Phew, what a section: delicate log crossings over swollen streams, tough navigation between the trail and footprints in the rapidly melting snow, steep scree fields and huge miles. We couldn't be happier to be writing this from the comforts of Jenny's brother Tim and his wife Heather's lovely Tahoe home.
I'll pick up where Jenny left off: the Woah Nellie Deli (WND > WMD). Sorry, I couldn't help it. Contrary to the hour and a half or so we waited for a hitch out of Yosemite, getting back in was easy. In less than five minutes a car pulled over to give us a lift in. The drivers were two 18 year olds from New Jersey who were on a road trip on a dare from some friends. They were off the East Coast for their first time. Naturally, picking up hitch-hiking PCT hikers was another notch in a journey that included a caffeine-fueled 48 hour trip across the country with short breaks to sleep in Walmart parking lots. Oh if only I had known how to drive when I was 18... or even 25... (insert Jenny eye roll).
The hike from Tuolumne Meadows to Glen Aulin was spectacular: a gorgeous meadow with a lazy river and granite mountains in the distance, and incredible waterfalls. The rub: mosquitoes. Though, to be fair, mosquitoes were out in swarms this whole section every time we were below treeline. Glen Aulin wasn't yet open to the public when we went by, but it looks like an awesome little tent camp for those who are less backpacking inclined or just want someone else to cook for them.
Tuolumne meadow
Again
Yet another
Yosemite rocks
Tuolumne falls rainbow!
It was a tough 9 miles to camp: less because of the terrain, and more because of the pitcher of mango margaritas we had enjoyed at the WND. To put the weirdness of the day in perspective, we hiked 18 miles despite taking a break from hiking between 9:45am and 4:45pm. Let that sink in.
We decided around then that we wanted to speed up so that we could take a zero at Tim and Heather's in Tahoe and still make it to Chester before our wedding (approximately mile 1,330 from mile 942). It turns out the miles from Tuolumne to Sonora Pass don't exactly lend themselves to big miles.
The next day we intended to crank out 25 miles. We made it 22, and it was hard. We had >5 stream crossings where we had to take off our shoes and put on our Crocs. Each crossing takes about 20 minutes in total when you consider taking off our packs, removing our gaiters and shoes, putting on our Crocs, crossing carefully, drying off and putting on our shoes back on. Even when we were able to find logs to cross streams, it takes time to find the logs that might be 200 feet up or down stream, and then go over one at a time.
** Moms -- don't read this paragraph!! There were a handful of streams that would have involved strong currents up to our chests had we not found logs. We later heard stories of people being swept downstream several yards in some of the gnarlier crossings. The logs themselves pose some risk (as Breakfast Sandwich can attest): they can be a couple feet above the water, may be slippery, and always require careful balance. Remarkably, we had no issues, though sometimes we crossed the logs barefoot to get a better grip.
One of many crossings
The snowmelt led to the trail turning into a stream many times, waterfalls cascading over the trail, and fun muddy meadows with inches of water covering all possible footpaths in a twenty-foot radius. We rather prefer to keep our feet dry not enjoying trench foot or blisters, which means that all of these obstacles contributed to slowing us down.
Trail = stream
Trail = waterfall
The other side of the water of course was the snow, which was melting rapidly. (For those who aren't in California, we have had a heatwave in the past two weeks. The poor folks in the desert saw temperatures up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.) There were three passes in this section that we had heard had some tricky snow: Benson, Sonora and Dicks. The first, Benson, was a mess. The melting snow left gaps between the tracks in the snow that we were following, and it turns out that lots of prior hikers had gotten lost in this section. What this meant for us: kicking steps up a double black diamond pitched slope, glissading and boot skiing down enormous snow mounds in between switch backs of mud. It was slow going. I'll get to the other passes shortly, but this night in Yosemite -- one of the nation's most beautiful national parks -- we slept in a swampy tree graveyard. (Jenny called it the Fire Swamp. She wasn't wrong.) At least we had a lot of kindling.
Melting footpath in a snowfield
Glissading
The tree graveyard spot
Our reaction to the day
Fire!
The next day we thought it was the day for 25 miles. We were wrong. It turns out it was a day for 20.5 extremely hard won miles. We had more than twice the number of stream crossings of the prior day, and tons of mud and flooded trail. At least we had a beautiful campsite in an alpine meadow.
Meadows!
More!
Reflection of mountains
Again!
View from camp
As we left Yosemite, we got our wish: marathon miles. In the next couple of days we hiked an average of 27 miles a day including a 30 mile day - our biggest day yet this summer.
Sonora Pass, the second of the snowy passes we'd been warned about in this section, involved an exposed climb up, across and down snow and scree fields. We had some epic glissades, including a steep, long one that saved us at least a mile of descent at the end of the day. Luckily we still had our microspikes and ice axes to help guide us across a steep traverse to the chute. A family struggled to get down with only trekking poles. They made it. We were relieved to see them a few days later, safe and sound at Carson Pass.
Lots of hikers hitched out at the bottom of Sonora Pass where the trail crosses Highway 108 to Kennedy Meadows North or Bridgeport. We continued on. Why? Because we've got a wedding to get to.
Jenny crossing a snow field on the way up the 10+ mile trip around Sonora
The snow covered trail
Up on the ridge line
Deep paths through the snow
While eating dinner that night, a hiker who had flip-flopped up to Castella (approx. mile 1,500) from the Sierra because of snow joined us. It turns out Sweet Virginia was a Sophomore at Stanford (!!) in the midst of a year off. In the most unlikely PCT campfire, we went deep into life at the Farm and outdoor education programs. Jenny even guessed which boarding school she went to. I kid you not. We were super impressed that she was hiking the PCT during college, and a bit jealous that she had two years of college left.
The trail was not as easy as we had hoped the next morning. We climbed icy snow mounds, including one ill-fated glissade that ended in a pile of mud and rocks. Jenny got a bit scraped up. The north side of the first climb was a mess of snowfields and mud. We ended up both scrambling down rocks and fighting our way through thickets. By the time we started our second 1,000+ foot climb in 90 degree heat we were so thrilled to be on real trail that we barely minded the ascent. However, when we sat down for lunch we realized that for the first time ever we were tight on food, tight enough that we could only eat one tortilla and cheese wrap for lunch each. No bueno when you are hiking big miles. We were hungry. Given that we usually have a half day or more of food when we end a section that we roll into the next section, we wondered whether this is how some other hikers feel all the time. We didn't like it.
Luckily, the next morning when we crossed Highway 4 we were met with a glorious sight we hadn't seen since the desert: trail magic!! Chipmunk, a retired hiker from Sacramento, does trail magic at Highway 4 for four or five days every year. Our timing was perfect. We hadn't yet eaten breakfast. Chipmunk had perfected his own system, including buying cheap pots at thrift stores that he could use once to avoid cleaning. He greeted us with hand sanitizer, and then got us started. We feasted. I ate two eggs with chili and toast, a banana, two brownies, four glasses of chocolate milk, two glasses of orange juice and one cup of coffee. Jenny had two eggs with toast and jam, cereal, a banana, two glasses of orange juice and a glass of vanilla almond milk. Jenny took a washcloth in a hiker box that he maintained. We threw out our trash. We met a new, super friendly group of hikers who we hadn't met before. We were there for 45 glorious minutes, and then continued hiking.
Chipmunk being a boss
The table of hiker trash
We hiked 30 miles that day, past a mountain called "The Nipple" and up and over Carson Pass. We camped on a ridgeline right before a camping ban in the Carson Pass Management Area, and gorged ourselves on Me Goreng flavored ramen. It was delicious.
After the trail magic in a weird desert-y interlude
The Nipple
Around Carson Pass
Awesome sunset
Someone's happy to be at camp
Sticking with the theme of doing things that are a bit unusual to most people, we hiked 17 miles by 2pm the next day to arrive at Echo Lake's store in time for a late lunch. It was worth it. We ate in waves. First: popsicles, San Pellegrino sodas, chips and salsa, and paninis. Second: milkshakes. Third: baked goods and beers to go. We hiked another 10 miles to Susie Lake. Around Aloha Lake we power-walked past a family hanging out on a glorious rock and a couple having a romantic sunset snuggle. Desolation Wilderness is fantastically beautiful, filled with lakes and truly incredible. We were jealous of everyone hanging out, but determined to have a zero in Tahoe. At least we had swum in these lakes before, and will be back.
The swarms of mosquitoes got progressively worse as we descended from Aloha Lake. By the time we found a campsite, we already had covered ourselves in DEET and had our head nets on. It was no use. The mosquitoes were too bad to even cook in our vestibule. We had a dinner of beer and baked goods in our tent. It was not our finest Desolation moment.
Upper Echo Lake
Aloha Lake
Aloha Lake looking sexy
Susie Lake
Even with all of our pushing, we had 23 miles to finish before Barker Pass where we would get off trail and take much needed showers.
The last of the snowy passes remained, Dick's Pass, but it was a straight-forward ascent and easy-enough boot-skiing descent. Although we had another few minor climbs, we mostly had to power through from there. Upbeat favorites from Sierra Leone powered me through. P-Square. Brick and Lace. Akon. It was fantastic. Jenny stuck with her NPR podcasts.
As we popped up the hill to the Barker Pass road, we caught sight of a couple in a 4WD SUV just back from mountain biking. They kindly gave us a lift down to the main road. I cannot overstate how nice this was because we STANK. Sometime in the last few days as the fords got less frequent we got properly filthy. Our legs were covered in dried mud and dust. We were truly gross.
A taste of it
We sat in the dirt by the main Tahoe road at we waited for Tim to come pick us up. He had just gotten home from a two-week international trip, and after a 16 hour flight back from Hong Kong it's debatable who was in worse shape. (Not really, but you know, it was still an impressive feat.) Max, Jenny's 11-year old nephew, was more impressed by my beard than the fact that we were hiking the trail. They didn't want to hug us. We smelled too badly. I don't blame them. We are also apparently very thin. When we weighed ourselves, we realized that we have lost a ton of weight. I'm currently clocking in at 130 lbs. The wedding diet may be too aggressive.
Our break here has far exceeded our expectations: delightful showers, hot tubs and Moscow mules, fresh salads, and even real clothes (all of our stuff for the wedding is here)! We have a lot to finish before we are ready to get married in almost two weeks, but the list is getting smaller.
We are finally able to drop our Sierra gear and a few odds and ends we picked up along the way: ice axes, microspikes, rainpants (for me), bear cans, and a t-shirt or two (obviously we had to own Whoa Nellie Deli shirts). I'm most excited to get rid of the bear can, which turned my lower back into a black, blue and red locus of pain.
Before the wedding, we are going to hike 70 miles to Sierra City, and then another 140 miles to Chester. Mercifully, we can hike 20 miles a day through this period and still have sufficient buffer.
Why are we going past Sierra City? We simply need to get as far as possible to be confident that we can finish in time.
How was are we going to get from Chester back to Tahoe? The plan is a combination of hitchhiking, Lassen rural transit and a rental car in Susanville.
Are we going to do any wedding prep while we pass through Sierra City? Obviously... I'm still working on Sunday brunch to Jenny's chagrin. Don't worry, it will all work out.
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