PCT water

Day 51: Ice Chute Challenge

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June 7, 2017

Total miles: 13.6 miles

Start: mile 775.7

End: 0.8 miles down Bullfrog Lake trail (mile 788.5)

Total elevation gain/loss: 2948.2/3695.2 ft

Today was the day — we’d be crossing Forrester Pass!  People have been talking about this moment for weeks now and we’d soon have it (hopefully) behind us!

I slept surprisingly well last night given my anticipation about today’s climb. A win for Advil PM! We were up and ready to hike at 4am sharp. Sam and Tam needed a few more minutes, so we set off across the ice field knowing that they would catch up before the pass.  

Navigating in the dark on a sun-cup filled ice field turned out to be a little trickier than I imagined. After a while we found ourselves a bit off trail. Luckily, course correction wasn’t difficult and we were on our way again.  

As expected, Sam and Tam caught up with us just as the morning light was making our headlamps unnecessary. The progression of the morning light on the surrounding mountains was riveting:

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Day 50: Creek Crossing 101

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June 6, 2017

Total miles: 6.8 miles

Start: mile 768.9

End: mile 775.7

Total elevation gain/loss: 1559.1/1126.3 ft

The stats simply don’t convey what a difficult day today’s hiking was. I could pound out that distance in no time in the desert. Here though, that’s a different matter.

We slept in a bit (until 4:30!) because it was cold and we didn’t want to hit our first river crossing of the day too early. Also, we figured we were in for an easy day, so why push it? Silly us.


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Day 44: Anniversary Hike Into Kennedy Meadows

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May 31, 2017

Total miles: 13.8 miles

Start: mile 689.1

End: Ridgecrest/Kennedy Meadows (mile 702.2)

Total elevation gain/loss: 1253.6/2348.8 ft

Today was special for two reasons.  First, it marks our nine-year wedding anniversary (this is actually the second year in a row that we’ve been on a long hike during our anniversary)!  Second, today was the day the we’d be hiking into Kennedy Meadows — the gateway to the High Sierra segment of the PCT.

The PCT is technically trail number 2000, but this is the first trail sign that I’ve noticed that uses the designation.

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Day 41: Thank Goodness for Water Caches

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May 28, 2017

Total miles: 23.5 miles

Start: Kelso Road (mile 615.9)

End: mile 639.4

Total elevation gain/loss: 4938.3/3309.4 ft

Last night was the warmest night we’ve had so far on the trail. I basically couldn’t stay in my sleeping bag and had to keep my arms out of the bag — unheard of with all our cold nights thus far. When we got up with our 4:30 alarm, it was still only slightly chilly.

Now I know why we talk about “purple” mountains.

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Day 39: The Jekyll and Hyde of the PCT

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May 26, 2017

Total miles: 22.9 miles

Start: mile 570.1

End: mile 592.9

Total elevation gain/loss: 4249/3883.2ft

Today started out bad, got worse, got worse again, and then actually turned out to be okay. That’s life on the PCT I guess!

I slept horribly last night. The wind seemed to grow stronger during the night. Even in our semi-protected spot and with earplugs it kept me up. When our 4:30 alarm went off, the wind was still raging and we decided to push it back to 5:00… and then 5:30. By then, it was clear that the wind was not going away and we just needed to get up and deal with it.

As we packed up, Michael discovered that he was missing his rain jacket. We looked everywhere, but we simply didn’t have it. As luck would have it, this was one of our few camp sites where we actually had decent cell/data signal. I called the hotel to see if they’d found it. Nope. It must have fallen out of his full pack at some point. Maybe during one of our hitches?

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Day 34: Walking on Water

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May 21, 2017

Total miles: 24 miles 

Start: Hikertown (mile 517.6)

End: mile 541.5

Total elevation gain/loss: 2653.3/826.8ft

When my alarm went off at 3:30 this morning we were ready to go. Michael was feeling better, but tired (surprise, it’s 3:30am!). I was similarly feeling tired since I didn’t sleep very well. I’m not sure if it had something to do with the soft bed, but it felt like I was constantly waking up throughout the night. I guess I’m getting used to sleeping on a sleeping pad!

We were walking by 4:10 a.m. It was cool, but not cold, and the wind from last night had died down. With our headlamps on we set out to walk the LA aqueduct. This section of the trail is notorious for being long, hot, and boring. I was hoping that we’d make good time and get to the bridge (17 miles down trail) as soon as possible.

Our first mile or so was on a trail through a field of some sort (it was dark). Immediately we started to see the area’s nocturnal inhabitants: field mice (or some kind of rat?). They would scurry across the trail as we got near and then, like a deer in headlights (or mice in headlamps in our case) they would freeze in place. I had to slow down at points to avoid stepping on these little guys and to give them a chance to regain their senses and hurry back on.

I swear my camera got a better view of the canal than I did!


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Day 33: I Will Walk 500 Miles…

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May 20, 2017

Total miles: 19.6 miles 

Start: Sawmill Camp (0.3 miles from mile 498.2)

End: Hikertown (mile 517.6)

Total elevation gain/loss: 2631.6/4794.6ft

Another long day today. It was a struggle getting up this morning, but after a few hits of the snooze button we were ready to go at around 5:45.

My photo doesn’t do it justice, but the sun was a brilliant orange as it came up this morning.


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