Independence to Mammoth.

Miles 790 – 904.

Days 38 – 44.

After Kearsarge Pass hikers find themselves in the thick of the Sierras. Each day brings climbs over high passes and river crossings. This is some of the most beautiful and difficult hiking that thru-hikers experience up through this point on the trail. The sweet rewards of traveling in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are proportional to the challenges of crossing through them.

Day 38

I left the tiny trail town of Independence in the late morning. Conveniently, I ran into the same trail angel who’d taken me into town the previous day. He gave me a ride back up to the Onion Valley Trailhead. From there, I began the long 7.5-mile side trail back over Kearsarge Pass to rejoin the PCT. My bear can was completely full to the top with ~6 days of food for the stretch from Independence to Mammoth Lakes.

I was relieved to be back on the PCT by the early afternoon. It feels odd to be away from the trail for too long. I’m always excited to get to town – especially this most recent time because I completely ran out of food on the final morning before reaching Independence. But often, once I reach town, I find it overwhelming and crave the simplicity and quiet of the trail.

Almost immediately, the trail began climbing up, up, up towards another high-elevation mountain pass: Glen Pass, 11,900 feet. As this pass is well over 1,000 feet lower than Forester, I was expecting to see less snow. However, I was proven wrong.

Hiking up the front side of Glen Pass, I once again found myself crossing the occasional steep snowfield. But once I got over the top, the real fun began. The backside of Glenn Pass was one huge, continuous snowfield – and quite a steep one.

I had fun using my ice ax and spikes to traverse the pass’s snowy backside. I’m realizing that I actually love being in the Sierras with some snow. I thought it would be scary to cross through these obstacles – but now I’m finding it to be a welcome challenge and an exciting change of pace. I think I nailed my Sierra entry date: it’s melted enough to not be a total slog, but I feel I’m still getting the “real” Sierra snow experience.

As I descended the pass, eventually the snow became patchy, and soon enough I was back on dry land (boulder fields). I’d crossed into the next valley over, and this one was just as stunning as the last one, but in a different way. It was wide and open, where the former valley had been narrow and deep. Also, this pass had several massive mountain lakes! I hadn’t expected to see these.

I continued down the valley for several more miles, fording several minor streams and often walking in standing water. There’s so much runoff that the trail is often a flowing stream! I found a nice beautiful campsite at the base of the valley, which sets me up nicely to ford several creeks early tomorrow morning. I hear it’s best to tackle difficult fords in the early hours of the day, before the snowmelt peaks during the afternoon, filling the rivers.

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Day 39

It was a two-pass kind of day. By that, I mean hiking over two alpine passes in the Sierras: Pinchot Pass and Mather Pass.

My day began in a way I’m learning is standard in the Sierras: putting on my wet socks. There really seems to be no point in putting on dry socks. They will become soaked soon enough.

Within my first few miles, I’d forded 5 or so small creeks. These aren’t particularly scary or dangerous crossings – mostly just annoying. I’ve stopped removing my socks during these crossings and simply walk straight through the water. Between the crossings, the slushy snow, and the fact that much of the trail is basically just a stream of snowmelt, my feet usually stay wet. I’m learning to be ok with that.

The fords in the Sierras have surprised me so far – in two ways. First, there are way more of them than I realized there would be. I’ve been fording a dozen or so creeks per day for the last few days. Second, so far none of the fords were particularly difficult or involved much scouting to find a good spot to cross. I’ve been able to cross all of them easily solo or in a two-person stacked formation for the deeper/faster ones. No problem.

After fording many creeks and climbing a few thousand feet uphill, I reached the top of Pinchot Pass. This was the least technical pass I’ve gone over in the Sierras thus far – I didn’t even take out my ice ax or microspikes from my pack to use. I saw tons of marmots at the top of the pass.

After the pass, the trail continued down a long, beautiful valley.  Then went up another long, beautiful valley, towards the next pass: Mather Pass. Lots of other thru-hikers were camping shortly before the trail gets steep where it approaches the final climb to the pass. Many hikers prefer hitting the passes early in the morning, while the snow is still firm and icy.  In general, the snow becomes softer and sloppier later in the day, which can make the passes harder since feet sink into slushy snow.

I, however, have been hiking over many of the passes in the afternoon and haven’t had a problem with it so far. So I decided to continue over Mather Pass, despite it being about 5 pm.

I had a great time going over the pass. The switchbacks near the top were covered in snow, so I opted to do an off-trail rock scramble instead straight up the mountain face towards the pass. I got into some class 2+ and class 3 terrain, which was a ton of fun, but never uncomfortable.

After the top, it was a sloppy slip and slide down the snowy backside of the pass. I did some glissading (butt sliding), and lots of stumbling around on my feet. Thankfully, the slope wasn’t very steep and the wet snow was super sticky. Despite my soaked shoes, I had a blast.

I camped shortly after the pass in another beautiful valley and watched the sun set over the mountains, lulled to sleep by the sound of a nearby waterfall. Overall, another excellent day in the Sierras. I’m beginning to see why people really, really love this trail.

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Day 40

I’d camped at nearly 11,000 feet, and it was freezing cold overnight. In fact, when I woke up, my shoes, socks, gaiters, and other wet gear were all frozen solid. I dilly-dallied more than usual packing up and eating, until the sun hit my campsite, providing the little morale boost I needed before sliding my feet into my icy footwear.

Just like yesterday, there was tons of water flowing down the trail, as well as frequent deeper fords – luckily nothing too challenging. Soon my frozen feet were back to being just plain old wet.

The morning was a struggle – and not just because of the discomfort of damp feet. I’ve been dealing with some pretty serious hiker hunger since entering the Sierras. The terrain is tough, and I suspect I need more calories per day than I did in the desert. Even with the largest size Bear Vault canister, BV500, I’m finding myself rationing pretty hard to make it through 5 to 6-day food carries. By 10 am, my tummy was grumbling painfully. Thru-hikers refer to this as “hiker hunger” – the extreme, mind-consuming hunger experienced on a thru-hike.

Luckily, the trail today started with 8 miles of downhill, which made it easier to ignore my hiker hunger. After that, I ate my first lunch, and started an 11-mile climb up towards my pass for the day: Muir Pass.

I reached the pass in the late afternoon (after the second lunch) and soon found myself surrounded by continuous, slushy snowfields. Muir Pass certainly had the most snow on the way up of the passes I’ve done so far. But with relatively low-angle snowfields, I didn’t feel like my ice ax was super necessary. It was stunning and challenging – certainly one of my favorite passes yet!

I topped out on Muir Pass around 6 pm and took a break in the cozy emergency hut at the top. Inside the hut, there was a trail register of sorts – but an unusual one. This trail register was a notebook labeled “Hiker Confessions”. Inside, thru-hikers anonymously wrote their hiking-related confessions. Most of them involved various mishaps while going to the bathroom in nature and were pretty hilarious.

After the pass, there was another long, extremely gradual downhill. Which, unfortunately, made it difficult to get lower in elevation to camp. Additionally, the landscape was so wet with snowmelt that it proved difficult to find a flat campsite that wasn’t flooded.

By dusk, I was exhausted getting desperate to set up camp. Walking fast, I slipped at an angle on a steep, wet rock – twisting my unstable left knee as I fell. It was a terrifying moment, as this same sort of fall caused my kneecap dislocation last winter. Fortunately, all those months of physical therapy pre-trail paid off, and my kneecap stayed where it was supposed to today. While the fall was painful, I was relieved to not be seriously hurt.

Not long after, I found a decently dry campsite with 360-degree views of mountains and lakes. Though unfortunately, I was close to 11,000 feet once again – higher than I like to camp due to the cold. I set up camp quickly and went to sleep, knowing I’d be freezing overnight for the second night in a row. But the mountain views at dusk were so stunning that I could hardly care.

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Day 41

I cowboy camped and woke up to see dawn’s light hit the tops of the mountain peaks around me. As predicted, it was freezing overnight once again. I slid my feet into my frozen wet shoe popsicles and started hiking down the valley on a very wet trail. I felt a sense of déjà vu.

Today was an “easy” day for me in the Sierras, by the standards I’d set so far. I wouldn’t crest a single pass. Furthermore, my day started with a lovely, gradual 15-mile downhill.

But that didn’t mean my day was without challenges. In the late morning, I faced one of the fords that I’ve been dreading most: Evolution Creek. This creek is notorious for being a deep and wide ford, and a formidable challenge for thru-hikers.

When I reached Evolution Creek, I was relieved to see that the water wasn’t particularly fast-moving. But I could tell from the green-ish teal channels and pools that this river was quite deep in certain places.

A thru-hiker I didn’t know stood on the opposite bank at the trail crossing, having just finished the ford. The hiker shouted across to me and Swish: “You’ll be up to your waists!”.

We took this statement not as a warning, but as a challenge. Swish and I walked a hundred feet or so upstream, looking for a better, shallower spot to ford the creek. It didn’t take long for us to find a route where we could see brown river rocks the whole way across – avoiding the deeper green pools!

Swish and I crossed in a stacked formation just in case the stream got too deep for me and I needed some extra support. However, with our expertly chosen route, the water was never any deeper than my knee or so. I reached the other side, relieved and with my confidence boosted.

In the afternoon, I decided to take a short side trail down to a place called Muir Trail Ranch – a bougie backcountry lodge that’s rumored to have a wonderful hiker box (a place where hikers can leave unwanted food and gear for other hikers). Muir Trail Ranch wasn’t a planned resupply stop for me, but due to my extreme hunger and the limited capacity of my bear can, my food situation had become quite dire. I hoped to supplement my dwindling rations with something from the hiker box.

However, when I reached Muir Trail Ranch, the staff informed me that they wouldn’t open until tomorrow morning. Hungry and disappointed, I headed back up the steep side trail. More frustrating than the steepness, were the pinecones! The darn things were everywhere – All over the trail! It was like wading through a trough of whiffle balls. I was constantly stumbling.

Eventually, I got over my food-related disappointment and climbed up into a different microbiome without the offending pine species. Swish and I found a pleasant, though buggy campsite in the woods. Tomorrow morning, we’d head over Selden Pass bright and early.

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Day 42

Swish and I woke early and continued our climb up towards Selden Pass. This was our first time hitting a pass in the morning instead of the afternoon. It was nice not to posthole,  but honestly, I don’t think doing passes in the afternoon is as hard as everyone says it is. Many hikers will only do passes in the morning, planning their itineraries around this constraint. To each their own.

The pass was a beautiful one with lots of lakes – and a fairly easy one with minimal snow and no steep sections. After the pass, Swish and I ran into our friends Hornet and Stealth – who we hadn’t seen since Tehatchapi. It was great to hike with them for a bit and catch up.

I forded several creeks, and was feeling perhaps a bit overconfident after my success on Evolution Creek the previous day. I stumbled and nearly fell in places I normally wouldn’t have – due to my hubris and lack of caution.

However, the day’s biggest challenge wasn’t a pass or a ford. It was hunger. Today, my hiker hunger had become so extreme that I had difficulty completing simple tasks like getting items from my pack and treating my water without losing focus. By the early afternoon, I was so hungry that I was walking super slowly even on the downhills, feeling disoriented, and could barely hold a conversation. Swish walked with me, and I sensed his concern over my worsening condition.

Eventually, I reached the start of my second climb of the day up to Silver Pass. Despite having eaten the lunch and snacks I’d rationed for the day, I was too fatigued and hungry to carry on. I took out my sleeping pad and laid down next to the trail – totally depleted and feeling defeated.

Suddenly, something plopped into my lap, startling me. I opened my eyes. A granola bar. It was followed by two more bars, some sunflower seeds, and a pack of ramen. I looked over at Swish, who was throwing food at me from nearby, like a spectator feeding a starved zoo animal. “That’s all my extra food – 1,200 calories for you. Eat it.”

I was too hungry to protest very much, and quickly consumed all of Swish’s extra food on the spot. My revival was nearly instant. My brain stopped feeling fuzzy. My body felt less cold. Hiking seemed less impossible. I stood up, shouldered my pack, and prepared to start walking. I wanted to take advantage of the burst in energy before my inevitable crash when I burned through the food. I thanked Swish and I started hiking.

With some extra fuel in my body, I actually enjoyed the climb up Silver Pass. Partway up, I stopped at a creek to fill my water bottles and rest. That’s when Swish came walking up the trail behind me, an extra big smile on his face and good news to share.

While I’d hiked ahead earlier, Swish chatted up some thru-hikers who happened to have some extra food. He’d “yogied” a few spare food items from these hikers for me. Yoging is a thru-hiker term for seeking out/begging for a gift of food from other hikers, backpackers, or locals. Yoging is sometimes frowned upon in the hiking community, as one should always strive to pack enough to feed oneself rather than relying on others for handouts. Despite my calorically-drained condition, I was too embarrassed about running low to ask around for extra food myself. I felt incredibly thankful – both to Swish and the other hikers who’d gifted me their extra food.

Properly fed, the rest of the climb up Silver Pass was wonderful! It’s amazing the difference fuel makes in my enjoyment and ability to hike. I even felt good enough to continue a few extra miles on the day – hiking a total of 27 miles! A huge day for me in the Sierras! The final climb during sunset was the best part. I flew up the climb, hiking at an energetic pace I haven’t been capable of since the desert (before my food was limited to what fits in a bear canister).

The best part is that tomorrow, I reach town, where I could take a much-needed rest and get properly refueled. The Sierras have been some of the most incredible hiking of my life – but they have taken a toll on my body like nothing I’ve done before.

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Day 43

I only needed to hike 16 miles to reach the resupply point: the town of Mammoth Lakes. Mammoth is a ski town, located near the PCT. To get there, I would hike 12 miles on the PCT and an additional 4 miles down a side trail to a trailhead. From there, I could catch a free trolley into town.

The morning miles were uneventful, and just after lunch, I reached the junction with the side trail. Hoping to reach the trailhead in time for the 1:30 pm trolley, I walked briskly. When the parking lot was in sight, I saw the trolley pulling up. Excited for town and anxious to catch my ride, I ran the last downhill to the trailhead. Made it!

When I got to town, I could immediately tell I’d enjoy my time in Mammoth. It feels like a classic ski town and really reminds me of Summit County in Colorado. There are dogs and bikes everywhere, and the brewery served a hard kombucha – a favorite beverage of mine. In no time, this Colorado gal was feeling right at home in Mammoth.

Since I knew I’d have plenty of time for chores during my zero tomorrow, I mostly relaxed for the rest of the day. I split an Airbnb with Swish and his friends, Compton and SeaWolf – who we’d just caught up with on trail.

Swish and Compton met while hiking the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) last year, and SeaWolf hiked the CDT in 2023. In fact, all 3 of them are finishing up their triple crowns of thru-hiking (AT, CDT, and PCT)! It is not often I find myself the least experienced hiker in the room, and I loved the opportunity to hear them all talk about their experiences on the CDT – a trail I hope to hike some day too!

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Day 44

It was an excellent zero day. Swish, Compton, SeaWolf, and I made French toast, bacon, coffee, and fruit salad in the kitchen of our Airbnb. After that, I ran many errands around Mammoth.

First, I did laundry, which I haven’t done since Kennedy Meadows ~200 miles ago! Next, I went to the gear shop to replace my torn ground cloth and buy some permethrin bug spray to treat my clothes.

After that, I resupplied at the grocery store for the short haul to Tuolumne Meadows. It’s only 40-some miles, so I feel confident I’ll finally fit enough food in my bear canister without going hungry.

But the main activity for the day was getting caught up on eating. After two back-to-back long food carries in the Sierras, my body is totally depleted. I can see a lot of my ribs and feel quite weak.

To help compensate, I ate an estimated 7,000+ calories on my day off: French toast, bacon, fruit, salad, stir fry, beef with potatoes, hummus, chips, kombucha, more fruit, and a dozen doughnuts! I’m certainly glad my Airbnb had a kitchen, since I would have spent a small fortune to get this much nourishment if I’d been reliant on restaurants!

By the end of the day, some color was returning to my cheeks and I felt a lot better (though uncomfortably full!). All and all, it was a fantastic zero day!