August 2, 2021
During the first six days of our Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Sierra Nevada trek, we completed 69 miles and ascended over five passes of at least 11,500 feet in elevation. We also contended with afternoon heat and sudden rainstorms. All the time, we saw incredible beauty as we trekked along mountains, lakes, and rivers. While the altitude of the passes would diminish as we continued north, we knew that the trail (and the weather) would continue to be challenging.
Our route (including passes and resupplies) through the Sierra Nevada Mountains
Our First Resupply and a Fall on a Steep Trail
On our seventh day of hiking on the combined PCT and John Muir Trail (JMT), we started our stage with a water crossing over Evolution Creek. It is known for being one of the most difficult trail streams to navigate. The only way to cross it was to walk right through the water. Brenda, who camped next to us the past two nights, also did the early morning crossing.
Since it had been a low snow year, the traverse across the creek was still challenging, but not too difficult. But even though the water only reached my shins, I was surprised at how swift the current was against my legs.
Continuing along Evolution Creek, we marveled at the waterfalls along the way.
We began a 750-foot descent, leaving Evolution Valley.
After climbing down the trail among huge cedar trees, we began trekking along the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. The terrain became noticeably drier and the weather warmer.
As we hiked, we came upon a deer in the bushes adjacent to us.
After a few more miles we crossed a large footbridge. It marked the end of our 70 miles of hiking in Kings Canyon National Park. As we entered the John Muir Wilderness in the Sierra National Forest, we quickened our pace. We were close to the turn-off to Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) and our first resupply.
The 1.5-mile side trail to the ranch was steep and Darren suddenly slipped and fell, shaking himself up a bit. We stopped briefly to check him out, as he had scrapped his face. Fortunately, he was fine.
We continued on, arriving at MTR right around noon. It was crowded with other hikers, and we saw Brenda taking a break there. We retrieved our resupply and transferred three days’ worth of food and toiletries to our bear canisters.
After eating lunch, we were on our way again, as it was already getting hot. The north spur trail back to the PCT / JMT was even steeper than the one we had taken to MTR. We both became frustrated, and I muttered several expletives under my breath as we climbed with heavier packs in the blazing sun.
I was relieved to join the main trail a short time later. However, the ascent continued on switchbacks up a ridge with little shade. Taking it slow with our newly increased weight, we stopped to catch our breath several times during the climb.
Finally, at the top of the ridge, the trail grade mellowed.
Soon, we reached the Sallie Keyes Lakes just below Selden Pass. We found a nice site, shaded by trees and with a view of one of the lakes. I set up camp while Darren filtered water from the lake outlet. He ran into Brenda, and she camped next to us. After dinner, we settled down for the night after our 13-mile day.
Climbing over a Scenic Pass and Descending down Endless Switchbacks
We climbed over Selden Pass (10,913 feet) first thing the next morning. As it was about 1,000 feet shorter than the previous passes, the ascent felt a little easier. I also found it to be one of the most scenic passes we climbed, with beautiful lake views to the north of us.
After descending from the pass for a few miles, we crossed Bear Creek. Another notoriously tough crossing, the early snowmelt made it just a long rock-hop for us.
We began climbing up Bear Ridge. It was similar to the previous day’s ridge ascent, but the increased shade on the trail made it much easier. We even had cell phone service part of the way up, so stopped to quickly check in with our family.
After reaching the top of the ridge, we needed to negotiate about 50 switchbacks down 2,000 feet to reach Mono Creek. It took us a couple of hours to complete the monotonous section of the trail, and it was 5:00 pm by the time we reached the bridge over the creek. There were already many campers who had set up their tents in the vicinity, and I was ready to call it a day.
Darren made a case to continue just two more miles to a remote campsite along the north fork of the creek. I was very tired but reluctantly agreed that it would put us in a better position for the next day’s pass. As we continued on, my knees were in pain as we climbed up a surprisingly rocky trail, gaining 800 feet in the process.
We found a beautiful campsite off the trail, adjacent to the serene north fork of the creek and a waterfall. It almost made up for the pain I was in, but I was exhausted after our longest day yet – 16.9 miles.
Making the Final Push to Our Rest Days
After a good night’s sleep, I felt better in the morning. We were now only one pass and 26 miles away from our scheduled rest days in the ski resort city of Mammoth Lakes. After four miles of rocky climbing from our camp, we took a break just below Silver Pass (10,779 feet).
There was another hiker at the top, and he took a picture of us high-fiving as we reached the seventh pass on our trek.
After descending down and crossing a bridge over beautiful Fish Creek, we stopped for lunch.
A light rain began just as we finished eating. We climbed over a ridge in the rain before emerging at Lake Virginia. The rain had stopped, so we took a mid-afternoon break there.
Lake Virginia was the first of three lakes we would hike along as the terrain turned more arid again. We climbed up from the lake and then down to Purple Lake a few miles later. Purple Lake was our planned campsite for the night, but we both felt good and wanted to get closer to our Mammoth exit point for the next day, so we continued on.
The next lake in the sequence was Duck Lake, and we found a campsite close to the lake’s outlet. We shared the space with several other hikers coming in the opposite direction. One hiker, who had just come from Mammoth, told us that the Tamarack Fire had closed about 30 miles of the PCT that we planned to hike near the end of our 300-mile route. We were bummed at the news but hoped that things might change in the 12 days before we would arrive at that section of the trail.
As we settled in for the night, we had a nice view of the sunset from our campsite.
We were excited to start hiking the next morning as a hotel room and shower were waiting for us in Mammoth. The 11-mile stage to our exit point at Red’s Meadow was flat and downhill, so we covered the distance quickly.
As we hiked, we realized it had been almost two days since we had last seen Brenda. As we were going out at Mammoth for a few days, we wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to her. But that was the reality of hiking the trail, as we continually met new people as they took breaks at different times.
We arrived at Red’s Meadow (located 0.3 miles off the trail) at about noon. From there, we took a bus into the Mammoth resort and then transferred to another bus into the town. After 10 days and 125.5 miles of hiking, we enjoyed three nights and two full days of rest and relaxation.
Back on the Trail with a Rain Delay
When we rejoined the trail three days later, many of our aches and pains from the daily hiking grind were gone. And our packs were heavier again with another three-day resupply. The weather for the next few days was forecast to include afternoon thunderstorms again. So we carefully watched the sky as we set off north from Red’s Meadow.
Our hiking began along a one-mile parallel trail through Devils Postpile National Monument. Established in 1911, the monument consists of columnar basalt rock towering up to 60 feet high.
After leaving Devils Postpile, the PCT / JMT diverges for the next 16 miles. We chose to hike along the PCT, which mainly traverses a ridge, rather than the JMT, which travels along a series of lakes. Part of our rationale was that there would be less hiker traffic on the PCT, making campsite selection a little easier.
We hiked along a meadow before climbing up to the ridge. Soon after we entered the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Contrary to all the hiker traffic on the JMT that we normally saw, we were almost all alone on the PCT path.
We made good progress along the trail, but dark clouds began to form. To the west, we could see some of the lakes along the JMT, including Shadow Lake.
As we continued to hike along the ridge, we came to an open area with no tree cover. At the same moment, we heard thunder close to us as it began to rain. Retreating back into the trees, we set up our shelter and waited underneath it as the rain poured down for the next 90 minutes. We heard a couple of hikers walk by during that time, but felt our decision to wait was right for us.
After the rain stopped and the thunder had ceased, we continued on. Our scheduled campsite was less than a mile away. We had planned to go further before the rain started, but decided to camp at the original spot in case it rained again. Stopping early also gave our gear a chance to dry out.
The campsite on the edge of the ridge had commanding views of mountains to the south of us.
Heading Over Two Passes and into Yosemite National Park
Our plans for the next day included ascending over two passes and entering Yosemite National Park. However, the afternoon weather forecast was a factor, so we hoped for the best. After three miles of hiking in the early morning, we rejoined the JMT to travel concurrently again on the two trails.
When we reached the PCT / JMT intersection at Thousand Island Lake, we were surprised to see a familiar face. It was Brenda, who had decided to take a rest day at both Mammoth and Thousand Island Lake, which is why we caught up with her. We could see why she spent a rest day at the lake. We thought it was the most beautiful we had seen on our entire trek.
We hiked with Brenda to Island Pass (10,226 feet), which was easily climbed by mid-morning.
While we took a snack break at the pass, Brenda continued on. We were now less than five miles (and a 1,450-foot climb) from Donohue Pass and the entrance to Yosemite National Park. Given the time, we felt confident we could ascend over the pass and make significant progress toward Tuolumne Meadows and our next resupply box.
But about 3.5 miles from Donohue Pass, the weather suddenly turned nasty, with the sound of thunder coming closer. As we hiked around a corner, Brenda was waiting for us. Since we were still in the tree line, we agreed to find an area to wait out the storm.
Soon after, we found a place to set up our shelter while being pelted by hail. Then the rain poured down. It was our longest storm delay yet, taking a full three hours before the rain (and thunder) had moved through our vicinity.
It was now 3:00 pm, and we really wanted to continue over the pass. We figured it would take about two hours to cover the remaining distance, and asked Brenda what she wanted to do. She decided to come with us, so we started up and kept an eye on the sky. As we approached the pass, some low clouds settled in, but all other indicators looked good.
We left the tree line and quickened our pace. There were just a couple of other hikers on the trail, making us feel even more exposed. And the rain had flooded the trail in places, slowing us down. But we reached the pass in two hours, just as we had expected.
There was a great sense of relief as we reached the top of Donohue Pass (11,073 feet) and the trail entrance to Yosemite National Park. It was our last time topping out over 11,000 feet on this trek, so we paused to take a few photos before continuing.
We now needed to negotiate a rocky section of about 600 feet in elevation loss over a mile before we would be back in the tree line. Although it had been a long day, we moved as quickly as we could.
At the bottom of the section was a small camping area that we hoped was still available. It was nearing 6:00 pm, so we were ready to call it quits. The only thing lying between us and the campsite was crossing Lyell Fork as it flowed out of a small lake.
We had done some difficult river crossings during our 12 days of hiking, but this looked to be the worst one yet. The water was high from the recent rain, covering some of the rocks. There was no good way to cross. Other hikers around us were equally perplexed about what to do. Finally, we decided that walking on the partially submerged rocks was the best way to go.
Darren went first. The rocks were slippery and of different heights, adding to the challenge. When it was my turn, I gingerly made my way across the rocks. To get to the next rock in the middle of the rushing stream, I had to sit on a tall rock and then extend my body down to a shorter one ahead of me. I then had to use my poles to propel myself (with my backpack) forward. Somehow I did it without falling. Brenda followed the same way, and we were all safely across.
The camping area, nestled among some rocks, was just around the corner and still empty. We felt fortunate to set up our camp there with Brenda after the eventful day. From our tent, we had an incredible view of an amphitheater of mountains behind us, and it became my favorite campsite of our entire trek.
Arriving at Tuolumne Meadows and Getting Some Bad News
The next day, we had a 12-mile hike into the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite and another resupply. We started off with some steep descent and a few more challenging water crossings. The weather alternated between dark clouds and blue skies.
Once we finally reached the bottom of the descent, we had eight miles of well-deserved flat hiking along a pristine meadow in Lyell Canyon.
We reached Tuolumne Meadows a little after 1:00 pm and ordered some food from the grill to eat while we transferred our five days of supplies to our bear canisters. Before retrieving our box, we had stopped at the ranger station to get fire and weather updates. There was no change in the fire closure, but we had at least five more days of hiking before we needed to leave the trail. However, the weather forecast did not look good. The next three days had forecasted afternoon showers with up to a half-inch of rain a day.
In 13 days we had hiked about 160 miles and had 150 more miles planned over the remaining 10 days of our trek. With a more aggressive mileage schedule going forward, we were worried about the weather slowing our progress and causing us to run low on food. Darren went into the store to buy a few more provisions in case we needed them.
Knowing there was more adverse weather (and a fire closure) ahead was not comforting, but we decided to continue on with our plans. From here on forward we would also be more on our own as the JMT turned away from the PCT for the final time. Brenda was also taking a break at Tuolumne Meadows, so we said goodbye to her (and exchanged contact information) as she continued down to Yosemite Valley and the end of her JMT trek.
It was 3:00 pm and the weather looked fine for the moment, so we agreed to hike a few extra miles before stopping for the day. We hoisted on our backpacks and kept a weather eye again as we continued north on the Pacific Crest Trail.
