PCT - May 2016
May 1, 2016 - Anderson's Oasis
Distance: 14.7 miles
Tackled the long uphill in the morning and boy was it long. SS was ahead of me by a couple of switchbacks but I needed to stop and find a private bush. By the time I arrived at the saddle, there was a junction of sorts with a PCT sign smack in the middle of it. Well, two of the "trails" were obvious dirtbike trails so they couldn't be the trail. I started down the right side "trail" which was an abandoned road but stopped to check my navigation that I was on the correct trail. Yep, all was good. I was a little puzzled why SS wasn't waiting for me as it's a general rule to wait at intersections for the other person to catch up. Well, SS is a good navigator so I took off down the other side (confirmed it was the correct trail by seeing another PCT sticker on a pole) trying to catch up with her. She is a great uphiller but I can usually catch her on the downhills. Miles went by and no SS. By this time I started to stop people, thru hikers and day hikers, and asked if they saw a hiker dressed in orange with a green/black pack. Nope. A threesome day hikers stopped me to ask questions about thru hiking, and they also wanted to take my picture. Go figure. I tried to pull away quickly as I was getting worried where SS was. Ran into Heidi and her guy friend and they hadn't seen her either. I did not have cell service once I crossed over the saddle so I continued down to the Bouquet Canyon Road expecting to see her lounging in the little parking lot waiting for me. No Seasoned Strider. Hmmm. I decided to use the texting service on my DeLorme Explorer and had my fingers crossed that her phone was on and that she had service (I have ATT and she has Verizon). Yes, to both and she told me which trail mile marker she was at and she was a little over a mile behind me! I was a little stunned. I settled in for the duration, aired out my feet, ate my left over pizza for lunch, and watched the entertainment as two young thru hikers had run out of water coming down the trail and were trying to hitchhike to a town to get water. Took almost an hour but they finally got a ride from a young fellow playing loud rap music. Finally, Man in Black and Fly Fish came thru with SS right behind them. She was a little embarrassed that she was caught unawares on which trail was the proper PCT back up at the saddle. She first tried to call me (no cell service), then called Dave who after juggling a few apps figured out that I was ahead of her by about a mile. To make a long story short, we were reunited once again and continued up the second long uphill of the day. It was quite warm and we took a few breaks. Finally crested over and came down the easy downhill to Anderson's Oasis and found a lovely campsite in the trees.
May 2, 2016 - Long Road Walk to Lake Hughes
Distance: 14 miles
Last night was pretty quiet except for the little mice scurrying about. We heard some new noises that we couldn't quite figure out that kept us on edge for a bit, but things settled down enough to fall off to sleep. Well, not really for me as I tried a new version of Nuun yesterday that is called Energy Nuun. It must be packed with caffeine because I was awake until 4:30am. I need to go back to the old version which simply does an incredible job of providing electrolytes without keeping me awake all night. Seasoned Strider seemed to also have sleeping issues as I saw her phone flick on at midnight and she read for awhile. Morning finally arrived and I bounced out of bed. SS asked me if the caffeine had worn off yet and I replied, nope! Off we went up.and down for seven miles until we arrived at the road. Our PCT Water Report stated that we could fill up our water bottles at the ranger station, and sure enough, we filled our bottles at the southwest corner faucet next to the steps. With that chore done, it was time to start on the PCT rerouted alternate road walk due to the trail closure from the 2013 Powerhouse wildfire. As we stepped onto the highway, a white van pulled over and out hopped a woman who introduced herself as Terry Anderson, owner of the Casa Del Luna where most thru hikers go for an overnighter. They loan out clothes so you can wash your own, there's food to be eaten, and places to sleep. We didn't have any need for any of those services as we had just resupplied. Terry Anderson asked for our trailnames and if she could have a hug. We're not huggy people, but what the heck... She gave us directions on how to pick up the trail that connects to the PCT (kind of a shortcut) but that it was many miles down the road. We said we were going to do the road walk to the shortcut and she wished us luck. Off we went uphill for the first mile and then it was a nice downhill all the way to Lake Hughes. It was quite warm though. We had our umbrellas deployed to keep the afternoon sun off us but it was still pretty hot. Finally arrived at The Rock Inn and had ourselves some yummy food. Afterwards, we went into Pappa's Country Store and signed the PCT Register. It was very cool, with the first entries dated back to 1977. It was a struggle, but we finally figured out how to get back on the trail tomorrow.
May 3, 2016 - Beautiful Trail
Distance: 16.3 miles
Found the shortcut that Terry Anderson told us about yesterday on the quickest way to get back on the PCT. No more alternate road walks for us! The two mile trail up to the PCT was beautiful, winding its way up a little canyon. We had to dodge poison oak most of the way up but it was a nice way to get back to the PCT. Once on the PCT, it was a beautiful hiking day with temps in the upper 60's and lower 70's. The terrain was flowing and it was green everywhere. The best part was the fir trees. Oh my, have I missed the Northwest fir trees. I rubbed the new growth and took a deep breath, enjoying that evergreen smell. The only irritation to the day was the millions of tiny flying bugs that wanted in our eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Drove me nuts. We saw our eighth snake today, a bull snake. We actually saw two bull snakes today and they appeared asleep stretched out on the trail. Once we confirm that they aren't rattlers, we just hook our pole under the back end, give them a shake to wake them up, and off they go dashing into the underbrush. Stopped and took pics at the 500 mile mark, yay! We also saw our first deer of the trip. She just stood there watching us for a bit before trotting off. I was low on water so we stopped at the guzzler for water. Basically what a guzzler is, is a low lying corrugated roof slanted so rain water can drain into a cistern. The first one looked nasty so we continued on for another two miles to the second guzzler and that one was much better. Grabbed a liter of water while a small green frog watched me from his perch on the incoming pipe. We finally arrived at the horse camp, 16.3 miles total for the day. There is a spring with good water flowing from a pipe stuck in the creek about .2 miles down a steep slope. We set up our bivys and are now ready for bed.
May 4, 2016 - Hikertown and Aqueduct
Distance: 16.8 miles
Great morning to wake up to, got going by 7am. Hiked the mostly downhill trail winding around hillsides down to Hwy 138 to Hikertown. Hikertown is an interesting place where one can rest out of the sun before continuing on, get water, even spend in the night in one of their interesting "rooms". Place is set up like a western front with each little room defined as the doctor's office, post office, hotel, etc. People will even run you to the local store for resupplying on the trail. Dave met us here briefly in his daily wandering to check if we needed any supplies. We waited until 3pm to continue our hike, where we went down a gentle downhill to walk the aqueduct. The first one was the California aqueduct where the old riveted pipe was huge, then it turned into an open waterway. After a mile or two, we then merged onto the enclosed, flat cement top LA aqueduct. We walked until about 6pm and then started looking for a place to sleep for the night. We ran into a "shepherd" tending his flock of sheep with his three herding dogs. We weren't too sure about the "neighborhood" so we hunted for a spot where we couldn't be seen by lived in camper trailers or sketchy houses. Finally decided to just pick a place as we were getting pretty tired. We hoped the wind would die down for the night as it was pretty breezy. The sun went down quickly and it's surprising how quickly it got cold.
May 5, 2016 - Celebration for Seasoned Strider
Distance: 7 miles
The wind blew all night. Unfortunately I had set up the head of my bivy last night straight into the wind. Around 10pm, we heard the clattering of hiking poles against the concrete aqueduct announcing the passing of night (thru) hikers. We found out later that many people had hiked late into the night hours passing us. After two cups of coffee, I was ready for our morning jaunt to meet up with Dave at noon. We were taking a short day as it was Seasoned Strider's 62nd birthday and her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Teddy were arriving in Acton at the motorhome to partake in the birthday festivities. As we were closing in to our agreed upon meeting place at mile marker 533, Dave called and said the road that he was supposed to meet us on did not exist. Oops. After some coordination, we finally found each other. At the same time a Swiss mom and daughter team asked for a ride to the Cottonwood Creek campsite about 1.6 miles away. Not sure why they needed a ride as it was not hot out, but we bundled them into the car and drove them there. This is where we found out that more people had night hiked because all the people we had left behind at Hikertown yesterday afternoon were here.
We drove back to Acton and prepped for SS's relatives. They were right on time and brought a lovely decorated cake from Sally's Cakes in LA. After we stuffed ourselves full of chips and salsa, guacamole dip, and cake, we then went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and ate ourselves silly. Then the restaurant waitstaff brought out a small flan with candle and sombrero and sang happy birthday to SS. Whew, what a day. We rolled ourselves out the door and back to motorhome to try to do a resupply and plan out our next section of the trail. Checked the weather and it looks like a nasty storm is headed our way. Stay tuned on what we're going to do....
May 6, 2019 - Unplanned Zero Day
Distance: 0
So the weather forecast looked quite miserable for hiking today so we decided to start back up on the trail on Saturday. It was perfect timing as Dave wanted to move the motorhome up to Tehachapi so he would be better able to support us. We felt a little bad on not hiking today, but just a little. If we arrived too soon at Kennedy Meadows we would just be sitting around there waiting on the snow conditions, so why not take the time to avoid the current icky weather now? We spent the day soaking feet, doing more laundry, grocery shopping, and catching up on our journals. We also did our planning for the next eight days to Walker Pass. The toughest part was figuring out the water sources as this will be the driest part of the whole PCT trail.
It's time to swap out my hiking shoes. I have been using the Adidas Raven Boost shoes. Over the past few years, I have tried to use a variety of different hiking and running shoes but there have been issues with all of them except for my current shoes. I went into our local running shop in Hood River called Shortt Supply, laid out my issues with my feet (long straight toes, long skinny feet, corn issues on baby toe), and said I really needed a wide toe box and one size larger than I usually wear. I also requested a men's shoe. After trying on a handful of different running shoes, I rejected all of them. Karen then said she had one more pair that other people seemed really happy about and who ran 100 miles races in, and brought out these shiny bright orange running shoes. I slipped them on, men's size 10, and knew right away that these were the shoes for me. My feet have been so happy in them. I started training in them last September, did a three day trip around Mt Hood in them, and have used the same pair since, starting at Campo. The shoes are now showing a bit of wear on the top and the soles have almost worn down flat in places. Tomorrow I will change them out for the same shoe except the color will be black. I will.miss the orange but could not find another pair in that color. The orange pair still have some life in them so I will hold onto them to use for day hikes when we return home after our PCT adventure!
May 7, 2016 - Second Unplanned Zero Day
Distance: 0
Woke up to find out that Seasoned Strider was up last night with the stomach flu. No hiking for her today. Dave and I decided to give SS some space to rest and go have a look at two upcoming resupply places, Kelso Valley Road and Walker Pass. We drove up to Hwy 178 on the west side and drove the beautiful windy road up to Lake Isabella. Stopped at Subway for lunch and then went looking for the Kelso Valley Road which would connect us to the crossover of the PCT. We had bought a couple gallons of water that we were going to cache for ourselves near the PCT. It was about a 15 mile drive on another windy road, and just as we were .6 miles from the PCT, we were stopped by a police patrol car blocking the road. Apparently the road was closed due to a road car rally. We watched as the rally cars zoomed off the Piute Mountain road onto the Kelso Valley Road. We talked to the nice policeman who said we could walk the rest of the way. We started up the road and then a couple of thru hikers, who were watching the race and deciding what to do about getting to Lake Isabella, approached us. Texas and Tumbler. As Tumbler was talking, I stopped him and said, "are you Pete and Nikki"? Yes! They were Pete and Nikki! I have been following their blog since day one! Anyway, they filled me in about the water supplies from where we are starting (hopefully tomorrow) and all the way to the Kelso Valley Road. Decided not to make the. 6 mile walk to the PCT, and then we bundled Texas and Tumbler into the Jeep and drove them to their reserved hotel in Lake Isabella. After goodbyes, we continued east to Walker Pass where the weather was turning nasty. Over the hump we went and down the east side. Made a couple of side trips, one to the Red Rock State Park which was beautiful. After a 250 mile road day trip, we finally arrived back in Tehachapi to find Seasoned Strider still laid out horizontally. She had some ice cream so we are hoping she will be ready to go tomorrow.
May 8, 2016 - Big Uphill, Lots of Wind
Distance: 14.7 miles
Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's who are currently hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail!
Seasoned Strider was ready to hike today after her bout with the 24 hour flu. Dave dropped us off near where we pulled out on May 5th. We rambled through the wind turbine farm and was briefly stopped by a ranger with the BLM. He said he was on motorcycle patrol and asked us to call the sheriff if we saw any dirtbikers out there. I wore my earplugs while hiking thru the wind turbines as the wind was quite noisy. We had a big uphill today starting at 3,068 and topping out at 6,266 for a total elevation gain of 3,198 feet. Whew, it was a long day. We only did 14.7 miles but it felt way longer. Could be because I filled up all my water bags at Tylerhorse Canyon. It was a heavy pack. When we arrived at the first campsite area at 6,266 ft, I was dismayed to find a full water cache that we knew nothing about. I hauled all that water uphill, ugh. Ran into two other thru hikers who had also carried up five liters of water each. They were kind of bummed too. Oh well, it's good training! We continued on for another .6 miles to drop down a bit in elevation and hoped to find a place to camp out of the wind. So windy! Now we know why there are so many wind turbines in this area. We found a semi protected area but there were still some strong gusts thru the trees. To add insult to injury, as I was looking for a place to camp, a dead branch from a tree poked a hole in my Squeeze bag and suddenly I was awash in water! SS helped save about half the bag, just enough to get to the next water supply. That's about it for today...
May 9, 2016 - Turbines and Wind
Distance: 19 miles
It was lovely to wake up this morning to no wind. We wove around the hills slowly making our way downhill. We passed beautiful hillsides of purple and yellow flowers. The never-ending wind turbines were all around us, some on the very edge of the trail. It's a little nerve wracking hearing a whomp, whomp, whomp of the blades as they spin around in the wind. We noticed quite a few different types of turbines, big ones, little ones, and everything in-between. The older ones are quite noisy and the newer big ones are much quieter. After eight miles we met up with Dave at the Tehachapi Willow Spring Road and dropped off some non essential items and refilled our water bottles. We would meet up with him again at Hwy 58 in another eight miles to reload our packs with three days of food, water, and gear. We were amazed at how many backpackers were being dropped off by trail angels after spending the night in Tehachapi. I guess "the herd" is catching up with us! We were once again the older "seasoned women" of the day. After reloading our packs and such, we said our goodbyes and headed on the trail once again hoping no one had taken the first campsite three miles up. Ran into another rattler on the trail just before the campsite. It didn't rattle its tail to warn us off, just flicked its tongue at us and then slithered off into the bushes. Arrived at the campsite and there was one person in a bivy already there, but he stuck his head out and said to go ahead and make camp, he was just taking a nap and was planning on leaving soon to night hike.The wind was crazy bad but we set up our tents. After awhile Seasoned Strider couldn't take it anymore and decided to move her tent. She was afraid her tent poles were going to break. I've never camped in such wind. Fingers crossed that our tents will be in one piece in the morning!
May 10, 2016 - Windy, Windy Night
Distance: 16.8 miles
It was a windy, windy night. One of those types of nights that could shred your tent or break your tent poles If you weren't hiding behind a bush or something. I thought I had placed my tent so the wind couldn't get at it, and it appeared to be fine until midnight when the wind changed direction and hammered the tent. I scooched up against the tent wall to hold it down. It was a long night. Seasoned Strider also didn't get much sleep so we were a little sleep deprived when we hit the trail at 6:30am. We also hadn't had our coffee or eaten breakfast so it was a quiet walk until we got high enough to find shelter against a low growing thick bush. Then we broke out the stoves, made coffee and ate breakfast. It was like a freeway this morning with thru hikers coming up the trail one right after another. We heard there were 60 tents camped out on Donna Saufley's property south of us. The herd is coming!
We finished the nice long uphill and hopped over the side of the ridge where there actual trees and no wind! This lovely trail ended shortly bearing onto a ORV road and we spent many a mile walking this hot, beat up track until it finally branched away into a proper trail again. We thought we were out of the wind turbines but alas, there they were again. The trail meandered around the turbines and finally started downhill to the Golden Oaks Spring. I was just about out of water and needed to fill all my bottles for the next 17 mile section tomorrow. The spring is running slowly, about 4 minutes to fill a liter of water. The hikers who are about two weeks behind us are going to have tough time getting water here. That will leave a huge gap in a water supply in this dryest section of the PCT. Once we were filled, chemically treated, and Squeezed, we were ready for a few more miles to find a campsite. One of the fellow hikers said we could find a nice saddle to pitch a tent in just about four miles, but we found it in about 2.5 miles. I laid my poles down, started setting up my tent, and found my poles were covered in red ants! The ones that have strong jaws that don't want to let go. Those busy ants were everywhere. Finally got everything cleaned off, settled in, made dinner and cleaned up. Tomorrow is supposed to be a hard day with hot weather and no wind in the bowls. Hope to make an early start of it!
May 11, 2016 - Robin Bird Spring
Distance: 16.3 miles
This morning our tents were wet with condensation. Took a few minutes to wipe the tent down and then just packed it up sorta wet. This was our last day we had to walk around or underneath the wind turbines. I will not miss them. We found half of a big orange plastic ball that had broken and fallen from one of the electric power lines high above us. Seasoned Strider was quite interested in it because it was orange. We continued weaving our way around the hillsides and as we reached trail mile 591.6 we discovered the dreaded Poodle Dog Bush! We thought we were done with all that. It lasted about a mile, but there was only a few places we had to dodge out of the way. I knew we were moving in and out of old burn areas, but I had hoped that the PDB had stayed south. We passed two signs stating we were hiking on private property via an 20 foot easement and the terrain was beautiful in both areas. As we were admiring the view, SS didn't see an old root sticking out and down she went. This was the fourth time she has fallen. Luckily she only had a tiny cut on her elbow. Today we also passed the 600 mile marker! Whoohoo! We only ran into one person today on the trail, a southbound section hiker who was trying to finish California.
We were forced to hike about a mile of dirt road to connect the PCT trail and it let I to a beautiful forested trail right into Robin Bird Spring. There was a big yellow sign that stated one should boil the water for five minutes. We hopped the fence and found the pipe sticking out of the ground. It was running pretty slowly. Once we finished, we chemically treated the water with Aqua Mira and then Squeeze filtered it. We made camp there and then heard a handful of hikers arrive about 7pm. There was some foul talking going on so I put in my earplugs and went to sleep.
May 12, 2016 - Kelso Valley Road
Distance: 17.7 miles
Another hiker arrived last night about midnight. They were as quiet as they could be but heard the tent zipper open and close. Fell back to sleep.and woke up at 5am. Got moving, made coffee/breakfast, and packed up as quick as we could. I had to fetch another bottle of water from the spring and then took a minute to wash out my handkerchiefs. We loved the morning hike through a beautiful forested area. We both are so ready to leave the desert and get into the woods full time. Saw my ninth balloon of the trip. You know those balloons, the happy birthday, get well, congratulations balloons? It has made me not want to ever buy those ballons. So sad to see them tangled up in the landscape. Most of the day was downhill, and the further downhill we went, the hotter it became. By the time we reached the Kelso Valley Road, we were so happy to see Dave, water, our resupply, and the fabulous Subway 12 inch sandwiches he brought for us! We took our time resupplying and drinking a ton of water. Soon it was time to go and we continued on the trail until we heard a car honk. It was Dave. We turned around and discovered that the Jeep battery was dead. We helped get the Jeep turned around and pointed downhill so Dave could attempt to start it even though it is an automatic. There was a small community of houses a few miles away and he hoped to coast most of the way downhill and then ask for a jump. Off he went and we continued our hike. We didn't go very far as the day was still super hot. I kept looking for the return of Jeep but never saw it. Finally I got a text message via the DeLorme Explorer saying he got a jump from a couple of teenagers and decided to return to the motorhome via Hwy 178. SS and I waited out the heat until the sun was almost down and then we continued up the hill in the cooler air. We got about 2 miles further and it was decision time. We had already done 17 miles and were pretty tired from the long hot day. We decided to stop and set up camp and try to wake up at 4am and continue hiking to beat the heat.
May 13, 2016 - Bird Spring Pass
Distance: 17.1 miles
Alarm went off at 4am and we were on the trail by 5:20am, which is good for us! Made great progress in the lovely cool temps until I discovered I have cell service. Sent two Postholer journal entries. We came across two volunteer guys doing some reconnaissance work on where dirtbikers were cutting up the terrain near an abandoned goal mine. They were too far away to talk to so we just continued on. It started getting warmer and by 8:15am the umbrellas were deployed. This part of the trail was pretty darn boring so I finally pulled out my Bluetooth headphones and listened to music until we arrived at Bird Spring Pass. There was a nice size water cache where we filled up our bottles. Because it was so hot and windy, we decided to hang out with the rest of the hikers under the trees and wait until about 6pm to hike the almost 2,000 foot elevation uphill and then evening hike with the headlamps until we found a place to camp. We passed a few makeshift campsites already full of thru hikers. We finally found an abandoned semi flat road at about 9:45pm, made camp and went to bed.
May 14, 2016 - Walker Pass
Distance: 15.1 miles
Another early start as we were looking forward to getting picked up by Dave at Walker Pass and going back to the RV park for a shower and real food. We decided to challenge ourselves and do what is called a 10 by 10, 10 miles by 10am. Linda easily accomplished the task, I made it with three minutes to spare. The trail was easy and downhill, but the top of my right foot started having pain from the pressure of the shoestring. I readjusted the shoe a few different times but it kept getting worse. It was fine going uphill and okay on the flat, but the downhill was miserable. I've been wearing the new shoes for quite a few miles now so it was a surprise to suddenly have a foot/shoe problem. At 8:45am we ran across three thru hikers, one who was eating and the other two smoking their pot pipes. That seems to be a thing on the trail, smoking weed. We finally arrived at Walker Pass campground and again there was Dave and our dog Bella starting up the trail to meet us. It was such a relief to get in the Jeep and get that shoe off my right foot. I now have some figuring out to do with these shoes. Back at the motorhome we had some big chores to do before hitting the trail again. We had hoped to get back on right away, like tomorrow, but decided to take a zero day and do some repair work on hats, backpacking belts, shoes, plus stuff ourselves silly with food.
May 15, 2016 - Zero Day
Distance: 0
We took a zero day today for numerous reasons (read previous journal entry). Dave decided he wanted to move the motorhome up to Kennedy Meadows so he could be closer to the action. Got everything loaded up, the Jeep hitched, and away we went. The road up to Kennedy Meadows was long, steep, and windy. Dave pulled off to the side and decided to have me drive the Jeep the rest of the way as the motorhome was struggling to motor up the hill with the Jeep attached. Got up to Chimney Creek Road and Dave said to continue up in the Jeep to see if the motorhome could make it all the way to the campground. Seasoned Strider and I started the drive up and then saw a thru hiker making his way on the road. We picked him up and proceeded to the campground. Our hitchhiker was quite knowledgeable about the area so we checked out the campground (which will be closing on June 1st and is now free to camp) and could see that large motorhomes could easily find a spot. We dropped off our hitchhiker at the general store and then drove back to Dave. We then drove to the campground and set up the motorhome. Afterwards, we stopped at the general store so Dave could deliver Javier's (trail name Hey Baby) bear canister. We ran into Venture who we hadn't seen since Hikertown. He and six other strong hikers are leaving on Tuesday to start the Sierra. He said they were planning on hiking 16 miles days. That is a lot of miles on snow. The general rule of thumb for hiking on snow is one mile an hour. Good luck to their team! Dave is dropping us off at Walker Pass Campground tomorrow morning so we can finish our last 50 miles before making the decision to hike the Sierra.
May 16, 2016 - Spanish Needle Creek
Distance: 17.5 miles
Got an early start and Dave drove us down to Hwy 178 via the Chimney Creek Road. It took about an hour. We saw many bunnies hip-hopping down the side of the road plus some that were trying to cross it. We stopped just past the PCT crossing and stashed two one gallon jugs of water behind a large tree. We arrived at the Walker Pass Campground and Dave set us free to start this three day section up to Kennedy Meadows. It's going to be fun hiking back to the motorhome. Meanwhile, Dave has to run to town and hunt down three marine deep batteries for the motorhome. The existing ones are not holding a charge so things like the refrigerator can't stay on even on LP gas. We started the day with a 2,163 foot climb out of Walker Pass, followed by a loss of 2,200 feet, then a milder climb of 700 feet, ending with a loss of 537 feet. It was quite an up and down day. We watched the thunderheads gather north of us and llistened to the thunder roll across the sky. Unfortunately the trail was headed right toward it. Down we went doing the usual in and out of the draws until we arrived at the second Spanish Needle Creek. One person was already camped at the creek but he was fine with us planting our tents next to him. He sounded very British. As we settled in for the night, more noisy thru hikers arrived to get water. There wasn't any more room for camping where we were, so they headed around the corner and made camp there. We found a note later from "The Family" (Widowmaker, Gandolf, and Spinner) on the ground letting hikers know there was water available. The note was dated on Sunday so they are just ahead of us by one day. Another thunderstorm system rolled in during the evening but luckily little rain fell on the tents. Lovely night for earplugs!
May 17, 2016 - Thunder, Rain, and Hail
Distance: 19 miles
DeLorme says 19.7 - my DeLorme Explorer almost always shows a different mileage than Halfmile's mileage or Guthooks mileage. We have settled mostly on using Guthooks mileage by calculating the start and end mile markers. Who to believe, every navigation app or paper map all say something different.
Got a 7 am start this morning. It looked like it was going to be a sunny day, but the higher we hiked, the more clouds moved in and before we knew it, big raindrops started splashing down. I went to get my packcover on and couldn't find it so made one out of the spare trash compactor bag I had. Got the raincoats on and umbrellas deployed just in time, and then it started hailing. Whoohooo! Made it to the ridge, went over the other side and the rain and hail stopped. Since it was a tad cool and the heavy dark clouds hadn't pushed on, we left our raingear on for a bit just in case. We came to another ridge where we could look out over the valley way below and of course I just had to check to see if there was cell service. Yay, there was! Continuing on, the trail went downhill for most of the way to Canebrake Road. The wildflowers and rock formations were wonderful. When we arrived at Canebrake Road, we fetched the two gallon water jugs we had cached behind a large tree and filled all our bottles. At this point we had put in 11 miles. We decided to do another 8 miles to get over Bear Mountain. It was about a 2,100 ft elevation gain. We much prefer to do these big uphills in the morning when we are fresh and raring to go. We passed Fox Spring where hikers can stop and get water, but since we were both carrying four liters each, we passed on this water supply. We stopped to talk to "C n C" (Chuck not Charles) and he said he did a stupid thing a few days ago and ran down one of the long downhills. Now he has pain just above his ankle. He called his brother-in-law who is a doctor who said he probably has a spiral fracture and to get to town as soon as he can for an X-ray. Well, C n C wants to get to Kennedy Meadows in the worst way so he is just walking slowly until he can get there. By the way, C n C is a great grandpa! We kept going uphill and it kept getting windier and colder. Finally crested the top and saw Hokey Pokey and his two buddies setting up camp. We said hello and continued on down. One mile before our destination, we saw a nice long flat area below us. There was already one hiker setting up camp. We made our way down, found a lovely spot and made camp. Boy, are we tired tonight. Oh, I got my first blister today on my right big toe... We are so glad to be done with the desert part!
May 18, 2016 - Kennedy Meadows!!
Distance: 16.3 miles
We started off on a long downhill, easy walking until we reached the valley floor. The terrain is really changing now, more big rocks and different flora/fauna. Love the trees. Stopped at Manter Creek for a break and was surprised there was water flowing. As we were finishing up, a younger thru hiker stopped to chat and introduced herself as Sweet- P. The P stands for Ponderosa. She was delightful to talk to and we hiked most of the way to Kennedy Meadows General Store together. At one point I was lagging behind and I heard a "hey, hey you". I stopped and turned around and there was Great White Turtle (GWT). He asked if I had any water to spare so while I filtered half a liter, he told me he just hiked 50 miles in 24 hours. I asked why and he said just because. I also asked him why didn't he just get water from the Kern River as it was just below us and he said he was too exhausted. Hmmm. My personal private opinion was not a polite one. I caught up with SS and explained why I was delayed and of course GWT quickly caught up with us and told his story over again.
Dave met us at the cutoff to the General Store, with Bella prancing all around. Sweet-P was there and she and GWT convinced SS and me to continue to the General Store as it was a milestone (just past 700 miles!) and the hikers clap and congratulate you. So we did. It was nice to see Slingblade and The Family there. Had a nice visit with The Family. It looks like they are starting the Sierra one day earlier than us. Based on the info we have gotten, we have decided to start the Sierra on Saturday. Horseshoe Meadows road is opening on May 20th so we could always bail at that point. That is 40 miles. Slingblade is starting tomorrow (Thursday). SS and I wanted to finish the trail to the campground so we threw the packs into the back of the Jeep and slackpacked to the motorhome.
So here we sit at 704.8 miles and prepping to start the mighty Sierra portion. First, we need to drive the motorhome and Jeep down the steep, windy road tomorrow and help get Dave settled in Lone Pine.
May 19, 2016 - Zero Day in Lone Pine
Distance: 0
We left Kennedy Meadows at 9am and headed down the steep, windy road to Hwy 395. Dave drove the motorhome and we followed in the Jeep. SS was busy snapping pics out the passenger window. After driving down in 1st gear most of the way, we arrived safely and parked on the side of the road to hitch the Jeep to the tow bar. Went to start the Jeep and the battery was dead. What's up with these batteries on this trip?!! Dave backed the motorhome to the Jeep, hitched on the tow bar, and away we went to Lone Pine. When we arrived at the Boulder RV Park, Dave put a trickle charge on the battery which was enough to start the Jeep and drive to the local auto store. The auto parts guy said the existing battery was too small for the Jeep and that the alternator was shot. He said that the parts would arrive tomorrow. Meanwhile, SS and I were busy working on preparing for the next segment of our hike. Some of our research included seeing photos from Flyfish on his Instagram account on their successful climb over Forrester Pass on May 17th. We took a break and went to the Seasons Restaurant for dinner. It was fantastic food! I highly recommend this restaurant if you stop in Lone Pine.
May 20, 2016 - 2nd Zero Day in Lone Pine
Distance: 0
Zero days are always a busy time with figuring out the next section's resupply strategy, washing clothes, eating, etc. We also had to go to the Post Office and pick up a few packages. SS had ordered new hiking shoes a half size larger, and I got my small package from Judy Gross from Lightheart Gear so I could repair the zipper pulls on my tent door. Dave really wanted to drive up to Horseshoe Meadow as the road just yesterday. Horseshoe Meadow is at the 10,000 ft level.and we were curious how much snow was up there. We drove up the windy road and was surprised to see road bicycle riders riding up and down the hill. Whew, we were impressed. Arriving at the top we discovered a large campground, numerous parking spaces and hardly any snow at all. But the wind was really cold. We didn't last very long outside the car as we only had shorts and t-shirts on. Back at the motorhome, we finished the resupplies for both sections thru Kearsarge Pass. I tackled the sewing job of replacing the zipper pulls on my tent. It went pretty quick, thanks to the instructions and video from Lightheart Gear's Judy Gross.
I'm pretty excited about starting this next section starting at Kennedy Meadows. One of the fellows who made it over Forrester Pass and came out of Kearsarge Pass, responded to a question on Facebook about conditions from Kennedy Meadows to Horseshoe Meadow. Based on his information, we are not taking the ice axe, only the microspikes. We'll pick up the ice axe when we do our resupply at Horseshoe Meadow. I hope we're ready for this new adventure!
May 21, 2016 - Onward from Kennedy Meadows!
Distance: 16 miles
Dave drove us back to Kennedy Meadows this morning and we started hiking at 9am. My pack, including required bear canister, four days of food, and two liters of water weighted 35 lbs. Ugh. We really wanted to get to the 9,000 foot level in order for us to acclimate to the altitude so we hike 16 miles today. We stopped at the South Fork Kern River/Monache Meadow and made an early dinner. The river was flowing well but didn't take the time to soak the feet due to the cold wind. Back on trail and we continued upward following Cow Creek. A few thru hikers had already made camp and settled in the night in various places. We finally arrived at our destination, elevation 9149 feet, and there were a few small piles of snow here and there. It was really cold, 35 degrees at 7pm. It was going to be a doozy of a night. I decided to use my bivy inside tent to add a few more degrees of warmth to my sleep setup. I also doubled up the long underwear top, added gloves, and hoped for the best. Hopefully we won't be popsicles in the morning.
May 22, 2016 - Cold night and morning
Distance: 11.8 miles
It was a pretty cold night and the temperature gauge displayed 18 degrees this morning. I also had a lot of frozen condensation on the tent walls, on the sleeping bag, and in the bivy. But I was warm! I think the bivy helped a lot. It took awhile to get going this morning as we needed to dry out most of this condensation. The sun arrived and we put everything out on rocks to dry out. We finally got back on the trail at 9:15am. More uphill this morning with amazing looking trees and beautiful marmots running all around. At the 10,000 foot level we finally found snow that we walked through. We followed some footsteps in the snow that skipped several switchbacks. We kept checking our navigation to make sure we weren't led astray. Finally a nice long downhill that dropped us down in elevation and we were able to remove our outer coats. We arrived at Death Canyon Creek kind of beat, so we decided to have a rest, eat an early dinner, and then continue on for a few more miles. It took a lot of willpower to pack up and continue hiking. We were both pretty beat from carrying the extra weight in our packs. We finally struggled another 1.8 miles, found a semi flat area at the 9,550 foot level, and decided to call it home for the night.
May 23, 2016 - Horseshoe Meadows
Distance: 14 miles
Last night wasn't as cold as the night before, the temperature gauge said 28 degrees, a whole 10 degrees warmer. I had condensation again in the tent and on my quilt. I laid out my wet stuff in the sun and it dried pretty quickly. I think it's time to switch tents at our next resupply. Unfortunately it will make my pack a little heavier. Decisions, decisions...
A lone fighter jet flew over as we were drinking our coffee and it was fun to watch it zoom across the sky. We started our morning uphill climb, going over the 10k mark and continued climbing. The scenery was still gorgeous with the trail winding around big rock outcrops with continuous views of the snow covered Sierra. The dead snags both still vertical.and lying on the ground had fascinating whorls in the wood and roots. We took our time in the higher elevation as we still weren't acclimated to thinner air. Found a protected spot out of the wind for a lovely snack time. We were passed by many thru hikers. We didn't know many of them except for Napoleon who we have been leap frogging with for quite a while. In the late afternoon the temperature plummeted and the sky was covered with clouds. We only had one more uphill to do and then it was downhill all the way to Horseshoe Meadows. We originally planned on going down via Trail Pass, but we decided to take a little shortcut and go down Mulkey Trail. There were patches of snow we walked through and hopped over low flowing creeks but easily followed the trail to the Meadow. We came out below where we initially thought we would. We followed the road to the Jeep and finally found Dave and Bella coming back down the trail after looking for us. Found out that The Family had also just come down a couple of hours earlier and caught a ride down to Lone Pine. Because the weather was rolling in we decided to go down to Lone Pine too and check out the weather for tomorrow.
May 24, 2016 - Working on a plan
Distance: 0
The weather has turned unpleasant in the Sierra so we decided to do some reconnaissance work on the weather forecast, hikers in town, and determine a plan of action on how to re-enter the Sierra. After breakfast we saw Gandolf walking towards one of the sports equipment stores so we tagged along with him and found others milling about inside trying to decide what to do too. We had a long discussion with Venture who was actually staying in independence but needed to pick up some items for his next section. He showed us pictures on his phone of his group's summit of Forester Pass, crossing three creeks, and descending out of Kearsarge Pass to Onion Valley. They hit the weather perfect, just before this nasty stuff rolled in. Venture was planning on starting his hike back up Kearsarge Pass to the PCT this morning. The Family was given information that they could enter back in at the Taboose Trailhead. We decided to do some research on this trail and was horrified to find out that it was a 6,000 foot elevation gain back to the PCT. We talked them out of it and asked if they wanted to join us starting at South Lake out of Bishop and going over Bishop Pass to rejoin the PCT. They were all for it. Going back into the Sierra would cut out Forester, Glen, Pinchot, and Mather Passes. Three 12k passes and one 13k pass. Are we Weenies? You decide. We would still have Muir Pass to go over (almost 12k) and I think that would be enough of a challenge for the five of us before we reached Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR). Our plan is to start on the trail tomorrow mid-morning. Now it's time repack the bear canister and backpack!
May 25, 2016 - Nothing writtened up
May 26, 2016 - Bishop Pass
Distance: 7.3 miles
Note: Someone mentioned that skipping the section from Horseshoe Meadow to the intersection of Le Conte Canyon (where Bishop Pass intersects) is the best part of the Sierra and that it would be a shame for us to skip it. Well, several things factored into the decision making process and the group was more than happy to shorten the time we would to deal with snowy passes at high altitude (four of them). I didn't mind this decision as I have already hiked that part a few years ago during one of my section hikes. It was hard and gorgeous in August when I hiked it then, so don't feel like I'm missing out on anything now.
We packed up the motorhome home, hitched the Jeep to it, and made our way to the Portal Motel to pick up The Family. We arrived at Bishop and made our way westbound on Hwy 168 to South Lake in the Jeep. We actually missed the turn to South Lake and ended up at a different lake and had to backtrack a bit. Finally arrived at South Lake and started our hike up to Bishop Pass at about 11:30am. We were passed by a thru hiker who had come down yesterday to do a resupply and was returning to the PCT trail today. There was quite a bit of snow and we were happy to follow his footsteps. The Family moves a little slower than we do uphill so we waited here and there to make sure they were still on track. The last hill was a doozy and Seasoned Strider and I donned spikes and ice axe and zigged zagged up the steep slope. We arrived at the elevation sign for Bishop Pass at 11,972 feet, which is the entrance to the Kings Canyon National Park. The sun was slowly sinking over the mountain and we started downhill to find a somewhat level spot to pitch tents. The snow was mash potatoes and we started postholing up to our knees. We finally stopped at a rock outcrop and decided we could maneuver two tents in this small spot if we pushed out a few rocks. Well, water started filling in the empty space so I dug out a trench to drain the water away from my tent. It seemed to work well. We worked quickly as the sun dropped behind the mountain and it became instantly cold. At 8pm we heard voices and it was The Family! We thought they might have decided to camp on the other side of the pass. They found a flat spot and made a home for the night.
May 27, 2016 - Back to the PCT
Distance: 8.5 miles
It was very cold this morning when we woke up. My quilt had frost on it. The rain fly also had a lot of frost on it. The temperature was in the middle 20's. We had very little water so we packed up the best we could, although Seasoned Strider had some issues with her stakes frozen in the snow and ground. I had to do my morning business - do you know how hard it is to shovel refrozen snow? Very hard! The Family was up and ready to go so they started off while we finished breaking camp. Spike hiking along, it made a world of difference once we got in the sunshine. We caught up with The Family and found water so made coffee and had breakfast. The views were fantastic. Repacked again and headed downhill to Le Conte Canyon. We passed waterfalls and stopped to take pictures, and alot of the trail was under water so it took some time to make progress. We also had our first water crossing. We scouted up the creek looking for a broad log to walk across or some big boulders we could hop on. There was nothing that fit the bill so we went back to the watery trail. The Family took off their socks and shoes and put on their sandals and waded across. Seasoned Strider and I just waded across in our socks and shoes. The water didn't seem that cold, but I'm sure we will have more that will be colder. We finally arrived at the intersection with the PCT and it was quite warm. No snow at the 8,700 ft level. We ate lunch and then visited the Ranger cabin. They even had a cute outhouse but it was securely locked. There were a few deer roaming around so we snapped a bunch of pics of them. We discussed which campsite to meet at and at 2pm SS and I went ahead and started the uphill towards Muir Pass. There were big snow piles here and there but we easily made our way up the trail. The first couple of miles the trail was gradual but then the last 1.7 miles, it was a grind to where we had planned on camping for the night. We followed the Middle Fork Kings River the whole way, punctuated by waterfalls. So beautiful. At the last rise, we were dismayed to see a constant snow field. The place was unrecognizable from the last time I was here. We hunted around and finally found a spot up in the trees that looked like it could hold three tents. As SS and I started setting up our tents, the overcast skies opened up and it started snowing. The snow lasted about an hour and then the sky cleared and the sun came back out. We got tucked in but worried that The Family wouldn't be able to find us. SS suggested we use our whistles to let them know where we were. We blew every 10-15 minutes hoping they would hear us over the roar of the river but gave up at 7:40pm. I hope we connect with them tomorrow morning before we start heading up to the pass. Muir Pass is four miles away and it will be solid snow all the way there and back down the other side for a long ways.
May 28, 2016 - Muir Hut
Distance: 4 miles
We woke to clear skies at 5:30am but we could see a high overcast creeping over the mountains. Looking south, the weather was definitely moving in quickly. We got on our way and used our navigation tools to get us thru the snowfield on to the trail. We started with spikes but some of the trail was melted out with water running down it so off came the spikes until we came to solid snow again. We continued uphill and passed frozen lakes here and there. The weather was slowly deteriorating and I was anxious to reach the Muir Hut as soon as we could. It is always best to get over the pass by 11am to avoid inclement weather. We were following several sets of footprints and tried to stay with the ones that were solid to step in. Much of the route we were following did not actually follow the PCT trail. We simply zigged sagged across the hill or went straight up. Around 11am we started postholing in a couple sections, some up to our knees and a couple up to the thigh. Those were hard to dig myself out of. One little steep section that actually went downhill by Helen's Lake, we simply sat down and slid to the bottom using our ice axes to control speed. We also used our ice axes on the steep sections. Finally, we were on the final long steep uphill to the hut, we had to stop every ten paces to catch our breath. The weather had set in and it started to snow. Out came the rain jackets and pack covers. One final push and we could see the Muir Hut! Arriving at the door, I was very surprised to see how deep the snow was - about four feet deep. We stashed our axes, spikes, and poles outside and happily entered the hut. It was a few degrees warmer and we were out of the snow storm. We had to make a decision if were going to continue on down the other side or just camp out at the hut instead. We only went four miles, but they were a doozy. Because we had postholed so much, we were pretty wiped out. We finally decided to spend the night in the hut. Around 4pm three snowshoers showed up - they were on a four day backpacking trip and wanted some information on an easier route back to North Lake. We showed them our map and that we had come over Bishop Pass. They decided to go for it, especially since they would run into dirt trail after four miles. Then our first thru hiker popped in to have a special drink and then to continue hiking. His trailname is Legend and he is attempting a triple crown, all this year. He just finished the AT and then started Tue PCT on May 3rd. He's averaging 35 miles per day! We were impressed! I felt embarrassed offer our lowly four miles we did today...
May 29, 2016 - Muir Pass to Evolution Creek Bypass
Distance: 12 miles
It was an interesting night last night. The Muir Hut makes all kinds of different also sounds, sort of clunking noises in addition to the big drip, drip, drip of snow melting on the stone roof. It was about 35 degrees inside but much colder outside. It had snowed overnight about four inches. We hurried to get packed up and out the door as we needed to take advantage of that cold air so we didn't posthole so much. It was an interesting sunrise as there were popcorn clouds to the east of us and the sky was a scary red color. Ten minutes later the clouds magically disappeared and it was a bright, clear morning. We started down the hill following snow covered footprints but we kept stopping to take pictures. It was amazingly beautiful. By 8:30am we were starting to posthole here and there. We stopped at the first available source of water as we were almost all out. Two thru hikers caught up and passed us. It was great to see other hikers on the trail. When we got to Sapphire Lake, the steep pitch of the hillside, plus the constant postholing, made us take out our ice axes to make our way across the slope. Some hikers are going across these slopes without ice axes, but we feel much better having them in hand for the scary parts. We finally arrived at the Evolution Creek Outlet and we're happy to see that we could still get across the creek on the big rocks. We continued rounding South and North Evolution Lakes, taking a lunch break at the north lake to dry out our tents and sleeping bags. Muir Hut leaks like a sieve and our tents were quite wet this morning. We started the trail downhill and ran into dirt trail! We were so happy! Four more thru hikers stopped to say hi and to talk about the trail. Their trailnames were Memo, Burning Man, Cheetos, and Pig Tape. They asked if we had run into Venture as they were trying to catch up with him. We haven't seen Venture since Lone Pine. They also asked if we were doing the alternate creek crossing as the upcoming Evolution Creek was apparently going off. We didn't know about an alternate crossing and we were so happy to find out we could cross at an easier spot. The guys continued down the trail with us following behind. The lower we went, the more water was flowing everywhere. We came across a creek that was running pretty strong but we were able to hop across on the boulders. We soon walked through Colby Meadows followed by McClure Meadows. We stopped at the ranger cabin to have a snack and take some pics. There are still big piles of snow everywhere. There are tons of streams to hop over or to cross. We came to one big stream that was running fast and we just walked thru it in our shoes. We finally came to the sign that stated that Evolution Creek was a dangerous ford and if it was spring time, to take the alternate creek crossing. So we did. Our shoes were already wet so we forded the alternate creek. The water came up just past my knees. It wasn't as cold as I expected. We continued on the alternate trail until we found a campsite and made a home for the night. Whew, what a day...
May 30, 2016 - Sally Keyes Lake
Distance: 13.2 miles
Woke up to a beautiful morning, but both tent flys had serious condensation on both sides. We spent a bit of time drying them out in the morning sun so we didn't have to do the lunchtime "garage sale" on the side of the trail. We started our day hike at 8:45am and finished the alternate trail back to the main trail which intersected at the main Evolution Creek crossing. At first we thought, "oh, it doesn't look too bad", but looks were deceiving. Standing on the snowpack looking down into the clear water, it was obvious that this crossing was pretty deep. There wasn't any whitewater, but it was running fast. We were so glad for that alternate crossing at Evolution Meadow! All that water created marvelous waterfalls downstream. There was also alot of water running down the trail. It's true what previous thru hikers say - your feet are gonna get wet and mostly stay wet. After switchbacking down to the valley floor, we stopped for a snack and checked out the next creek crossing. We were so happy to see a bridge! Continuing along the trail just before crossing another bridge over the South Fork San Joaquin River, I noticed movement in the woods and there was a black bear munching its way through the grass and bushes. We were downwind of it so it didn't notice us as we snapped pictures like crazy. Thank goodness for zoom lenses. We mostly got the rear end of it but did get one good pic of a side view. After crossing the bridge we spent the next few hours ogling at the views of the river flowing downstream through a mini gorge with waterfalls flowing into it. As we approached the Florence Lake trail that goes down to the Muir Trail Ranch, we were attacked by mosquitoes. Boy, did we get the Deet on in a hurry. We started the uphill section and the first part was the worst at 1,100 feet elevation in 1.6 miles. I'll never go without my Nuun again on another steep uphill. Once the trail started leveling out, snow piles started appearing. We discussed our options as we didn't want to camp on snow. I needed water so made the little trek to Senger Creek. We could see dirt trail ahead so we loaded up and started hiking. We thought if the snow pack became constant, we would back down and find a place to camp, but we kept finding the trail so we kept on going. We also were watching the skies and sure enough it started hailing and raining. Out came the raingear. I was so happy to have my umbrella. We passed a few possible campsites but at this point we were so close to Sally Keyes Lake we decided to go for it. I was hoping there was a dirt spot that we could set up our tents. A few times we lost the trail in the snowpack but our navigation apps brought us back to the trail. We were on constant snowpack at this point but then we arrived at the Sally Keyes outlet and knew we had arrived. We could see bare dirt ahead of us but first we had to get our feet wet by crossing over the outlet. It wasn't as cold as I had anticipated. We made it to the bare dirt and started setting up our tents with thunder overhead. It did sprinkle big drops for about 15 minutes, but thank goodness it didn't pour. The lake itself is mostly still frozen but the edges of it are melting quickly. Gorgeous view for our efforts!
May 31, 2016 - Selden Pass
Distance: 15 miles
We were quite surprised on how warm it was last night. A few thru hikers stopped to say hello while we were packing up. The south Sally Keyes Lake where we camped was mostly frozen and we had to break a thin layer of ice by the shore to get water. We hopped over the lake inlet and started the uphill climb to the top of Selden Pass. We started off without spikes but we quickly came to the realization that it had been colder than we realized and the refrozen snow was almost a sheet of ice. On went the spikes and we slowly made our way towards Heart Lake. We were passed by Goliath who didn't have spikes or ice axe. He was just ahead of me, trying to punch in his running shoes into the icy slope to set an edge when suddenly his shoes slipped and down he went, sliding down and gaining speed toward Heart Lake. There were four of us watching in horror hoping he was going to be able to stop in time. He dragged his hands against the ice quickly shredding them but was able to stop before he reached the lake's edge. The lake was mostly frozen but the edge around the lake had started to break up. Goliath sat for a few minutes scared out of his mind but slowly stood up and gathered his hat and poles that had flown off during the event. Once we knew he was okay, SS and I moved forward even slower making sure our spikes were firmly embedded in the hillside for each step. Once past that nasty steep slope we moved along quicker and made it to the top of Selden Pass for another glorious snowy picture perfect view of the frozen lakes below. Goliath, Mosley, and Little Spoon were traveling together and quickly caught up to us. We had a look at Goliath's hands and they were not a pretty sight. They decided to have coffee and breakfast at the top of the pass so we continued on, knowing full well they would pass us shortly. On this side of the pass, the south facing slope was quickly turning into mashed potatoes so we left our spikes on and added our ice axes for moral support. We slowly made it down without issues to the flat area near the lakes and lashed our axes back onto the packs. We continued following footprints and occasionally checking our navigation apps for confirmation that we were on track. It seemed like it took a long time to get out of the mushy snow but we finally did. We could hear the roar of a swollen creek growing louder and realized it was Bear Creek, one of the nastiest creeks to cross during the spring thaw. Someone had mentioned that if one doubled back about a half mile that it was easier to cross. So we spent some time backtracking and the creek looked worse. We went back to the PCT crossing of Bear Creek and decided to just go for it. It was noon and it was only going to get more swollen as the afternoon went on. We scoped out two places, one crossing I liked better and SS decided to go for the original crossing. We spent a few minutes making sure down clothing and electronics were encased in plastic and then I went first. Unbuckled the hip and chest belts and left the shoulder harness hanging loosely enough that I could escape it if anything happened. Into the water, facing upstream, firmly planting each pole before making a step toward the other bank. The current was swift but there was only one spot that was really pushing against me so I changed tactics and was able to move slightly upstream to avoid the hole. Successfully made it to shore, my legs red and really cold from the water. The water came up to about the middle of my thighs. SS was excited that all went well and she started to across. The water appeared to be a little deeper where she crossed but she slowly made her way across the creek without issues. We were so happy that we crossed scary Bear Creek without incident. But wait, the day is not over. We ate lunch around 1pm and then kept heading toward Quail Meadow where we were going to camp for the night. Less than a quarter mile away we had two more water crossings that fed into Bear Creek, and then we had multiple water crossings for all the seasonal streams that were flowing strongly over the trail. We finally arrived at the intersection to Bear Ridge Trail where one could cut down to VVR via a 5.7 mile trail and then a road walk over the dam to the resort. In hindsight, we really regret not taking this trail. It would have saved a ton of grief. But we continued on the PCT which took us up a 1,000 foot elevation gain and then dropped us down the north side of the mountain for an intense, steep snow covered trail. It was so bad that we had to put spikes on. Even then we slid around and I fell three times. It was scary as all get out, maybe even scarier than Selden Pass. To add insult to injury, we were almost to the campsite when we came across a swollen creek that was deeper and running faster than Bear Creek. We couldn't see the bottom of the creek but thankfully it was a much shorter crossing. We arrived at our campsite at 8pm, wet and exhausted. Whew, what a day...