Day 74: Mile 967.9 – 986.9

June 20th, 2022 by Jon

We woke up and didn’t have frost on our tents! Woohoo for finally warming up a little bit. We packed and got ready fairly quickly, and the 4 of us, Biscuit, Missile, Singsong, and I, started hiking together by about 7:30. The trail led us over a bunch of rock clusters, and it was fairly easy to get lost because you weren’t following a strip of dirt on the ground. We had camped about a quarter of the way down Benson Pass, so we kept going downhill for most of the morning. There were streams to cross, more boulder piles to climb onto and over, clumps of trees to pass through, and alternating normal downhill with steep, break-your-ankles downhill.

When we got near the bottom, we had to cross two logs to get over a larger stream. When we got to the other side, Biscuit and Missile were already there and taking the first break of the day. We had a bar for second breakfast there and filtered water before finishing the very last of the downhill. To do so, we had to cross another stream with a fairly simple tree crossing, besides the fact that the tree was about 6 feet above the water level, which would have made a fall extra bad. We crossed carefully, with trepidation, but everyone got across just fine.

We got to the flat part of the valley, and the trees were so thick here that they completely darkened the environment. We traveled on soft pine needles and came to another large river where we crossed on a massive pile of logs that looked like they were part of a beaver dam. Once on the other side, we began our 3-mile climb up Seavey Pass. The climb was steep, with many stone steps to help us. We followed a creek for a while, switchbacking back and forth in the gully next to the creek. After a mile or so, we broke away from it and climbed from small clearing to small clearing along a rock face with a trail cut out of the mountainside. Each little grassy area felt like a natural break point, and we slowly worked our way up the mountain.

We reached a canyon of rocks that we climbed up through and came out to a beautiful pond set among them, with pine trees tastefully growing in a few places along its bank. We walked beside most of it before climbing some rocks behind it, only to find yet another pond! The trail twisted through 3 or 4 more ponds, all set like little terraced pools set on this plateau before finally reaching a stone staircase that brought us to the top of the pass. The views were blocked by all the trees, and so all we could do was admire them and continue down the trail.

We took a break at the top, then headed down the trail into a long canyon. At the bottom, we could hear the raging Kerrick Creek. The trail turned, and instead of heading down, we went sideways along the canyon wall, following the creek from high above. We could tell we were slowly making our way down towards the bottom, but there were rock outcroppings we would have to climb over periodically that would reverse our progress. Eventually, we came to a small creek, and Missile would continue on while Singsong and I stopped for lunch. Biscuit was already ahead of us, and we hadn’t seen her since our first break this morning.

Lunch was about an hour long and very enjoyable. We found a shady rock to sit on, and a few mosquitoes found us, but they mostly left us alone after we swatted a few away and managed to kill a few. We found a ton of good snacks to pair with our cheese and tortillas in this section, and I’ve really enjoyed the roasted macadamia nuts, especially. We also bought a tin of Almond Roca because my brother, Andrew, had them with him when he hiked with us, and he definitely started a new craving for them that I didn’t know we needed. After sitting there for longer than we probably should have, given how many more climbs we had today, we finally left our little rock in the forest. We climbed the last mile and a half down to Kerrick Creek and managed to find a few stones to cross.

Once on the other side, we followed a pretty meadow just inside the tree line, on the edge of it, and admired all the green life we could see everywhere. We only had about a half mile on the bottom of that valley before we began our second big climb of the day. It was the shortest of the three, at just a mile long, but steep the entire way. Since it was the middle and easiest, I’ll admit I kind of just zoned out and don’t remember a ton from it besides that there were a lot of switchbacks, and it was pretty rocky. When we got to the top, we had great views of the valley behind us and the pass that we had just come from. The granite is so magnificent; looking at it never gets old. We climbed down the other side, and it was surprisingly steep. We had to lean back as we carefully stepped down rocky trails, letting our bodies run out of the steepest sections because we didn’t have the energy to keep from speeding up.

About halfway down the climb, the trail was completely flooded by a swollen creek, and for about 40 feet, it was just water. We climbed carefully across a few dry rocks and managed to keep our feet dry as we continued down switchbacks on the other side. When we got to the bottom, we were greeted by the same oppressively thick forest that we had encountered in the last valley. We walked through it for only moments before coming to a perfectly clear meandering stream with gorgeous red gravel, giving the river a very bright look. We walked along it for a while, trying to find a good place to cross, but didn’t see any logs or rocks to hop across. We settled for a wide, shallow section where the water drifted by lazily and crossed there with our shoes off. We walked through the dark trees on the other side for a while, and we were smooshed on the trail in between a wall of rock and the river, with only about 75 feet separating the two.

After another half mile, we began our climb up the ridge. This climb was interesting because the trail was in a small depression for much of the ascent. This meant the bushes were all at eye level as you climbed. As we rose higher, this became a bit more normal, but was different in another way. Instead of stone steps, tree roots seemed to create stairs for us to climb. Overall, the effect was that this climb felt very close to nature. We reached the top of the climb, passed through a V-shaped notch in the rock, and began our descent down the other side.

The trail switchbacks were pretty typical, though still pretty rocky, and led us down for about a mile before coming to a series of lakes and ponds the trail passed by. Some were quite beautiful and crystal clear, but some of the smaller ponds were covered in scum and absolutely teeming with mosquitoes. They rose like menacing black clouds and would fly slowly after us as they sensed the opportunity of a meal. Thankfully, as long as we walked our usual hiking pace, they couldn’t catch us, and we only had to kill the ones that landed on us if we walked right into them. We crossed a stream on a somewhat sketchy log that you had to climb up, since the bank on the opposite side was much higher than the one we were coming from. I managed to scratch my hand pretty badly when I had to catch myself from falling, and then was able to pull Singsong over with my trekking pole. It’s nice to work as a team, and we often debate the best crossings when it’s a trickier one.

We followed the trail another mile downhill and came to the largest lake yet, Wilma Lake. We found our friends Missile and Biscuit camped at the bottom, although Biscuit had already sought refuge in her tent, and Missile had all his clothes and bug net on. We didn’t think they were that bad at first, but that quickly changed when they realized there was fresh meat around. We put on jackets and bug nets, too, and it was almost comical to watch each other attract our own cloud of mosquitoes. We threw all our stuff into our tent once it was up, then cooked dinner outside before coming in to eat. Biscuit and Missile did the same. There was simply no way to eat outside because lifting that net meant certain mosquito feast. We spent the evening eating and sometimes yelling at each other as we made plans for tomorrow.

We have 30 miles to Kennedy Meadows, so we just need to go as far as we want to make an easy-ish day on the road. We also get to pass 1,000 miles, which seems hard to believe. We’ve been at this for a while now, but to hit such a huge number will be… I don’t know. I guess we will find out tomorrow.