Day 62

Woods creek campground to base of Mather pass campground - 12.9 miles

Total - 816.8 miles

Two whole months on trail!!!!! Holy shit. That’s insane. Two whole months of hiking, over 800 miles, 11? Zero days, so many new friends, and one goddamn heavy pack. I don’t think I would’ve made it without the people I’ve met and all their bullying/support, and the people back home that continued to believed that I could make it at least this far despite me worrying I couldn’t. It’s crazy to think I’ve been homeless for two months. Three more to go or hopefully less! Today tho, even though it was a celebration to make it this far, was rough like the last couple of days. I’m a broken record but goddamit imagine hiking 5 miles on an empty stomach up to 12,000 feet. Brutal. Again I wanted to cry at some points but it’s not like it would change anything. I still have to climb. My stomach is my biggest hater at this point. We were told this pass was also a little sketchy. I’m starting to believe all of them are this time of year and that’s now how I am going to treat them. It was snow field after snow field about 2 miles out from the top. After completing one particular one I went to step down on a rock which I saw had ice on it but thought I was Superman with the ability to not slip, which in turn made me slip and fall to my knees. Nothing too serious though. If it was dad I would’ve asked if he was okay a million times and then annoyed him by watching his steps to see if he was limping. I recovered though and kept going to the top. It was a lot of route finding and rock climbing this pass which was NOT fun. I was being broken down bit by bit, praying that it would soon be over. It was gorgeous as the valley had no trees and was just barren rock and snow. We finally got to the top where a whole bunch of people were sitting and talking. One of the girls said why was that harder than Whitney. I felt validated. We sat and ate a little and then headed down to find a good spot for dad to make some coffee. We found one and I could tell I was hangry. I’ve just kinda been in a foul mood lately from lack of sleep, lack of food, and just overall fatigue. Dads the easiest person to take it out on even though he doesn’t deserve it. Kinda glad the guys aren’t here or I would rip their heads off in frustration with myself. They don’t deserve that. We sat and looked over a lake with marmots running all around us for about an hour before we headed out downhill thankfully. We cruised and passed everyone that had previously passed us. We went through water crossing after water crossing numbing my feet and creating another annoyance in my life. I’m trying not to be so moody especially in the sierras but when your tired it’s hard not to be. One water crossing, one of our last ones, a lady pissed me off as I was trying to find a way across that didn’t require us to take off our shoes and socks. She gestured to the obvious way around with too much sass than I would like. I gave her an annoyed smile and moved on. Like duh I fucking know that’s the main way. It was the way she moved her hands as she waved towards the river crossing line that we would take. Anyways, we then got above tree line once again and had panoramic views of mountains on mountains. Snow on snow. It was beautiful. Icy water flowed all throughout the trail, very little vegetation was growing, and snow fields were sloshy as we passed over them. We trudge up to about 1.2 miles from the top of the pass and found camp sites amount the rocks. We got there maybe 20 minutes before more people showed up to camp. I felt bad as we definitely got the best spots and they were forced to camp in the open space rock field while we had some cover on all ends from the wind. The wind wasn’t bad but just enough where it might worry you. Dad and I lounged in our tents in the heat making my cheeks really rosy and bright red. My face is permanently red actually with a white ass neck. Actually it’s my hands and face that are red and everywhere else is white as snow making it kinda comical when I have shorts and a tank top on. Then we made dinner. Not great on my end. I can’t get the ratio to pasta right so it’s so watery. I think I just need to cook it and not let it soak in the hot water. Nothing too exciting for tonight really. In bed by 6:30 writing this. Waking up later tomorrow aka 5:30 instead of 4:30 like this morning. Hoping to see the hikers on the ascent so we can properly do it without worry after everyone. As always miss the guys. Wish they were here but we did leave a full day earlier than them and it doesn’t make sense to do two passes in a day for them to catch up. I will see them soon though so I am not too worried.

Oh! I fell twice today, making the same mistake as the first time. All is well though. I also don’t remember if I put this in yesterdays blog but I slammed my head against a tree trunk over the trail as my hat hid it from my sight. Stupid. Now I got a small goose egg on my head.