Miles 775.8 to 788.5 Plus a few miles on the side trail exit

I got started around 7:30 am this morning… having given up on ever getting up in the wee hours like the other hikers… I was proud of leaving before 8:30!

I knew today was a big climb… I would be passing over the highest point on the PCT - Forester Pass… I was a little in my head about it being difficult and struggling again with the climbing at the altitude… however, my body must of finally acclimated because, while I was huffing at the top… the climb seemed easier than everything the past week… and the snow approaching the ascent was minimal… I have been carrying around this ice axe and spikes for a week now and still haven’t taken them out of my bag (although I probably should of used spikes for the last 10 steps over a snow cornice at the top).

Even the infamous “ice chute” was mostly melted and snow free… mental note to text my friend Wes, who is doing the JMT in August that he will have some big water carries.

Looking at the photos above - you can see me pointing from where I was to where the pass was with my trekking pole… it seemed so high and far away when I started out… but it really seemed to take no time before I was standing at the top and looking down at miles of snowfields on the descent.

The snow was slow going… follow footsteps… then find the actual PCT… step… step… sink to my hip… step step sink to my hip… going down, usually my 4 mile an hour part of the day… took longer than climbing back up… below 11,000 the snow fields started to get smaller but then it was walking in a trail covered with streams of snowmelt and if it happened to be dry… rocks, rocks, rocks… I thought of Hound everytime I stumbled trying to walk and look at the views… he would always say “damn ants always trying to trip us up”.

I finally reached the bottom of the canyon and looked up at the next climb up Glenn Pass… the trail to Kearsage was about halfway up the pass… i was mentally tired from the long descent… but it was early… talk about a climb… it made the Forester switchbacks seem like a flat plateau… mental note.. tell Wes I hope he is going southbound :). I reached the Bullfrog Lake Trail junction leading to Kearsage early afternoon … legs spent and lungs going overtime… my decision was made … I texted Jeff… I was going home for a few days…

I also realized I was not getting over another pass today and making it to the road before dark… and I was not going to look for a ride in the dark… the area around the lake was closed to camping … but there was a tentsite above the lake and the views were spectacular… I decided to stop and have a great last night camping…

I fell asleep before 6pm… to the sound of a chorus of croaking bullfrogs (one even had quite the solo) and F16s flying overhead… (this entire section has been filled with F16s … you can hear them… but by the time you spot them they are long gone… some of the flyovers have been really cool, some just interrupt the peacefulness of the trail.)