45 Miles – 6/2/18 – 6/6/18
It’s easy to end up spending a few days in Lone Pine, which is exactly what I did. Plenty of places to eat including a couple amazing taco trucks., When I tried to hitch back to the trailhead I didn’t have much luck so I took a break and had a beer. After a beer or two I decided that it would probably be easier to hitch out in the morning so I stayed another night and ate more tacos.
The next morning I was able to catch a ride back to the trailhead by a couple from LA doing an overnight trip. In the Sierra. Once I got back to the PCT I hiked up to Chicken Lake where I stopped for lunch before continuing a few more miles before camping for the night.
In the morning I hiked up to the Crabtree ranger station and set up camp in the early afternoon. I had heard of hikers camping a little closer to Mt. Whitney at Guitar Lake but my understanding is that the ranger station was as close as I could get with just my PCT permit. I’m sure I could have camped at Guitar lake and been OK but the ranger station also had a pit toilet, which is a rare find on the trail. The idea was to take it easy and rest before hiking up Mt. Whitney the following morning. However, my tent turns into an oven in direct sunlight so I wasn’t able to get much rest before the sun calmed down. I did get to hang out on porch of the ranger station, which was nice.
When my alarm went off at 2am I only grabbed the things I would need to get up Mt. Whitney, ate a quick breakfast and headed out. It was nice being able to leave my tent set up and carry a lighter pack since I would be returning to the ranger station. Hiking in the dark was a little annoying but it was fun to see other hikers headlamps on the side of the mountain as they headed up the trail.
I crossed a few small snow fields on my way to the switch backs up the mountain. Once on the switch backs there were random patches of snow and ice but nothing too tricky. After reaching the junction summit the snow became a little more prevalent but still nothing too challenging. The sun started to rise and lit up the mountains as I made my way up to the summit around 6am. I was a bit intimidated by Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous united states, but it ended up being easier than I had feared. There were a handful of other hikers at the summit enjoying the view, I stayed for a little while and had a snack before starting to head back down. I’m always cautious of snow getting too soft and making the descent tricky.
On my way down there were a good amount of people heading up, which was a little surprising. As I headed back to the ranger station I was able to see all the scenery I passed in the dark which made it feel completely new.
I got back to camp around 11am and tried to spend as much time as I could in my tent before it turned into a sauna again. Once it cooled down I quickly fell asleep and even slept in a bit in the morning.
In the morning I packed up and hiked a mere 9 miles to the base of Forrester Pass, the highest point on the actual PCT. On the way I went over Bighorn Plateau and crossed a couple large streams which required getting my feet wet. Once across the last water crossing I set up camp, making sure that my tent had plenty of shade.
I once again woke up early, luckily not at 2am, and headed up to the pass. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I was prepared for a hard climb. The first few miles were nothing crazy, just a few snowy bits. However, once I got to the bottom of the final push up to the pass there was a good amount of snow making it tricky to find the trail. Luckily it was still frozen making it easy to hike on. Since it was difficult to spot the trail I scrambled between patches of snow and rocks until I made my way to the switchbacks which were snow free, with the exception of the chute right before the top of the pass.
Once at the top I was able to see down into Kings Canyon National Park, which was stunning, even with all the snow I’d have to deal with. Surprisingly getting down wasn’t too bad, there were plenty of footprints that made great steps and we’re easy to follow.
When I got further down into the canyon I was awestruck. It felt like I finally entered the Sierra, even though I already technically had days ago. I hiked along a large “creek” and the trail was pretty tame.
Knowing that I’d be heading out to Independence the following day I decided to push a little more and get into town a day early. There were a few water crossings and another climb up to Kearsarge Pass, which was luckily snow free.
The trail to the pass was beautiful, passing by a few lakes. The climb over the pass wasn’t technically that difficult but after going over Forrester in the morning it felt like it. Once at the top of the pass I was able to get a sliver of service and called a motel that was able to pick me up from the trailhead. Somehow the guy pulled up just as I was getting to the trailhead and I rode back down into the hot desert. I checked into the motel, took a shower and got some sleep.
