Days 14-16

Day 14 – June 20

Mather Pass is the WORST. We woke up at 5:15, knowing that we had to climb 10 miles to the top of the pass before descending 5 on the other side. The first 6-7 miles were beautiful- besides a few pesky mosquitos; we passed multiple streams, waterfalls, and a gorgeous lake.  Then, we climbed out of all grass, trees, vegetation, or any signs of life onto a rocky, unstable, steep, very difficult last 3 miles. I said a few choice words when I realized that what I thought would be the pass was a good 800 feet lower than the actual pass, where I looked up to see a few tiny ant hikers making their way slowly through the switchbacks.

When we did finally reach the top of the pass, the other side was a little more stable ground but very sandy and rocky with a lot of switchbacks- it looked like the moon. We reached shade again 2 hours later for a salmon taco lunch at 3:00pm. We refilled water and hiked a few more before camping at Main South Fork Junction- again barely low enough to have a fire. We had a delicious couscous chili dinner and passed out. Yes, the mountains around us were beautiful and breathtaking in their own way, but man, today was rough.

Day 15 – June 21

Happy Father’s Day! We hated not having service today or a way to contact our dads, but we prayed for them and we can’t wait to see them soon!

Unfortunately, today is also Summer Solstice, which is only unfortunate because that’s the day every year that many PCT hikers decide to go naked. Completely naked. Keep in mind that almost all PCT hikers hike South to North, while we are hiking North to South on the same trail. I definitely could’ve lived without the full frontal nudity.

John killed 38 mosquitos today and Em snagged 16- not too bad for a rookie. Em also saw a wolf early this morning, which was amazing. While John wandered into the woods for a bathroom break, I sat on a boulder just off the trail and I was taking in the surroundings when I saw him about 100 feet up the trail from me. I watched him and he watched me and wove through the woods not 25 yards from me. I slowly moved my left hand to grab the knife off John’s pack (though I had no idea what I would do with it), but mostly I just sat still and stared in awe of the majestic creature as he passed.

We climbed up & over Pinchot Pass with little difficulty, and descended the next 8 miles through a very windy canyon until we reached the Golden Gate Bridge of the Sierras, and our campsite (complete with a bear box) that awaited on the other side. We washed our clothes for what will likely be the last time in these mountains, cooked dinner, and are falling asleep now, excited and ready for our last few days.

Day 16 – June 22

We’ve done well on most of these passes, but we absolutely destroyed Glen today. Glen Pass was 11,960 feet tall, and most of the climb was in 1.9 miles. The switchbacks were constant and extremely steep. Often times the trail was huge steps over 2-foot boulders at a time. Generally, though, the ground underneath our feet was stable compared to the loose rock at Mather. We didn’t have to walk through any now; there were just spotty patches off the sides of the trail. We could see the trail in front of us the whole way and knew exactly where we were shooting over the mountains, thanks to the people who were waiting at the top for us before they headed down. The pass itself was more like a 2-foot wide ridge about 100 feet long. It was windy, beautiful, and sunny down both sides, and the peak lingered about 100 feet overhead.

It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get up and over the pass, and we are pretty dang proud of it- so proud that we took off half our clothes and jumped in a glacier lake on the South side. It was unnamed on the map, so we named it John & Em’s Lake. We reclined on some warm rocks in the sun and dried off some before lunch. After lunch, it was a steady climb down for about 4 miles before climbing a few hundred feet up to Upper Vidette Meadow, where we Enoed, set up the tent, built a fire, and John stumbled upon a doe resting just yards off our campsite. It was lying between two logs and when it saw me, it got up and moved ten yards away and just laid back down so Em came over to see it. We only got a picture of it’s butt, though.

Em started cooking dinner while I set up a fire. The meal was amazing. It was macaroni and cheese with ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning. It reminded us of Hamburger Helper in the most comforting way. We lit the fire between devouring huge bites. I think I had a little extra, but don’t tell Em. For dessert we indulged in our second snickers of the day. We have yet to get tired of them. After doing food inventory, we determined we could yet again return to our twice daily Snickers regimen.