Day 70 (28 June) - Mile 766.33 - 782.53

Crabtree Meadow Ranger Station to Campsite at Mile 782.53

I slept really well last night although it was no surprise. After the huge day we had yesterday climbing Mount Whitney, my body needed it.

I awoke just after 6:00 AM to Max, Bear Bait, and Audible saying goodbye. Today they summit Mount Whitney and we take off up the trail. We don't know where we will see them again. Hopefully they will catch up to us, but regardless, we have to keep moving on if we want to reach Canada before the snow falls in the Cascades of Washington.

Just after 7:30 AM we were ready for our day of hiking.

Ready to go.

Today promises to be epic. It is the day PCT hikers look forward to and worry about at the same time. Today we have some river crossings that are supposed to be a bit sketchy. Also, we are going over Forester Pass, the highest point on the PCT and the main reason we are carrying an ice axe and microspikes.

But for now, let's not worry about the pass or the river crossings, let's enjoy the remarkable scenery this morning:

Our morning view.

From Crabtree Meadow we have a one mile hike to get back onto the PCT. When we got there we were greeted with this sign pointing out that we had 12.8 miles to Forester Pass:

Forester Pass coming up soon.

But before we can worry about tackling Forester Pass, we had three rivers to ford.

The first was Wallace Creek. This one we were able to cross barefoot...not too bad.

Wallace Creek...an easy crossing.

The next ford was Wright Creek. This one had some logs across it, so again, not too bad.

Wright Creek log crossing

The last, Tyndall Creek, is supposed to be the worst of the day which "is steeper, faster, and has more whitewater than the others."  When we arrived there a guy had just crossed it barefoot and said it was fine, so we did the same...again, not too bad.

Tyndall Creek, another easy crossing

After the crossing of Tyndall Creek everyone hung out and was eating lunch:

Lunch on Tyndall Creek

Wow...everything is working out great for us so far...and then the sky turned dark and it started to hail. Luckily our we were done with lunch and our bags were packed already, so we just threw on our rain jackets and continued the hike.

Of course once our jackets were on it stopped raining, but the skies remained dark. We did a pretty good climb up from Tyndall Creek and entered an amazing meadow with amazing views:

High meadow

This is the first time we got a good view of Forester Pass in the distance (it is that little 'V').

Location of Forester Pass

The skies remained dark as we got closer and closer to the pass:

Getting there.

On the way, we crossed this frozen lake that Brad had no issue with, but Share Bear and I were worried:

Frozen lake crossing

We arrived at the bottom of the wall of switchbacks that will take us to Forester Pass around 4:00 PM. The sky was still dark, but the rain was holding off so we decided to go for it.  Just 1/4 mile from the top, lightening and thunder filled the sky. Luckily we had just come across a rock cover on the trail that we decided to hide under until the storm passed.

Hiding under rocks.

Share Bear and I were a bit worried, but Brad was fine. While under there the lightening and thunder continued and it was sleeting on and off.

Bad weather around us.

We stayed there for 45 minutes till the thunder stopped and finally continued on to the top. We made it to the dreaded ice chute that we were actually able to walk across with just our hiking shoes on. We knew that we just needed our hiking shoes since Brad volunteered to go first to check it out.

Share Bear crossing the ice chute.

Just past the chute were these incredible flowers:

Flowers with a view

Finally, just after 5:30 PM we made it to the top of Forester Pass and the top of the PCT at 13,200 feet.

The highest point on the PCT.

We made it!

The celebration was short when we looked over the other side of the pass and saw what we had to conquer next. There were snow crossings, rock crossings, and craziness in front of us.

Crazy snow and stuff.

As usual Brad went first and was able to make the crossing with just hiking shoes.  This however is where Share Bear and I put of our microspikes to cross some of the snow. It was a bit dangerous because every step on the snow could have went deeper than you think and you are up to your hip in a snow hole. Luckily it didn't happen too much as we survived the first snow crossing of many. Brad made it easier by going first and we just stepped in the same places he did.  Of course we avoided his step when he punched through the snow and went knee to waist deep.  We had about 5 snow crossings, but luckily some of the crossings we could avoid by taking a lower route across rocks. 

Self-portrait "Brad figuring out the way down"

Share Bear not too concerned

Getting there.

With all the snow, it was hard finding the trail. Brad decided to climb to a high point to see if he could figure out the best way down.

Brad climbing to a high point.

When he got up there he decided his way was not best, so Share Bear and I went around to the right and met him on the other side where we finally were back on trail.

The trail leading down.

Walking a bit further we finally got a view of the valley we are aiming at for our campsite for the night.

We need to get to that valley.

The construction of this trail is beyond amazement. 

Cool trail construction.

 It took us nearly 3 hours to go just 3 miles to out planned camping location for the night.

Our camp is down there in the trees.

We got there just as the sun was about to set at 7:30 PM.  We setup camp, filtered water, and ate dinner. By 9:15 PM we were in our tents.

After the crazy day we just had, we decided to sleep in an extra 30 minutes tomorrow morning and wake at 6:30 PM. Tomorrow we hike out to Lone Pine and meet up with Tim for a couple of nights. We can really use a day off, so we can't wait.  WOW...what an epic day!

My incredible home for the night.