We are almost done with the Sierra mountains. It has been a great experience – very beautiful, but also incredibly hard. After Forester Pass at 13,000 feet comes Glen, Pinchot, Mather, and Muir Pass, all at over 12,000 feet. And then comes Selden, Silver and Donohue at over 11,000 feet. And in between the passes, you have to go 3-4,000 feet down and back up.
Although much of the snow has melted, there is still some left around the passes. This means that in many places you can’t see where the trail goes. When you have crossed a snowfield, you scramble around on the rocks to find your way back to the track. It is for good reason that climbers hate mixed climbing on rocks and snow. Each time you are finished with some snow, you must decide whether it is worthwhile to stop and take off your snow spikes, or whether you should cross the rocks on your metal spikes until the next snow.
In the morning, the snow is frozen and relatively easy to cross, but from mid-morning the upper layer becomes soft, and in the afternoon you are skidding around in a soft mush of half-melted snow. So we had to change our plan and sleep in the freezing temperatures at 10-11,000 feet on the last flat spot before each pass. That meant we could climb up on frozen snow, and be down again on the other side by lunchtime.
It also meant that a stretch planned for 7 days came to take almost 10, so we had to ration our food a little. Fortunately we had plenty, but the conversation between hikers in last days were often along the lines of “how much food do you have left?”
Sten is no big fan of cold water, but while he makes lunch, Lotte can sometimes take a refreshing dip in one of the mountain lakes we pass.
There is lots of wildlife – deer are just standing there while we walk by. Marmots also just keep sitting on their rocks, and at the resupply spots, cheeky chipmunks will crawl all the way into your backpack to get at your snacks if you’re not careful.
There are many streams to cross in the high Sierra. In some places, there are bridges over the wildest rivers, but many of the bridges are in a bad state and some are half washed away. If there is no bridge, you have to wade, jump from rock to rock, or balance on a tree trunk. It mostly goes well, though Sten managed to step through a rotten tree trunk and put one foot in the river.
Our resupply plan assumed we could buy more food in Tuolumne Meadows near Yosemite. That was a miscalculation. We had seen in our hiker app that there was food to be had, but when we arrived, other hikers had bought it all. So for three days we lived on sliced cheese, sandwich bread, cookies, and beef jerky (which is fortunately available almost everywhere).
It went better at Kennedy Meadows Resort, where the store had everything we needed, even though the place was completely full of hikers. And we filled up with cheeseburgers and hot chocolate with whipped cream.
Part of our gear is almost worn out after 80 days on the trail. The zippers in our tent don’t really close anymore, and air was leaking out of our air mattress, so we had to submerge it in a lake in order to find the puncture. We can see that others have the same problems, so it is probably just the durability of modern lightweight gear. We have a new tent waiting for us in Sierra City – we hope that will hold up for the rest of the trip.
In the high Sierra, there are no roads, and that means no Trail Magic. But now we pass a road from time to time, and were lucky to meet a few hikers from last year who wanted to give something back. So, we had pancakes and hotdogs for breakfast 🙂
The weather is no longer only sunshine. There was a thunderstorm while we were on the way up to Carson Pass, so we had to huddle in shelter and wait for it to pass. We also have hail the size of peas, which makes the forest floor completely white.
Right now, we have a rest day in the resort town of South Lake Tahoe. Much of the forest from here has burned over the last years, so the trail is charred and full of fallen trees. We have been advised to skip the worst affected areas, so we’ll rent a car from here and drive a little to the north before we go back on the trail.
We can see that some of those we have been meeting on and off have started to drop out. Either they have had enough now that they have experienced the High Sierra, or the mountains have worn them down. But we expect that a few days of rest can make us ready for the last 1.500 miles 😉
I have been excitedly waiting for an update! Was so wonderful to meet both of you in Tehachapi! Me and the family went camping out to South Lake near the town of Bishop in the sierras a week ago from today and I met some day hikers and thought of you two! So glad to see the progress and optimism! Happy trails!
Wow! What an adventure. So many challenges, and so much beauty. Great pics!
Wow. I don’t know what else to say. I would never have started and would have quit 1,000 times. You two are amazing.
I love to read your blogs. What an amazing adventure! The word ‘endurance’ takes on a whole different meaning by what you are doing. I can’t wait to hear your stories firsthand, Lotte!