading “Days 61 to 64 (Miles 903.2 to 948.3)”

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 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)”