Day 61

Campground to woods creek campground - 12.8 miles

Total - 803.9 miles

I was not having it today. Bad day mentally. Woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t shut off my alarm quick enough that I know I just woke everyone up. We got up early as we heard glen pass was difficukt on the north side with all the snow that you don’t want to be in when it’s slushed up from the sun. Got moving around 5:20 with a water fill up and I just felt miserable. I tried to force down a garnola bar and wanted to puke. The altitude has really fucked up my stomach in the mornings where in the desert I could walk and eat and was always hungry. Here I have to wake up a bit and hike 5 miles on an empty stomach basically. It’s not what you want to do in the sierras as my body is working overtime and burning tons of calories. I am in a heavy calorie deficit and I can see its effects on me already. Anyways, I was miserable (observation not a complaint) hiking up the 1.2 miles to the pass top. Every step felt awful. It was the longest 1.2 miles of my life. My back hurt, my hip hurt, my shoulders hurt, my legs were so heavy and my goddamn FUCKING PACK IS SO GODDAMN HEAVY. I cannot wait to not have to lug around a stupid bear canister, ice axe, and spikes. The climb up wasn’t necessarily hard, it did have some exposed areas and some route finding amount the shale rocks which was straight up and down. I was just tired. I almost cried on the way at up for how frustrated I was on how weak I felt. I didn’t tho but a good cry might’ve fixed the mood and I could’ve just moved on. We finally peaked around 6:30 am and took a lil break. I ate half a pop tart. They are starting to not hit like they did in the desert. Getting sick of all the food. Then we headed down the mountain. It was a side traverse that turned into a straight down traverse. Very very happy we took the advice and did it so early as the snow was hard enough where you could use the sun cups to hold your weight going down. I did not appreciate the beauty of today bc I was just so miserable (gotta really emphasize this point so you guys understand). We transverse down into Rae lakes which were gorgeous with some little islands scattering throughout the middle of the lakes. We stopped and ate once we got down to them. Dad got his coffee, and I got some hot chocolate. I had a real good shit which I had been OBSERVING since the start of the traverse. We stayed for about an hour before we headed out. Within a couple hundred feet we had to cross a river that connected the two lakes. No way around but right through with no shoes and socks. The water had a cold bite and started to hurt my feet. It was kinda deep water crossing too coming up past my knees but it wasn’t strong. The next couple of miles were slow but were easy. My pack was feeling better and my mood was turning for the best. We had a couple more water crossings requiring us to remove our shoes and socks again. That was frustrating as I had got accustomed to logs being the bridge for water crossings. After the second water crossing we basically saw no one for the rest of the day. That was very nice as I was in a foul mood and I know if someone even tried to say something to me I would’ve snapped. Dad understood as I told him outright I was in a foul mood. We did see a deer munching on some leaves like 10 feet in front of us and wouldn’t move as we came closer. We got to the end of our downhill and was rewarded with a bridge! A fun bridge too. It bounced as you walked making it feel a little unsafe but still so fun! I felt the motion even after I crossed. We then took a tiny break where I saw a Robin nest in an aspen which was cool! We had a 2.8 mile climb which is where my mood changed and I felt stronger. We had just eaten so that helped. I cruised up it feeling strong again. We came across a water slide of great power. If there was 1/2 the amount of water I would’ve jumped in real quick but it looked like a death sentence. We followed the river all the way to our campsite which we arrived by 2:30. The contrast from the desert to here is remarkable as we used to do 20 miles by 2 some days and now I’m busted after 12 by 2. I am taking more breaks with dad which have been super nice to just slow down and appreciate the area more than just cruise right through it. Immediately once we got there I knew I needed to eat, plus I packed so many goddamn dinners so I made myself mash potatoes with Colby Jack, Pepperoni, and chicken. Ssooooooo good! The melted cheese and pepperoni made it. I then lounged in my tent half falling asleep to my audio book in the heat (lowkey kinda dying from it but it also felt like a warm hug). I then heard some people setting up tents and peaked out to find little peaks who started the same day as me walking around. We chatted a bit and it seems like we both have the same plan of one pass a day. It also is nice to know everyone is slowing down and it’s not just me. Makes you feel a lil less weak even though I know I am not. It’s all mental. I then had second dinner of a soup and chicken which was also delicious and just what I needed for water replenishment. I also got bit by a fucking ant on my neck. Don’t know how that happened but I killed that bitch real quick. Eye for an eye. Now I am in bed at 6. No complaints as tomorrow is another early day. The next two passes everyone says are hard. This one because of the snow and the next one because last year the most amount of people got injuries on it. So we are going for hard snow all the way. Always choose hard not soft people. It’s crucial for safety reasons;). Oh my pad keeps deflating. I even fucking checked it in bishop and found nothing. So annoying. Will check again in mammoth.

Also it’s dads first full week technically on trail and first 100 on trail miles as we crossed the 800 mark. Technically he’s done more as we did 16 off trail miles but this is official. He’s feeling good and that’s all that matters. Besides the tiredness. He actually felt good on the way up the pass (if you couldn’t tell I didn’t) and felt worse later in the day from the heat. That was the opposite for me.

Forgot to mention the last river crossing I just went in shoes and all knowing we only had a little bit of miles left. Everything dried out beautifully. Trail runners have changed the backpacking game significantly.