Day 98 to 105: Mowgli, Whitney and the animal.

Day 98

‌11 July 2019

Mi 906.6 - 896.1

I left Mammoth a little later than expected mostly because I procrastinated too much on these past few articles. I went to a Carls Jr (local fast food, would not recommend) to take advantage of their fast WiFi and wrote those articles.

The best thing about Mammoth that I haven’t mentioned yet is the free buses all over town! One of the perks of being in a ski resort during the summer I guess, still the same great services but way less people than in the winter. Here's how much food I will be eating for the next few days.

I got back on trail at 4pm and as I was about to leave Reds Meadow ressort I saw Daniel! You may not remember but I met him when I first started in Wrightwood and he’s really nice. We had met once more a few months ago before Ridgecrest and now it was my third time seeing him. The odds of seeing him here were so low it was surreal to reconnect and share what we’ve been up to. He was still going north but took a break due to a cold for a couple of weeks so that’s why he was still halfway through the Sierras.

We parted ways and I headed south to reconnect my steps in Lone Pine while he headed north towards the end of the Sierras.

Day 99

‌12 July 2019

Mi 896.1 - 869.4

The Sierras are kinda set up so that you have to do a pass every day. You wake up, do a pass and hike 10 more miles towards the base of the next pass so you can do it early in the next morning when the snow is still hard.

The problem with that strategy is that you only get to do 15 miles a day. On snow that is reasonable but since most of the snow was melted by now I decided to just hit the passes whenever and hike as much as I could.

The pass today, silver pass, was really easy with not much snow on either sides.

Day 100

‌13 July 2019

Mi 869.4 - 845.9

I woke up at 5am to be on top of Selden pass before 10am. While the PCT is very remote in the Sierras, it comes close to a ranch called the “JMT ranch” and I decided to pop by at 12pm to see what it was about.

It serves as a major resupply point for people hiking the JMT so I met quite a few of them and they shared with me their extra food. I got snickers, dehydrated meals and all sorts of goodies! I also charged my electronics and talked to the owner of the ranch who despite me only being here for scraps and not paying for any of their services was really nice and welcoming.

She was 92 years old and looked 60! Crazy what living in the mountains will do to you. I also talked to her 3 grandchildren. One of them, Charlotte, who looked about 8 years old told me her favorite book is the Jungle Book and Mowgli her favorite character. Alas the trail was calling me and I had to leave but this impromptu conversation left me pandering on alternative lifestyles and what they can add to ones upbringing.

I got close to John Muir pass and called it a day when I saw a really nice campsite, looking forward to going over it early the next morning.

Day 101

‌14 July 2019

Mi 845.9 - 818.7

A long and tiring day. The John Muir pass was easy in terms of elevation but had long snow fields before and after which slowed me down significantly.

Towards the end of the day I met a group of hikers I had already seen before Mammoth Lakes. They were “only” doing the JMT (150 miles) and confessed later that day that when they first saw me they dubbed me “the animal” as they thought they were going quite fast and I went past them sweating and smelling like ... well you guessed it.

I camped above a nice lake before Mather pass, one of the sketchiest pass of the PCT this year due to rockslides, or so I had been told.

Day 102

‌15 July 2019

Mi 818.7 - 794

Two passes in one day! Mather and Pinchot passes summits are only 10 miles apart so I was able to hit both of them the same morning.

Mather pass was indeed pretty sketchy especially on the descent side since rockslides and patchy snow made the switchbacks impractical. Nevertheless I made it safe and sound over both passes and found a nice place to camp near an alpine lake before another big day tomorrow where I planned to do two passes once again.

Day 103

16 July 2019‌

Mi 794 - 767

I wanted to do Glen pass and Forester pass on the same day so I could summit Whitney tomorrow. Forester pass is the highest point on the PCT at 13153 feet (4009m) so I had to hit it before the snow on the ascent became slushy.

I also had to do Glen pass before Forester so I woke up at 1am. Armed with my headlamp and determination I summited Glen at 3 am and approached forester at 6am, on schedule. It was pretty eerie to hike so early and in so much snow at that altitude. It was complete silence except for the noise made by my micro spikes hitting the hard packed snow repeatedly like the drum rolls of a marching band.

After a long and steep snow traverse I made it over Forester pass! The last big pass of the Sierras, I shared my excitement with a couple of JMTers and made my way towards the base of Mount Whitney.

Day 104

‌17 July 2019

Mi 767 - 750 (+14mi round trip to Whitney)

The PCT is just a few miles off Mount Whitney and since I probably won’t come back here in the near future I decided to take a detour and summit it.

I was up at 1am once again, hoping to make it to the top before the sunrise. The ascent was mostly snow free so I was able to make it to the top by 4:45am, just in time. Words or pictures won’t do justice to the views I experienced on top of Whitney watching the sun reveal itself in the distance. Standing at 14505ft or 4421m Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous USA.

It was exhilarating, I walked more than 1500 miles to see this and man was it worth it!

I made my way down towards Cottonwood pass where I had bailed from a few months ago and reconnected my steps. Pretty crazy that just two months earlier it was snowing here and I had my coldest night on trail. Here's a comparison of what it looked like two months ago versus today.

I got to Horseshoe meadow at 4pm and was picked up by a couple heading towards Lone Pine. They were really nice but believed in many conspiracy theories such Bigfoot and Aliens living freely in Area 51. At first I though they were joking, but they weren’t.

Due to an ultramarathon all the hotels were booked up in Lone Pine so I settled on an hostel with a shared room of 10 people. Suffice to say for the third night in a row I didn’t get much sleep, between the AC on full blast, the snoring and lovely people packing up and leaving at 4am.

Day 105

18 July 2019

A full day of traveling as I made my way back up California towards the Oregon border. 3 buses and one night train later I made it to Dunsmuir at 5am.