Brad's Adventure

“Well, this doesn’t suck.” – Hot mess

Days 53 – 57

Miles 748.7 – 789.6

The first day out of Lone Pine/Cottonwood pass we got to experience two Sierra firsts: the first alpine lake, and our first Sierra thunderstorm. The lake was cool, probably wouldn’t have stopped if it wasn’t the very first one but it did give us the feeling of really being in the high Sierras. The thunderstorm came in around 2. We had ditched our umbrellas so we took cover from the hail and rain under some trees for 15 min. The cover wasn’t very good so I decided we may as well be walking and wet instead of standing still and wet. It was a pretty tame storm and only lasted a few hours so we were mostly dry by camp. Our party was back down to three, as Playlist was now hiking with his buddy who was on day 1 of the JMT ( John Muir Trail). At camp that night Hot mess realized he had left his micro spikes somewhere that was not in his current pack, which was problematic because the path forward included Whitney and Forester Pass.

In the morning he decided to turn around and  hike the 15 miles back to town to be safe. We were only doing 6 miles into Whitney the next morning so he’d skip Whitney and catch up. We did the aforementioned 6 miles and got to Crab Tree meadow, basically Whitney base camp for PCT hikers. There were probably 40 tents set up. The plan wasn’t originally to do the sunrise hike, but logistically it made sense. We had only done 6 miles that morning, and we had no way to check the weather. I attempted to sleep around 4pm and stayed awake the entire time. I couldn’t get any sleep at all. At 12:30 we rolled out of our tents and got moving. The campsite looked neat with dozens of tents lit up by headlamps of other hikers getting ready to night hike. The hike took about 4.5 hours. My favorite part was climbing up the switchbacks and looking down at the 20+ headlamps below. We made good time and actually had to slow down close to the top so we wouldn’t get there too early, it was super cold and windy. I was surprised that I handled the elevation well. Whitney is 14504 feet up and to be honest high elevation was one of the scarier things about the PCT for me when I was doing research about it.

After we got to the summit other hikers started to file in. There were probably 25 hikers up there by sunrise at 5:30. We hung out and chatted with some other hikers. Some people were smoking summit cigarettes, one guy handed me a sip of beer, and a couple others had joints. I opted instead to haul up my broken pair of shoes in the hopes that a picture with them on Whitney would improve my chances at a refund.

The whole Whitney experience was very unique and a cool thing to have done. That being said there are other, more beautiful views out in the sierras so if you decide to go do Whitney, do some of the high Sierras trail too.

We raced down the mountain back to camp and made it back before 10. At this point I hadn’t slept in 28 hours. I took a 3 hour nap and death-marched another 8 miles up trail because it was important to get closer to Forester Pass so we could do it in the early morning, while the snow was still hard.

The next day was a brutal, sleep deprived, 22 mile day over 2 high mountain passes. In a rare turn of events, it was actually Seth’s idea to hike all 22 miles and get into town that evening, I was happy to oblige. Although it was a tough day, it was also the most incredible scenery I’ve ever hiked through.

Right after Forester Pass found a fun 100ft glissade, my first ever, then we dipped down into Kings canyon for a while, then for the finale of the day climbed 2600 more ft up out of the canyon and to the top of Kearsarge pass.

Kearsarge pass isn’t a part of the PCT, it’s just a side trail you use to get into town. Despite that fact it was gorgeous and one of my favorite passes in the sierras. We had lunch at Bullfrog lake and got to the trailhead by 6:00.

There was a bear can at the trailhead that had been set out for PCT hikers. We opened it up and found a single 24oz 805 beer and split it while we walked over to campsite 20, for some trail magic. It was the president of the association that handles the triple crown award. He offered us some fruit and soda and said he was here bagging some peaks in the sierras. We chatted for a bit and then decided to try our luck hitching, although there would be a slim chance we’d be picked up at 6:30 on a weekday. Bishop was almost an hour away and not even the closest town. Not even 2 minutes into hitching a truck pulled out of the mule camp and asked if we needed a ride. He lived in Bishop and was going into town for a day. It was an old 4 speed ’85 Ford pickup with one of those super long gear shifters, similar to one my dad had when I was growing up, I’d like to have a truck like that one day.

The Sierras are a well traveled place, but obviously impossible to access by car in most places. So establishments like Ranger stations, and outposts like the John Muir Trail Ranch have to have mules haul in food and supplies in order to operate. Hikers can also use this service to save a long detour into town and get a resupply delivered directly to trail. Our driver worked at these outposts and was hoping to run the show one day. He said they could safely load up mules with 150 pounds, which is insane for how steep and rocky the terrain is. That’s just the longevity approach too, he said in dire circumstances they could carry more like 300-400 pounds.

He explained to us more about how the business ran on our hour long trip to Bishop. He seemed to really love and care for the animals which was wholesome.

We got dropped at the Hostel in Bishop, which was a really fun time. My first time at a Hostel! We met up with the Disney adults (Snowman, Cheeks, Little boy and BFG) who we’d seen at Whitney base camp and we all had a “kids dinner” with salad, pizza, and dino nuggets. We then drank and played “President”. Which is similar to one of my favorite card games, The Great Dalmuti, but played with a standard 52 card deck and involved drinking.

The next day was a full zero day which we kicked off with coffee and another apple fritter from Schat’s. Then it was time for chores. This was our second time in bishop and the hostel has bikes/skateboards/scooters for guests to use so we were super efficient. We had a massive 6 day food carry coming up so Smart and Final came in clutch again. I lounged around after that for a large chuck of the day and for dinner Hot mess had gotten into town so we met up at the brewery. The beer was okay but the Burger was great and the homemade Oreo ice cream was mind-blowing. Why a brewery had far better ice cream than any ice cream shop I’ve ever been to defies all common sense but it certainly was the case. Hot mess broke the news that he was getting off trail, which was a huge bummer because we had loved hiking with him over the last 200 miles and had been excited for him to catch up. His getting off the trail speech almost made me tear up, and he bought us all food and dessert. Seth and I are hoping to go on a road trip down to Dallas after the trail and go visit him.

Final thoughts:

– Bishop is a really neat town. The hostel is awesome and the outdoor climbing scene there is huge there so I know I’ll be back at some point.

– The Sierras are hard. Those two 22 mile days were more exhausting than 25s and 30s in the desert. The trail is rocky, the low points were still above 10000ft, and it’s steep. It’s also the most incredible scenery I’ve seen.

– It was really hard for me to leave town. This must be the vortex everyone talked about in the desert that I haven’t really experienced until now. I’m not sure if I’m just less excited about the trail this week or maybe it’s because I miss my family, home, and friends. Probably a little of both. It’s also stress about money, finishing on time, and my knees. Regardless I’m hoping that it’s just an off week.