The Adventures of...: Day 47

Day 47, 14 miles, endpoint PCT mile 784

For the first time since entering the Sierras we purposely got up early and left camp as quickly as possible. The reason: Forester Pass, 9.5 miles away. The pass has snow covering the trail, and the later in the day you hit the snow, the more it has melted. The more it has melted, the harder the hiking. We wanted to be there as early as possible while the snow was still somewhat firm from the cold overnight.

A few miles down the trail we ran into Bowie and Brady (Duchess), a couple of guys from San Francisco and Portland, respectively, that we have been seeing frequently since the San Jacinto days. We hiked with them as we marched closer to the pass. A few miles out an imposing rock cliff became visible; a small V-shaped notch visible on the top was our pass. And we would be going all the way up and over.

We left the tree line and passed frozen blue lakes amongst large, open snow fields as we approached the cliff. And then we were climbing, over snow patches at times, up the wall. It was slow going, but the four of us finally made it to the top at 13,200 feet. The view was astounding. On both sides of the pass, as far as we could see, were endless snowy peaks. We headed down Forester on the north side; little did we know the fun was just starting.

The actual PCT was impossible to see, as it was completely covered in snow, but we followed the footsteps of previous hikers. The snow that had not really given us any trouble on the south side of the pass was now softened in the early afternoon hours and made for slow, frustrating, and, at times, treacherous going. If you have never postholed in the snow, consider yourself lucky. Postholing occurs when, as you take a step, your foot sinks below the soft surface of the snow, deep into the layers below that have partially melted away. It gets worse as the day goes on, it gets warmer, and the snow loosens. I postholed several times, sometimes to my knee, other times all the way up to my hip. To make matters worse, when we weren't postholing, we were sliding on slick, slushy snow, trying to figure out where the trail went, and trying to not fall with every step.

It is hard to complain about all of that, however, when the views were as amazing as they were today. The north side of the pass led us down jagged, towering mountain faces, past snow-covered lakes, and eventually into a green valley laced with snow-melt rivers and creeks. Another plus: I was introduced to the joy of glissading. Glissading is a fancy word for sliding down a snow field on your butt. There were points on the snow-covered trail where we reached a drop off that wouldn't have been safe to hike down. Instead, we found other spots with gentle slopes that we could slide down to get us to the same point further down trail. It saves time, is safer, and was fun!

We have enough food to last us two more days, so although we are only 14 miles from our hitching point into Independence, we are going to stay an extra day and explore a side trail to a lake off the PCT.