June 19 – 19 miles
Today was the first hike in the Sierras! Did not realize how lucky we’d been in swiftly avoiding the mosquitos … until now.
No service and our wifi sucked. It doesn’t quite feel like an in-town break without a call home.
The Kennedy Meadows gear store sure made a bundle off me. Got the required bear canister, ice axe, and new socks. Ready set go
June 20 – 24.7 miles
I believe I gave myself water poisoning this morning. I’m used to hydrating for the desert where I was drinking two gallons of water a day. Suddenly, I was spacey? Unable to concentrate? Like I’d taken a shot. Katie said it was water intoxication, said it feels like you’re drunk.
10,500 feet, the highest I’ve ever hiked. This afternoon, we got to a river with a bridge where hundreds of Sparrows flew elegantly overhead. Oh, what it means to just be comfortable for one single moment a day.
Saw grass for the first time since flying into San Diego.
When it’s dark at night and I’m scared, really wish I was ten years old again and could ask my mom to turn on the light as she closes the door behind her.
June 21 – 24.7 miles
Yesterday was ‘hike naked day’. Saw a lot of butts. Just going to leave it at that.
Talk about things that feel unsettling, your chest feeling tight and lack of oxygen. Altitude. My new hell.
We came upon a boy-scout troop and they gave us lots of spare food, really helped us out. I needed Imodium for my stomach too, which they had, and they mailed my ice axe home for free.
June 22 – 19 miles
Sad but comforting that even on a scenic and remote trail like the PCT, you still cannot go more than twelve hours without seeing some sign of civilization. Until now that is …
It’s been 300 miles since we’ve even crossed a dirt road.
June 23 – 21 miles
Tomorrow is Forester Pass. The most dreaded and feared thing since I first began researching the PCT.
Camping at 12,500 feet. Woah.
Being above tree line – unnatural. It feels like we walked onto another planet. Mars. Just rocks and marmots … (this animal blend of cat and groundhog). You can see the moon mid-day and these giant lakes from the mountain snow run-off. You are above everything, and it just feels so incredibly strange.
I am EXHAUSTED these past few days. Call it altitude, call it extra winter gear added to my pack, call it what you want, but I am DRAGGING myself up these mountains. Katie and I are eating a lot more too probably because it’s so ridiculously hard to get thousands of feet in the air.
June 24 – 19 miles
Forester Pass 13,124 ft
Kearsarge Pass 10,747 ft
Today we summited Forester Pass. The south side of Forester was a short and succinct hike, not bad at all. North side had some snow, and it was scary. I tried to put on my microspikes, but you had to alternate the snow footing with boulder hopping so frequently that it wasn’t even worth it. Overall, in hindsight, it really could have been much worse, we were so lucky with timing and weather. But irregardless, it was nerve-wracking trying to get down the pass with the ice and snow both blocking and disguising the path. But look – this is what I’ve feared the most since starting the trail, and I DID IT. It is now behind me.
We hiked down into Kings Canyon National Park (SOOO beautiful) after Forester, and then hiked back OUT of the canyon (AGH) to a side trail where we did (YET ANOTHER) pass to get to Onion Valley Trailhead in order to resupply at Bishop. A really nice couple with a thirteen-year-old German Short-Haired Pointer dropped us off in town on their way to San Diego. Got to sit next to their dog Libby as we headed back to the nothingness of the desert – like looking into a window of the past.
June 25 – 7.5 miles
Kearsarge Pass 10,747 ft
Bishop was a success. Immediately stopped at McDs for that Big Mac meal (Uh yes, I’ll take a large everything and throw in a McFlurry), showered, and did a pack shake-down ditching so much stuff – roughly six pounds. Resupplied, went to an outfitters, got a delicious cinnamon role and coffee at this German bakery, and got to watch some Gilmore Girls. Overall, we made pretty good time.
June 26 – 22.3 miles
Glen Pass 11,948 ft
Pinot Pass 12,107 ft
I feel pretty good about today. It was a HARD day. Two passes, hiked from 6 am to 8 pm, with only a few short breaks. It was rewarding though to know we could do more than twenty miles in the Sierras.
Starting to get homesick, but trying not to think about it. Today we reached mile 800 and over 30% done!!
Lots of glacier-colored, clear-as-day lakes, streams, creeks, and rivers everywhere. Everything is so beautiful. But if there’s anything that would make me quit, it’s the mosquitos.
June 27 – 20 miles
Mather Pass 12,094 ft
Downright exhausted. Toes haven’t stretched out my new shoes yet so they are cramped and kill. Knees are hurting because of the rocky downhills we have at each pass. It’s like ramming my leg into a wall repeatedly, the impact BANG… BANG… until my knees are so irritated.
Vices. They might as well add marajuana to the smells of the forest for the amount of times I’ve come upon it. Some people smoke six times a day or more, often to get up a single hill. For others, it’s the painkillers, enough to make the body go numb. Maybe that’s why I find this so difficult. I find myself without my usual vices: TV, a warm bed, AC, an occasional beer, loved ones, the comfort of knowing and having a plan. Daily life is hard enough with the aide of these things, let alone being miserable in the woods without them. Deprivation. Deprived of my usual vices, the things that make the hard things easier.
Today was just absolutely beautiful. Coming down Mather Pass, despite the ridiculous irritation of walking down boulders and fist-sized rocks for miles, I barely noticed it because we were lead into a whindy canyon that twisted around waterfalls and little trickling streams. Raspberry, yellow, purple and orange wildflowers on either side and vast, rocky, snow-sprinkled mountains rising all around us. Down we descended into this pool of tall, thin, large pine trees at the very bottom of the canyon where the mountains spilled them out.
I started to get excited with how many miles we were able to do in a day, so I became eager to do as many as possible. But Katie reminded me that “it would be sacrilegious to blast through the High Sierra in the name of miles.” She’s right. We cut it short that evening and slept in, and I was reminded how peaceful it is to simply absorb the scenery around you.
June 28 – 20.1 miles
Muir Pass 11,969 ft
The past few days, we’ve been seeing deer. Large, furry, black-tailed bucks unlike the Ohio ones. They’re not afraid of us either; they stand so close to us even when we approach them.
Lately, I’ve been getting into a negative thought cycle. It truly is a mind game – keeping yourself motivated when all you want to do is quit. I can’t be at a comfortable tempature when I want… shower when I want … go home… relax… ANYTHING.
I watch videos of the people I miss in my tent at night. Last night, I watched videos of Sara’s kids (family I used to nanny for) that I still have on my phone. Cute videos of Reagan or funny knock-knock jokes Reid made about cows.
Well, you know what’s good is when my feet are frozen, I can’t feel pain anymore. Natural advil! What joy!
Right before getting back on trail, we learned there were a few active fires in our area – one prescribed and one natural. The natural fire was in Mammoth, seven miles off the trail. The rangers said to consider skipping because of the smoke. A good amount of hikers skipped that section (among others) to avoid the risk, but Katie and I, informed but still unsure of what to expect, decided to keep going.
Muir Pass was the most fun, difficult and beautiful pass so far. More snow than the others and a stone shelter at the top to sit in. You can see indentations in the snow from earlier in the season where people post-holed (fell through the snow) up past their heads.
Ever since we got into higher elevation, my stomach has NOT been happy. Nauseous and headaches for days.
June 29 – 20 miles
Seldon Pass 10,913 ft
Tonight we camped by the infamous Bear Creek that we forded three times. It’s supposedly one of the most notoriously dangerous river crossings in the Sierra. The mosquitos are ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. You cannot imagine how many sworm you. CLOUDS (at no exaggeration) surround you, once they realize you’re there. At any given moment when hiking, there are twenty on you and, God-forbid, if you stand still for even a second, fifty all over your body. Believe I’m giving myself lacerations just from swatting them away. Thirty make their way into my tent by the time I crawl inside, and I spend the first twenty minutes each night racking up the dead bodies at the bottom of my tent by smacking them out of my vicinity.
Today we went to Muir Trail Ranch – horses and dogs and a DOPE hiker box with everything you could need. Charged up and essentially resupplied, hoping to make it to Lee Vining next for our zero without any stops in town from here to there.
Today we did Seldon Pass. Beautiful. Less breathtaking and otherworldly than say Muir Pass but rather colorful and serene.
June 30 – 20 miles
Silver Pass Pass 10,779 ft
Today we might as well have done three passes considering the elevation gain.
Tomorrow we deal with the fire.
July 1 – 20.1 miles
Happy two months!
July. To think what time has passed. Seems as though I’m living a different life. The trail has become home.
Today was mostly flat (comparably), and yet I am still exhausted. Hitting 20 miles every day has become such a strain and goal to be achieved in and of itself despite having done it repeatedly for months now.
We walked right past the wildfire. Katie and I have been dreading it, never having experienced anything like this in Ohio and having no idea of how bad hiking in the smoke would be. You could see it in the air all throughout the afternoon and between the white thunderheads above, the smoke, and the sunshine, everything was colored somewhat twilight zone-ish. It was odd, felt like sunset even though it was morning. We could hear and see the helicopters overhead circling the fire probably monitoring on, what I’d assume is, a twenty-four hour basis. No flames but we could see the smoke travel through the air on the mountain directly next to us.
Saw a lot of horses today which make me smile. They’re so majestic when they trot by.
July 2 – 21 miles
Island Pass 10,226 ft
Donahue Pass 11,074 ft
Yesterday, a kid about ten asked if we were doing the Pacific Crest Trail. He said I want to do that some day, when I grow up. I kept hiking and tossed back, “Good!! I think you should.”
Slept really well last night, comfortably. With the tent fly, I could keep my sleeping bag open a bit more and sleep like in a bed.
Tomorrow we get to go to town!!
Lauren Graham’s book just makes me laugh out loud.
July 3 – 10 ? miles
Got into the touristy area of Yosemite where there were lots of hikers (JMT/PCT/Day hiker) and car traffic. Got a coffee (my favorite), a pastry, an apple, and was still hungry enough to enjoy a burger later that morning.
Our hitch was a campground manager in the park, was in army for thirty years and deployed to Iraq four times.
Very tiny town but perfect for us to walk around. No Fourth of July fireworks unfortunately 
But celebratory flags and red, white and blue spirit everywhere.
July 4 – 0 miles
Stayed for a nero and zero at the RV Park in Lee Vining and did laundry for the first time in 400 miles. Super pumped to drop my bear canister here in less than four days. (three lbs!!!) Honestly, feels like since Kennedy Meadows, time has flown by. And if I’ve made it this far, I can keep going, right? Just have to roll with the bad days, hold out hope for the good ones, and remember that honestly … the rest of my time on this trail is going to fly by and when it’s over, I’m only going to wish I was back.
Really nice mother of roughly six kids, all in wheelchairs, was traveling across the country in her RV to prove just how possible traveling was for them despite the obstacles. She congratulated us girls for taking our roadtrip before settling down with a man.
Our hitch this morning was a guy who’d visited eighteen national parks this summer with a golden doodle puppy in the backseat of his RV.
July 5 – ? miles
Back at Toulame Meadows store waiting on Katie to mail her down jacket home. Next section is supposedly unbelievably beautiful.
July 6 – 17.3 miles
camping by a lake tonight.
had two breakfasts this morning.
We have been on the trail almost more days than we have left … knowing that helps.
July 6 – 20 miles
Benson Pass 10,107 ft
Seavey Pass 9,129 ft
A foreign couple the other day came up to me and were pointing at what I assumed was my trekking pole. Nope, it was the geometric-shaped dirt on my thigh. They were concerned something was wrong since it was such a drastically different color than the rest of my skin.
Fell backwards on my butt today, that was fun.
There’s a mosquito sitting outside my tent with a broken leg. Don’t worry, he has 567 of his closest friends right next to him, so I’m sure he’ll be fine.
Swam in a lake today for the first time!!! Just sat in the water and smiled. It was such a beautiful moment to soak up. Water was clear and refreshing – essentially a much needed bath.
I’ve decided that I am horrible at being mindful. Being aware of what you need and how you’re feeling. HA. I can’t even decipher if I need water or not. Pretty pathetic… to say the least.
July 7 – 24.6 miles
Dorothy Pass 9,533 ft
How sad and true that you simply cannot capture the vastness of what’s around you in a photo.
When I’m going up the hills I don’t want to (all of them), I listen to Disney music (“I’ll Make A Man Out of You” – Mulan) … (that or “Closer”/”Humble” on repeat to get me going, shout out to my college roommates who would not be surprised to hear this.) Not ashamed to admit it.
July 8 – 20.1 miles
Sonora Pass 9,624 ft
It feels like the trail is pushing me down with its hand, holding me low against the ground, making me as weak and vulnerable as I’ve ever been and telling me to get back up. That’s what it feels like. The solitude in experiencing this misery is what makes it so painfully torturous and inescapable at times. I have no beer in times of anguish, no extra sleep in times of exhaustion, no comfort in loneliness, no easy entertainment in boredom.
Today one of my two tent zippers stopped working. AWESOME. Yes, fine in the desert, but OH GOSH NO not in mosquito town… AND discovered my platypus has a bigger rip in it than I thought. COOL. Hopefully it should be no trouble before I can get another in South Lake Tahoe.
If one thing has held true, it’s that pain is fleeting. No matter how bonkers the mosquitos drive me or how much my IT band hurts (today) or my feet cry out for breaks. No matter how miserable any given moment is, that moment comes to an end.
Looking behind us as we neared Dorothy Pass, leaving Yosemite, walking out of the High Sierra, we saw no vast mountains. The landscape did change as rapidly as we were told it would. It was almost as if we were looking at a familiar picture where a piece of the landscape was missing. No vast mountains, only trees.
Finally got rid of that bear canister too!! HOORAY FOR LIGHTER PACKS!
July 9 – 26.2 miles
Ebbett’s Pass 8,691 ft
Beautiful, unbelievable scenery. Tons of multi-colored wildflowers in the meadows and thicker forests with tall (175 ft?) pines. Soft dirt and sandy trail so my feet and legs were not destroyed, although my IT band was bothering me again. It actually turned out to be a phenomenal day.
There was trail magic right before we hit the highway. A guy from St. Louis who did the trail last year (“the year of fire and ice”) made the hikers a DELICIOUS burger, offering us snacks and sodas.
July 10 – 26.1 miles
I can hear a coyote from inside my tent. Lots of exposed stretches today, no vegetation above my ankles but lots of beautiful meadows and wildflowers, with pockets of tall and thick pine forests spread throughout.
Took our longer break by a lake. Really excited to get into town tomorrow and just TALK to someone other than Katie.
July 11 – 13.9 miles
Had multiple drinks with Katie at a couple different places in town (I feel like I’ve had three drinks after only one – my body is so disoriented with alcohol now) one being at a place where there was free pizza for the PCT hikers. (Got myself some delicious desert too – I swear I am ravenous when in town, just immediately hungry after a meal).
Leaving town, Katie and I felt nauseous. Unsure why, maybe the drinks because our bodies aren’t used to it, I don’t know, but it was pretty unpleasant. Mailed my fleece home so less weight yay! Supposedly there’s been a heat wave coming through here lately.. hotter than it often is is what a few people said.
Tahoe lake was just absolutely huge and beautiful.
Saw a coyote hiking in the morning. Looked like someone’s dog ran across the trail, like a mini wolf – gray and white, it didn’t know I was there. It was so so awesome to see.
July 12 – 10.6 miles
Katie and I were cracking up at funny videos online before heading out of town which was just such a nice relief from trail and town stress. Guy who apparently takes people on ski trips year round all over the world, that’s his job, took us back to the trail. Said Japan has the best skiing in the world, this little island that gets relentless snow.
My friends were so supportive when I sent them my picture of hitting 1,000 miles, and then we started joking about the ‘I’d walk A Thousand Miles’ song by Vanessa Carlton. My friend asked if I was staying alive out there, so we got on a BeeGees kick in our Groupme. I told Katie all this, and she then proceeds to sing in a high pitched voice, “I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk.” Some random woman at the post office walked by as she did that and almost fell over laughing.
July 13 – 28.4 miles
My IT band’s hurting. Longest day ever though which seriously is so cool to be able to walk that far in a day.
July 14 – 24.2 miles
Free 40s at the Donner Pass Ski Resort.
There was this little girl. She was such a little ham. I was cracking up to her expressions, twirling and dancing to the live band on the patio.
This is the first time, the first moment, when I am actually sad to think that at some point, at some approaching point, this will end. It’s quiet. It’s still. Everything is constantly moving at home. Nothing is still. But here it is. And I don’t want to see it end.
July 15 – 25.4 miles
75 days or less until I can see Austen. (-:
Today – I’m starting to feel an affection for the trail. Even the days when sometimes I hate it, I still love it.
July 16 – 16.1 miles
IT band still hurts. Woke me up all throughout the night last night, kept tossing and turning, nothing was comfortable. The early morning stars above my nonexistent tent fly were beautiful though, I must say. Chose not to indulge the desired identification of said animal outside my tent. Rolled back over to sleep the few times I heard it.
The trees the last forty or so miles, they’re covered in moss. Lime, neon green moss.
In Sierra City, there is nothing open but one single store on Mondays and Tuesdays. Camped for free behind the church. Hardly anything here. Hot as hell because of the lower elevation between the mountains. Rolled into town in 103 degree weather. No wifi or service. Just an old fashioned town.
July 17 – 10 miles
Nero. Trying to appropriately tend to my growing weakness and pain in my knee by sleeping in and taking the rest of the day off by a waterfall under a bridge. Went back to the nothing town this morning and planning to head back out this afternoon. Probably will just get up the hill and call it a day but I guess we’ll see.
Exciting that it’s near the end of July now almost August! That’s crazy that much time has passed.
Things I look forward to: drink mixes to put in my water, boarding the plane to go home, hiking into town, icing my knee
Humility. That’s definitely what this trail gives you. It surely humbles me. I am scared, tired, constantly at my wit’s end, and vulnerable. I hate being vulnerable. But it really brings me to my knees and makes me feel small in comparison to everything that’s so large around me.
Perks of Being Inexperienced 