Day 58 – AYCE?
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 35
I woke up this morning and did something I haven’t done in ages: ate breakfast. Rudy, the German JMT hiker we had picked up on Forester Pass, had shown up to VVR with all of his extra food that he didn’t need, including lots of Clif Bars and muesli, which he was going to put in the hiker box. I grabbed a bag of muesli, which I had never tried, and that bag was a delicious part of my 1400 calorie breakfast this morning.
At some point on top of a mountain pass when everyone was gorging themselves to refuel, someone had told me of a mythical sushi place in South Lake Tahoe that was both delicious AND all-you-can-eat. Having not had sushi in ages, this sounded AMAZING, and it became my focus for the next few days. When I had service for a few fleeting seconds on top of a mountain, I looked up the place and realized it was closed on Wednesdays. Nooooooooo. With 60 miles left to Tahoe, I would likely show up on Wednesday, and that would not do. I was going to need to hike faster. Thus my plan to run to Tahoe was born.
The next 60 miles were filled with ups and downs, but I figured that I could handle it, so I set off around 7AM after my muesli breakfast ready to hike until my legs fell off. The first climb of the day was moderate, but the wind on the way up and at the top was CRAZY! I could hardly hear myself think, let alone talk to James, a Scotsman who I met on the way up. We pretty quickly started down the other, less windy side because James had potential trail angels that follow his blog waiting in five miles. Hoping to potentially be a part of that, I scurried down the trail to a snowfield so that I could ski down. ⛷ Love it!
There were no trail angels that I saw when I got down, but I did see some pups on the trail, so all was not lost. I also found a rogue dog leash on the trail, so my trash collection just keeps growing!
The hike was beautiful, with lakes everywhere you looked and mountains turning into rolling hills. The scenery is changing again and since we’re getting lower, the snow is decreasing. SCORE!
Big ole rocks!
Rolling hills and only a tiny bit of snow!
For as much grief as I give them, the PCT planners clearly knew what they were doing. They took all of these amazingly scenic places and strung them all together, so when you’re climbing up a hill that just never seems to end, you know that your mind is about to be blown away by what you’re about to see. I got up to the top of one of the climbs today to find an absolutely gorgeous valley surrounded by enormous granite cliffs that we got to look at for the whole way back down. PCT planners, you did a fine job.
While hiking and appreciating the beautiful scenery, I rounded a corner and saw some snow chutes I would have to cross and a couple people dangling on the rocks below them! Dangling might not be the right word, but they certainly weren’t easily walking around the snow.
Where’s Waldo?
I opted to use the rocks for the first snow chute because a fall there could potentially be deadly, but the second was a bit more mellow and I quickly got across to safety. Whew!
I didn’t really have a point in mind for where I wanted to end up tonight, so I kept walking until it got dark and then checked my options. I could either call it a night in two miles and climb in the morning or I could climb up and over a mountain tonight and camp in about five more miles. I’m all about putting in work early so that you can relax more later, so I wanted to go up and over, but not knowing if there was snow all over the peak I would climb and not wanting to pathfind in the dark, I called it a night early and opted to get up early tomorrow. Hopefully I made the right decision and I can make it to Tahoe, otherwise where will I eat sushi until I’m too sick to move!?