PCT Day 53

Bushcamp to Bushcamp

14.7 miles

Mile 819.4

Another painfully early wake up. At least I cowboy camped tonight, despite the cold, it made getting up and on trail a quick affair.

Spikes and I were hiking by 4am, and on top of Pinchot Pass by 5:20am. The climb wasn’t too bad, and a set of footprints made navigating the pass easy. It was too cold to dally up top, so after a few photos we began our descent.

On our way down we watched in awe as the sun colored the morning clouds.

Down into the valley below we endured a few river crossings before reaching one that we’d been anticipating with an extra level of anxiety. Last year this crossing took the life of a hiker whos trail name was Strawberry.

Upon reaching the river we decided to walk along it for a couple miles in search of a safer area to cross. It ended up working out better, as we were able to skip a crossing all together by crossing further up stream.

Safely across, we pushed on towards Mather Pass, hoping to do two passes in one day.

The approach was pretty standard; an alpine valley before ascending through pines, then a snow covered treeless plain and boom, you climb straight up and over.

The problem with this Pass was that I followed a pair of footprints instead of my map, and ended up on the wrong side of the bowl that would lead us to the summit. It was sketchy as hell, whoever I had followed must of had mountaineering gear, because this was no hike.

We decided to turn around rather than risk pushing on, a decision I’m thankful we made.

From the correct side of the bowl we attacked the Pass once again. It was relatively straight forward until the switchbacks ended at the stoop of a large rockslide. Our only option was to boulder our way up from there. We made our way up slowly and carefully, as the rocks were loose as hell.

Upon reaching the top I was thankful to still be in one piece. Mather Pass was undoubtedly the sketchiest Pass we’d undertaken to date.

The way down was simple and fun. The snow had become the perfect consistency for glissading, so glissade I did…until I realized I was shredding my butt cheek on the sharp ice…

A streak of red followed me down my second glissade, and upon a quick inspection I discovered that I’d cheese graded my booty on the snow…whoops.

Bleeding through my shorts, I pushed on, but my glissading days may be over.

We reached the valley below around 2, and as always at this time, we began post holing. Having completed two passes and nearly 15 miles, I had no problem calling it a day.

I found a nice snowless plot of dirt and pitched my tent right before it began to snow. Spikes and I endured it for a while, eating dinner next to the fire I’d built before retreating to our tents.

P.s. The Sierras have brought out my hiker hunger. I simply can’t eat enough. I’ve begun experimenting with my food, so I thought I’d share some of the delicacies I’ve cooked up.

• Chunky peanut butter with Nutella, peppermint paddies and peanut butter crackers
• Sweet and spicy tuna packet with peanut butter
• Spanish rice with vegetable chips and lemon pepper tuna

P.p.s. and here’s my toe…

Cheers!