This morning I took a bit to get going. Maybe it’s because I knew I just had to do about 30 miles today. Or because I have made 32–37 miles per day for the past five days. But finally, I got up and made my coffee and packed. And I was walking just around 5:45 am. I really love that even when I had a start late in the morning, I’m still walking at 5:45 am.
The people I thought were close were awake, but they were not yet ready to roll. I went out and began to follow the way. For the first time in a time, my morning began with a prolonged descent segment. It seems that I have recently been preparing to climb mountain passes in the morning. So it is a good rhythm change to go down during the first two hours of the day.
During those next hours, I spent a ridiculous amount of tents. And when the morning arrived later and later, I was surprised to see that people were still sleeping. The afternoons have been so uncomfortable that I can’t even imagine starting the day after 8 am and some of the tents that I have been spending have been much later on the day that. In fact, yesterday I put some tents that installed us around noon. I was a little worried about people and was curious to know if they were fine. Noon is too much to start and also quite early to finish. But I suppose that, depending on the preparation of people for the JMT, some people could have to assume zeros of paths due to pain or fatigue.
It was absolutely a beautiful morning.
During most of the morning I was walking next to a beautiful river. I had that once again, a river that crossed well and early. I love to hurry for the water and do not even contemplate take off my shoes. I do not wear camp shoes and I don’t think it is very safe to cross rivers without any shoe. I would not like to risk cutting my foot or something. But it seems that every time I get to the other side of a river crossing, there is someone sitting there taking their ignition and off shoes. I love the appearance in their eyes when they see that I just sent it through water without worrying in the world.
Heading towards my next mountain pass.
It was a bit early, so the sun was not yet completely out. The only inconvenience of that was that it would take a little more time to dry. But he knew at some point that he would become a burner of one day like every two days. After about 6 miles of descent and gradual path, I finally started my first climb. I had also finished thirty below and started a new book. I have had the people who recommend listening on the path of Jack Kerouac, so I thought that could start. It was definitely very interesting and I will not be able to give a fair opinion until it has ended completely. I still don’t know if I’m enjoying it or not.
The path continued along this river for a while before the next escalation.
That next climb was much more steep than I thought it was going to be. It only seemed to be approximately 1000 feet, but it felt much higher than that. Once I went up to the top, the path stretched and would have no other rise for a handful of miles. I walked basically along a plateau during the next mile or two. Then I had a fairly steep descent to the base where Silver Pass would start climbing. This is actually the last pass between the Prado and I of Network. Although it is not the final escalation that I will have to do between here and there. The descent was all the changes and it was quite pleasant on the knees. I hope that the climbing silver pass could even be indulgent.
I enjoyed the brief postponement of the climbing when the path was leveled. Shortly after this, the final thrust would begin to the top of the Silver pass.
In a moment, I passed two older women who seemed to be walking together. The lady of the back looked at me and asked me if she was alone. When I told him he was, he was absolutely surprised and very impressed. That is always an interesting perspective to see. When I think of young women, walking alone, especially on national scenic paths, I really don’t peel. I do not think of walking alone as particularly so dangerous. But I can completely understand how someone could see it that way. Especially depending on how you grew up and what you have seen and experienced.
As my time in the high Sierra comes to an end, I will definitely miss this beauty.
Finally, I went down to the bottom of that great descent. Then I grabbed some water and slowly began to climb Silver Pass. The climb was approximately 5 miles and when it reached the top, it would be close to 19 miles for the day. So, the moment of everything seemed quite perfect. Just before starting up, I also passed the crossing by VVR. I would like it to have worked differently and could have gone there. But the idea of adding mileage unnecessarily does not attract me. I am already doing a lot of mileage.
I found a lot of hikers around the crossing that probably stayed in VVR last night. Then, finally, I reached two PCT hikers who had stayed there too. The boys were called Simba and said the name of the girls was intense. They had a really good rhythm, and it took me a few minutes to go through them. Then we ended up jumping a little when I finally stopped for the water before continuing the final thrust to the top.
It was already hot, and I was feeling it safely. And some sections of silver pass were more steep than any of the other passes so far. There were many curves, but also segments with tons of stone steps. From time to time I had to stop briefly to gather. But for the most part, I was able to climb continuously.
I went to buy even more hikers as I got to the top of the pass. Some of them had PCT tags in their backpacks, but I didn’t really end up talking to any of them. Then, after climbing for a while, the path was finally level up. It seems that many of these passes begin steep and then give it a brief respite. So, the last mile or more towards the top is also quite steep. That was definitely the case of Silver Pass.
A beautiful mountain and the lake in the distance.
I enjoyed the brief amount of time in which I was not snorting and swelling. Then, finally, the qualification was steep again when I made the final thrust to the top. Silver Pass looked a lot like Sellden Pass for me. I think that is because I could see the passage in the distance. It seemed closer to what I was. While many of the other passes are difficult to see until you are in them. I simply thought that silver was going to be a little easier here than it was.
The curious thing about Silver Pass is also that it does something that none of the other passes does. Once you go up and on the pass, you actually continue going up. The path goes up and goes to the closest high point. What I simply did not expect after uploading and overcome the pass. From there, I had a long stretch of descent. And that would be the last pass that I had to climb before arriving at Reds Meadow.
The path brought me beyond this beautiful Alpine lake.
However, there were some more climbs for the day. And I think they ended up feeling worse than expected because I was anticipating that they were so slight. Compared to the largest mountain passes, these other climbs seemed small on the map. But it still ends up more than 1000 feet sometimes. There were two or three climbs for the day. And I just wanted to get as much as possible to have an easy and pleasant morning tomorrow.
Making a final climb when the sun began to wear.
At night, I went up and on the last hill. Then I only had a mile more or less downhill to reach the next water source. I would probably have stopped before and prepare the camp for the night, except that I had no water. Lately there have been so many sources that are not on the map. I thought I would meet something before. But I never did. Then, on the other hand, I simply walked to the next stream and ended up camping nearby.
Before the end of the day, tons of water sources had passed. But when I really needed water, there were none.
There was a group of hikers a little distance from me. It seems they were doing a section walk. I grabbed the water and settled the store. Then I did dinner and relax for the rest of the night. Tomorrow I only have 6 miles to get to Reds Meadow, where I will be able to take the hearthrow early in the morning in the gigantic lakes. He will end up feeling as a zero day, as long as I can register in a room and make all my cards very and early.
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