PCT Day 59: Climbing in the Sierra (8/30)

Today’s Miles: 17

Total Miles: 989

First thing in the morning and the trail climbs up and up. I pass by two hikers, Roadrunner and Calves, who look at me bleary eyed from their sleeping bags which are on top of a ground tarp. “How has the Sierras been for you?” asks Calves. Pretty and tough is my reply. Calves agrees and I think it better not to say anything about the truly difficult passes once we get past Mammoth Lakes.

At some point in the morning, I pass by a a lake to see Black Dog filtering water. Black Dog! I hadn’t seen him since White Pass in WA where I really enjoyed hanging out around him and his soft spoken nature. After we exchange greetings, Black Dog tells me other hikers were telling him that I was howling across the creek last night when I heard he was camping over there. I was definitely guilty of that and he laughs and says he didn’t hear me.

Feeling like it’s just a big party of south bounders out here, Mousetrap catches up with me and we hike towards a spectacular granite backdrop. This leads into a long, long ascent and soon the scenery is out of my mind and I’m focused on climbing up this trail. Each step requires attention as the trail is often made up of rock and roots. My feet and body are overall holding up well, it’s just an overall feeling of exhaustion that causes me to stop every bit and catch my breath. It’s something like a total of 5,000 feet of ascent today and we teeter north of 10,000 feet at our highest point.

I reach Smedberg Lake and am greeted by Road Runner, Calves, and Blueprint. Calves is sitting there in the nude sun bathing, having obviously just jumped in the lake. I jump in the lake too, launching myself off a nearby rock. In the next half hour, our small group becomes a big group as Juicy, CatManDu, Still Sam, Mousetrap, and Black Dog join. People start heading out, some solo, and some in pairs. I look around to see that it’s just me and Juicy, and her and I split a cheese block I packed out from Steve’s house. And then finally it’s just me. I look out to the lake one last time before putting on my shoes and heading out. An excellent break spot.

It’s three more miles to the camp spot and I hike them slow with Juicy. It turns out to be a pretty humbling day as these 17 miles did not come easy. Juicy and I get to camp around 6:30, and are greeted by Cat. Eventually Mousetrap and Still Sam roll in and it’s the five of us having dinner together. Before we go to bed, we talk about how Tuolumne Meadows is 23 miles away and tomorrow looks to be less climbing. Maybe we will get there tomorrow or maybe we won’t. All I know is it’s getting dark right now, at 8:15, and I’m tired. To the tent it is.