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.

Date: June 26 – 27, 2017
Miles: 0 and 2.6 non-PCT miles up Kearsarge Pass.
Health: Feeling rested.

Our zero day in Bishop is spend mostly resting. I go out in the morning to get breakfast and then to visit the gear stores in town. I'd like to find new shoes, something other than the Altras, but every model and make I try is too narrow for toes. My feet have swollen so much that I can't fit normal shoes anymore.

I'm also looking for a new hat. I know that it's hiker trash and all that to hike in a beaten hat, but this is something I wanted to do even before the hike. I just couldn't find a good hat in San Diego so I've hiked in my "backup hat" up to here.

I find one that feels great and protects my head better than the trucker style hat I've worn so far. But as I ask others for opinion, I hear that they don't recognize me without the old hat on. Bummer. Also, I'm not sure if I like the style of the hat I'm trying on. After way too much pondering, I decide to do a compromise – I buy the same Patagonia hat that I already have. This way I'll have a new hat, but everyone will still recognize me. And maybe I don't look like a hobo as I get into towns from here on out.

As I get back to the hostel Dandelion notices that the hats aren't the same. They're almost the same but with different print. Even better. But how did I miss that even with looking at the hats side by side?

We eat in our hostel room for dinner and while others watch TV or organize their gear, I spend the rest of the day and evening trying to get blog posts out. It's getting harder and harder to stay updated as the days and resupply distances get longer and longer. Also I find that now that we get to towns I have million things to do and organize and that leaves very little time for blogging.

Going out from Bishop, through Kearsarge, will be our biggest food carry so far. I'm taking ten days worth of food, meaning my pack will be extremely full and heavy. Especially with all the heavy Sierra gear.

There's no way I can fit all my food in my bear can so White Rabbit and I buy a pack of Opsak smell proof sacks. It's not bear smell proof, but it's better than nothing.

As we're about to leave I notice that I forgot to take my bounce box to Post Office and it closes at four, not five. Luckily I hear Fyre is staying for one more night so I ask her if she could drop my package to the Post Office tomorrow and she agrees. Thank you Fyre!

We're getting a ride with Legend and KB, Fireant, Dandelion, and I hop on. As we're driving towards Independence I hear that Fyre is not coming tomorrow, and that actually she's skipping this section and possibly flipping north of Sierra. I feel really bad as I didn't know this and would have liked to say proper, or at least better, goodbyes to her before we left. I keep hoping that our paths will still cross.

As we get to the trailhead and I shoulder my heavy pack, I feel down. The mountains look huge and ominous, the air is cold and windy, and leaving Fyre behind brings the whole groups morale down. We don't speak much as we ready our gear.

Right as we're leaving I remember that I forgot to pack toilet paper with me. Thankfully Legend hands me a small roll that should help at least a little. I take a little more from the pit toilets at the trailhead after we've done the road walk up to the trailhead.

The climb back up looks steep, and knowing how long it was, I'm not looking forward to this part at all. The worst is, these aren't even PCT miles. We're doing all this just to get resupplies for the next section. We'll join the PCT hopefully sometime tomorrow after climbing over the pass. Tonight we're just hiking up to the first lakes, just below the snow line.

As we get up to the lake we find Pony and others already camping there. We find a nice shielded spot close to them and setup our cowboy camps. Sunshine, Dandelion, Fireant, and I squeeze behind a flat rock, hoping the rock would give us some protection from the wind.

As it's already dark, we just quickly eat something and then get into our sleeping bags. Tomorrow we need to climb back up on the pass we just climbed a few days ago.

Date: June 25, 2017
Miles: 2.9 miles (4.7km) + 7.6 miles over Kearsarge Pass (non-PCT miles), from mile 786 to 788.9.
Health: Tired from the long day yesterday.

I woke up late in the morning, still tired from the all the snow and climbing yesterday. KB and Fyre had left earlier and I left with the others from the camp. Down at the valley the trail was a bit easier to hike but we still needed to climb over snowbanks.

After a while we hit a junction and the trail turned up. We climbed for about an hour and then reached the first junction to Kearsarge Pass. Kearsarge Pass isn't part of the PCT but most people climb it to get to resupply to either Independence or Bishop. I was running low on food and needed to get to Bishop where everyone else was also going.

The first junction takes the lowest path to the pass, the Bullfrog Trail. As we had heard it was covered in snow and party soggy due to the overflowing lake, we were taking the second trail that goes above the lake. So we climbed some more and reached the second junction.

From here the trail was already under snow almost constantly and way finding became harder. As the others were struggling with snow or finding the path, I went ahead alone. I thought that I would wait for them at the next junction as I needed to take care of some hole digging business.

As I finally found the next junction I couldn't actually reach it as it was under water. I could see the trail sign poking from the water, which was kind of funny. I waited for a while but as I saw or heard no one coming, I moved along as I didn't want the snow to melt too much. I still had a long way to go on snow.

Soon the trail reaches the area where I could see the lake below. Finding the way, or actually even walking here was extremely difficult. I was constantly losing the direction, or slipping, or having to go around different obstacles. Being on a steep slope didn't help either. I was tired and frustrated. I was standing on a ton of melting snow, being burned by the hot sun, trying to navigate an obstacle course, while climbing a mountain. I was moving so slow.

Even though the Kearsarge Pass trail was only 7.6 miles long, looking at my progress so far, it would take me all day to get over and down to the other side.

Just as I was having a mini meltdown I heard a familiar voice, Pony? I saw her behind some of the trees taking a break. She was with Neal and Cooper. I asked to join them for the break as I was exhausted.

After a small break we all headed out. It was so much easier to navigate with more people. Soon we found the trail again and we met few people coming back who told us it's going to get sketchy.

The trail was on a narrow path along the mountain wall and at times completely blocked by snow. We had to cross these steep fields slowly with microspikes and ice axes as our help. After few fields it looked like we were done with those and put away our snow gear.

We go around a corner and hit another snow field again. As we're getting on it Pony asks if she should take out her ice axe again for this one. We tell her that that's why she's being carrying it and she takes it out.

Cooper and I go over first and Pony's third. I take photos of her as she's in the middle of the snowfield. Just as I take on photo and lower my camera I see her slip. She's right above the rock field below, on the worst spot to slip. I grinch as she starts to slide down the steep snow face. But as soon as her stomach hits the snow she's in self arrest position and stops her slide like a pro. We all watch in with our mouths open. That was close. 

She's now stopped but we still need to get her out of there. Pony gets herself up, traverses down to the rocks safely and me and Cooper help her back on the trail. Pony's a little shaken up but safe and unharmed. Boy was it good that she took out her ice axe for this crossing!

Pony handles the situation like a boss and after a round of hugs we continue.

Soon we start seeing the switchbacks up above but can't seem to find a way to get there. We have no option other than to climb straight up on loose rock. Once we reach the switchbacks we just walk the rest of the way up and we're at the pass. Couple of high fives are thrown and then we stop for a break and lunch.

The views from the pass are great but it looks like we still have a long way down. After eating we start traversing down on the snow. Me and Cooper hit a big glissade and notice that Neal and Pony are some way behind. We push on as there's no way finding needed on this, we're just going downwards.

We hit so many glissades that my shorts are completely soaked. While this is all fun, it's really hard moving around in all the snow. My legs are still tired from all the climbing and going down isn't any easier.

Pony and Neal catch up to us and we glissade down together. Cooper and I push ahead again and soon reach a lake on the level where the snow finally stops. We stop in the sun by the lake to dry our completely soaked shoes and socks and wait for the others.

Others soon arrive and we climb the rest of the way down. There's still a lot of water on the trail but not as much snow.

And then we see the trailhead and parking down below us. The hitch down from here is going to be a hard one. The road has been closed due to flooding from all the snowmelt, and there's no reason for anyone to climb all the way up here. As we climb down we watch as some of the few cars parked below leave, hoping there would still be some left once we reach them.

Once we finally reach the trailhead we need to road walk down a bit over the closed, flooded road to where all the cars are parked. There's no one there so we try to find shade and sit and wait for someone to show up. We have no reception so we can't even call anyone.

After about an hour of waiting we see a minibus driving up and only a driver inside. This is sure our ride down. We send Pony, the only girl in our group, to investigate. We can't hear them but from the body language we can tell it's not going well. She comes back and the minibus turns and parks a little down from us. No luck.

As we're about to lose hope another car comes up and it's an trail angel Pony knows. He's here to give rides for hikers down the mountain to the town of Independence. We're happy to just get down from the mountain as getting a hitch from Independence to Bishop is much easier.

We drive down the long winding mountain road and watch as the thermometer rises as we get lower and lower. We soon hit over 100 degrees (40c). Ugh.

We get dropped of at the center of Independence, to the place were Subway used to be. Now there's a sandwich shop there but that too is closed. Independence looks like an extremely small town and doing resupply here would not be easy. We buy ice cream and sodas from the small grocery store and then start hitching again.

The sun is so hot that you can't stand too long in it. Pony and I hitch but Neal and Cooper stay behind for some reason. We get a ride but Pony needs to stay with the boys. I hop on and we agree to call when we're all in Bishop.

After an hour long drive I get to Bishop and try to call Pony. My phone isn't working. What? I can't send any messages, call, or access internet. What's going on? I'm alone in a new town that I know nothing about and I can't contact anyone or research anything.

My only option is to start walking along the Main Street and hope for the best. I don't have to hope for long. I meet a fellow hiker that I've met many times before and she tells me that the Hiker Hostel isn't far away, and that there's wifi there.

I make my way to the Hiker Hostel and find Dandelion, Fyre, KB, and Fire Ant there. And many others. I get the wifi password and start to investigate. I find out that AT&T has closed my plan due to an 25cent unpaid bill, on the same day that they've automatically charged the monthly $60 fee from my account. Why didn't they charge the 25cents at the same time? And where has that 25cents come from?

I get a message to Pony through wifi and she informs me the address of our hotel. It's a little of from the main street but it's cheap.

After I'm certain I have all the info on my phone, I head to the hotel and call AT&T. I need to pay a $10 extra amount as that's the minimum amount they can charge from my account. Great. But no I have my phone operating again.

After doing the usual laundry shower routine we head out for some Mexican food. I talk with Blis and as he's in town as well and we haven't seen for awhile.

We join other hikers in the restaurant and I end up ordering an 2.5 pound (1.2kg) burrito. I'm almost able to finish it all in one go. Hiker hunger.

Blis joins us as well and after the restaurant me and Blis go for a beer. It's good seeing him again. He's heading out tomorrow but we make plans for me to hopefully catch up to them on trail. As it's already well past hiker midnight we head to sleep.

Date: June 24, 2017
Miles: 19.8 miles (31.9km), from Crabtree Meadow over Forester Pass to mile 786.
Health: Feeling great but tired. Two days of big climbing, river crossings, snow, and elevation.

I love this trail. I love everything about it. It's already day 56 and I don't want it to end. Also, I passed the day 55 and didn't quit the PCT (if you're wondering what that's about, check day 20).

Today was going to be another big day. Not only did I need to catch up to KB, Fyre, Dandelion, and Fire Ant, I also needed to cross three major river crossings and climb first of the high Sierra passes. Forester Pass, at 13,200 feet (4,023m) was not only the highest point of the PCT, it was also notorious for the ice chute you needed to cross to get to the top. With all the snow this year, we had no idea what was waiting for us as we approached the pass.

Before reaching the pass though, we needed to cross the first three big river crossings – Wallace, Wright, and Tyndall. We had heard that the rivers were overflowing and full, and that crossing them was dangerous. My decision yesterday to not hike out of Crabtree Meadow with the rest of the crew meant that if I didn't catch them before the rivers, I might have to either cross them alone, which is not safe, or wait for someone to cross with. I knew there was no one going out in the morning so I had to the catch others or face the crossings solo.

I tried to guess the time the others would leave in the morning, and as I thought they'd be about 3 miles ahead, it would take me a little over hour to catch them. So I set out to hike around 4:30am thinking this would give me hour and a half to catch them. I hiked back the few miles to the PCT junction. As I looked at the map at the junction I realized I had made an error. If the others had went to the spot where they said, I wasn't an hour behind, I was over two hours behind. I had to speed up.

I tried my best to keep up as fast of a pace as I could but I soon ran into something I had also forgotten to calculate, snow. Instead of a clear trail to hike on, I found myself climbing snow drifts and snowbanks blocking the trail. I was moving way slower than I needed to. It soon became obvious I wasn't catching the others before the river crossings.

As I arrived to the Rock Creek, not the largest but still overflowing creek that I needed to cross. I saw no sight of the others. As I was alone, I wanted to make sure it was safe to cross and spend some time looking for a log, or something else to cross over with. After looking for awhile I just decided to cross at the trail. It was where the stream was widest, and had least flow. The water came only a little over my knees. This wasn't bad. I hiked on with wet shoes, trying to keep a steady pace to keep warm as the sun wasn't properly out yet.

Not long after the Rock Creek I reached the Wallace Creek. Now this had a little bit more umph to it. The water was flowing harder and it was much deeper. After looking little bit upstream I found a safer spot and crossed the creek there. The water reached my shorts but was not too bad.

I was hoping that the others would have taken a pause to dry after the creek but there was no sight of anyone. Maybe they had gone straight to the next crossing as it wasn't that far away.

Soon I reached Wright Creek but saw again no sight of the others. The creek seemed really aggressive and deep at the PCT crossing, and there was no way I was getting in that stream alone. As I was reading the stream crossing report three hikers that I've never seen before showed up. Before I could find the info on Wright they informed me that there was a log someway downstream.

We all hiked down the river trying to find the log but saw none. At one point we came to a spot where the river split into two and there was a small island between. While the others kept going, I stayed to investigate as this would probably be our best bet if we couldn't find the log. As I crossed the knee deep stream over to the island I saw a log on the other side crossing the deeper, more aggressive side of the river. I yelled for the others and they came back.

I went to the log and crossed it thinking the others would be soon behind me. As I turned around, I saw them changing their gear on the other bank. Wondering what they were doing, I left as it seemed it would take them sometime to even get their packs back in order.

That was two of the three rivers crossed, plus few extra ones. Next up was Tyndall. From what I've heard it was the worst of the crossings for today.

I soon reached a large snowfield covered in sun cups and after hiking in it for awhile, I got frustrated and looked at the map. I saw that getting a bit higher I could get out of the snow and still follow the trail. I got to the higher ground and saw others footprints. Of course I wasn't the only one to figure this out.

As I was walking along, the mountains ahead of me seemed to get larger and more ominous. We were approaching the High Sierra. I kept looking at the notches at the mountain range and trying to find the V-shape that Forester Pass was known for.

As the trail started heading down towards a valley I saw a person hiking towards me. Strange, we haven't seen that many southbounders yet. As the person got closer I recognized her. It was a European Hiker I had seen at times. As she got closer we started chatting and I wondered why she was going to the wrong direction. She told me that she had gotten to the creek and that it was too much for her to handle and she was heading back. I asked her about Sunshine and others but she didn't know them, and hadn't seen anyone fitting the description I gave her. But she told me there were plenty of people at the camp before the river, waiting to cross. That gave me hope. Maybe the others were there and we could cross and then climb Forester together.

I headed on while wishing her luck. I needed to boogie as the river was still an hour hike away. As I started to go down to the valley I started hearing the sound of rushing water. That sound wasn't coming from a small creek. I really hoped that the others were down there.

The trail was again covered in snowbanks and was slow to hike on. If I wasn't trying to locate the trail, I was climbing head high snowbanks, hopping streams, or trying to find routes around fallen trees.

When I finally reached the camp there was no one there. Only the sound of rushing water. And lots of it. I walked down to the PCT crossing and there was no way anyone would cross the "creek" from here. Water was so deep and moving so fast that the second you'd step in the water you'd be swept downstream.

The water report mentioned that there was a possible crossing few miles upstream. I started climbing the river bank upstream and saw lots of other footprints in the snow and mud. That was reassuring.

After about an mile the creek split up in two and in the distance I saw four people sitting on the opposite side. As I got closer they waved me over and showed me where to cross. The point was wide and I had passed quite a few tributaries on my way up so there was less water here than on the PCT crossing.

I took out my second hiking pole for extra support and crossed the river. The water was cold and I felt the current a little bit, but it was very easy crossing. As I got over I thanked the others and ignored their comments about drying my shoes. I squeezed some of the water out and then continued to the direction they pointed the trail would continue at.

From here the trail started climbing up and I saw only endless snowfields ahead of me. I soon found a faint trail on snow. This made progress a bit easier but still hard. While moving forward was difficult, the views more than made up for the hardship. On every side I was surrounded by snow covered beautiful mountains and far ahead stood a massive range that looked impassable.

Looking at that range, and the map and compass reading, Forester Pass was somewhere on that range. As I slowly hiked closer, I saw the familiar V-shape on the range with what looked like the ice chute of the Forester Pass. That's where I was heading to.

As I got closer I noticed a lone hiker not far ahead of me in the snow. I soon noticed a familiar backpack, Fyre. I saw her stopping and soon caught up to her. She told me she was having trouble with the snow and I agreed. Moving anywhere in the snow, and at this altitude, took so much energy. The clock wasn't even noon and I was already tired. And we hadn't even reached the pass yet.

As we hiked on with Fyre I saw another lonely figure ahead of us. Fyre told me it was KB. She was way ahead of us and I knew we wouldn't catch up to her.

We kept hiking on in the snow and at one point I turned around to check how far we had come. As I turned around I saw massive storm clouds in the valley where we had just few hours earlier crossed Tyndall. That wasn't good. I kept my eye on the storm front to see where it was going as I hiked on.

By now Forester Pass was straight ahead of us but we still had ways to go before we were at the approach point. I was running low on energy and the storm behind us looked like it was following us.

We soon got to the plateau before the pass and there at the base we saw KB sitting on one of the rocks. We pushed there with Fyre. KB had seen the clouds as well and us approaching and had stopped to wait for us.

We analyzed the situation and all the signs pointed to the fact that we should not attempt to go over the pass today. It was already late afternoon and as a general rule, you shouldn't cross passes in the afternoon. There was also the storm that was still close by. And the snow had already started to get very soft, which would make climbing up the solid snow face of the pass harder and more dangerous.

We decided that this is where we needed to stop. None of us were happy about the situation but there was very little we could do. I started scouting for water and a place to camp. I wasn't happy about the prospect of camping on snow at such high elevation. And stopping our day this early meant we couldn't make the miles we had counted to do, and possibly affect our food situation.

As we were all watching the storm, we noticed it hadn't moved at all for the past few hours. And as we looked over the pass we saw nothing but blue skies. Slowly we started talking ourselves over from staying and went "ah, let's just get over this thing".

I think we all knew this was a bad decision, but we still went for it. We scouted the mountain side for the route up and started following the footsteps of others. As all the switchbacks were covered in snow, our only option was to climb straight up. About halfway up we saw the path carved in to the granite and that's where we headed.

The climb turned almost immediately straight up and we had to climb on all fours. I kept punching my ice axe as deep in the snow as I could as the slushy snow would not hold well if I fell. My microspikes held just and I kept thinking this would be a good spot for crampons.

KB reached the granite path first, then I, and then Fyre. We took off our microspikes and hiked up the path that had been carved on the wall of the mountain. After few switchbacks we reached the famous ice chute. From up here it didn't look as intimidating as it did from below.

There was a nice, wide footpath on the ice chute and KB went over first. Fyre and I soon followed. That was easy. Few more steps and we made it to the top.

While the climb and the approach were definitely hard, they weren't as bad as I had imagined. The actual climb over the pass took only half the time we anticipated.

We took few celebratory photos at the top but then the storm clouds moved. The storm clouds that had stayed back started moving towards us again and we heard thunder. That was my cue and I started climbing down on the other side. KB and Fyre stayed at the top to cook ramen.

As I got a little ways down I saw the lightning flash and soon the rumbling sounds echoed on the mountain walls around me. Not good. We had made it over the pass but we still needed to get down from the mountain. There was a valley down below about seven miles away where we would be safe. Another lightning. And then it started hailing. 

I looked behind and could see Fyre and KB traversing down. As the thunder got closer and as I was standing on an exposed ridge line, I started running. I glissaded down when I could and ran the sections that were too flat to glissade. As the lightning continued I kept telling myself "I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here" while running in the hail storm.

When the hail and lightning stopped I didn't. I ran all the seven miles down from the mountain and didn't even stop when I got to the forest. I passed few other hikers whom I've never seen before.

Once in the forest the snow got harder to move on again. I reached a creek that had a log crossing. I tried getting on the log but it was so narrow and slippery that I felt it was too sketchy and backed away. As I backed away I noticed a lonely hiking pole sticking in the ground. I looked around and yelled but no one was around. Strange. Someone must have forgotten it here.

I took the pole and started to climb upstream to find a better crossing place. Not far the stream split in two and I could cross both with barely enough water to reach my shins. Much better than the sketchy log.

I know that Dandelion, Fire Ant, Otter and others were ahead of me so I tried to catch up to them. But no matter how many camp spots I passed they were never there. They must have really boogied down today. I was getting really tired and having my feet wet all day was starting to feel tiresome. I wasn't sure how far I could go on.

At one point I met three other hikers. I asked them if anyone had lost their trekking pole and sure enough, one of them was the owner. He thanked me and I continued on.

After passing two more camping spots were I was sure Dandelion, Fire Ant, and Otter would have stopped, I was feeling really tired. I looked at the map and saw there was one pretty good looking spot about a mile down. That must be where they stopped.

I hiked the last mile and as I got closer to the spot I saw smoke. Fire. That meant there were people camping there. But it wasn't them. As I knew the hikers, and as I was already pretty worn out, I decided to abandon the decision to catch the others and stay here.

I set up my shelter, got to the fire to dry my socks and shoes, and made my dinner. After a while Fyre and KB also appeared. What a day.

Date: June 23, 2017
Miles: 15 miles (24.2km), from Crabtree Meadow to the summit of Mt. Whitney and back. 
Health: Very tired from the sun and climbing.

I slept poorly again last night. I kept waking up thinking I had slept late and missed our start. Once my alarm clock finally went off I felt tired and anxious. Today was one of the days I had been waiting since the day we started from Campo almost two months ago.

Our original plan was to make it to the top for the sunrise, but as we got to the camp so late, and everyone was feeling really tired, we decided to just get up there and forget the sunrise. It still meant we had to get up really early.

Once my alarm went off I got out of my sleeping bag and was immediately hit by the cold air. This was my least favorite moment of every day. I got out, threw some food, warm clothes and some other extra gear into my pack and collapsed my shelter as I needed the trekking poles for climbing. I put some rocks on top of the tarp just to make sure it wasn't flapping in the wind while I was away.

We all walked out of the camp in a long line with our headlamps on. The trail was at times hard to find in the dark as it was either on a plain rock and you couldn't see where it was going, or it was under snow or water.

Once we started approaching Guitar Lake we hit the snowfields and the microspikes came out. Up until this point the climb had been very gradual, we just climbed up from the valley. From here we'd get up on the rock face and start climbing the actual mountain.

As everything was covered in snow, we kind of made our own tracks, or followed old ones where the sun hadn't yet melted them away. We hit few interesting traverses but nothing too bad. I felt like I was pretty confident with my ice axe skills. 

After few hours of climbing the snow ended and we got on rock and sand and had to take off the microspikes. At times the snow and ice had completely blocked the switchbacks and we had to climb straight up on the rock and sand. This was a bit sketchy as it was on a steep climb and the surface was very loose. There were few rock slides and we had to be very careful not to be behind or under others when they were climbing.

I soon got left behind as I was doing a video at the same time, and taking photos of others ahead of me, so I found myself climbing alone. It wasn't bad as I could see others ahead and the trail was clear. Otter and Flicker also caught up to me and soon passed me.

After a long climb the trail finally leveled up a bit and I was hoping we were about to reach the top. Oh how wrong I was. The trail moved sideways across three peaks, and behind them, far in the distance and up above us, I could see the summit. After all these hours of climbing and we were still so far?

I took a small snack break to gain my motivation back and then continued. I caught up to Fyre and we crossed the three peaks while enjoying the views down to the valley floor far below us. I stayed back to take photos and use the cellular reception we had for a short while.

After crossing the peaks the trail again started climbing. My legs were hurting and I felt so out of breath. I had a new appreciation for those who actually climb high mountains, and decided that it was not for me.

At the bottom of the last push up to the summit I found Roadrunner and Fyre taking a break. We started pushing up together. As the switchbacks up to the summit were under snow, we had to climb up on rocks. Going straight up at this elevation was really tiring and we stopped to gather our breath like every ten steps.

Once we got to the top part, we only needed to do the last climb up to the summit. Once I finally saw the hut at the top I was so happy, almost there. I made the final push and met others who were sunbathing at the rocks at the top.

After a little celebration I opened the summit beer I brought up with me and sat down with the others. We spend few hours just chilling at the top, enjoying the views, and taking tons of photos. One of the rocks we took photos on was so sketchy. When you got on it, you were looking down on a huge drop straight down to the bottom of the mountain. I'm not a fan of high places so getting on it was quite interesting.

After all the photos, it was time to start heading down as it would still take us half a day to get back to camp. Everyone went on their own and I soon stayed back because I just had to stop and wonder the views. I couldn't believe we climbed up here, or that we were fortunate enough to be here looking at this gorgeous scenery. Even though I was tired I was smiling from ear to ear.

Once we reached the snowfields again, I saw few people doing a long glissade down the mountain side, and others practicing their self arresting technique at the bottom. After I did the glissade, I borrowed my ice axe to Fyre and headed to the camp. My eyes were hurting from the sun, and being on the snow made them hurt even more. I can't believe I was dumb enough to go up without my glacier glasses today.

The last part back to the camp was a long one. We hiked it with Fire Ant and Dandelion and lost the trail at one point. We had to climb quite a few rocks and cross a stream to get back on the trail.

Once we got back to the camp I was so tired that I just collapsed to the ground. Others were eating around me but I couldn't muster enough energy to get my bear can so I just slept on my sleeping pad.

KB and the girls were continuing on to get few more miles out as they wanted to get closer to the river crossings and Forrester Pass tomorrow. I was so tired, and as I already had all my gear setup, that I didn't want to pack everything up only to hike few hours and then setup again.

I said goodbyes to the girls and promised to catch up to them the next day and then crawled inside my tarp and fell asleep. Today was a good day!

Date: June 22, 2017
Miles: 16.9 miles (27.2km), from Chicken Springs Lake to Crabtree Meadow.
Health: Feeling good but tired. Three poorly slept nights and the elevation are making me tired.

My alarm went off at 4:50am. It was still windy outside and my tent was rocking. The wind whipped up after the sun went down and has been steadily blowing throughout the night. The temperature changes here are drastic and this causes winds to pick up every time the sun goes down.

I quickly setup my gear. It's funny how on the first days it took me so long to take down my camp. Now I can do it in less than 20 minutes.

I look over but none of the girls are up yet. I thought their alarm was set for 5am. I sit on my bear can and eat breakfast slowly. It's still quite cold.

Soon I see movement at the girls camp and I head over to get some of the foods I stored in KB's opsak. Soon we're on the trail.

At the river we see a note that Otter left us last night. She didn't know or see us at the lake as it's up from where the trail crosses the stream. She was headed few miles further from us, we should be able to catch up to her.

The trail climbs first and then starts to drop down to a valley down below. I can see green meadow down where we're heading. We have to climb few snow banks but the snow is not bad. Only few times we lose the trail.

Compared to the desert there's water everywhere. There are big and small streams coming down and sometimes covering the whole trail.

As I'm tired I soon fall into "the zone" where I just hike with not much attention on what's happening around me. The trail is easy but the elevation, we're at over 11,000 feet, makes breathing hard. I just concentrate on my feet and turn inwards, not even paying attention to what I'm listening on headphones.

Without realizing I'm at the half way marker. And there's a nice stream there. Time for second breakfast. As I'm stopping I notice Dandelion's there, with the same plan. Soon Fire Ant also joins us. KB and Fyre pass us as they want to break all the way down at the valley in a mile and a half.

After eating we start heading down as well. I stay for a little longer as I need to filter more water. My Sawyer is starting to get slow and even back flushing it in Lone Pine did no good.

Down at the valley I see a note left by the rangers that the Rock River is impassable from elsewhere except up at the meadow or at the Ranger Station. Looking at the map, that would mean a long walk on a boggy meadow before getting back on trail. I choose to ignore the advice and decide to go down and see if I can find a spot where to cross.

As I get closer the river is indeed flowing hard and getting over seems unlikely. I walk downstream until I see a marker on the trail that says "Log" and an arrow pointing to the right. I follow the arrow and find an log that's going cross the river high up. It looks a little sketchy as falling to the raging river from that high would not end well.

Little upstream I see two logs down in the water but they are wet and look slippery. I can't find any other points to cross. I hate wet logs so I choose to get on the one high above the stream. I take out my other trekking pole for extra support.

The log feels super sketchy but stable. I don't like heights or balancing so this is definitely out of my comfort zone. I get on the log and slowly start to get across trying to avoid looking and thinking at the river down below. I get across safely. Definitely got my heart rate up.

Little down stream I find the girls drying their shoes. KB and Fyre crossed the stream up at the meadow and Fire Ant and Dandelion at the wet logs.

We take a small break and then someone looks at the elevation profile for our next section. It looks like we're going straight up. Ugh. We start slowly climbing.

At one point we come across Dragon and Andrew. They are heading back to Lone Pine and flip-flopping north. Dragon felt that the river crossings ahead were too much for her. It takes a lot of guts to listen to your instincts and turn back, I really admire her decision. You should never do anything out here you're not comfortable doing. They wish us luck and we continue.

Soon we reach the Whitney junction and cross our third and last river. This one is wide but slow moving. It feels great to get to swim a little after a long hot day.

After a small pause to dry up our gear we continue to the campsite where we head out to summit Mt. Whitney tomorrow. It's all uphill and my legs are already tired. We see the top of Mt. Whitney and it looks intimidating. I keep thinking "we're climbing THAT tomorrow?".

We reach the camp and formulate the plan for tomorrow. Instead of trying to make the summit before sunrise, we decide to get some sleep and wake up at 3:30am and start climbing at 4am. It takes about five and a half to six hours to go up, and about four to get down. It's going to be a long day. I need some sleep.

As we're going to sleep a thunder storm sweeps over us and we get the second rain on PCT. It's great laying inside my shelter and listening to the rain drops. I can barely keep my eyes open. Tomorrow's going to be so much fun!

Date: June 21, 2017
Miles: 2.5 miles (4km) from Horseshoe Meadow back to PCT + 5.6 miles (9km) from Trail Pass to Chicken Spring Lake.
Health: Feel tired and on the last mile my left shin started hurting.

We sleep in late but I slept poorly as the AC was pointed directly at my head. Weird placement for a bed. The girls start making oatmeal with their stoves and Camp Counselor and I joke around that we should rename Poison Ivy as Oatmeal as she's obsessed with it. She doesn't object.

As we're eating our breakfast we read about the sixth drowning in the Sierra this year. As all the snow starts to melt with the heatwave, the rivers are getting huge and dangerous. The trail rumors we keep hearing swing from "doable" to "impassable".

Our plan is to get off at the Kearsarge Pass and go down to Bishop. We don't have any big river crossings on that section, but we get to see the snow, summit Mt. Whitney, and see what the conditions are like. And also how fast we are able to move up there. Time is starting to be an issue as we still have over 1,500 miles to cover after the Sierra. If we move too slow, we need to get out and flip-flop to have enough time to finish the trail before winter hits us up north.

The girls work on their plans as they were only section hiking and this is where their hike ends. It's a shame we didn't meet earlier and that they aren't doing the Sierra.

After morning tasks the girls head out to do laundry and I need to go to Post Office to pickup my old backpack. I'm doing a backpack shuffle and I need to switch back to my MLD Prophet for the heavier Sierra carries. I ship my Pa'lante Pack onwards to Bishop which is our next resupply stop.

Many people have skipped ahead from Bishop due to the dangerous river crossings and the snow. By shipping my Pa'lante Pack, I can either switch back to it if we decide to skip, or just bounce it forwards on the trail. You can bounce a box for free for six times. This comes handy when dealing with the logistics on the trail.

On my way to Post Office I get a message from Blü, he's in town and heading out with us. Yeah! He was in Bishop yesterday so I though he just skipped there. I have two packages in the Post Office, but I bounce the one I shipped from Kennedy Meadows to Bishop, and switch the backpacks in the second box and ship that to Bishop as well.

As I'm at the Post Office, KB, Fyre, Dandelion, and Fire Ant show up. They are also shipping packages to Bishop and some to home.

We're heading out soon but I still need to do my resupply. I can't do that when I'm hungry so I head to the Subway for a quick breakfast. At the grocery store I do the usual back and forth between shelves, trying to find calorie rich light foods that I want to eat. I hate doing resupplies as I never find anything good to eat. Then at the trail everyone who resupplied from the same store seems to have all these delicious foods to eat.

I just stuff my basket full of same old stuff I've always eaten but add the crackers Blü always eats, and the salty fishes KB loves. I can use them to bribe her on the trail if the need ever comes up. I weight the basket with my hand, feels heavy, should be good for five days. I hope.

The girls are already at the hotel and I start to stuff my food to the bear canister. It should fit seven days of food but I barely fit five days. Ugh. My backpack is so heavy. With all the extra snow gear (ice axe and microspikes), warmer clothing, the bear can, and the summit beer for Whitney, this is the heaviest my pack has been on the trail so far.

As we leave, we take the leftover beers from last night to Rocky and Puppy. They are staying in the hotel for extra night so they can enjoy the beverages that we can't take on the trail.

We check-out and then join the rest of the crew behind the Air Streamer/Outfitter on the Main Street. This is the best place to hitch out of town as it leads to the road up to the Trail Pass. The town of Lone Pine is at 3,400 feet, whereas the Trail Pass is at over 10,000 feet, so it's quite a climb up the mountain.

I say goodbye to Katie (Camp Counselor) and Natalie (Poison Ivy) as our paths separate here. We get back on the PCT and they take few trips before they head back home.

We hitch in the shade of a tree as the 40 degree (39c) weather is too hot to be in the sun. Thankfully the elevation gain means it won't be this hot up at the Trail Pass or on the trail.

Dandelion and Fyre catch the first ride up. They're going up with a trail angel who already has two other hikers in her car. Ten minutes later KB, Fire Ant, and I catch a ride up too.

It's a long way up, and the elevation and steep grade of the road means we're going really slow. On the way up we see smoke rising from the side of the mountain range. Fire? We watch as the fire spreads wider as we drive up. We wonder if this is going to block our hike as it's between where we start and Mt. Whitney, where we're heading. We hike on the other side of the range though so it should not be an issue.

Once at the Trail Pass I eat the leftover Subway sandwich and camel up on water and then head out towards Horseshoe Meadow with KB and Fire Ant. From Horseshoe Meadow we start our climb back up to the PCT.

My pack feels so heavy as we climb. Luckily we don't have to carry much water as it's plentiful now with all the snowmelt.

At the top, back on the PCT, we meet an older gentleman with his two dogs. We take the opportunity to have some four legged love and take a pause to play with the puppies. Meeting trail puppies is always so much fun.

After the pause we shoulder our packs and rejoin the PCT again. We're only doing a short hike to get to Chicken Springs Lake for the night. It's supposed to be a beautiful spot between the mountains and it takes us closer to our Mt. Whitney summiting in two days.

As we climb above 11,000 feet my breathing becomes harder. This is the highest we been on the trail and it's completely new to my poor lungs. I have to slow down. KB goes on and we hike for a while with Fire Ant. We cross streams and beautiful alpine meadows. The scenery is so different from what the first part of the trail was.

I'm not feeling the hike today. The poorly slept past two nights and the elevation make me a grumpy hiker. I slow don't to a crawling speed and then suddenly I feel a familiar pain on my shin. But this time on the left shin.

I stop to put on the shin guard on my left leg and curse out loud. I'm fairly certain that my shin problems are caused by my shoes. I make a mental note to get rid of the Altra's as I get to Bishop. It's a larger town and they should have a better outfitter with shoes.

I carefully step the last miles to the Chicken Spring Lake not to irritate the shin anymore. I keep cursing my luck. At the lake I find all the girls and the view is absolutely amazing. The lake is perched between two large mountain tops and still half covered in ice. I sit down next to the girls and dig out my dinner from the bear can. My hurting shin takes all my energy and I can barely enjoy the scenery.

After dinner I quickly setup my shelter and get in it to end this day. Hopefully I get a good nights sleep and my leg would feel better tomorrow. I'm in my sleeping bag two hours before hiker midnight.

Damn you legs!