Call me SAM!!!!: The Year of Ryan Part 2. JMT Part 2.

July 20 2017

I woke up feeling pretty good. Cowboy camping worked out pretty well. In fact it has almost always worked out pretty well now that I think about it. I made it over Pinchot pass pretty easily. I met a few guys at the top who were all going my direction and we chatted a bit about the beta we'd received from JMTers going southbound. Apparently Mather pass was easy, Muir pass was 6 miles of contiguous snow and the Kings River was a real problem. I had hiked this section last year with Dylan on our Big SEKI loop attempt. I passed lake Marjorie and marveled at how much different everything was this year. The spot we'd camped last year was underwater. This was also the spot where we'd decided to cut the SEKI loop short last year so it was nice to be feeling strong and more confident this year.

clever hikers.

Where we'd camped the year before...

I realized that if I'd made it to Lake Marjorie the night before liked I'd planned I would've had a tough time finding a place to camp so that worked out ok. I kept hiking and started seeing notes left by Rangers and previous hikers saying the Kings River was completely impassable. They suggested going off trail on the east bank for 4 miles of bushwhacking until you reached the upper basin where the Kings originates and splits into its more easily crossable tributaries. I was solo and trying to always make the most prudent decisions so I started the bushwhack. It was exhausting. You don't realize how easy a nice clear path makes things until you're off it. I bush-whacked about 3 miles sticking close to the river trying to find a spot to cross. Eventually the Kings split in two and looked pretty crossable. It was fast but only a little above my knees and I made it across both branches without any trouble. Back on the trail I started towards my second pass of the day. At the foot of Mather pass there were tracks going everywhere. I got a bit off track and eventually found my way to the pass.

The Upper Basin is always a highlight. Looking South towards Pinchot and the Kings River

At first I mistook that saddle for Mather Pass. It was further east. A little course correction and back on track.

2 sobo hikers were sitting there telling me to stick to the middle path up the pass. They said that the actual trail was eroded and ruined from the snowpack and melt so everyone has just made their own trails. I knew from experience that when people start to make their own trails everything falls apart. The more paths, the more erosion. The hikers said that they had an easy time coming down this side but they'd just glissaded. Well you can't glissade uphill so my attempt was going to be a bit tougher. I looked up, found the tracks in the snow that appeared to head to the middle route and started basically just climbing hand over foot up a steep, snow patchy, eroding under my hands, mountain face. I kept finding bits of the old trail then it would disappear into a ridiculously steep snowbank so everyone had just scrambled up the loose dirt instead. It took me a long time with a lot of pauses to get up Mather Pass. Dylan and I had done it last year and commented on how easy it had been. This year it was my second major pass of the day and there was no trail for 1/2 the day. I was BEAT.

One of the rare trail bits on the way up Mather Pass.

Finally I got to the top exhausted, and looked at the other side. It was all bad. Snow as far as I could see and since it was late afternoon it was all soft and slippery. My spikes wouldn't stick until I figured out that if I made sure to set my feet for a 2 count the soft snow would compact around my spikes and they'd hold. Well, taking a 2 beat between every step takes a really long time. Add to that that if you're standing on snow you can't see what's underneath. Next to a boulder I stepped out into the tracks and the snow gave way right under my right leg. I fell down to my hip with one leg in the snow and one on top. This is called post-holing and I was about to get used to it. I pulled myself out, dug out my shoe which had gotten stuck in the snow, brushed myself off and kept going. The snow and post-holing went on for miles. It wasn't too long though before I figured out that the big boulders held latent afternoon heat so the snow around them couldn't be trusted. I was getting a good taste of snow travel, learning as I went and getting more confident.
I made it to Palisade lakes where Dylan and I had camped the year before and all the spots were taken or buried in snow/ water. I kept hiking. Next up was the Golden Staircase. A super steep set of switchbacks that was the last part of the JMT to be completed because for years trailbuilders couldn't figure out how to get the trail up a narrow chute next to a river with waterfalls. Last year the Golden Staircase almost killed me because we were going up it. This year it was a creek and slow going but at least I was going down. I made it to the treeline and found a great camp. I put up my tent and did my chores. I thought about my family a lot this day and things were insanely hard so doubt started to enter my mind. I started to entertain the notion of getting out at Mammoth Lakes and cutting this trip short.

Day 6 18.97 miles. At least I was back ahead of schedule.

July 21 2017 Day 7

I started out the day with a bit of downhill through the forest then the rest of the day was up, up, up. It was really pretty and there was trail so the walking was good.

Leconte Canyon was a highlight. Looking South to where I'd come up from.

The now sorta famous JMT sharkrock.

Around noon I stopped for lunch. I looked at the maps and decided that since I was feeling discouraged and tired maybe I'd stop for the day in a couple miles, at an unnamed camp right before Helen Lake. I made it to the camp pretty quickly. I found a decent spot to put a tent. I even sent Teresa my end of the day SPOT gps message.

Then I just got up and kept hiking.

I'm really bad at stopping early. I must be a glutton for punishment. I knew Muir Pass was coming up and it was suppose to be 6 straight miles of snow travel. I came across 2 PCTers from the day before who were waiting and watching the clouds before they tried the pass. We talked about it a bit and it didn't look like the clouds were going to build into anything so I set out. It was nothing but snow for as far as you could see. Just like everyone coming south had said.

The pass was in the saddle slightly right of center. You can see the footpath on the right headed into the snow.

Those giant impressions in the snow are called suncups. They were 2-3 feet deep. You either chose to step from peak to peak and try not to slip or you step from cup to cup and hope not to posthole. Also if you step from cup to cup you have to really lift your legs each step. I usually chose peak to peak which meant a lot of slipping and sliding around. Trail/ path behind my head to Muir pass near the top.

I made it to the top of the pass and the famous Muir hut.

The hut was an island in the middle of 6 miles of snow.

I had a snack, chatted with some sobo hikers and learned that there was nowhere to camp until Evolution lake 5.2 miles away. Off I went. Once again I hiked until almost dusk.

Coming down to Evolution Lake at sunset.

Then I found an amazing camp, made food, did chores, slept like rock until the wind started around 3 am. After that slept pretty badly.

Day 7 19.28 miles. WAY ahead of schedule now.

July 22 2017 Day 8

Around 5 in the morning the wind stopped. I slept for another hour and when I got up it was a perfectly still morning in an AMAZING spot. I grabbed my camera and headed down to the lake.

I came back to camp and made breakfast. It was getting really hard to stomach the Mountain House Egg breakfasts. I was having to basically coat them in hot sauce packets to get them down. 4 packets of Del Taco sauce and 2 packets of Siracha each morning were having predictably bad effects on my my stomach health during the day. Let's just say I was a little torn up this day. The pepto and immodium in my kit were coming in handy. (TMI) With the heat of the day and my stomach giving me trouble I got a little lightheaded so I stopped a bunch, cooled off and drank a ton of water.
I had heard a lot about Evolution creek and how dangerous it was. The info gathered said to walk down stream to where the creak spread out over a meadow.

Evolution Creek. The info was right. Crossing this was suicide.

Evolution "CREEK????"

This shot was taken standing on the thin grass strip you can make out in the above photo. Still a long way to go.

Evolution creek was more like crossing a shallow lake. Where it had spread out in meadow it had covered everything in water. ALL of the snow melt from everything north of Muir Pass was coming down this canyon and rushing by here. It was a fast moving hip deep lake. Crazy. I carefully made my way across then dried off on the bank.

Back on National forest land. I had hiked all the way through Seqouia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

I arrived at Muir Trail Ranch where I had sent my one and only resupply bucket by about 3pm. The ranch was full of hikers and buckets and gear, food, packages were laid out everywhere. I had hoped to buy a meal and get some real food at the ranch but they only cooked for guests. Being a guest meant renting a cabin for $200. There were hot springs to bathe in and bed to sleep on. I passed. They didn't even sell cold drinks. They kicked out all the hikers at 5pm and generally weren't very friendly. I sorted through my resupply bucket. I had packed too many snacks and extras like bug wipes/ trail mix/ clif bars. The ranch had bins you could just throw your extra stuff into so that other hikers could sort through it. I looked to find more breakfasts and came up empty. I put my bars etc into a bin and they disappeared almost instantly. Eventually I got everything into my pack and tried to put it on. It was SOOO heavy. When I'd showed up at MTR I'd hung it on the scale and it was 25lbs with everything. When I left it was 35lbs. As I groaned under the weight a fellow hiker asked how much it weighed. I told him and he said his weighed 45lbs. He had a HUGE pack but I found out I was the lightest pack around. We all started chatting and everyone there was sobo. I was the only nobo so they asked me for all the information I could muster. I told them about Muir, Mather, the Kings River and Forester.
Most hikers choose to go sobo because you start in Yosemite where the terrain isn't a steep and get your legs stronger as you head southbound. The southern end of the JMT is where all the big passes and peaks are. I had done all of that already and they were surprised at how fast I was making the miles. By the end of the conversation I was pretty sure I was killing it out there. It gave me a lot more confidence to realize that I'd done most of the hardest stuff already and was still ahead of my schedule.
MTR had a path back to the National Forest Land where there was a camp next to a stream. I went there and made camp. Did some laundry. My stench was getting really bad. I broke my flip flops and managed to misplace my fit bit/ time keeper. That would mean having to use my phone and waste batteries to find out the time. I sat to write in my journal. Found my fitbit in the dirt and made a quick sandal fix out of foot tape!

Slept well again.

Day 8 14.94 miles.

July 23 Day 9

Started out the day with a pretty easy climb up and over Selden Pass. I could tell that the terrain was changing and becoming more rounded.

Sallie Keyes Lakes

Heart Lake near top of Selden Pass

By late morning the 35lb pack was starting to wear on me but mostly I felt great. In my initial plan for the hike I was going to send a resupply bucket to Reds Meadow near Mammoth just 3 days from here which would've meant staying around 28lbs for this section and I had planned a couple of easier mile days in a row here. Reds meadow hadn't been taking packages and wasn't sure they'd be open because of all of the snow so I had to fit everything in my MTR box and I couldn't afford to take my time. That meant a heavy pack here and readjusting my plan. I decided that I would just go all day today.
I was aiming for a 20ish mile day and a camp near Lake Edison/ Mono Creek. I made it there a bit before sunset. I am still flip flopping with a few PCT hikers who are going to Vermillion Valley Resort on the other side of Lake Edison. It is either a $45 boat ride in the morning or a 4+ mile walk around the lake but there are campsites, hot springs, a restaurant and and store that will actually sell you food and drink. I thought about it but wanted to stay on schedule so I camped near the creek. After setting up camp I realized I now have 2 holes in each sock. Holes in both shoes, my gaiters have failed and my JetBoil canister leaks gas so I have to fiddle with it every time I use it. Tonight I used a pen to try and reset the pin and it blew all of the ink out of the pen and all over me... I also lost one of my trekking pole snow baskets, and my pants are ripped from glissading. All totally worth it after an adventurous day like today.

Day 9 19.53 miles.

July 24 2017

During the night I kept waking up from my own stench. I smelled terrible. The elevation profile for this day didn't look that bad on the maps but it was. Morning was up and up to Silver pass.

Looking back near the top of Silver Pass

The pass!

Thunderclouds building.

Ominous but beautiful.

Gotta make it down to the treeline before the clouds burst.

I raced down Silver pass trying to get below the treeline before the thunderstorm that was obviously building to the north got to me. I made it down to safety and it started to hail like crazy. Thunder, lightning WOOH!!!

After that cleared out it was Mosquito time! I put on my head net, kept on my poncho and made my way up an out of Tully Hole. Today was 3000ft up 2000 ft down 1300ft up and the 700ft down. It was a rollercoaster and I'm tired. I found a great camp near purple lake which puts me in range to Get to Reds Meadow for a late breakfast/ lunch. I am dreaming of real food. A burger, fries, shake...