Day 74 (2 July) - Mile 793.50 - 808.62

Middle Rae Lake to Lake Marjorie

Wow...what a day!  I don't know how I have the energy to lay in my tent and work on this blog tonight, but I'm going to give it a try.

The day started out great. After a good night sleep, I awoke just after 6:00 AM. After breaking camp and eating breakfast we were ready to go at 7:45 AM.

Ready to hike.

I can't believe how beautiful the lake is that we camped on last night. The water was so still this morning that I was able to get these incredible reflection shots:

Reflection in Rae Lake

Wow!

Today's hike consists of a 6.26 mile down followed by a 7.38 mile up to Pinchot Pass. ending with a 1.5 mile downhill to our planned campsite for the night.

I don't think that I mentioned it in a blog yet, but 27 miles ago the PCT joins the John Muir Trail (JMT). They stay together for another 150 miles or so. During this time there are no PCT signs, only JMT signs. Here is the nicest one we have seen so far:

JMT sign of the day.

Going down the 6.26 miles was not easy, but the scenery was amazing:

View as we hike down the trail.

We usually stop for a break after 5 miles. Today we decided to push it to the bottom of the hill and arrived there around 11:30 AM. It was a bit earlier than we usually have lunch, but since the hike is uphill from here we figured we should have lunch for the energy needed to climb.

We took about 1 hour for lunch and then headed back on the trail. First we have this cool suspension bridge to cross:

Me headed over the bridge.

Almost over.

It was a bit scary walking over that bridge. It swayed with every step I took, so I was pretty happy when I was across.

Just a quarter mile later we hit the next milestone...800 miles!!!

800 mile pose.

Proof I'm standing at the 800 mile point on the PCT.

The 7.38 mile climb was relentless. It started out steep and kept getting steeper. For the first 3 miles or so it followed a raging river. This part is called "waterslide."

Waterslide.

As you could imagine, many breaks were had on the way up.

Share Bear and Brad taking a break from climbing.

Here is an amazing shot of a waterfall. It looks like I am standing on it, doesn't it?  That is because we had to cross it at this point, so I stopped in the middle and took a picture.

Looking up at waterfall.

Here is a great picture of the river with mountains in the background:

Great view.

And here is a view of the trail  climbing up to Pinchot Pass:

The beautiful PCT/JMT

And yet another picture of a waterfall:

Waterfall view.

We kept climbing and climbing. We started this climb at 8,532 feet and the pass is at 12,142 feet. That is a lot of feet we have to gain. So we climbed and rested and climbed and breathed heavy and climbed. We were headed towards these mountains, but still had no idea where the trail was taking us and where the pass was.

We are going over a pass somewhere there.

Finally, after some steep switchbacks we made it to the top of Pinchot Pass just after 6:00 PM and 5 hours of climbing. The pass tops out at 12,142 feet.

At the top of Pinchot Pass

View to the south of Pinchot Pass as Brad and Share Bear make it to the top.

View to the north of Pinchot Pass

Our exhausted look at the top of Pinchot Pass

We made it to Pinchot Pass, 12,142 feet.

We were extremely tired at the top, but we still had 1.5 miles to our planned campsite, so after too short of a break we headed down the north face of the pass. We could see Lake Marjorie down below us...this is where we are camping. Even though it was one 1.5 miles and downhill, it felt like it took forever to get there.

Finally, just before 7:30 PM we made it to our amazingly beautiful campsite. We all quickly...well, as quickly as we had the energy for...set up out tents, cooked and ate dinner, and jumped into our tents. We are at 11,158 feet, so It should be a cold night, which will be perfect for sleeping after another very difficult day of hiking.

Tomorrow we have another pass to cross, but it shouldn't be as hard as today...so, until then I leave you with this picture of my incredible tent site. I almost can't believe I am here.

No words can describe this tent site.