PCT: Day 84

We’re up early today and on trail by 6:30 to try to get over Forester Pass early.  We quickly climb above treeline and are treated to incredible views for the rest of the day.  We start off hiking with General and Camino, and Manny joins us along the way.  We pass creeks flowing from snow melt,  partially frozen alpine lakes, snow fields, and mountain views that are hard to put into words or capture with photos.

Despite being the highest point on the PCT, the climb to Forester isn’t much more difficult than some of the other climbs we’ve done.  We breathe a bit harder with the elevation, but are at the top before we know it.  The view over Forester into Kings Canyon National Park was one of my favorites when I crossed it a few years ago, and the feeling hasn’t changed.

We take a break at the top to enjoy the views and rest before heading downhill into a steep snowfield.  We sing happy birthday to Bluebird at the top, and Bat Boy helps General record his latest Dr. Pepper commercial.  I haven’t mentioned these before, but he carries a Dr. Pepper through the more epic stretches of trail so he can record a commercial.  No, he doesn’t work for Dr. Pepper, but they’d be lucky to have him.

The trail down was…interesting.  Most of the upper, steep stretches of trail were covered with snow.  The warming weather has turned the snow to slush so microspikes are useless, and we don’t even bother putting them on.  The beginning of the descent is a mix of steep, loose stone and a glissade through slush. 

From there the trail goes in and out of snow fields for the next mile or so with the occasional postholing.  For those that don’t know, postholing is when you’re walking on snow which decides every once in a while that you’d be more comfortable if one or both of your feet break through the snow up to your knees or hips.  Sometimes you break through to rocks, sometimes to the trail, or sometimes to a rushing creek.  If you’re lucky like we were you just end up covered in snow.  The bigger risk is punching through onto rocks which can cause hike ending injuries.  We had one other particularly sketchy area which had us traversing a steep slushy snowfield bordered by a boulder field below it.

Once getting out of the snow we had a really nice downhill hike through forests and along a creek.  We called it a day after 12 miles.  We had planned on going further, but the snow travel took a toll on our pace and energy.  We camped with General, Camino, and Manny and feel like we’ve developed a pretty solid tramily that we really enjoy spending time with.