Daily Miles: 12.5
Total Miles: 156.0
Staying out late last night meant that 6AM came really early. I had everything ready to go but had to catch the bus at 7AM from the Vons which was a mile away. Slowly I made my way down there with a fully stocked pack. I made it just in the nick of time as I was the last one on the bus.
About 40 minutes later we arrived in Independence, which is where I would need to hitch about 15 miles up a road to Onion Valley Trailhead. Traditionally this is not an easy hitch as the only people headed up that road were cars with day hikers and midweek there might not be many headed up. I had heard horror stories about locals charging hikers $20 per person just to get up the road. I took the first bus out because I figured my best bet for getting a ride was early in the morning.
There were already 2 people at the bottom of the road and 3 of us that got off the bus trying to get to the trail. I figured first come first serve so I sat back and waited for the 2 that were already there to get picked up. It took them about 20 minutes and an SUV stopped and gave them a ride. Once they left I moved into their spot and hadn't even set my pack down or put my thumb out and a car stopped. It was an older gentleman in his 60's whose name I never got and he gave all 3 of us a ride up the hill.
Pulling into the Onion Valley trailhead I had another sense of deja vu. I felt like I had just been here yesterday even though it had been 8 years. It was here that I noticed I was missing a croc (rubber camp shoes). It had been tied on my pack but somewhere between the hostel and the trailhead it had come loose and I had lost it. I was about to throw the other one away when another hiker told me he had seen another croc near the trailhead. What were the chances it was close to the right size and the right foot? Low and behold it was the right foot, maybe a size or two small, but it would work!!!
After procrastinating for about 45 minutes I finally headed up the trail.
It was a slow slog up to Kearsarge Pass and took me about 3 hours to go 4.5 miles. Finally I got there at 11,700 feet. After slogging through the desert it was quite weird to see all the mountains covered in snow.
My original plan was to get over the pass and down to Bullfrog Lake (about another 4 miles) and take a slow first day in the Sierras. However, coming down from the pass I saw a sign prohibiting camping at Bullfrog Lake, so I kept going.
Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the PCT doesn't go to the top of actual mountains, it winds its way across mountain ridges through passes at high elevation. The goal ultimately is to do as many of these passes as possible early in the morning because if there is still snow on them it will be hard in the cooler temperatures. Later in the heat of the day the snow starts to melt and if you have to walk through it you wind up "postholing" a foot or two down into the snow with each step.
The next pass after Kearsarge was Glen Pass, and though I knew I could make it over today, I didn't know the snow conditions and had planned to camp before it. It was still early afternoon though when I got to the last campsite before it and figured I would just go for it. The trail wound around up and up for what seemed like forever until I got to the last rock face just below a frozen lake.
From here the trail switchbacked up to the top of Glen Pass, and had some amazing views of the central sierras.
It was 6PM and I still had to make it down the snowier side of the pass and down far enough where I could find somewhere to camp.
Around 8PM I pulled into Rae Lakes which had a lot of tent spots and a bearbox to store food in. There were already about 8 tents I could see. It was a long day going over 2 sierra passes, but it felt so good to be back here and seeing the most amazing scenery in the world. I don't think the smile left my face all day.
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