June 8th, 2022 by Jon
We woke in our tent to another somewhat warm morning. Nice for getting up, but it meant the snow on the passes would be more slushy than we would like. We packed fairly quickly and made a hot breakfast, and by the time we finished, everyone but Missile was gone. That’s pretty unusual because usually Wilco hates getting up early. We all wanted to do two passes today, though, so I guess it makes sense. The three of us set out together and remarked at how beautiful the mountains looked with their pink alpenglow. We were right at the tree line where we camped, so everything after that was mostly exposed. The trail meandered its way past a few streams and lakes before climbing in elevation, and then it was just hiking through ice and rock fields.
Thankfully, there were some pretty solid boot paths already laid out for us, so we didn’t have any problems on the way up following the trail. We came to the part of every pass where we hit a wall and began a series of steep switchbacks that took us up to the pass. Pinchot Pass was this morning’s goal, and surprisingly, the climb up didn’t feel too bad. The switchbacks weren’t anything too crazy, and before long, we were at the top. We took a small break there with Missile and could see Wilco and Bouge far below. After taking some photos and eating a snack, we set out after them. The trail was fairly snow-free on the way down, which was a nice change of pace from previous passes. We took some gentle switchbacks down the steep section before crossing a fairly flat medium-sized ice field.
We crossed it without issue and then continued down the trail into a small valley. The valley was higher in elevation than most others, staying above 10,000 feet rather than dropping to 9,000 or 8,000 feet. The next pass (Muir Pass) was only about 9 miles from the top of Pinchot, so we felt like this was the day to catch up on some miles because we really took it easy the first two days. The trail led us past several partially frozen lakes before heading further downhill into the valley. The forest was thick down here, and the number of creeks we had to cross was probably close to 15. Most were fairly simple, with a few rocks or a log to cross on. There were two, though, that were much more difficult.
The first was some unnamed creek. The water reached the top of my calf and rushed by. There weren’t any good places to cross, and so we made the decision to just cross in the water. It didn’t feel safe to cross without footwear, given how fast the water was moving, so we both crossed in our hiking shoes. The day was fairly warm, and we knew we would be taking a lunch break in another hour, so we continued hiking with wet shoes. The next 2 miles up out of that valley took us through a very swampy meadow. Mosquitos swarmed like giant dark clouds and followed us along the trail. I did my best to swat at them while walking, but still managed to get a few bites. The trail had gorgeous views of the mountains around us, and we were pretty sure we could already see Mather Pass up ahead of us. Unfortunately, I was too busy with the mosquitoes to take many photos of this part.
The 2nd difficult crossing was another fast-flowing creek that was running down a steep hillside. I managed to find a few rocks and made a pretty big jump from the last one to get to the other bank. Unfortunately, when Singsong tried, her foot got caught on a small underwater branch, and although she grabbed a root to keep her from going anywhere, she fell into the creek and got the back of her pants soaked. It was actually pretty impressive that she didn’t get more wet than she did.
Shortly after that, we got to the South Fork of the King’s River, and I managed to cross with just one foot getting wet. Since Singsong’s feet were already wet, she just crossed them without complaint, and we took a lunch break there. We ate and dried out our shoes and socks for about 45 minutes. After our break, we set out again toward Mather Pass. This pass had the most comments about it being sketchy, so we were somewhat apprehensive about what was to come. The trail curled around rocks as we rose higher and higher, large flat ice fields were melting everywhere and just made the entire area covered in water. We did our best to hop from rock to rock, but we still managed to get our feet covered in snowmelt.
We did a big climb across a ledge that looked down at the bowl-shaped valley we had just come from, climbing in elevation as we moved from right to left across a massive wall of loose rock. When we got all the way over to the left, we had a series of switchbacks to climb. Except… most of them were covered in snow. We had to climb straight up loose rock, and since I was first, I basically rock-climbed about 20 feet. It was probably the sketchiest thing I’ve done so far on trail, and when I got to the top, I could see Wilco and Singsong behind me coming up. But I could now see some uncovered switchbacks they could reach without doing what I did. I had them climb straight up about 20 feet of loose rock, and then they were back on a nice, snow-free trail. I’m glad at least someone was. The rest of the switchbacks up were fairly uneventful once I finished another 10-foot climb and got on the trail myself. The snow prints show basically everyone going this way, but now, with more snow melted, I’m glad it was possible to have a safer route.
When we got to the top, we celebrated and had another snack break. 2 passes in one day was no joke, and unfortunately for us, the hardest part was still to come. The north side of Mather Pass was absolutely covered in snow. Plus, since it was mostly made of loose rock, the boot path felt a lot less stable on the way down than the other passes. This descent was very much a “choose your own adventure” kind of thing. There were paths that led nowhere, and the trail seemed completely buried under snow. We had gotten to the top around 2:00, so the snow was somewhat slushy and prone to post-holing. And post-hole we did. Every step was a challenge, and some of the rock scrambles were even more difficult than the snow. I had to throw my trekking poles down a few times so I could use both hands to literally climb down a ledge or rock. Singsong fell and scraped her knee. I post-holed near a rock up to my thigh and banged my shin against a rock. We would find the trail for about 10 seconds, then lose it as it turned in another direction, as we tried to follow someone else’s footsteps.
Suffice to say, by the time we reached a creek near the bottom where Wilco and Missile were waiting, we were very, very tired. Here, the trial was only slightly easier to follow, although the trail itself was covered in water for at least 50% of the next 2 miles. We hiked along Palisade Lakes, a massive, blue, sparkling basin of beautiful water. We were up on a ledge on one side of the valley, looking across the lake at the mountain that came right down to the water like a fjord. The trail was beautiful here; we walked on top of huge boulders, and green grass was abundant everywhere. Waterfalls cascaded off the rock above us, crossed the trail, and tumbled down below into creeks that fed the lake.
We passed the section of trail that overlooked where the upper lake flowed into the lower lake, then continued on, slipping along the lake’s edge about 100 feet above the water. A short series of switchbacks brought us down to the water’s edge, and we walked along brilliantly clear water for another half mile before reaching the end of the lake. We ate dinner there because we wanted to go another 5.7 miles to the bottom of this valley. Muir Pass is on tomorrow’s list, and it’s a huge climb up to the top. We were headed all the way down to 8,000 feet before going back up to 12,000 feet over about 12 miles. In order to make sure we could get up and over to the nearest campsite tomorrow, we had to get further down into this valley tonight.
Dinner break was from 4:30 to 5:30, and then we packed up our things once again to finish our last section of the day. This part was my favorite of the whole day. We climbed down along Palisade Creek that flowed like an absolute torrent down the mountainside. The trail stayed within 20 feet of the north wall of the valley as we headed due west. The teams of people who built this trail made this section a massive staircase/series of switchbacks built into the side of the valley wall. We would have 6-8 switchbacks, all next to each other, turn a corner, go along a ledge, and then go down another 6-8 switchbacks. It was crazy how quickly we were losing elevation.
We turned a corner, and we’re smacked in the face with a straight-on view of the valley we were headed into. The mountains curved at their base, and trees filled the bottom of it. It was exceptionally beautiful. I tried many times to take a photo that would do it justice, but I couldn’t. We continued down the trail, and bushes replaced the rock, crowding the trail and brushing our bodies as we passed. More water filled the trail, and we found ourselves hopping along the rocks that were next to the trail.
Eventually, we reached the trees and meandered through forest pines. The air was full of the sound of rushing water, but it became less thunderous as it was no longer cascading down such a steep rock face. The air smelled of green things, filling your nose with damp earth. We walked in silence, Wilco and Missile had gotten ahead of us so it was just Singsong and I. We crossed more creeks and walked past many beautiful tent sites. Everything felt perfectly serene. There weren’t even mosquitoes here, although there were lots of gnats.
Finally, we reached a flat section, and our friends called out to us as we arrived. Everyone was already here, including Biscuit and Rune, who we hadn’t seen since this morning. I set up the tent while Singsong grabbed us water. We socialized for a bit, but everyone, including us, was so tired that sleep was all we could think of.
Tomorrow we have a big climb out of this valley, but we managed to catch up on the miles we needed to do, so we can slow down from here to VVR again. Today was very hard, but so beautiful.
