Uncategorized

Day 71 – 01 Jun 19. Silver Pass and Another Two Steep Hills

Today 28.2 km (17.5 mi), Total Distance 1450.2 km (901.1 mi). 11 hours 5 minutes (0620-1725)

I actually found it easy to get up this morning. Maybe it was knowing it was my last full day. I heated up some water, put it into my zip lock bag of breakfast and put that into my foil pouch. I then snuggled back into my sleeping bag for 10 minutes while it cooked. After eating breakfast I finished packing up and was ready to go at a record early time of 0620. It was 0 degrees C again but felt warmer than other mornings.

I had been worried the snow would cover the tracks but they had not and I had nice clear tracks to follow. As the snow was nice and hard I walked beside the tracks.

I only had a mile to go to get to the pass and this seemed to pass quite quickly. Most of it was a very gradual climb and it was only the last little bit that was a steeper hill and I managed to get all the way up without stopping for a rest.

It was a much smaller pass than the others. The views were nice but not as spectacular as the other passes. I was still excited though as this was the last pass before my next resupply.

My hamstring strain of yesterday was gone but my right knee was a little sore until it warmed up.

There was a climb up to a hill to the right of the pass and then the track dropped into the valley below, very steeply in places.

At the bottom of the descent was a bridge over Fish Creek. There was a steep drop off the snow to get to the bridge and as I leant down to grab the rail to step down my pack came forward, just about pushing me over the bridge rail.

From the bridge it was a steady climb up beside the stream. Near the bridge there were a couple of sections of dirt trail but these soon disappeared under the snow. The slope was quite steep but the footprints were nice and deep and secure.

For some reason I was feeling really tired. I had been fine up to the pass but the down hill was tiring and now I was going uphill again I was running out of energy. It should not be a nutrition issue as I ate heaps last night, knowing I was nearly finished.

After about a mile the track turned away from the stream and headed up a really steep hill. This seemed to take ages. At first there was some dirt zig zagging up the hill with big snow banks at all the turns. Then the dirt ran out and the footprints went straight up. Thankfully the snow was still firm but there were some places where the steps were to high and I had to kick my own steps to bridge up.

As I got higher there was some mixed terrain which was more difficult than the pure snow because now I had to worry about dropping into the holes around the rocks, trees and deadfall.

By the time I got to the top I was really tired. I stopped for a break and to have more food and drink. I had discovered that my balance was slightly off which had made the hill a bit harder than normal. I think the lack of energy and affected balance are signs that I am getting a cold.

Now there was a small drop and then sidle above Lake Virginia to the end. I then crossed above the lake and climbed away from the lake to a saddle and then dropped steeply down to Purple Lake. There was a small bridge over the outlet.

It was starting to get a little cold as a cold wind had started but I knew I was about to climb again so did not put anything extra on. Now was the next big climb.

I followed the footsteps up a steep bit and then they seemed to just be going around the side of the hill and not climbing. I debated leaving the footsteps and climbing where I knew I needed to be but having the footsteps was such an energy saver I decided to keep following them.

They continued around the hill and then must have realised they should have been climbing as they turned and started climbing almost straight up. The climb was a mixture of rocks, vegetation and snow. The snow was now soft but I found if I stamped on a step and paused it would then hold. If I just tried to step up without doing this it would slide away. This mean a slow and deliberate climb. Once again there were several times the steps were too high for me, or that the snow had all scraped away leaving only ice to try get up. It was also awkward climbing around the vegetation and rocks. It seemed to take ages until finally I was at the level of the trail, not that it was visible under all the snow.

Now it was sidling around the hill. The angle of the slope was quite steep for most of it and I was having to be really careful with my affected balance and the soft snow. I was not enjoying this. Because I was not enjoying it, it seemed to take ages.

The trail continued around the hill and along the side of the hill before dropping slightly, crossing a stream and then going along the side of another hill.

At this point the footprints I was following disappeared as the people put on their Snow Shoes. Now I was sinking in at each step and it was a lot harder work to make progress. There were occasionally some much older tracks but the snow shoes messed these up. I was now expecting a much slower and harder afternoon.

Thankfully after less than a mile they took the snow shoes off again and I had their footprints to use again. I was still sinking a little bit each step, and occasionally dropping a lot more, but it was better than before. The snow was softer and several times I stepped in the footprint only to posthole deeply into a hole between unseen rocks or deadfall. I was taking it slowly and luckily did not hurt myself when I did this. One of the times I did have a bit of a struggle to get out as all around was giving way. I crawled to spread my weight and was able to clear the area.

After a time along the side of the hill finally the trail started dropping.. It was a very gradual drop. From the bottom it was just under a mile of relatively flat walking to get to a stream where I decided to camp.

I am now only 2 miles from the trail junction where I leave the PCT and head into Mammoth for a rest.

Visits: 668

2 thoughts on “Day 71 – 01 Jun 19. Silver Pass and Another Two Steep Hills”

  1. The bird is a Mountain Grouse, or as the locals say, a Mountain Chicken. They are very tasty.
    The believe the tracks are a snowshoe hare.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *