June 14th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 15
Start Location: Mile 796
End Location: Mile 811
End Location GPS: 36.96839, -118.44097
Tough day. We woke up to freezing condensation all over our tent and wet sleeping bags. My hands had pins and needles after rolling the tent to put it into its stuff sack.
We started our ascent of Pichot Pass mid morning. Another pass at greater than 12k feet means obscured trail and snow traversals. There were a few fords where we took off our shoes to cross. During one crossing my strap in my backpack broke (an annoyance but it wasn’t a critical one).
Pichot was less sketchy than Glen, but there were still a lot of snowy ridge crossings. Carolyn was having a tough day. The scary river crossings, snow and climbing started to wear on her. The trail conditions and overall mood had me thinking of the CDT. It was tough and progress was slow.
We eventually made it over Pichot and continued our descent, and mustered a measly 15 miles for the day. I’m a bit concerned that at this pace we are going to run out of food before our resupply. We could get out at Bishop Pass but that is a 12 mile side trail- so I would like to avoid that. Hopefully the next passes are easier and progress will be faster, but something tells me not to hold my breath.
Hi, Carolyn and Dom, Your photos are fabulous. I love the PCT Day 55 shots. One can feel the freezing condensation you describe on Day 54…Carolyn, you are remarkable!!
Loving Thoughts of you…
Apparently the comments from my phone did not post…I can’t even remember what I said other than referencing the “Morning Sun.” photo from this day’s entry. It is amazing. I am half expecting to see some of your photos to pop up in my next REI catalogue.
I look forward to each block of entries you guys put out. I bet the visit to the Muir Cottage was kind of inspiring…not that each moment you spend on the trails are any less, but that visit would be something special to me.
All right, enjoy the journey and thanks again for all the photos!