Day 42 – 24.3 km – Friday 07.06.2024
At 6 a.m. I like breakfast, pack everything up and start running.
It goes briefly down the mountain through the forest and then I already come across the first river that there is to cross. Since the water isn’t exactly slowly flowing and about knees up, I just leave the shoes on and walk through the ice-cold water. In the cool hours of the morning, the cold water is very invigorating and after that I’m fitter than from my coffee.
It continues slightly up the mountain and I get a first view of the surrounding mountains, which look beautiful in the morning sun.
After another short detour through the forest, we continue on snow fields in the direction of the Forrester Pass, which I have to overcome today. Since a lot of snow and ice awaits me in the coming hours, I put on my microspikes directly.
At the beginning, however, I continue walking over the snow with trekking poles, as the snow fields are not particularly steep. After a few minutes, I overtake a larger group of hikers. Since I’m much faster than the ones on the road, I prefer to continue running the valley alone backwards.
I’m slowly gaining height and in front of me I can already guess where I’m allowed to climb the mountain range and I’m also seeing a nice panorama behind me.
Just before I get into the wall that needs to be climbed, I change my trekking poles for my ice ax. A few steeper passages can be seen in front of me and so my ice ax will be used for the first time.
The actual path leads upwards in a zigzag course. Since the many switchbacks (curves of the serpentines) are too stupid for me and the snow is still frozen, I climb the wall more or less vertically. Thanks to my microspikes, I can hack my ice cream and secure myself with my ice ax. As a result, I gain altitude very quickly.
Further up I reach the actual trail again, which is no longer buried under the snow. From here on I walk relaxed on the stony ground.
After a few curves, I already reach the actual Forrester Pass at 4009 meters. The view back is fantastic again.
It doesn’t look any worse in front of me either. A large snow field is in front of my feet and behind it you can see great mountains.
But since the descent over the snow is too exhausting for me and the snow field flattens out further down, I just decide to slide down. I quickly put on my rain pants (in shorts on the ice is not particularly pleasant) and then I slide down the slope on my butt. I reach quite a high pace and so the descent is really fun.
Once at the bottom, I then continue walking slightly uphill through the snow, only to then slide down a slope again. But since the snow field here less flatters, I use my ice ax as a handbrake, which works really well.
After that, unfortunately, there is no longer a free field of snow (without stones, etc.) and I have to continue to descend over very slippery snow and rock, although there is not always a real path to be seen.
After what felt like an eternity in the snow, I reach a path again where there is only a few snow. There I meet a couple from Sweden, which I met a few days ago. Since you skipped Mount Whitney, you could catch up with me. Like me, they still found the tour really nice to this day and they also slipped down a slope, which they apparently had as much fun as I did. While I’m talking to them, I take off my microspikes and wrest out my soaking wet socks. All the snow has completely soaked my shoes.
Then it’s back downhill again without microspices and with trekking poles. On the way I make much faster progress, although it is also less spectacular.
Soon there will be another river to cross. Since my shoes and socks are already wet, I just walk through it without feeling a big difference.
After another foot bath, I’m still a few kilometers relaxed through the forest before I have to climb another climb in the afternoon. In order to have a short walk to the next pass tomorrow, I’ll climb another 400 meters in the afternoon. The steep path makes me quite startling. After all, I’ve already had to deal with a few meters in altitude at the Forrester Pass. But I’ll soon get a nice view of the surroundings again and I can see where I came from today (the Forrester Pass is on the right in the back).
On a small plateau I find a suitable place for my tent. Since the next pass, which is not far away, is said to be exhausting due to the many snow in the afternoon, I decide to set up my camp here. So I can overcome the next pass in the early hours of the morning and use the still frozen snow, which makes running much more comfortable.
Around 4 p.m. I already set up my tent and can relax a little before we continue up and down tomorrow. In the evening I cook something to eat and then go to bed early.
Day 43 – 36.1 km – Saturday 08.06.2024
Since I’m slowly running out of food and I have to handle two passes in one day, I get up at 5 a.m. and pack everything together. After a very quick breakfast, I set off.
It goes directly uphill and while the sun is slowly rising next to me, the landscape is illuminated beautifully and the mountains are illuminated.
After a short time I find myself in the snow. Luckily this one is still frozen and so I can just walk on it.
Further up, the snow then stops increasingly and I can simply climb further up on rocky ground. About halfway up the pass, I meet the hiker with the trail name ‘Marsupial’ (German: ‘Beettier’), with which I started climbing Mount Whitney. As it turns out, he’s just as crazy as I am and has to overcome two passes today, because he usually runs out of food. Since we are both facing a mammoth task, we will continue to walk up together from now on.
Looking back is getting better. In addition to the beautiful mountains, there is also a frozen lake to admire.
After the relatively easy climb, we reach the pass and get a good view of the other side. It looks pretty white there, as the entire back wall of the mountain is full of snow.
Since it looks pretty steep, I wear my microspikes and pick up the ice ax. On the still solid snow, I can descend safely and relatively easily while enjoying the impressive landscape in front of me.
In between, it’s a short time over rock. There I take off my microspikes again and then run in the snow without any further. Since it’s relatively flat, I can walk on the frozen snow with my hiking boots without any problems.
It’s quite a long downhill, although I have to cross a small river again. After that, continue down before I reach a lake. This, with the snow-covered mountains in the background, which are reflected in the calm water, looks almost magical and for some time we continue on the water. In the meantime we were able to finally leave the snow of the pass behind us, which makes running more pleasant.
Just when we thought we had the worst down, the most difficult river crossing to date follows. Here the water is pretty fast and also more than knee-deep, which is not entirely harmless. After some back and forth, we find a good spot where we can still get to the other side safely.
Then it goes through the forest for some time, which is rather easy at the beginning.
Later, however, we will be slowed down quite a bit, since a large piece of the trail is buried under trees, which have twisted over during a storm. Here we have to climb over trees and always find our own routes.
When we arrive at around 12 p.m. at a bridge that corresponds to the lowest point of today’s hike, we take a lunch break.
This is followed by another ascent, which should take us to the next pass. For some time it goes uphill along a beautiful mountain river. While next to us that water is rushing down the mountain at high speed, we keep walking up.
Soon we will have to cross a violent river again, the water is more than knee-deep in between, there is a spot that I have to overcome so as not to climb into a deep hole. The water is fast and therefore careful against us all the way.
Dark thunderstorm clouds will also rise above us, which luckily will pass us by. As we were to find out later, the thunderstorm started a few valleys further back and some people had to walk over snow fields in the hail.
Further up, the landscape flattens out a bit, but the next mountain range is already in sight. We are slowly getting into snow fields, which soon connects to a large, continuous snow field.
After further strenuous hours, we can see the pass in front of us, but the way there still seems very far. Since we’re both already pretty exhausted from the long tour, we’ll take a break for now. A coffee and a few snacks bring new energy to complete the last climb.
In the afternoon, the snow is quite soft and slippery, so the climb is unfortunately exhausting. After a total of almost 10 hours of pure hiking (without breaks) and almost 30 kilometers in the Sierra, we finally reach the peak of the pass.
The other side is also characterized by snow and ice, which looks great in the evening sun.
For us, we are now continuing with a longer descent through the snow, whereby we sink in more often and thus only make slow progress.
Past a few last mountain lakes, continue down into the valley. Here we have to walk even more often through small rivers, which are neither excessively cold nor really dangerous.
After hours we finally reach a camp around 7 p.m. We hiked almost 12 hours to this point and were on the road for more than 14 hours in total. After all, we completed almost 24 miles (36 km) and overcame two passes. Accordingly, we are both done and therefore happy to finally have arrived at the camp. After we set up our tents, we cook our dinner and chat for a while. As it turns out, ismarsupialBrewers and so we quickly have a few interesting conversations before we both go to our tents exhausted and fall asleep soon.
Day 44 – 30.9 km – Sunday 09.06.2024
Today we get up early again because we have another long day ahead of us.
Immediately after the start, we get a first larger and quite wide river that has to be overcome. Further down we find a relatively flat spot where you can actually cross almost safely, as the river is divided into several smaller branches. This time it’s not a difficult crossing, but the water is so cold that it feels almost freezing off our feet. On the other hand, we take off our shoes and try to warm up the toes a bit because we can’t really feel them anymore. I’ve never had cold feet so quickly than in this water. Even if the crossing only took about half a minute, the feet and toes are frozen. So we sit there for a while and just try to feel our toes again.
After everything has dried off and it is a little better, we continue to pull on with fresh socks and still wet and cold shoes. At least it gets a little better when running and when we finally get some rays of sunshine further up, we just stand there for a few minutes and are happy that the warm sun is warming us.
After that we continue up, because we have to overcome a pass again today. When running, we are always eyed by curious animals.
Before we go to the actual pass, we have to walk further back on a plateau for some time. In some places you can see how cold it really is here. The small lakes are still frozen and there is snow everywhere else.
Soon we will reach the foot of the pass. At the beginning it goes relaxed along the slope over rocks.
After a while it’s time to unpack microspikes and ice axes again. Because from here it goes further up in the steep snow. Since the snow is still pretty solid, we can climb up the mountain almost vertically. Some other hikers obviously have problems and are sometimes far from their comfort zone. We, on the other hand, climb the slope relatively relaxed, although of course it is also exhausting for us. But we both enjoy it and with my ice axe I feel pretty safe on the steep mountain slope.
Arrived at the top of the pass, it’s time to take pictures again and descend on the other side.
Luckily we can slide down part of the slope on our buttocks again, which means we can quickly leave a few meters behind us.
After that, however, it goes further down through the snow for a long time, although it will always slip over time with increasing time. When we’re finally out of the roughest, we take off the microspikes and exchange the ice ax for the hiking sticks again. In between we meet an older couple (the man is already 75!), who are also on the PCT, even if they run much slower than us and are therefore about twice as long as I am, they have already made it here. Apparently she knows her way around here and as you tell us, such a fast snowmelt is very rare as we are currently experiencing. So this year there is only an average amount of snow, but the rivers are significantly higher and faster than in most years, which makes crossing the river particularly strenuous and dangerous.
After the short conversation, we all set off again and we continue past frozen mountain lakes, which also look very spectacular today.
On a larger rock, we take a lunch break and let our socks and shoes dry in the sun. We eat a little something and enjoy the beautiful sight of the mountains in front of us.
This is followed by a quick descent, which sometimes allows us to lose altitude quickly on stairs.
Once at the bottom, it is relatively relaxed on smaller paths along the water through the forest. In addition to some fallen trees and smaller rivers that have to be crossed, it is much less strenuous here than the hour before. This means that we are making progress faster and can leave a few miles behind us in a short time.
When we meet a completely flooded river bed on another climb, which looks really nice, we take another coffee break here.
After that, it’s a few last miles before we pitch our camp in the forest. From here we can take a turnoff to the Bishop Pass tomorrow, which will hopefully take us to the city of Bishop, where we can finally increase our food reserves.
Day 45 – 19 km – Monday 10.06.2024
So today we’re finally going back to a city to refresh the reserve. I get up shortly after 5 a.m., have breakfast and start walking.
It goes straight up the mountain for a long time. Nature looks beautiful today too, but the climb is pretty long. After all, I have to overcome more than 1000 meters in altitude to the Bishop Pass again today.
Since I don’t have anything to eat apart from a handful of pasta, there are pasta with chili and salt around 9 a.m. in the morning. I drink another coffee and look at the snow-covered landscape in front of me.
After that it goes up. After a few hours of climbing, I finally reach the highest point. From here it continues downhill in the snow.
On the way I meet a hiker who comes towards me and talk to him about the next stages for a while. On the actual route of the PCTs, a bridge over a wide river has broken through enormous masses of snow in recent years and is therefore no longer usable. However, since the river is too deep for a crossing, we have to run an alternative route. There are several options here. You can hitchhike from Bishop to another pass and then walk back onto the trail, which is just under a 19-mile detour. Or you walk along the mountain ranges along a high-altitude trail. Even after the long conversation with the hiker, I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. So I’m heading further towards Bishop.
It continues through the snow down to a larger lake.
From here I walk downhill along the water for a long time and reach a hiking car park around half past one.
Fortunately, after less than 5 minutes, an elderly woman takes me to town. She herself likes to go hiking in the mountains and used to be here more often to climb. She drops me off at a hostel in the small town. Unfortunately, this is already full and since I would have to pay $45 for a bunk bed at another hostel, I prefer to go to a cheap motel nearby, which is not much more expensive. Even if I would have liked to spend the evening with other people in the hostel, my own room with a real bed is also good for me. After all, I haven’t slept in a bed once since I started over a month ago. But before I walk there, I go to a bakery with Marsupial and buy a delicious blueberry cake. After that we part ways again and I’ll go to McDonald for a moments to have some lunch.
Around 3 p.m. I make my way to the motel. After a long shower, I wash some clothes and then set off to go shopping. Today I have a lot to do. In addition to food, I have to have my hiking sticks repaired because they have now pretty much expired. I also need a new compression bag for my sleeping bag, a few new socks and a new gas cartridge. I can get everything in an outdoor shop nearby. The one with the hiking poles turns out to be more difficult because they don’t seem to be the right size, but in the end I have a rubber attachment for the next few weeks.
After that I walk on to the supermarket and buy food for 5-6 days, even if I actually only have about 4 days until the next stop. For the next few days I would like to take it a little more relaxed and enjoy nature. Then I get two more burgers from the McDonalds and return to my room. There I have a relaxed dinner and drink a delicious beer. Meanwhile I am writing on my blog. After that it’s time to sleep again.
Overview
In the meantime I’ve actually already arrived in Bishop and have left behind some passes and river crossings. The many ascents and descents are quite exhausting, but the landscape is fantastically beautiful. Since I arrived in the Sierra relatively early, there is still some snow here, which makes the landscape look even more adventurous. Many hikers who arrive here in about 1-2 weeks will certainly find significantly less snow.
Upon arrival in Bishop via the Bishop Pass (Mile 832), I have already overcome the most difficult passes and actually left about half of the Sierra behind me.
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