Day 57 Sunday

5.20.2018

Well, as the sun shined on us leaving Independence the clouds rolled in over the mountains before us. Strider helped us with our bounce boxes before leaving the Mt. Williamson Motel. She and her dog, Indy, drove us back to the Onion Valley Trailhead a little after 8am. We were hiking just before 9. It was still cool enough out to leave the jackets in our packs and wear shorts for the day.

The trail was dry as we headed back up towards Kearsarge Pass (4.6) miles but the clouds we had seen yesterday on the mountains had clearly shown their force as we dropped on the west side of Kearsarge the snowfall was much more abundant. It also hadn’t seen many foot tracks or much sun. As we descended that side of Kearsarge and were headed back towards Bullfrog Lake the trail became a sloppy mess of snow melt and dirt. It didn’t take long before each one of us was walking in wet shoes. It was another 2.2 miles to Bullfrog where we would finally meet back up to the PCT at mile 788.5 again. Friday when we left that spot on the PCT the only snow on Trail was old berms in the shadows of trees that hadn’t seen sun. Today was a whole different animal. And to say the least it was difficult and a lot of work.

Once back on the PCT we ran into 3 hikers, one being Oats who I haven’t seen since Kennedy Meadows. They came over Forrester today which just seems unreal knowing the conditions we had just gone through. They were wanting to get over Glen Pass today which sounded really crazy to us as we had already planned to do it in the morning.

We made it to the camp site at mile 789 around 230. Not being sure what the clouds around us were going to do, we setup and huddled in. We had a late lunch and made ourselves warm for the afternoon. Laura and I evidently were pretty darn tired. We both napped until 7pm!

As I write this I thought it would be my first afternoon where I’d be able to get some reading done–as Andrew did while we slept–but no, tiredness took over and I gave the body a break. Even tho we didn’t crank any mad miles today, it was still an awesome sight to see the lakes and mountain peaks in a whole new setting covered in snow. As we setup at 10700ft we unfortunately can’t have a camp fire. But don’t you worry we stay plenty warm in our tents. We may get more snow this evening or possibly tomorrow but by Tuesday this system should be passing through.

Miles will be slow from here so my schedule will be off. I know a few of you have asked when I will be near Tahoe. It’s almost 300 miles from here and I can only see Mammoth in my future as of now–which will be in a week. If we can get up and over passes while the snow is frozen (and not slushy like today) then the days will be somewhat easier.

I will also add that I’m carrying my heaviest pack today. With 1 liter of water and a bear can of food weighing in at 12.5 lbs (plus an additional 2 pounds of snacks for today) the total weight of my pack leaving the motel was 46 pounds. Ironically it didn’t feel any different from times past. I guess I can say I feel that much stronger (or stupid!) but the body seemed to handle the pack just fine up the steep hill today. And even though I did not step on a scale myself, I can see a difference now in my body and the amount of fat that I have lost. It still amazes me the crap that I’m eating just to keep the calories intake high but it still doesn’t come near the amount of calories we are burning a day. I ordered more meals to a friends house today because of this. I need to eat those larger backpacking meals more to keep the strength going forward.

As I start my 9th week out here I wonder where the time has gone. We will cross the 800 mile mark tomorrow. I feel so removed from the normalcy of non-trail life. But I’m still loving the challenge the trail life continues to bring. Even though our stay in town seems a bit luxurious at times it certainly helps to reset and restore the mindset and goals of being out here. I said it last night at dinner: I feel kinda aloof about being where we are. I wasn’t sure I would make it this far. I wasn’t sure if **I** would still want to be here. I wasn’t sure if I could make the commitment to this wholly and entirely. I wasn’t sure if I would give up. But I haven’t and I don’t plan to. So as the Sierras continue to dump snow and our miles slush, slip and slop away I’m still here taking it all in. I’m thankful for Andrew and Laura showing me the things I don’t know. I know we have a ton of amazing miles ahead of us.

For now goodnight. It’s 9:35 pm and high lightening has started and frozen precipitation is falling. Time to hunker down.