July 1 — day 61
Zero miles today continued to stay at the EG&B. As per usual it was an eating fest. Had a huge but only passable Chile Verde plate at Amigos Mexican Restaurant. For dinner some other thruhikers at the EG&B made me a plate of grilled chicken and salad.
June 30 — day 60
Stayed off trail at the Hostel mile 788.9. It was a surprisingly hard day going over Kearsarge Pass to the Onion Valley trailhead. All were low on food. We saw a lot of trail friends as we descended. It was an easy hitch to Independence. Five of us had the best hitch ever in the sleeper cab of a semi. Panda and I stayed at the month old and fantastic Eastside Guesthouse and Bivy.
June 29 — day 59
Camped mile 787.0 hiked 10.2 miles today. We started up to Forester Pass at 4:00. Met up with Arora B and Medicine Man at the highest campsite. I led the group of 12 up the snow field to the exposed switchbacks. The final steep snowfield was the crux of the South face. Each person in our party traversed this section with the encouragement of the group. It was a glorious sight from this the high point of the entire PCT. It was a long and tedious descent through the worst snow cups I have seen in N. America. Unfortunately, Panda slipped and fell during the descent resulting in two deep gashes in his knee, a probable-broken finger, and a bruised face. Medicine Man lived up to his name a sprung to action treating and stabilizing him. We all gathered in a little snow-free grove to continue monitoring Panda. We decided that there was no sign of shock or dangerous brain trauma. Panda was a real trooper and descended under his own power with one leg splinted with foam pads, sticks, and an assortment of bandanas.
June 28 — day 58
Camped mile 776.8 hiked 7.6 PCT + .8 = 8.4 miles today. I was off at 5:00 to make the three river crossings before the midday surge due to snow melt. I crossed Wallace Creek solo no problem, but I was expecting to have met up with Sam, Safari, and crew who had left before me. I continued to hustle along assuming that they were ahead of me. I caught up with Virgin, Next Level, and Huckleberry ~.7 mile upstream from the trail ford of Wright Creek which was impassable whitewater. It was an easy and safe ford here. I continued to hustle along to Tyndall Creek where again the trail ford was dangerous whitewater. I headed upstream to where there were three branches. Again a safe knee–deep crossing. I waited for Virgin and company to catch up and crossed with them and continued to walk with them for the rest of the day.
June 27 — day 57
Continued camping at Crabtree Meadows. I led at first a group of 12 starting at midnight up to the peak. At the first snow slope Safari and Virgin turned back. My group was now Sam, Panda, Next Level, and Chesus. Sam was the fastest climber but he stopped at all the high angle snow fields crossing the switchbacks for me to scope out and lead. We scrambled up bypassing the highest steepest snowfield where Speedy had fallen 50 feet a few days before. I was well within my comfort zone the whole climb, but it was pretty scary for my companions with the high angle snow and exposure. We summited at sunrise with Sam in the lead. It was incredibly gorgeous but extremely cold. Chesus brought a liter of margarita to celebrate our success. We each had a slug. We didn’t stay long. I passed Medicine Man with his group Boo, American Mud Cake, and another climber he picked up on the way up. The descent was OK until we got to the sun cupped snow which was horrible. Got to camp and rested and tried to sleep the rest of the day.
June 26 — day 56
Camped off PCT mile 766.3 at Crabtree Meadows hiked 5.8 PCT + 1.2 = 7 miles today. It was a short but hard day walking. Medicine Man and I instructed some thruhikers in ice axe techniques in a nice little snow field around midday. Arrived at Crabtree Meadows and set up camp early in anticipation for a midnight start to climb Whitney.
June 25 — day 55
Camped mile 760.5 hiked 9.7 miles today. Had a lovely campsite overlooking a meadow with Mt Anna Mills in the background.
June 24 — day 54
Camped mile 750.8 hiked 0.6 PCT + 3.8 = 4.4 miles today. I wasn’t up too early today but was hungry and went to the packed an excellent Alabama Hills Cafe for an enormous chicken fried steak breakfast. Had a very leisurely morning packing for the upcoming snow and river crossings. I got two dry bags to replace my single trash compactor bag. I tried to get replacement baskets for my ski poles but I couldn’t get anything to fit so I’m stuck with two mismatched slightly too small baskets that came with my poles. Started to hitchhike back up to the Cottonwood Pass trailhead and all managed to get there in two packed vans. Hiked just over Cottonwood Pass and back to the PCT.
