Daily Miles: 16.6
Total Miles: 188.0
For the 3rd day in a row, I really haven't set myself up well to go over a pass, though I did hit Mather Pass a little bit earlier in the day than either Glen or Pinchot. I was nervous about Mather because I heard that it switchbacked pretty hard right up the last rock face of the pass.
Right off the bat today I was greeted by the most populous mammal out here, that seems to have very little fear of us as we walk by - Marmots. They are pretty much everywhere living in the rocks even at extremely high altitudes.
We had pretty much the same group of people leapfrogging up the trail towards the pass as yesterday. A girl with the trail name Nevada and I talked off and on through many of our rest breaks. We were pretty much the slowest two when it came to ascending, though my speed basically doubled when descending. The overall climb to the last rock face was not particularly difficult, but once we got there, "Holy Switchbacks." It was hard sometimes to see where the switchbacks were when looking up because there were about 20 of them. Looking down from the top they were all right on top of one another. It wasn't that tough as long as you took it slow and steady, but it took a while to get over them.
We had a late lunch on top of the pass, and then I was looking forward to a nice 4000 ft. decent back down to the valley floor. The goal was to get as far down if not all the way down, as tomorrow we would have to gain all 4000 ft. back as we went over Muir Pass.
The trail down was fairly steady until we hit Palisade Creek. The trail came down into an amazing valley with a lake and waterfalls cascading into it.
Nevada stopped for a swim and to do some fishing with some other hikers she had met as I continued down the valley.
I knew this wasn't going to be an easy down when I came down to an amazing overlook and knew there wasn't going to be gentle trail to lose the altitude.
I proved to be right as the trail dropped down on well over 50 switchbacks losing almost 2000 ft. in elevation the next 3 miles. I normally don't mind the downs, but at the bottom of this section even my feet and my knees were starting to feel it. I was running a little late as I kept hiking down and down until after 7PM. I finally came out to a tent site about a mile from the bottom and figured that was close enough. I wound up camping next to an older gentleman from Washington whose trail name was "Walking Home." He said his daughter had thruhiked a few years earlier, and he seemed very knowledgable about the sierras and the trail as if he had hiked through here his whole life. He said his plan was 10-12 miles a day, which would be awesome to enjoy the sierras fully, I just don't know how he carried that much food!!! Tomorrow is Muir Pass which apparently is still covered for miles in both directions with snow. Maybe I didn't ship my ice axe out here for nothing....
Patch
No comments:
Post a Comment