June 14th 2013
Mile 770 to mile 790 : Wallace creek to Bullfrog lake
Mileage : 20
Today was a walkover in comparison to the day before. I had steeled myself for a rough day, but thankfully it was the total opposite to my ordeal. I got up and took on over 1000 calories before getting up, and then took on another 1000 an hour later on the approach to Forester Pass. All those calories, the 9 hours sleep i got, the mid morning hiking in full sunlight and the fact that Forester Pass is 1300 feet lower than Mt Whitney made the climb considerably easier than i thought it was going to be, and before I knew it I was going up the final switchbacks to the pass itself. I was still pushing myself pretty hard though as I knew that Peter Pan, Dishcloth and Kat, who has taken the name Hoop Dreams as she has a hoop and is living her dreams, were only 4 miles ahead on the trail and I wanted to catch them. On the final approach I also met up with Wagon Wheel and we went up the final switchbacks together. It turns out Wagon Wheel, along with Atlas and Jess were on the summit when I went up, but I don't remember seeing them. It also turns out that everybody I knew already seemed to know about my ordeal. It seems that as I had been curled up in my sleeping back on the sheltered ledge during the final stretch several people had passed me and relayed the information to people up on the summit. Although a faint headache returned as I climbed above 12,000ft again, non of the other symptoms did, and I got to the pass in good spirits. As I rounded the final corner, I caught sight of a pink skirt : Dishcloth! I had caught them finally, and on top of Forester too! After taking in the view and after many pictures with the plaque at the pass we started the descent down the north side of the pass following Bubbs Creek all the way down. The views were spectacular, and consequently it took a while to get down as every few hundred metres or so I would have to stop for a minute to take it all in. It was easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The end of the day saw is at the PCT - Kearsarge Pass junction, the trail for which we'd be taking in the morning. It was an infinitely better day than the day before.
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| Forester Pass from afar, the pass is just to the left of the plateau like feature in the relative foreground |
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| The pass with chute and associated snow visible |
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| I have proof of this time |
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| The view north |
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| The view south |
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| PRT with presents at the pass |
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| The human cost to constructing trails in these mountains |
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| A view from the campsite at Bullfrog Lake |
It's a small world up there in the mountains - quite heartening to know that PCTers are all looking out for each other.
ReplyDeleteTerrific photos - like the one with PCT + presents in the foreground with the landscape reaching to infinity behind you all.