Miles: 987.3 to 1017.7 Mileage: 30.4 Day: 59 When we woke up, mosquitoes were already surrounding our tent. We made a mad dash for the deet but even then the swarm wouldn’t leave. Under another blue, sunny day we started off with a ford. After that, the trail slowly went up 1,500 feet to Dorothy […]
Miles: 963.3 to 987.3 Mileage: 24 Day: 58 We slept in a valley, so the warmth of the sun didn’t make its presence known until we’d walked about a mile. As soon as I stepped into the direct sunlight, I was hot. Too hot. I stripped off my rain/wind layer, unbuttoned my sun shirt, took […]
Miles: 941.7 to 963.3 Mileage: 21.6 Day: 57 We’d heard the mosquitoes could be bad north of Tuolumne. But we hear lots of things on the PCT, so we bought a small bottle of deet and didn’t think too much about it. Oh, boy! The mosquitoes are bad north of Tuolumne. It’s not a joke. […]
Miles: 925.7 to 941.7 Mileage: 16 Day: 56 It rained overnight, but it was the most behaved kind of backcountry precipitation. It didn’t start until we were curled up in our sleeping bags; it was soft and without wind; and it was over well before we had to crawl out of our shelter and start […]
Miles: 903.8 to 925.7 Mileage: 21.9, plus 0.6 to Reds Meadow Day: 55 Today Richard and I hit 1,000 miles on the trail. This figure includes the 80 miles we slacked at the end of May. Yay! It rained overnight. It’s so nice to be under the cover of a tent in the rain. Hearing […]
Miles: 879.3 to 903.8 Mileage: 24.5 Day: 54 We got up and moving before the John Muir Trail hikers. But that’s not saying much. Most JMTers I’ve met so far are on vacation. For thru hikers, it’s more like a summer job. Fun, different, but not a leisurely stroll through the woods. There are miles […]
Miles: 852.8 to 879.3 Mileage: 26.5 Day: 53 Today was our longest day in weeks. It was really hard and exhausting, but really nice to know that with normal-weight packs and not super snowy passes, we still have it! We did just over a marathon. And while it felt like it and we are very […]
Miles: 831.2 to 852.8 Mileage: 21.6 Day: 52 The weather was beautiful ALL DAY! I can’t believe it! It didn’t rain or snow ONCE! Our climb up to Muir Pass was pretty normal until we kept losing the trail under huge patches of snow about two miles before the top. It took us nearly an […]
Miles: 809.9 to 831.2 Mileage: 21.3 Day: 51 It snowed overnight. While it’s annoying to think about getting up and moving in the snow, I was so glad to have a tent to hunker down in. Some hikers carry tarps or camp without a shelter. To me, the extra weight is so worth having a […]
Miles: 790.2 to 809.9 Mileage: 19.7 Day: 50! Will we ever get away from the snow? The morning started off beautifully, if a little chilly. We made it over Glen Pass and the snow on the north side wasn’t too bad. We used our microspikes and ice axes, although the ice axes were probably overkill. […]