Miles: 769.9 to 774.2 Mileage: 9.3, plus 13 in Whitney summit attempt Day: 37 The alarm went off at 4 a.m. With the temperature in the 20s and our information about the climb limited to its elevation, we decided to wait until light. That way we could see. The alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. […]
Miles: 755.9 to 766.9 Mileage: 11, plus 1 mile to camp Day: 36 We moved slowly today. The cold kept us in our sleeping bags until 7 a.m. We waited until the sun rose over the ridge and started to thaw the ice that had formed on everything. Even though my pack felt lighter, my […]
Miles: 730.9 to 755.7 Mileage: 24.8, plus .2 to water Day: 35 Man, the Sierras are cold. I generally like cold and I definitely like it when I’m prepared for it, but I was under the impression that we were nearing summer. Nope. Still winter up here. I guess I should have figured on some […]
Miles: 702.4 to 730.9 Mileage: 28.5, plus .8 back to the trail from the Kennedy Meadows General Store Day: 34 Do you know what’s heavier than 30 miles of water? 10 days of food plus a bear canister. In an attempt to make the next section of trail less complicated, we opted to hike as […]
Miles: 702.4 to 702.4 Mileage: 0 Day: 33 We slept in… until 7:30 a.m. I felt rested and warm in my sleeping bag. I wanted to be up by 8:30 to get in line for the laundry. So, 7:30 was a little earlier than I’d planned, but there you are. It was a day of […]
Miles: 676.2 to 702.4 Miles: 26.2, plus .8 to the Kennedy Meadows General Store Day: 32 For our last day in the desert, we woke up on a ridge in a cloud. Our stuff was wet, but fortunately not too wet. No droplets on the sleeping bags, just dampness in abundance. And it was cold. […]
Miles: 651.4 to 676.2 Mileage: 24.8 Day: 31 We let ourselves sleep in a bit. The 30 mile day was enough to deserve a little reward, we thought. Plus, if we left too early we would miss Trail Angel Twinkle Toes making breakfast. At 6:45 we lugged our stuff up to the picnic table where […]
Miles: 621.9 to 651.4 Mileage: 29.5 (plus 2 for water) Day: 30 In order to hike with the least amount of water possible between sources, we decided to try to cover all 30 miles in one day. We knew it was possible, would certainly take all day and would be pretty painful. We got up […]
Miles: 596.6 to 621.9 Mileage: 25.3 (plus 2.2 to get water) Day: 29 I was really hoping the rain would stop at some point overnight. It didn’t. We stayed in our sleeping bags and hoped the rain would stop. It didn’t. We ignored the alarm, ignored the lightened sky, ignored the water on everything. If […]
Miles: 569.9 to 596.6 Mileage: 26.7 Day: 28 Not long after we’d set up our tent, chewed on a few last minute snacks, brushed our teeth and zipped up our sleeping bags, the wind started. And not just any wind. An angry wind. Wind that tried all night, hours on end, to push us off […]