PCT Day 49 – Kearsarge Pass

I woke at 11 pm. My tent was bright inside as if from moonlight. I touched my tent walls – wet. This meant that the sky had cleared and temperatures had dropped. Condensation was forming inside my tent.

You might think this is a minor thing, a little extra dampness. But condensation, if severe enough will actually start to run down the tent walls onto the floor or start dripping on you and your bedding.

The sacredness of the bed

I don’t know why I am so particular about my bed. But I am. My bed delineates a safe zone. Even when cowboy camping last year, there was an invisible boundary defined by my ground cloth that must not be crossed, by people, insects, rodents or precipitation.

When I returned home from the trail last year my trail sleep habits persisted. I would bunch the covers around my neck, position my legs together and only slightly bent, position my arms close to my body as if on a narrow mattress. And then I would imagine the cool air on my face, the rushing sound of a nearby creek and the soft starlight overhead. If you have slept outdoors in this way it leaves a deep impression on you.

So when cold water starts dripping on me in the middle of the night, I don’t like it. I wipe the tent wall above my head, but this doesn’t stop the problem for long, so I just hope it won’t get worse and go back to sleep

In the morning my quilt is very damp, but not soaked. I am still warm, too. But the floor of my tent has puddles. I get up and fetch my bear barrel. The top is covered with ice. Bob tells me that temps were in the mid thirties.

Hike to get warm

Once you have broken the bond of your warm bed and deflated your air mattress. There is only one thing that will get me warm – hiking. It takes me about a minute to take the next picture because my fingers are so cold that the phone doesn’t recognize them as fingers any more.

I have a couple breakfast bars left. I eat one and the last of my dried dates and head out. The sun will soon be above the horizon. I don’t even want to think about getting water until I can feel my fingers.

To Kearsarge Pass

A lot of people think this pass is one of the prettiest on the PCT. I can’t argue with them. Bullfrog Lake is a short distance from the lake where we camped.

It’s a good place to stop. We finish eating, get some water and do our potty things. Then it’s up to the pass.

To people’s credit, trash on the trail is rare. So when we see these bags on the trail we won’t even touch them. It can’t be trash, right? I can see a tuna pouch through one of the bags. Did someone drop this off for someone? Did they leave it for later? Is a bear crouching in the bushes nearby holding the other end of a loop snare? Nothing seems right, so we just leave them there.

We reach the intersection where the two parallel trails to the pass merge. There is some signage there, but the most interesting one is from the local ranger about bears. After reading it, I really hope we meet a bear. I am in the mood to chase something.

There is the pass.

Looking back from the pass you can see the Kearsarge Lakes on the left and Bullfrog lake in the distance.

And here’s Bob. Those dumpy hiking pants are held up by a safety pin. But he’s trying to look good on what may be his last Sierra Nevada pass. He takes my picture too.

Now whoever named the lake east of the pass should be fired. The lake is so stunning today that I have included two pictures of it that display it differently. Either way though, it’s hard to take your eyes off it. Which one do you like best.

Down to a different Sierra Nevada

And now for today’s mystery object. If you placed it on a teacup saucer, it would overlap in several places. Clue: it may be related to terror.

We pass Gilbert Lake. I’ve been reading Moby Dick on the trail, and I can’t help but think that that big rock by the trail is the white whale coming up for me.

If you are getting tired of seeing mule train videos, too bad. Here’s another one. It dawned on me today that this might be how the rangers in those remote wilderness cabins get supplied.

Angels unaware

At the trail junction earlier we met three hikers coming back from a three-day excursion to Glen Pass. They had a similar experience as Bob and I with whiteout conditions, wind, rain and hail. We meet them again at the top of the pass. When we arrive at the parking lot at the base of the pass they are there waiting for us. They are holding beer cans. The trio said they were going to wait for us until they finished one beer. They ask if we still need a ride to town. Yes! And then they offer us a beer, too. Fittingly it was a Sierra Nevada pale ale. Delicious.

Considerations

In Independence I collect two packages from the post office and one with a replacement buckle for my pack.

Bob and I grab the shuttle from Independence to Lone Pine. It’s amazing how good public transportation is everywhere but Florida.

We grab rooms at the Historic Dow Hotel. A place famous for it’s iconic western clientele from all the movies shot in Lone Pine.

I call Patti, and then Bob and I discuss my next steps.

• September 14
• Starting marker: 788.5
• Ending marker: 788.5
• Miles hiked today: 7.5 (over Kearsarge Pass)
• Total PCT miles: 561
• Mystery item: bear poop. It’s been eating a lot of red berries. You can see a berry to the left if you look real hard.