After shoveling in a pancake breakfast, hamburger and a pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream all to myself, I was ready to head out of Kennedy Meadows back on the trail. We had 10 days of food each to go 195 miles to our next destination, Vermillion Valley Resort. I posted a pic below of what 8 days of food for me was, so you can imagine how heavy my pack was to start out.
It took us a couple days to really get into the Sierras. Our timing could not have been better though as we were able to climb up Mt Whitney on Katie's birthday. What a beautiful peak! We had great weather although it was a little hazy from a couple fires burning in southern CA. The views from the top of Whither were amazing! I included a pic below of us on the summit.
After Whitney, we went up and over 6 mountain passes in the course of 5 days which included reaching the highest point on the PCT on Forester Pass (13,200 ft). We also had numerous river crossings, but the water did not get higher than our knees. We did hit snow on 4 of the passes, but by timing it right, we did not run into ice or have to posthole through it. Below is a pic of Forester Pass itself and us on to of the pass.
It is so hard to sum up these past 10 days. The views are breathtaking and after working your way up each pass you are rewarded with views of mountains, basins, clear blue lakes below and surrounding you. There is also something so refreshing about not seeing a road or car for 10 days straight. Granted, I do get pretty excited for a trail town, but this stretch of trail has been incredible. If you are reading this blog, I highly recommend getting to the high Sierras; it has to be up there with the Grand Canyon and other magical scenic places to see in your lifetime.
Trail stats after 52 days...
# snakes: 18
# bears: 1
# days of rain: 1
# nights indoor: 6
# pushups: 310
# showers: 9
HOT DAMN!!!! 310 push-ups!!!!!!!!!! You are going to be smoking me by the time you get done, I suppose I need to start upping my game. Sierras sound amazing. As always after talking to Katie I sigh into a day dream of the trail and then... well life continues here :) Glad to hear all is well and you are still enjoying the trail. xoxoxo love you
ReplyDeleteHope you are doing great..... We think of you often and are so proud of you! We look forward to your new posts! Love, Mom
ReplyDeleteOoooh 18 snakes!!! Any rattlers or are those the only ones you count?? Pictures look amazing as do you. Thanks for keeping us posted.
ReplyDeleteI had the opposite reaction as Kathryn to the 18 snakes. I got the biggest smile on my face and was like "Yeah!!!" Thanks for the update. I love it!!!
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