Day 53 – False Promises
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 27 trail miles + 1 or 2 more for Red’s Meadow and Devil’s Postpile
I woke up feeling pretty jolly because I had walked pretty far yesterday, was feeling good, and was so close to getting into Mammoth. All I needed to do was walk 3 miles and catch the bus from Red’s Meadow. I didn’t know what time it came, but I was aiming to be there by 7:30AM so I could try to catch an early one.
I hiked through some lovely meadows and forests, and saw a TON of JMTers that had apparently just left Red’s Meadow. I got even more excited when I saw all of them and I went as fast as I could to get there for the bus! I got to the resort, found the bus stop, and ran into the store to ask what time the bus was supposed to come.
“Hmmm… next week?”
The bus to Mammoth from Red’s Meadow isn’t running yet, so you have to go out through Manmoth Pass. 😭 No baked goods for me. I was devastated, but you know what, I was only going on a whim and didn’t need anything from there, so really it just saved me time! I do really want to go to Mammoth at some point, so Jebby, if you’re out there, let’s go skiing!
Instead of the greatness that is Mammoth, I settled for some breakfast in the restaurant and some good old fashioned LTE coverage (thanks, Mammoth?). I caught up on everything happening in various places and tried to get Altra to replace my shoes (no luck… yet), then packed up my stuff and headed back to the trail.
I’m not a hardcore thru-hiker purist that walks everywhere and does every single step of the trail, so when I heard about some cool things down a side trail, I was totally game. The Devil’s Postpile National Monument is a bizarre natural rock formation that has been protected as a national monument since 1911. It’s comprised of hundreds of really cool hexagonal columns of basalt, which were then polished by a glacier! Neat!
After appreciating some history and bizarre science, I continued up to Agnew Meadow, hoping the bus would run there instead. No such luck, but I did manage to find Cincinnati, who we assumed we would never see again. Last I saw him, he had “15 days worth of food” and was walking until he ran out, but now he’s carrying a reasonable 8-10 days. He headed up while I continued communicating with the outside world, but then it was time to finally start the climb.
The climb was hard with all of my food, but it was totally worth it once you got part of the way up. When you finally come over a certain part of the hill, you’re treated to a breathtaking view of mountains, lakes, and a river valley. Something about it mesmerized me and I stayed there staring at it for a long time, and I also ended up with about 15 different photos of one of my favorite views on the trail so far. So incredible.
You should really just go look for yourself
I finally pulled myself away from the incredible scenery for long enough to walk up towards Island Pass. I had some awesome views of Thousand Island Lake, which provides both the water and wild onion for Newman’s Own Thousand Island Dressing.* Isn’t that neat!?
After looking at the pretty lake, it was finally time to go over the “pass”, which was realistically just a snow-covered meadow as far as I’m concerned. I lost the actual trail towards the top, but I had some footprints to follow, and they were headed right for a glissade! I skied down alongside it and once I got to the bottom, I pulled out my phone to see where the trail went.
Ruh roh. Glissade people did a bad job and went down the wrong side. Now I had to climb up and over a ridge in order to get back near the trail, no easy feat in untouched suncups. Bleh. As you are reading this, you can probably guess that I made it, but it wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had.
On the way down, I encountered a lot of mud where the snow had melted or a river had overflowed, and I really experienced the bipolarity of the stuff. The mud looks at me and says “Hey Mason! Step right here, I’ll support you like I always do!” but I think back to the times I’ve been let down in the past and hesitate. Eventually, I decide to trust the mud and plant a foot with all of my weight right where it looks driest, and the mud decides “Nope, no support for you. I’m hungry!” and it tries to eat my entire foot and shoe up to the ankle. 🙄
As soon as I made it down from Island Pass, it was time for Donahue Pass! Hooray! Two passes back-to-back is about as much fun as a guy can have! It really wasn’t too bad, though trudging upward through snow isn’t the best way to end your day. I made it to the top just in time for sunset, then set about trying to find a campsite.
I descended a bit and managed to find a beautiful one-person campsite with a stellar view. See, camping alone does have its perks!
View from my campsite the next morning
*Note: this fact is made up.