900 miles on the PCT: The Sierra will always have my heart

Path thoughts

I am very grateful that the PCT was not my first long distance walk. I know that if it had been, I could not appreciate its magnificence in the same way I do now. In the last 5 years, I have learned that there is no extreme beauty without a significant amount, if not, of suffering. Before this path, I have experienced walking in extreme heat in the desert, walking with rain/hail/snow, being constantly covered with mosquitoes, getting wet feet at cold water crosses, waking up at 5 am and putting frozen shoes, night walks and much more! I am used to this way of life and I have had enough time to reflect on it. I decided that through hiking it is worth what I get from him: a new perspective and appreciation for the beauty that I have experienced, feeling strong and empowered, a love for this simple way of life. I always get out of difficult times and I am surprised what I have achieved, even if tears were involved. I know that the roller coaster of emotions is only part of the trip. If I had done this path instead of the Colorado path when I was 29 years old, I know that even if I could have completed it, I would not have savored every moment here. I would have been too focused on suffering. I am so happy to have waited until I was mentally prepared to make this walk.

A magical birthday

When we left Kennedy Meadows at night, we had planned to go to about 5 miles. We only did 3, because there was magic of trails! I had not heard of that in advance, so it was an incredible surprise. It was a meeting in honor of the memory of the famous Trail Angel Meadow Ed. Yogi himself was there! Yogi is a legend through. She was the first female double tripculo quoter (walked through the PCT, CDT and twice). I was hit star! The other wonderful paths of trails were Jackelope, Greg in Wild (there is a character in the book/film Wild based on him) and Pinhead. That night, we were cooked hamburgers (a vegan hamburger for me!) And we all talked and laughed until the time came in the bed.

The next morning was my real birthday. I was excited to start the day with a breakfast, including hot coffee, a luxury! -Moded by the angels of the path. I started working in patching Pony Girl, who has now received enough holes. Immediately, Jackélope and Greg in Wild jumped with adhesive tape and tried to help me. It was a quite funny view! After doing our best effort, Chipmunk, Merlin and I left. I was more than excited to enter the mountains on my birthday! I felt revitalized when I returned to my ideal hiking environment. I was back in my element.

A summit prior to the single

One of the secondary missions made by most PCT hikers is Mount Whitney, the highest 14th in the 48 lower states. It is 16 miles outside the path, but I couldn’t do it! Chipmunk, Merlin and I walked a short day the day before we could sleep around 3 pm and wake up at 11:30 pm to reach the summit at dawn. When the alarm shot, I felt incredibly rested! We started walking a little after midnight. I had not made a summit of dawn since I moved to Colorado. It is definitely a union experience to walk in the Black Up field to Presh subp at frozen temperatures! I prefer to walk through the cold, so I felt good and I was loading the mountain. Unfortunately, that meant that Sparkles, Merlin and I reached the top before dawn. We arrived around 4:15. Without the sun to heat ourselves, we had to hug us into our sleeping bags next to a rock. Finally we started walking in our sleep mats, and it looked like small worms on the top of the mountain.

Everything was worth it, because dawn was impressive! It was also fun to fall, because the views were new to us. Unfortunately, I ended up folding my foot in a strange way on a large rock that went down and threw a muscle. I was sad because I had been doing very well! These things happen on a walk. All I can do is be careful and wait for it to heal.

The Awards of the High Mountain of Sierra

In this section, I walked on 7 mountain passes in 9.5 days, which included 41,000 feet of elevation change. It was the most intense hiking I have made in that short period of time. It was also my favorite part of the entire path! I’ve been waiting to climb large mountains, and finally the time had come. I think the best way to talk about the 5 main passes of High Sierra is to award them awards.

Forester pass: most worldly

The first of the passes of the mountain of Sierra High, Forester was a great initiation! Go Urban was easy: there was no snow and had good curious. Then, Tunes and I looked down on the other side to see Chipmunk and Merlin crossing a huge snow patch. It was not any snow patch, there were huge suggests. We made the mistake of reviewing between 1-2 pm, so it was also very likely after the holinization. Fortunately, we were very slowly and carefully and left unharmed.

After passing the incomplete snow, we could appreciate the magnificent views! There are some places where I felt as if I was on another planet: the San Juan in the south of Colorado, Antelope Island in Utah and now this.

Glen Pass: larger snow tunnels

Chipmunk and I checked Glen together. The snow tunnels were really funny, much less scary than Forester. We descended to a lush forest full of colorful flowers, beautiful moss and mini waterfalls. It was like a fairy tale!

I went for a cold dump in Rae Lakes and dried up in the sun. This was the beginning of my swimming obsession. I decided that I would do the ‘Duck Challenge’: swim in all the lakes that appear as a Pato symbol in Farout. It was part of my commitment to embrace every second of the Sierra. Now I’m addicted to Cold Lake Dunks!

Psinkot Pass: the most endless ascent

We decided to go to the middle of skewers at night, which was a very long and hard climb. We had to make a steurn night hiking and faint. We had a beautiful slow morning the next day. I could drink my cold coffee and eat Nutella while sitting in a rock in the sun. I even had time to dry my socks of the many river crosses with wet feet the night before.

The climb was worth the views. When we went down, we saw the lighter mountain lakes and wanted to swim. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm was brewing and we needed to reach a lower elevation. We arrived at the bottom when it began to pour, and we had to camp after only 8.5 miles. It was then that we decided that we needed to reduce the speed in the mountains. He ended up making it much more pleasant!

Mather Pass: Most brutal offspring

I had a lot of fun at Math’s climb and was sailing. In the descent, we found the Lakes of Palisade and we wanted to swim. This was frozen! It was so cold that I was breathless when it appeared.

Then came the surprise descent that was felt as if it were directly. There were stairs most of the road, and you had to jump through some of them, they were so big that we felt relieved to reach the camp that night! It was Mozzie Town (this is a term popular use for mosquitoes, taken from our European friends along the way. Or, as we say in the west, Skeeters).

MUIR PASS: The most glorious views

This pass had the lake behind the lake that was still improving! I would love to rebuild this section and swim in each one.

Goodbye for now

A city stop in Bishop was also in this section of miles, just after Forester. It is the prettiest city, and had everything a trip through it could dream: 3 different equipment stores, tons of good restaurants, multiple supermarkets. When we take a trip to the city, squirrels, melodies and I were voracious. We went directly to the brewery and asked for tons of food and met with our old friend, lost! She had been waiting for us for a few days. She gave us the sad news that she would leave the PCT. Tunes and I were completely disconsolate, but we understood that this was the right choice for her. We double zero into the city, so we could create many excellent memories. We saw Rom Coms silly in the hotel room, Lost Petting Our Faces and explored together the best places in the city. She had the kindness of letting me permanently adopt Potatum! I could have cried. Tunes and I promised that we would visit Austria in the near future!

A Pitspop in VVR

After realizing that we needed to go slower in the Sierra, we knew we would have to make an additional vvr stop to get more food after Muir’s pass. We walked early in the morning, and fortunately they had the kind of breakfast even though we arrived 15 minutes late. We did all our tasks, replenish and go to the ferry.

A couple of days later, we arrive at the Lakes of the Gigantic. We were excited to be in a real city again! I will have to catch you in our time in Mammoth in the next publication. Goodbye for now! 👋

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