PCT Day 47 – Pinchot Pass

For dinner last night, Bob gave me the hot water he didn’t need for his dehydrated dinner. I had grabbed some mystery dinners from VVR but I had not started cold-soaking one of them early enough to eat for dinner last night. With hot water, the dinners can be ready in 15 minutes and they taste so much better that way. I had Spanish rice and it was delicious.

Cold brewed

I wake up at 2am. It is cold in my tent. I snuggle deeper into my quilt. Why are my feet still cold? It’s like they are damp. A water drop falls on my face. I am wide awake now. The condensation inside my tent is so bad that my tent walls are raining on me. I feel the top of my quilt. It’s damp but not wet.

I am not sure what to do. I have extended both my rain flies because rain is a real possibility. But having them extended is causing my body heat and breath to condense the wet cold air in my tent. I try to slow my breathing (silly, I know) and go back to sleep.

When my alarm goes off, I manage to get most things packed away in my pack in pretty good shape. My quilt and some clothes are damp. But my tent is soaked inside and out. I just roll it up and hope that at some time during the day I will be able to dry it out.

Heart to heart

For the first time since we started hiking together, Bob is waiting for me to start the day. I am despondent. I ask Bob to convince me to not quit my hike. I explain that I haven’t been enjoying the hiking. The passes, while impressive are hard, barren and monotonous. The camping sucks more than usual because of the rain. The food is gross. I miss home. The only bright spot has been having Bob to hike and camp with.

I have felt this way for at least four days. I have been hoping it will pass. But I know it is affecting my writing. I am sure that you have felt that, too. We spend about 30 minutes discussing all my options. I don’t decide anything yet.

Up to the pass

Before we start I turn to see where we’ve been. The valley between Mather and Pinchot is pretty impressive.

The dip between the mountains is the pass. The dark mountains over the pass are the majestic Pallisades. All the rest, including the dark trees in the bottom of the valley are what we walked through yesterday.

Today we turn and face Mount Pinchot and the pass that bears its name. We camped at almost 11,000 feet. The pass is at 12,127 ft. We go almost straight at it the whole way, passing Lake Marjorie (somebody’s daughter again probably) on the way. In the next picture, the pass is the shallow dip just to the right of center.

The climb goes on forever, as they all do. Every now and then I stop to see where Bob is or to see how far I’ve come or how far I must go. Here I look up. I’m almost there!

Somehow it never gets old – that first view across the other side of the pass. I always reach for my map because this is the best place to determine where you will be walking for the next hours or days. I hope you are not reading this on your phone because it really is impossible to appreciate the grandeur of this view at small scale.

We are going to sashay down on the right, cut to the left across those “Scottish” hills in the center and then circling around behind them make our way down the valley to the far right end of the bluish ridge. A suspension bridge is there that we will cross before we head up to Glen Pass.

An unexpected kindness

There are two young couples at the pass with us. Someone says they like my gaiters. I relate the story of how the gaiters gave me my trail name. I notice one of my gaiters has come loose. I bend down to fasten it and one of the younger ladies intervenes. “Let me do that. May I do that for you?” I am floored and embarrassed. It’s like a real life Maundy Thursday service. “Thank you,” I say, and I don’t know if I’ve ever felt it more deeply.

Unnecessary kindness is so rare on the trail with everyone, their equipment and their agendas so hermetically sealed. I think that’s one reason I like hiking with Bob. These small kindnesses are more common with someone you know.

Weather or not

The weather has been my foil on this hike because it has been so unusual for the Sierras. Even Bob, a veteran of six JMT hikes has never seen anything like it. The normal weather pattern is for clouds to pop up in the afternoon, it rains, and then it clears off. Most days in September it will not rain. But today here we go again. Those clouds are everywhere all day. On some ridges you can see the rain coming down.

It can affect your planning. I need to dry out my tent before I can use it again. Should we camp now when it is not raining so the tent will dry? Or should we try to go up this canyon even though we see clouds gathering up there? If we hike we can stay on schedule. If we don’t hike, we may run out of food before we reach town.

Odds and Ends

More tame deer. Three does and three fawns. The coloring on these is lighter.

Camping is not allowed at altitudes above 10,000 feet. The reason is astonishing. It has nothing to do with forest fires. I will include the reason at the end of the post.

Once you start to recognize rock monsters, they seem to be everywhere.

Woods Creek

The trail runs along Woods Creek in the afternoon. I am so happy for that because creeks are so ebullient that it rubs off on you. Here are some shots I like.

Camp

The weather turns ugly. Rain threatens. We have to decide about camping now or going on. We are so far behind our goals by now that even if we go another 4 miles it won’t change what day we get to Independence. We will camp in one of the many spots at the suspension bridge that crosses Woods Creek. The bridge is super cool and so unexpected.

Just look at how the bridge sways as you walk on it.

It’s a good thing we stop. It rains for two hours. I have just enough time to dry out my tent. I have pitched under a tree to help reduce condensation. Bob brings me his leftover hot water so I make warm milk from powder. My writing is done early. Now all that is left is to think, to pray and to sleep.

• September 12
• Starting marker: 809.6
• Ending marker: 799.7
• Miles hiked today: 10
• Total PCT miles: 550
• Fires are prohibited at high altitudes because those environments are sensitive and humans have been known to kill live trees or strip their branches for firewood.