Mile 790 – Welcome to the SNOWY Range and Team “Super People”

Resupplying in the town of Bishop on Hwy 395

Below we have written entries about the past week. Make sure to check out all the pictures and videos that go with these INCREDIBLE stories.

Weighted down with full packs we departed Kennedy Meadows on a near 100 degree day. We were so happy to be on our way into the steep landscape that we moved quickly through the burned hillsides and thru the first mosquito infested creek. We stopped to eat lunch overlooking Monache Meadow, the largest in the Sierra and enjoyed the view of Whitney nearby. We hiked for nearly an hour to reach the South Fork of the Kern River, where we didn’t hesitate to splash around in the cool running water. Refreshed we watched the Cliff Swallows feed their young in their nests beneath the iron bridge.

Before our first day was completed we would pass a couple who were out for a long day hike. They were so excited to see thruhikers and snapped a few pictures before parting with words of encouragement (Thank you for the picture Norma!). We slept on a snowy ridgeline and watched the sunset over the snowy peaks while attempting to protect ourselves from the feasting mosquitos. We slept well for the first time sleeping above 10,000 ft this trip and we set off early for another day of passing lush green meadows and long gradual climbs.

Lunch views on Monday were at a saddle overlooking the Owens Lake Bed and White Mountains. Another 20 mile day completed and we had seen just one other hiker in this vast wilderness.

The third day we approached Cottonwood Pass and stopped atop for views of Horseshoe Meadows.

Shortly after, we went to the frozen Chicken Spring Lake where we met a father and son who were out on a 12 day trip. The father was a film producer and was making a short film about their trip and asked us to speak for his camera. He believed in our cause and was amazed at the progress we had made so far. At lunch, 4 weekend warrior hikers passed us on their way out, and we were so happy to have some footprints in the snow to follow for awhile.

On Wednesday we descended to Rock Creek where we found our first challenging river ford. The guidebook describes this crossing as a rock hop but this was far from the truth. Raging waters flowed about chest high or more. We sat for dinner before making any hasty decisions about how to approach this massive ford. I strattled a log about 8 ft above the rushing water that I watched two other hikers make look easy even though I later found it was far from. Melissa walked across a longer but lower log. Her philosophy was “fear of heights AND rushing water?! No thanks – I’ll at least get rid of the fear of heights element and just deal with the log balance lower.”  Her smile was beaming ear to ear after she stepped off and we climbed about half way up the 1500 ft, 1.5 mile climb towards Crab Meadows before calling it a day. We agreed that the next day would be more mellow, as we were only planning on hiking 10 miles to Guitar Lake, the base of Mt. Whitney where we would rest before a big climb day.

~ Justin

Mt. Whitney, the intense Wright Creek Ford, and Forester Pass!

The alarm starts beeping reminding us of our Alpine start. It is 2:45 am and the bowl of the massive giant peaks of Hitchcock, Russel, and Whitney surround us in the quiet snow-covered field next to Guitar Lake.  Butterflies are fluttering in my stomach as we prepare a quick warm breakfast of couscous with Ramen noodles before heading across the ice towards Mt. Whitney. The ascent is an 18 mile round trip detour from PCT but well worth it to ascend the tallest mountain in the continental US. The stars are the brightest I’ve ever seen and the milky way looks like a cloud streaking across the sky. All I hear is my breath trying to stay as steady as possible and a light wind tickling my ears. Justin walks ahead of me as we both look in the darkness with our wimpy one ounce headlamps at the possible routes to the trail. Within 20 minutes, we shift to wearing our crampons and walking across icy, steep snow fields to boulder fields for breaks. Unfortunately, even with all our studying of the mountain the day before (intermixed with hanging out with Mr. Marmot – see video), we aimed too high on our ascent to the switchback trail and found ourselves on steep shelves of ice clinging with our ice axes and taking slow steps to try and reach semi-stable boulders. All of a sudden out of the silence I hear “crack crack CRACK” as the ice I’m clinging to no longer can bear my weight and my last five steps across the pitch took maybe 3 seconds even though it felt like an eternity.

We ended up mountaineering up a majority of Mt. Whitney due to the icy fields covering most of the trail.

But man was it worth it! We reached summit around 6:50am right after sunrise and hung out with our buddies General Lee, Wizzard, and Axzilla who decided to sleep on top the night before!

We hiked to the base with them the day before and watched as they made an afternoon ascent. We shared some laughs at the summit, ate a little food, and then headed back down 3,000 feet to pack up camp since we still had quite a day of hiking ahead of us to get to the base of Forester Pass, the highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail.

It is advised to do this pass in the morning when it is still icy so as to not posthole (have your legs drop into the snow over and over again). Everything was going smoothly as we both skipped along still pumping with adrenaline from our climb when, just like a cartoon, we haulted and ran into eachother almost, as we bumped into another massive river ford.

Psycho, Apricots, and Uncle Tom were stuck at this ford not sure how to proceed. The amazing Swift walked across first and laid his pack on the other side. Uncle Tom became confident after seeing Swift cross and attempted to do so as well but fell midway! Swift jumped in and picked Uncle Tom up, quite impressively, and pulled him to the other side. Psycho and I made it fine, but Apricots was a little weary of the cross and asked for help. Swift followed behind Apricot as she proceeded across and wore her pack to help out. Apricots was immediately swept up by the rushing water and knocked Swift over as well. Miraculously, he picked her up (while wearing her pack!) but began to lose his balance. I  couldn’t bear to see anything happen to either of them so I jumped back in the river to help. I grabbed Swift’s hand but he had already began to recover, and I moved Apricots across the second, less violent part of the crossing. We all made it across and caught our breathe. It was quite a bonding moment. Later, after postholing for an hour across a massive field, we started a fire to dry ourselves off and quietly reflected on the crossing. Swift is now known as a multiple life saver. Uncle Tom brags to people we meet along the trail that we are more than amazing … we are “the Super People.” So now Justin and I have a joint PCT trail name – The Super People.

The last hard pass before we exited at Kearsarge Pass was Forester Pass, the highest point on the trail at an elevation of 13,200 ft. The trail was completely covered in snow leading up to the pass, so we took it in pitches climbing up the steep slope in crampons and ice axes. The rest of our hiker buddies followed behind and I called down notes we were making about the pitches to help them out. The best part of the experience was when we all reached the summit. Psycho walks up to me and hands me his camera asking me to take a photo. “I’m about to propose to Apricots” he says, so nonchalantly that it takes me a minute to realize what he said!  It was such a beautiful moment to witness and the first time Justin and I ever saw a proposal.

We all hiked down the steep slopes of Forester happy to have conquered this massive beast and, even though we had one hiccup getting caught on a ridge and having to back track,
we laughed the afternoon away glissading down the mountain side.

Saturday morning, Justin and I headed out bright and early to get to the trailhead and head to town. Hunger drove us. I was quite shocked by my loss of appetite at elevation.  I was burning upwards of 5,500 calories a day but struggling to put even 2,000 in me. I knew I needed to get down for a while and get a hardy meal or two in me.

We climbed past the gorgeous Bullfrog Lake where we both decided we must bring our families to at some point and started down Kearsarge pass.

On the way, we met a day hiker by the name of Rick. He knew right off the bat that we were thru-hikers and asked if we needed a ride to town. We were so fortunate to get an hour ride with him to Bishop. We have given him the name trail hero as he not only gave us a ride and shared amazing stories about the Sierra as well as tips about the passes and fords we have yet to encounter, but he offered to treat us to dinner! Japanese food nonetheless!!! Such a treat! We devoured our meals and talked of great travels and the possible future of InspireOut before Rick went on his way up towards Tioga Pass. Thank you again Rick if you are reading this. We are truly touched.

Stay tuned as the stories of the Sierra continue on! I’m in a cafe where it costs $7 an hour to use the computer so I’m typing fast. Please excuse the typos. Today, Sunday June 13, we are working on our resupply of food and gear (I broke my trekking pole this past leg) and then we head for the trail later tonight or in the morning.  We can’t wait for the stories to come!

~ Buckeye / Melissa