Two pass day accomplished! We decided to tackle two passes that were only 10 miles apart today to gain some ground on the folks in our frankly who were ahead. This was certainly a big day for the sierras, around 3,200’ of gain, but around 6,000’ of loss.

Pincho pass had a terrible steep approach, relatively easy summit. Somewhat unremarkable.

Mather was the pass everyone on trail claimed was terrible and required microspikes and an ice ax. We summited the pass with microspikes that we did not use. The ascent and approach were easy (compared to the rest) and the descent had some class 3 scrambling and steep snow fields, but our past experience made this very manageable at 1 pm as we came down.

At the bottom of the pass I made a snow cone with fresh snow and Mio electrolyte flavoring. It was delicious!

As we came down Mather we passed by the Palisades, which are a stunning set of peaks. I climbed Mt. Sill seven years ago and loved recognizing more areas in the sierras that I have known and loved.

Such a beautiful day, so excited for many more.

Today Tiny Dancer convinced me to bring out the inflatable in Rae Lakes. Best. Move. Ever.

After four treacherous miles summitting Glen Pass, we needed some TLC and a lake day so we found a beautiful spot by the fifth of many many lakes and set up lunch.

All of us took a go in the inflatable and had an impromptu photo session. The water was freezing but the air was warm with few mosquitos.

We finished the day with a few more miles, crossed the famous suspension pedestrian bridge, passed the “waterslide” which is a terrible name for a horribly dangerous slanted waterfall that no human should ever “ride”, passed mile 800, and ended at a site below the summit of the next pass where swarms of mosquitos quickly had us in rain gear rushing to do our chores in the tent.

Tons of milestones, much needed relaxation, great day overall.

We had a lovely but short stop in Bishop. We skipped our chores in the evening, and did them early in the morning, sprinting to commute, buy, sort, repack, cleanup the hotel room, shower, checkout by 11. We then had the best pastries in town at Schatt’s, got a few gear items at the local gear shops, sent off a package of items no longer needed, and had a beer waiting for our final hitch.

Somehow we got back to trail from town 2.5 hours later with Debbie. We hit trail at 5:45 pm, and made it up the 5 mile climb and down to a campsite by 8:15 pm. One of our latest nights yet!

This was when we saw smoke at the top of the pass and proceeded to contact our parents for impromptu research on nearby wildfires. Thank you parents for your help! We learned there was a prescribed fire nearby causing the smoke. The forest service should publicize this better to the PCT community ?‍♀️