Date: July 4, 2017
Miles: 7.6 miles (12.2km), from mile 873.5 to mile 881.1.
Health: Feeling really great. I'm ready to start doing longer days and hit Northern California.

My alarm went off at 4am but I snoozed it until 5am. I only had to do about 5 miles to the VVR junction and then about a mile to the ferry. The ferry was leaving at 9:45am so I had ample time.

Stopping early yesterday meant that I got to sleep a lot. Which I felt in the morning. I felt really good and like I'd want to hike long today. But today I was going to Vermilion Valley Resort to get a small resupply and charge my electronics. My InReach had died yesterday and my phone was running so low that I'm not sure I could make it to Mammoth with it.

Before leaving camp I leave a note on the trail for Topo and DG that I'm going to VVR today.

The trail climbs about 1,000 feet from my camp spot before descending over 2,000 feet down to the valley where the ferry to VVR leaves from. I take the climb quite easily and make it up in no time. I guess doing over 5,000 feet of elevation gain every day has its benefits.

As I get to the top of the climb the mosquitoes come out. It's not like in Finland, but they sure are annoying. I keep a little faster pace to outrun them.

At one of the trail junctions I notice a note on the sign. It says: "Reindeer and Topo come to VVR. B". Who is B? I hike on wondering who is B but can't think of anyone.

Then the trail starts going down. It's like a switchback after switchback. The trail is quite easy and I make good time. Soon I start hearing the river down at the bottom and little after that I reach the bottom. Less than a mile and I'm at the junction.

I leave the PCT to head towards the ferry. The trail gets a lot muddier and the mosquitoes more hungrier. I'm wearing my Houdini jacket so my torso and hands are okey but they are hitting my legs. I stop and take out the bug spray. After few sprays I get to hike in peace again.

I soon reach the ferry but there's almost no one there. There are only two lovely ladies who are heading out to hike the surrounding area. We chat while they setup their gear and I wait for the ferry. They ask about my gear, about the passes and snow and river conditions. They are also heading to Mammoth later and we might meet up there again.

Then the ferry arrives. It drops three hikers and I'm the only one going in. Weirdly quiet for the 4th of July?

I speak with the driver and he tells me there were over thirty hikers coming in yesterday and that most of them got wasted last night and are still sleeping. We also talk about the lake Edison we're on and how it's a manmade lake. Then I realize, Blis! Of course, it was Blis who left the message. Oh man, maybe I caught up to them? I so hope he's still in VVR!

Once we get to the resort I get a quick rundown on where to go and what to do and then I head towards the main building hoping to score a burger.

As I round the corner I see Blis and Airplane Mode sitting there. I casually walk up to them and it takes them a moment to notice me. And then we all start yelling. It's so awesome to meet them, and especially after spending almost two days alone.

We hug and share stories from the trail. Also Happy Feet is there, as are Indigo and Juniper. Also Taylor and the Swiss and the Jew Crew (that's what they call themselves) are there.

The breakfast has just ended but I get a soda and a bag of salt and vinegar chips. I love these chips! I also get a free beer, as do all the hikers coming to VVR. I really like the place!

We sit with everyone and talk. It's good to see everyone again. It's been over a week since I saw Blis and way longer the last time I saw Airplane Mode. Juniper and Indigo are new to me. I later learn they started the trail from Tehachapi.

When the lunch opens, we all move to the terrace and order cheeseburgers. It's so good to have real food instead of Snickers and Clif bars. I have to be more careful with my next resupply as this one was a disaster.

Blis and his crew are heading out on the 4pm ferry and I decide to join them. While the VVR is great, I want to make it to Mammoth and do a proper resupply. I buy some Idahoan potatoes for dinner for tonight and tomorrow and that should be enough. I also get to recharge all my devices.

There's a very poorly working wifi but it only gives you maybe one or two Instagram photos before crapping out. Not even enough to check email. And no phone reception.

We relax all day and then finally time comes to get back on the trail. I weight my pack before we leave and depending on the scale, it's either 21 or 27lbs (9.5 or 12kg). With the Sierra gear, only a couple days of food and a liter of water, I'm pretty sure the it's closer to 21lbs.

Going out the ferry is almost full. I learn that about halfway through the lake you get cell reception and once that happens every hiker has their phone out. We still had some reception at the end of the lake so people just stayed at the beach, checking their phones.

We soon hiked out and got back to the junction and the PCT. We're setting up going over the Silver Pass tomorrow but it's not far so we only can do very few miles. We climb little over 1,000 feet and cross the Mono Creek over a log. Usually you'd cross the creek higher, on a waterfall, but this time of the year there's so much water that it would just sweep us down the waterfall. As we look up, we can see the crossing and the waterfall and it would be a pretty long drop.

We decide to camp here and deal with the second waterfall in the morning. We need to cross the Silver Creek high on a smaller, but still quite scary looking waterfall.

As we sit by the fire drying our gear, two JMT hikers come down from the waterfall and we get to see what it looks like. It's going to be an interesting morning tomorrow. We offer them marshmallows and they warm their cold hands on the fire for a while. Then they head out, going towards the VVR junction.

We sit by the fire eating dinner and sharing stories until 9pm rolls in. Hiker midnight. Everyone goes to bed and I stay over to make sure the fire is properly put out. A small mouse keeps me company while I warm my feet on the hot rocks around the fire pit. The stars are out and it's so beautiful. I still can't believe I'm here and doing this every day. It feels surreal. And the Sierra are so unbelievably beautiful. If I didn't have to get to Canada before winter, I could just stay here and wonder around these mountains all summer long.

Date: July 3, 2017
Miles:  17.6 miles (28.3km), from mile 855.9 over Selden Pass to mile 873.5.
Health: Feeling great. Legs little tired from the long day yesterday.

I woke up at 4:30am after snoozing the alarm for half an hour. No one else was up yet. I switched my headlamp to the red light mode not to wake anyone and quietly started putting my things together.

I was ready little later but ate a quick breakfast at the camp and stretched my legs. My legs are little tired but not as much as I would've thought after all the miles, climbing, and snow yesterday.

As I start hiking I see the others waking up. I cross the river over the bridge and decide not to fill up my water bottles as the river is raging so badly that I don't want to get anywhere near it. There's another stream coming up soon I'm sure.

I'm little too far from the Selden Pass so I'm trying to rush a little as I want to get there as soon as possible. The snow usually gets really slushy and hard to walk on after 10am. Before I can reach the pass I have to climb over 3,300 feet (1,005m) of elevation in about 8 miles (12.9km).

I estimate I'm going to reach the pass at around 11:30am or at noon. That means, depending on how large the snowfields are before the pass, that I'm going to do all the snow walking in the slush. Thankfully this pass is lower in elevation than the others we've crossed, so hopefully the snow isn't going to be bad.

First few miles are pretty gradual climb but I can't find a water source anywhere. I'm already little thirsty. Apparently this is the only section so far in the Sierra with no streams crossing the trail all the time. As I climb more I cross few mud puddles, but I'm not that thirsty yet.

After two hours of climbing I finally reach a small stream crossing the trail. I fill my water bottle and camel up a liter. I also take out an extra Snickers bar as I'm still hungry.

Soon the climb starts to get steeper and I hit the switchbacks. It's so nice to climb up on switchbacks instead of on snow. At one point I notice two of the hikers from the camp behind me. They're fast and seem to be rushing all the time. Not my style of hiking but HYOH.

After couple of switchbacks they catch up and I give them room to pass. Not much is said. I miss our bubble. Sierra really messed up everything. Our tramily is all over the place, and our awesome bubble is also broken. Some people skipped Sierra, some flipped, some quit, and the rest who are on trail, are all spread out on such a large area that I won't see anyone before Mammoth.

Sunshine, Dandelion, and Fireant are pushing to make it to Mammoth by 4th (Independence Day), Otter and her group are somewhere way ahead, Pony and her group are a day or two behind, and Topo and DG are one Pass behind.

I was originally planning to go directly to Mammoth, but I'm running out of electricity and food. My battery pack won't be enough for an eight day section, and my food selection is very limited. I only have one more dinner left, everything else is just snacks.

I hike past the junction to Muir Trail Ranch but it's too early to go in. And as they don't have electricity, they could only help me with food. Although there are not that many JMT hikers out yet, so the hiker boxes might be empty this early in the season. But I could make it to Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) by tomorrow morning. It's a $23 ferry ride back and forth but  there I could get a good meal, do a small resupply to last me to the next town, and recharge my electronics. The critical ones are my phone (maps and GPS) and my InReach.

As I climb the switchbacks I send my mom a message on InReach that I will run out of battery by today or maybe tomorrow. Just to let them know that I'm ok and that when the satellite tracker disappears, not to worry.

I eat another Clif bar and read the notes on VVR on Guthooks. Someone had a pulled pork sandwich there. Right now, eating nothing but bars, that sounds so good. I could possibly push three big days to Mammoth and risk doing the last pass and miles without the GPS, or I could go to VVR, eat well, charge my devices and still make it to Mammoth in three days. I decide to go to VVR.

I reach 10,000 feet elevation. The snow should start soon but beside few lonely snowbanks here and there, I don't see any.

Soon I catch up to the two hikers who passed me earlier and find them sitting by a river, eating snacks. I would have crossed the river first and then taken a break but, HYOH. They look like they're just quietly eating, no talking or anything. Breaks were the moments when our tramily was the loudest. I can't remember a single instance when we've sat and not spoke at all.

I cross the river little downstream where it splits into three smaller streams. The first two I cross over logs but have to wade through the third. After shaking some of the water out of my shoes I continue climbing.

The trail continues in a forrest and there's not much to see. I put on both of my headphones and start rocking to Metallica's live recording of One. I'm all in my own world, doing air guitar with my pole, strumming air, and head banging, when I hear a noise behind me. I turn around and it's the two hikers. I step aside and they pass me, smiling a little. I'm glad I wasn't singing.

Soon the climbing stops and we reach a plateau. I catch up to the two hikers and we cross a lake outlet together. I'm hungry and the lake looks awesome so I stop to dry my socks and to eat by the lake.

I spend half an hour just sitting there, alone, watching the mountains and the lake. What a beautiful sight. Then I must move again as the snow is melting.

I'm only 1.6 miles from the pass and there's no snow yet. So far this seems like an easy pass to cross. I ford one more river and then the snow starts. But I can already see the pass.

I climb the last 900 feet of elevation and reach the pass. Well this was uneventful. There was about a mile of snowfields before the pass, meaning this was by far the easiest pass we've done so far.

I take one photo from the top and then start climbing down wondering how far the snowfields reach on the north side. I look at my clock and I was at the top an hour before I estimated. Not bad, considering I took an half an hour break.

The climb down is as uneventful as the climb up. The snow is slushy but nothing we haven't already seen. The snowfields reach about 2 miles down from the pass and then end. This was a really easy pass.

As soon as the snow ends I reach one of the forks of Bear Creek. Bear Creek is one of the two notorious crossings on PCT (Evolution Creek being the second, which we did yesterday) and it is bad on a regular or a low snow year. This year is a record snow year so it's going to be interesting to see what it looks like.

I cross the stream and water comes up to my waist and the current is quite strong. And this is only one of the forks and tributaries that feed into the main river I soon have to cross.

I curse that I wasn't able to keep up with the other two hikers as it would be really helpful to have someone there as I'm crossing the river. I'm approaching the river crossing alone, knowing there's no one there and knowing there's no one behind me for at least a day.

I hike the mile down to the Bear Creek and I can hear the water rushing from far away. I try to look at the river from upstream as much as i can but it seems impassable. I could go even more upstream and cross the river from where it splits into three parts, but the terrain doesn't look good for bushwhacking. It's too rocky and I might be able to make my way up there.

I'm betting my changes of getting across on the rumor that a tree had fallen on the creek a little downstream from the PCT crossing. I don't know if the tree crosses the whole stream, or if it's still there.

I get to the PCT crossing and it looks bad. The water is at least chest deep and rushing fast. There's no way I can make it across from here. There's a mark on the ground that says LOG and an arrow pointing downstream.

I hike about 0.3 miles downstream and where the creek splits in two, with an island in the middle, I see a large tree fallen on the creek on other side of the island. This must be the spot. I wade in knee deep water to the island and check out the tree.

The large trunk almost reaches the island and someone has placed a smaller log to reach the fallen tree. I don't like logs and being alone, falling under the tree and the branches, with the heavy flow, would be a very bad mistake. I put down my pack and go through my options.

I notice that the tree pushes the flow of the river towards the other side and leaves a shallow spot in the middle, from where I could reach the trunk without going over the sketchy spot with the heavy flow.

I secure all my electronics in the waterproof bags, just in case, and hop in to the water. It's mostly only shin deep and gets a little deeper as I reach the trunk. I'm careful not to get into a spot where I could get swept under the tree by the water. I easily climb on the trunk and walk to the other side. Phew.

That was way easier than I thought. Although it was not smart to do this crossing alone, this was fairly easy and I was at no point in any kind of danger. I was mentally prepared to camp here, if the crossing looked bad, to wait for the others to arrive but this time I didn't have to do it. As a rule of thumb, never cross rivers alone.

I quickly rejoin the trail, dry my shoes a little and continue hiking. Only one more pass before Mammoth and all the "scary" stuff is behind me now.

As I hike on, I keep cursing the bear canister. It has been sticking at my back ever since I got it and it's starting to really hurt. It's like having a large, circular object poking at your back at every step. Ugh. I'm so happy to get rid of it in few weeks. I try to repack my pack to get the bear can to a different spot but to no avail. The joys of frameless packs.

Looking at the map I'm less than 8 miles from the junction to VVR. There's an 1,000 feet climb between me and the junction. I don't need to walk all the way to the junction today and Guthooks is telling me all the camping spots are on this side of the climb. The other side looks like nothing but switchbacks so I doubt there's any place to camp there.

I climb about half the way, while crossing multiple streams going over the trail, and then find this gorgeous spot with place just for few tents. And no one's here. It's early but I've already done over 17 miles and it doesn't make much sense to push further if there are no camping spots on the climb down. I decide to stay here and call it an early day. 

I set up my tarp, eat, watch the mountains, and listen to the creek next to my shelter. It's so beautiful and peaceful out here.

I'm so in love with Sierra, even though it's kicking my butt daily. I feel like not a single photograph I could take, or a sentence I could write, could ever do justice to the beauty of this magnificent place. I feel such an inner peace and happiness here among the mountains. I feel like I'm at home. Sierra has completely stolen my heart.

I sit alone on a fallen tree trunk, contemplating on how I'm so lucky to be out here, eating cold soaked ramen, drinking cold hot chocolate, while watching the valley down below. All this to myself. And then I realize, this is the first time on the trail that I'm camping all by myself. It took over two months and 800 miles but I'm finally camping alone. And what a spot!

I go to bed early while listening to the sound of the creek. Tomorrow I'll get to VVR and get some real food! And then Mammoth in three days!

Date: July 2, 2017
Miles: 21.8 miles (35.1km), from mile 834.1 over Muir Pass to mile 855.9.
Health: Feeling great. Yesterday's short day reloaded my batteries.

After a short day yesterday, and all the rest we got, I woke up early and setup my gear. We had agreed to be on trail by 5am and I didn't want to be late. As I was camping a little down from where DG and Topo were camping, I wanted to make sure I got there on time.

I packed my pack quickly and started to make my way towards DG's and Topo's camp spot. I still had plenty of time to make it there. Once I get there, I see no movement, and they're both still sleeping. As I have my ice axe in my hand, I really can't let such an opportunity go to waist. I bang my ice axe against a rock, making a very loud noise, and yell "waaaaake uuuuup!!!". DG jumps up like there's an air raid coming in but Topo just raises his head.

They realize they both had forgotten to setup the alarm and start quickly getting their things in order. As I wait for them to get ready, I stretch my legs and eat a second breakfast.

We get on trail 50 minutes late and hit the snow as soon as we leave our camp. There are few spots where the rocks are exposed, but mainly we'll hike on snow from here on to the top of the pass.

Today we'll go over the famous Muir Pass, named after John Muir, as is the John Muir Trail we're currently also hiking on. John Muir is the reason we're able to hike in this area, and he was the father of US National Parks. His writings and essays, especially of his adventures in Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, have inspired millions. I'd highly recommend reading more about him. On top of the Muir Pass is also the Muir Hut, build by the Sierra Club, which he founded, in honor of John Muir.

While the Muir Pass isn't as steep or high as the previous passes we've gone over, it's not an easy pass. On regular snow years the approach to the pass can be covered by over five miles of snow fields on both sides of the pass. On a record snow year, like this one, these snow fields are going to be even longer.

The air is still cool as we slowly climb higher and higher. But soon the sun comes out and we begin our race against the melting snow. We really want to get as far over the pass as we possibly can before 10am when the snow begins to get slushy.

The approach isn't too steep or hard, but walking for miles and miles on frozen sun cups is still rough and you have to be constantly alert not to loose your footing. Without his microspikes DG is having a harder time moving on the slippery, icy snow.

After few hours I'm a little ahead and as I'm getting hungry, I stop on a little rock formation to eat more bars and to fill up my water bottles from the little stream running under the snow. DG and Topo soon catch up and after they've eaten as well, we keep going.

Soon we reach a little valley from where the trail climbs up in a more steeper grade. I can see two hikers up in the distance, making their way up towards the pass. We're not far from the top.

On the steep climb I stop to take photos and DG goes ahead. After a while I hear screams of joy and I know we're getting close. My legs are tired from the long climb but as I see the familiar shape of the rocky roof of the Muir Hut, I know I'm almost there.

I push for the last few steps and reach the hut. There I'm greeted by DG and few other hikers. Topo arrives not long after me. We go inside the hut to enjoy being sheltered from the wind, and to eat some more. The hut is nice and I could spend more time here but we still have miles of snow fields to cover on the northern side of the pass and sun is already out at full force.

We shoulder our packs again and start our descent. As we get on snow I can feel it already starting to melt. It's going to be a rough afternoon. We hiked over 8 miles on snow on our way up, and the northern sides of the passes always have more snow so it's going to be even longer on the way down.

We agree to meet somewhere down and as I'm faster on snow, I head out first. I'm soon ahead and only see Topo behind. I'm running out of water so I stop at one of the rivers and wait for the others to catch up.

Going down is much faster and we soon reach the lakes halfway down to the valley. From these lakes starts the Evolution Creek, one of the notorious river crossings on PCT. We cross it once here, right at the lakes. It's wide and shallow, but from here it drops down as a long waterfall to the valley below us.

After a long climb down we get to the valley floor and start getting closer to the Evolution Creek crossing. At times the "creek" looks more like a raging river, and at times more like a lake. There's so much water that the creek is just overflowing. I feel a little nervous as I've heard the crossing can be bad even on a normal year. But this year there's so much water that it's likely going to be much worse.

To cross the Evolution Creek, there are two options. The regular PCT crossing can be bad when the water is high, so there's an alternative  crossing up at the Evolution Meadow, where the current isn't as strong and the water is spread out on a wider area. As we reach the junction where we have to choose which crossing we want to do, we all unanimously choose the alternative and head for the meadow.

As we get to the meadow we can't even see the other side of the "creek". But it doesn't look bad at all. All that water has just spread out on a large meadow, meaning it's going to be much more shallow, and easier to cross. We scout few spots where to cross but see no difference and just start crossing. Before getting into the water we put all our gear inside waterproof bags as there might be a chance that we end up swimming at some point. 

DG and Topo cross first. As they are both way taller than me, seeing them chest deep in the creek isn't what I wanted to see. But the current looks really slow and they get over very easily. I follow at their steps and as I'm in the middle of the stream, DG asks me to stop so he can get few photos. I happily pose for him as the water feels actually quite nice, even a little warm. I feel like I'm wading through a swimming pool with my clothes on.

As we're all on the other side, we laugh at how easy the crossing was. I go back into the water to get few more photos and then we hike on to the camp spot not far from the creek. Once there we dry our gear in the sun, eat, and talk about where we'd want to camp tonight.

I feel like I want to hike so after we've decided where we'd camp, I head out, saying I'd wait for the others at the spot. I put on my headphones and start moving down the trail. It feels so go to be down here in the valley as there's no snow and I can walk on a dry trail again. Before I know it, I'm at the spot where we agreed to camp at.

The spot doesn't look too nice and there are too many mosquitoes for my taste. I sit down and start eating while looking at the map. I find a nicer camp spot a little over four miles (6.4km) down the trail, and as I'm still full of energy, I want to go there. I start writing a note for the others, letting them know I went further. Right as I'm done they arrive. I tell them about pushing a little further but they both feel too tired to push and want to camp here.

As DG and Topo start making their camps, I keep hiking on. I feel really good being on the trail again. The trail follows along the creek at the bottom of a beautiful canyon and the views in the sunset are simply breathtaking. The miles go by really fast and I soon reach the next camp spot. There I find the hikers who we saw in the morning at the top of the pass. We exchange few words and then I move a litter further to give them space.

As it's getting late I set up my camp, eat a quick dinner, and go to sleep. Today was a good day!

Date: July 1, 2017
Miles: 5.6 miles (9km), from mile 828.5 to mile 834.1.
Health: Tired. 

Hero image taken by DG . Check out his Instagram for more great shots!

I slept like a rock. I wake up to my alarm and snooze it couple of times. Then I hear Topo asking if I'm up. I reply yes and start putting my things in order.

Last nights campsite was too close to the water and the condensation has gotten my sleeping bag all wet. I have to dry it during the day on one of the breaks or I'm going to sleep cold the next night.

It doesn't take us long to get ready and soon Topo and DG head out. I leave few minutes behind them. The trail is easy, only few snow banks to cross. I follow the trail up the river and soon catch up to Topo and DG. They're marveling at the beautiful scenery opening in front of us.

We push on in a single line and soon DG stops and points right. There's a deer eating not 10 feet from us. The deer doesn't seem to care about us at all. We take our photos and leave him to continue his breakfast.

We meet few other PCT hikers camping along the way. No one seems to be in any hurry, unlike in the desert. And why would you? We're in a gorgeous valley, surrounded by tall mountains on all sides, with a river running through it. It doesn't get much more perfect than this.

We meet one group who are waiting for their friend who's helping their other friend to evacuate through the Bishop Pass due to broken rip bone while self arresting. Auts.

They've heard that the snow begins again at 10,500 feet and that the snowfields before Muir Pass continue for miles and miles. The Muir Pass can have over five miles of snowfields on a regular year. On a high snow year like this one, it's worse.

We look at the time, we started way too late this morning, and start thinking about our options. If we go up, the snow is going to be slushy by the time we reach it and we have no place to stop or camp for miles. With fresh feet it would not be a problem, as we would just push on until the snow ends, but none of us have fresh feet. Mine feel like led.

We start looking at the map and our options are to either push up and spend all day in the slow snow and hope to make it to a possible campsite. Or do a really short day and put ourselves right on the snow line and do the pass early tomorrow when the snow is still nice and hard.

As we keep climbing and gaining elevation, my decision comes quite clear. I'm too tired to tackle a huge slushy snowfield while climbing a pass. I look at the map and there's a possible spot right below the 10,000 feet no-fires line. That would allow us to have a fire, and also put us right below where the snow begins, making it easy to get to the pass in the morning.

Others agree on taking a shorter day instantly and as we get to the spot, we find a nice little forest just 5 feet below the no-fires sign. Perfect! I put all my gear in the sun to dry and lay down on the soft ground. I fall asleep and sleep for an hour.

When I wake up, I find the others doing the exact same thing. We are right next to a river that flows down from the snowfields up above us. The massive mountain walls surround us from both sides. It's a beautiful spot to spend an on-trail Nero, which today technically is. I don't mind as I really needed the rest, and spending more time in one of the most beautiful sections of the entire trail is something that I'm really happy about.

I do some laundry in the river, we collect firewood, and just relax all day. As the sun starts to set behind the mountains we light the bonfire and gather around it to eat and enjoy the warmth. We tell stories and jokes all night and then get to bed early. Tomorrow we'll tackle Muir Pass.

Date: June 30, 2017
Miles: 17.2 miles (27.7km), from mile 811.3 over Mather Pass to mile 828.5.
Health: Very tired and exhausted, but happy.

I woke up to my alarm but I'm still too tired to wake up. My legs still feel sore. I snooze my alarm few times until I hear Topo getting ready to move.

The night had been cold and the morning was cold as well. I tried to stay in my sleeping bag for as long as I could. Due to my slowness Topo and DG had to wait for me to get ready. It wasn't long but I hate having people wait for me on trail.

We headed out towards the Kings River crossing. The trail was still covered in snow and we had to find our own way through and over the big snow banks. We soon arrived at the Kings River.

The PCT crosses the Kings River twice. This is not an issue during a regular snow year, or at summer when the water is low, but now the river was a raging and overflowing monster. Needless to say we didn't want to cross it. And definitely not twice.

There's a way you can avoid crossing the river by staying on the east side and bushwhacking about 2 miles (3.2km) upstream. You have to cross small tributaries along the way, but not the main river. This sounded good to us.

We hopped over or used snow bridges to cross about six or seven tributaries and got back on the PCT with dry feet. We celebrated by having a second breakfast.

So far, the going had been quite easy compared to what it had been the previous days. But after the easy part, we entered a vast snowfield full of sun cups. And the sun cups would continue all the way up to the approach to the Mather Pass.

Mather Pass is one of the steepest passes we have to go over on the PCT. As it's considered formidable climb in the summer, and we had to climb it up in snow, we were quite terrified of what it would be like.

About a mile before the pass we run into two southbound JMT hikers who inform us that the pass is quite easy, with well made steps, and a path all the way to the top. They also inform us that after the pass we would be happy to find 12 miles of snowless trail. We didn't believe them on this one but secretly hoped it would be true. Hiking even a mile on a snowless trail sounded so good at this point.

We shared with them the strategy of not crossing the Kings River and headed on. Approaching the pass had been relatively easy, unlike yesterday. Soon we were looking up on the pass and could see Taylor and the Swiss climbing halfway up.

We started the climb and I was feeling really good. There was a well traveled path in the snow for most of the way up. Few spots were a bit sketchy and I hated the rock hopping in the middle. The microspikes feel really uncertain on solid rock faces.

I was so happy about my ice axe and microspikes as it was a really long slide down if you would slip. DG had lost his microspikes yesterday when he fell into the river, so he was having a tougher time climbing. At one point he got himself on a slippery rock face and started to slowly slide down with no way of stopping himself. He yelled for help and as I was the closest, I stuck my hiking pole into the snow and ran back to help him. We got DG back on the snow and after a small breather continued the climb.

We had a small celebration at the top, took few photos and then had a small snack. As we still had ways to go, and the sun was melting the snow fast, we headed on soon.

Moving in the slushy snow was hard, even when going downhill. I soon pulled ahead as Topo and DG struggle in the snow more than I do. It took me about an hour and a half to get down to the lakes in the valley. I was running low on water and energy so when I found a nice, dry pile of rocks, I decided to take a break and wait for the others.

Topo arrived soon after me and DG little bit later. I wanted to eat my salted peanuts but I couldn't find them anywhere. Damn. I forgot them at the top of the pass. Some chipmunk is going to have a field day up there. Also, that's a big calorie loss when I'm already pushing food rations to the limit. I was not happy about that mistake.

Soon it was time to move again. The snow was getting softer and softer as the sun melted it more. It was getting difficult to walk and snowbridges were getting really sketchy to cross.

We wiggled our way around the lakes and got back to the river. The volume of water running through it was just unbelievable. We could barely hear each other over the roaring water.

We met one more group of JMT hikers and spoke with them for a while. Soon after that we got to a rocky hill that overlooked the entire valley down below. The view was absolutely breathtaking. We were so happy to see this view. There was no snow down in the valley. This must be what the first JMT hikers were talking about.

After more than enough photos, were started descending down to the valley. I've never been so happy to see switchbacks in my life. We had reached the famous Golden Staircase that would take us down to the beautiful Evolution Valley. There was no snow and we could finally walk on a real trail. Everyone was on such a good mood.

There was water everywhere though and at times we were walking in a shin deep river in the switchbacks. But we didn't care. Our shoes were already so wet from all the snow that there was no point of caring.

Once we got to the valley floor the trail continued mostly dry and I was so happy to walk on dry land again. Only hindrance were all the fallen trees. They were everywhere. We'd walk few hundred feet and there was another tree to climb over. We kept jumping and climbing over the countless trees and crossing all the creeks along the way. While hard, this was still better than being on the snow.

By now everyone was getting really tired. We had been on the move for almost 10 hours and our legs were getting sore. We spotted a good campsite four miles away and started pushing towards that. We walked across beautiful meadows and hopped over crystal clear streams.

Finally we reached our campsite and quickly set everything up. We gathered some dry wood and made a campfire to dry our wet shoes and socks. It was great eating our dinner by the warm fire after a long day. I cold soaked bacon flavored Idahoan potatoes and salami.

While we were eating, a young deer walked into our camp. She spend a long time just hanging around, not seeming to care about us at all. She went away for awhile but then returned. She was our evening entertainment. Much better than TV in my opinion.

We ate and dried out our gear and as the clock hit hiker midnight we all went to sleep. I'm so tired I fall asleep immediately. Today marks two months on trail for me. What a wonderful day it was. Here's to three more months!

Date: June 29, 2017
Miles: 11.6 miles (18.7km), from mile 799.7 to mile 811.3.
Health: I'm completely drained and so tired. Bushwhacking through snow all day is so tiresome.

My alarm goes off at 4:50am but I don't want to wake up, I feel so beaten up. I peek through my door to see if the girls are up. No movement. I press the snooze button.

I keep snoozing until 5:30am when I hear the distinctive sound of air mattress being deflated. KB does this every morning. She opens the valve while she's still on the mattress and uses her body as a weight to deflate it. Time to start moving.

It's not that cold outside but I don't want to get out of my sleeping bag. I finish all my other chores from within the warmth of the bag and only at the very end get out. We pack our packs and head over the suspension bridge one by one. It's both cool and strange that there's a bridge here. It's the first one we've seen and it takes us across a raging river so we're very thankful for having it here.

Right after the bridge there's an 800 mile marker. We spend few moments looking at it and then start our climb towards the Pinchot Pass. From here the trail climbs for the next 7.7 miles (12.4km) during which we climb from 8,546 feet to 12,107 feet. So we gain over 3,500 feet (1067m) of elevation.

Below 10,000 feet the trail is mostly clear of snow and just full of water. We cross smaller and medium size streams where water goes from ankle deep, up to the bottom of my shorts. Like yesterday, our shoes and socks are going to be wet all day.

On the way up we pass the Woods Creek Waterslide but I'm the only one who stops to look at it. We hit few snow fields, which are still frozen and slippery after the night, and then get to a forest. After what seems like forever we get out of the forest and have our first break. We've hiked for over two hours but only covered 3.4 miles. Damn that's slow.

The Sierra is completely different beast compared to the desert. In the desert you walked on a trail all day long and the distance you covered during the day depended on how fast you were hiking, for how long, and how many breaks you took. But making big miles was generally easy. Here in the Sierra, especially now on a record snow year, miles are extremely hard to come by.

We hardly ever see the trail, as it's under the snow, and we have to navigate on our own. River and stream crossings are another thing. We might have to walk for miles up or downstream to find a suitable spot for crossing safely. None of these miles are included in our daily mileage as none of that walking is taking us forward on the PCT. It's just extra mileage we have to do to safely move forward in Sierra.

Climbing big snow banks, sliding and slipping around on snow, wading in ice cold water. All this is starting to take its toll on my body. I've had trouble sleeping well in the Sierra and I think all that is catching up to me. I can't keep up with the girls and every step hurts.

We meet up with Topo and DG and hit the snow with them. From here, it's still over three miles before we reach the pass. I have to go and take care of some hole digging and others slip away. Soon I'm standing on an endless field of snow and sun cups and they keep going for as far as the eye can see. I don't see the others, or their footprints on the snow. The snow is still too hard to leave any prints on.

I use the GPS to get a general direction and start slowly hopping over the sun cups. The sun cups form as the snow melts and forms small puddles on the surface snow. The water works as a magnifier and causes the snow under the water to melt faster. The cups can be up to waist deep. To move anywhere, you need to hop on the small bridges between the cups. The bridges are two to four finger wide. When you have to do this for miles and miles, it's really slow and tiresome.

I slip few times badly and fall into two large sun cups. I curse the snow and switch on my microspikes to get better traction. But it's only a minor help.

Soon I see couple hikers climbing a hill to my left and after double checking the GPS that it's the correct direction, I follow them. Climbing a steep hill covered in sun cups is just horrible. I feel like crying but it's of no use. I can't see anyone and there's nowhere else to go. I wish I had my regular energy and I could just power through these damn snow bowls.

Once at the top of the sun cup hill, I see Topo, DG, and Tailor and the Swiss. From here we can see the pass far up ahead and above us. I see KB, Dandelion, and Fireant halfway up approaching the pass. I'm so tired that I have to sit down and take a break before pushing on.

Others head up and I sit on a rock in the hot sun. The heat feels so good. I set my alarm 20 minutes on and close my eyes. I fall asleep immediately.

When my alarm goes off, I see that the others are already one third of the way up. I get my things packed up and head after them. From here it's all uphill to the top of the pass.

I can see the pass far up ahead, and others hiking towards it. They look so small, surrounded by all these massive mountains. Like little black dots in a vast, far reaching snowfield.

That little nap gave me some energy and before I notice it, I've gained the distance to the others and I'm only a little behind them. The climbing isn't too technical, but I'm still tired from moving uphill on snow. Once at the top I curse and moan and sit down behind a rock to take cover from the wind. It's time to eat to get more energy.

After the food everyone starts heading down on the other side. To get down, we first have to cross a field of rocks. After that, we get back on the snow. It looks like there's not much glissading today. I trail behind everyone and am the last to arrive on the next stop.

We break on a nice, warm rock and I need to eat more. It's good to eat as much as possible as it makes my pack lighter. The girls head out soon but I'm too tired to follow. I forget to tell them not to wait for me as I'm staying behind. I only remember this when they disappear from the view. 

I head down with DG, Topo, and Taylor and the Swiss. After more sun cups we reach a river we need to cross. We walk about 0.25 miles downstream and cross it from where it's wider. It gets only up to knee deep.

I squeeze the water out of my socks as my toes are starting to get cold and then continue descending down to the valley. There's still snow and small streams everywhere. I fall badly on one steep snow bank and almost hit my head on my ice axe. Frigging snow!

Everyone spreads out in the steep forest and I'm soon alone with Topo going down a muddy hill. We reach the last river crossing of today with Topo and see the girls on the other side. At the same time we hear yelling from downstream and see Taylor and the Swiss crossing over a rather sketchy looking log. The girls signal us to go upstream.

After a little miscommunication, as we can't hear each other over the sound of the river, we figure the spot they are telling us to cross from and get into the water. The water hits my groin and I have to get back up as I forgot my phone in the pocket of my shorts. New try. The water rushes fast but it doesn't have any power to it so it's an easy crossing.

I set all my gear to dry on the hot rocks and thank the girls for the directions. They want to push for four more miles, up to the approach for the next pass. There's a huge, powerful river between the pass and us, and the best option is not to cross the river. This means bushwhacking upstream along the river side and crossing the smaller streams, tributaries, that connect to it.

I don't have enough energy to do that so I tell the girls that I'm staying on the campground just down from where we are. Not only am I tired, but the girls are trying to push 17 miles per day to make it to Mammoth for the 4th of July, the Independence Day. I don't want to rush through Sierra with such speed. Or get to Mammoth on the busiest weekend and pay outrageous prices for lodging.

I have enough food that I can go slower and enjoy my time in the most beautiful section of the whole trail. 17 miles per day would be a lot without any snow in Sierra. With all this snow it's too much for me at this point.

I tell the girls that I'll see them in Mammoth and wish them safe journey. We hug and make plans to meet up when I get to Mammoth. The girls hike on as I stay with Topo to dry my wet gear.

We wait for awhile and soon DG arrives. We show him where to cross and wonder why he's all wet. Once he's over the stream, he tells us he tried crossing from upstream and fell in the river. While in the water, he lost his microspikes. That's bad news as he's going to need them tomorrow for getting over Mather Pass, the steepest pass we'll encounter on the trail.

DG has had quite a day. He forgot his hiking pole to the campground in the morning, along with his breakfast. Then he fell into the river and lost his microspikes.

We setup camp with Taylor and the Swiss and make fire to dry our gear. I'm going to get to bed early tonight and sleep. Tomorrow we're going to tackle Mather Pass and few bad river crossings. As I go to bed, I hope I gain some energy during the night, or it's going to be a long day tomorrow.

Date: June 28, 2017
Miles: 6.1 miles over Kearsarge pass, non-PCT miles (9.8km) + 10.9 miles (17.5km) from Kearsarge Pass Junction to mile 799.7.
Health: Felt tired in the morning but feeling great.

We wake up and quickly take down our camp. It's really windy and cold and I have to add more clothing on to not freeze. Pony and her group had already left before we managed to wake up.

I'm feeling really tired and not feeling like hiking at all. The thought of climbing close to 3,000 feet over a snowy pass with a pack full of ten days of food doesn't make my mood any better. But we're here to hike so we move on. It's 6am, still dark, cold, and windy.

I'm last to leave and slowly stumble my way forward. I feel pathetic. The trail is still clear of snow but I know what's coming. We climb to the second lake and then to the third. Then we start climbing on a rocky path and I see Dandelion and Fyreant stopped a little ahead of me. Dandelions hiking pole broke on the climb and she's trying to order a new one while we still have cell reception. That sucks, as we're just heading out for seven to nine days into Snowy Sierra, where you'll definitely need your poles.

We continue on and soon reach what would be switchbacks, but are now a face of snow going straight up. From here on, we'll be on snow all the way up to the top of the pass. We take out our microspikes and the ice axes. The snow is still icy and I have to really jam the axe to the snow to get a good grip.

There is no trail or route, it's more like an "choose your own adventure". Everyone takes their own route and soon we all disappear searching for the fastest or easiest route up. It's a steep climb and I'm moving slow, mainly thanks to the heavy pack.

The climb goes faster than I though and we soon reach the last climb up to the pass. From here there's a clear route carved to the side of the mountain and we start climbing it in a row like ducks.

We reach the top and the climb was much easier than I thought it would be. I was really dreading the climb so this suits me well.

We don't spend much time on the top, we've all been here before. It's time to climb down on the other side and get to the PCT junction. All this work and climbing and we've not moved a single mile along the PCT. Resupplies in Sierra take a lot of time and effort.

We choose the upper road back to the PCT, and after few switchbacks, find ourselves back on the snow. And the "choose your own adventure" continues. We hop on and over frozen sun cups and fallen trees, trying to find the trail. Every once in a while we see a glimpse of the trail, only to loose it again. Moving forward is painstakingly slow and requires a lot of work.

After wasting way too long in the snowy forest, we find the trail again and start working our way through the ice chutes blocking the trail. We eventually get to the one where Pony had to self arrest two days ago. Luckily no one slips this time. 

Then we get down from the rocky path and get back in to the forest. And we lose sight of the trail again. Everyone starts working on their own paths. I'm the first one to reach the PCT junction and stay there waiting for the others. KB is first to arrive and we start eating second breakfast. Soon, Dandelion and Fireant show up too. The sun is already up and we sit on the warm ground. I just want to stop here and sleep.

We get back on the trail, talking about stopping at the next water source to get more water. We literally take ten steps over a snow bank and arrive at a stream. Great, how didn't we see it here. We stop again to filter water.

From here, we have only few miles to our second pass of the day, Glen Pass. We slowly push through the snow and get to the approach to the pass. The snow gets deeper so out come microspikes and ice axes. After about a mile of gradual climbing, the mountain turns straight up in front of us. We see a group ahead of us, climbing what looks like a very steep wall of snow. This is where the switchbacks would be, but now it's just a wall of snow. We follow the footsteps of previous groups and start climbing.

We climb slowly, making sure not to loose our footing as it's a steep slide down to the lake below. We hop over few rocks and get to the steepest section. I don't want to look down.

Thankfully the climb is not long and we're soon up on the top of the pass. We sit down in the sun and the rocks nicely block the wind blowing at the top. We eat and rest. I feel like I could fall asleep here but it's too hot in the sun. Fireant and I try to both sleep behind the same rock, but it's too hot and we both complain about the sun. There's no shade and we're above 12,000 feet so the sun burns quite mercilessly.

Pony's grew catches up to us. We thought they were ahead of us. We need to start going as we still have two big river crossings to do and the rivers get deeper and stronger as the day goes on and the sun melts more and more snow.

What follows is an epic glissading party down the side of the mountain. For the next few hours we hike down and glissade every change we get. On one long glissade Fireant looses her ice axe midway down. I catch it going down but foolishly start celebrating midway and loose it again. Dandelion catches it and brings it down. Other than the cold snow hurting my buttocks, glissading is my favorite thing out here.

We soon reach the Rae Lakes down below and start going around them. We have to cross a stream between the lakes and get quite wet while crossing it. The water is freezing but we can't stop to dry ourselves, we have two more rivers to cross. 

We reach the first river and its flowing quite nicely. The water looks about hip deep. I cross it with Fireant as the current is quite strong. While midway through, Dandelion breaks her second pole, right at the strongest current. I go back in to the water to lend her my pole so that she can cross safely.

It's already quite late but we decide that we want to get ourselves on position to cross the next pass early in the morning. This means we need to cross one more river and it's going to be flowing nicely thanks to all the snow that has had time to melt all day.

We hike on with wet gear. My socks and shoes haven't been dry for the past five or six hours. On the way we cross some smaller streams. It doesn't matter as our shoes are already full of water.

The lower in elevation we get, the less there's snow, and we soon find ourselves walking on a trail again. There's still snow but at least we can see where the trail leads.

We reach the last river and cross it easily. It has a strong current but not a lot of water. We have still few miles to do to make it to the approach for the next pass tomorrow so we keep moving. Water splashes from my shoes as I walk.

I look at the watch and it's almost 8pm. We've been on the move since 6am. Moving in the snow here is slow and tiresome.

The scenery is just absolutely gorgeous. It has been like this all day, but I really like how it looks here at the bottom of the valley.

On the way down we see two deer just eating right on the trail. They don't seem to mind us and follow along with us for a while. Right before the campground we see a bear ripping a tree trunk apart. We make our presence know to her and she soon moves further in to the forest. My second bear on trail so far. I'm so excited!

Our camp is just minutes from where we saw the bear. Thankfully there's bear boxes here. We dry our gear over the fire and then head to bed.

We had an epic day today. We hiked 17 miles in snow covered Sierra, no easy task. While doing so, we climbed two mountain passes, Kearsarge and Glen. We crossed two rivers and countless streams. And on top of that saw a bear. I'm smiling from ear to ear as I slip inside my sleeping bag. Tomorrow is going to be another rough day, with possibly two more passes to go over.