PCT DAY 58 ✨
🥾 walked 18.3 miles
📍mile 800.9
⛰️ elevation 8526 feet
After two and a half glorious, food-filled days in Bishop, I remounted the Onion Valley Trailhead ready to return to the Pacific Crest Trail. Although rest days, showers, and refueling are pretty critical to my overall success, zeros sometimes take my breath away. It’s strange. Sometimes I would rather be following the trail non-stop. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a bed, cell phone service, eating whatever I want on the trail, refueling on fun and new food and meal ideas, and socializing with hikers off the trail. But the longer I’m in the city, the harder it is to get back into the rhythm of the trail.
I hiked the 7.5 miles from Onion Valley, up Kearsarge Pass and down to the Pacific Crest Trail. I ran into tons of hikers wandering off the trail, with the same excitement I had a few days before. And just like other hikers did for me, I made sure to promote them on the best places to eat and drink coffee in town!
I was back on the Pacific Crest Trail and ready for the next 8 day stretch. Mammoth would be our next resupply town, but being over 120 miles away, it was a little out of reach. My tram and I didn’t want to go 20 miles a day and rush, but we also couldn’t fit 7/8 days worth of food in our bear canisters. Ahh, the complexities of the Sierra. We eventually decided to stop at the iconic Vermillion Valley Ranch for a mini resupply that would take us to Mammoth, but since the summer ferry was no longer operating, it would add another 15 mile round trip (off the PCT trail) to and from the PCT. So we are looking at around 8 days.
We crushed Glens Pass before 2pm, with ominous clouds behind us pushing us up faster. It was a challenging climb, but nothing more difficult than what we have done before. We enjoyed the views from the top, taking in the views in all directions. How incredibly satisfying these steps are: the views of the Sierra Nevada mountains are endless. Snowy peak after peak. It is equal parts scary and life-giving to be in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of these enormous mountains. And we are just little humans, at their mercy. It’s scary, but I’ve never felt more alive. 
Distant thunder and gathering clouds rushed us through the pass on the north side. Snow still covered part of the mountain, so we followed the established boot trails. And then the boot prints turned into butt prints, which meant one thing: glissading! Glissading is essential for sledding down the mountain on your butt (or a sitting pad or whatever you want to use between you and the snow). It’s incredibly fun and liberating to slide down a mountain. It brings me back to childhood and the youthful, carefree freedom of flying downhill, without worrying about the cold and wet snow or a possible hard landing. Just childlike excitement and pure fun.
We continued walking around Rae Lakes when the clouds finally broke above us. Maybe we were having too much fun today. Flashes of light illuminated the cloudy sky, thunder exploded directly above us, I even let out a few screams of surprise. The sky couldn’t make up its mind, raining and hailing us for the next few kilometers. But I didn’t care. My feet, shoes and butt were already wet from sliding and crossing the river up to my knees. And the “uncomfortable” weather only increased the adventure. Also, Rae Lakes holds a special place in my heart.
Last September, I decided that I needed to do a pre-PCT increase. I have always been adventurous, I have backpacked much of the world, I have visited 56 countries, I have traveled for months at a time, I have walked the Camino de Santiago, the West Highland Way and much more. But the PCT was different. I had never really done a multi-day overnight hike in a remote desert alone. So I got a last minute permit to hike the 50 mile Rae Lakes Loop. What I told the others was a test hike for the PCT, it was really a «Can I even do the PCT!? Am I brave and strong enough to sleep alone in the wilderness for several nights!?» type of walk.
September 2025
September 2025
September 2025
And 4 days in Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park were absolutely epic and confirmed that I was, in fact, capable, brave, and ready to take on the Pacific Crest Trail.
So walking here now, having completed almost two months on the PCT, was something special. This stretch of trail once witnessed an insecure, shy, questioning version of myself. I exactly remember camping at the lakes, where I saw a mother bear and her two cubs, where I jumped into the water, and where I fell asleep at night, terrified those bears would come back for me. And here I am today, walking through the same area as a much more confident, stronger and experienced version of myself. Proud is an understatement.
I would say today was a coming full circle moment, having revisited Rae Lakes. But this is not the goal. I have many more kilometers to experience, enjoy, grow and conquer. Rae Lakes was just a reminder of who I once was and the endless possibilities for success if you just push yourself, no matter how scared you are, do the hard things, and believe in yourself. I felt a sacred spiritual energy passing through here. A review of my past self, but also a push to keep going, to keep doing scary things, because I’m getting stronger and braver.
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