Day 55

Despite a few health issues I’m working through—a nasty cough, diarrhea, and the ten pounds I put on during my ten days off—I managed to put in twenty four mile day, putting me within striking distance of Donahue Pass and hopefully a subsequent very big day to keep me on track to reach South Lake Tahoe in 7 days.

After picking up my bear can and ice axe from the hotel, I started the long walk up Lake Mary Road to Horseshoe Lake, where a three mile side trail leads to Red’s Meadow and thus the PCT. After three miles on the sidewalk next to the road, a driver finally took mercy and drove me the rest of the way to the top. We jumped in the lake together, and after drying off I realized AO was leaned up against a sprinter van drinking a beer. Having not seen him since Bishop, the reunion was great. After I ate my dinner of bagged salad and cream soda, we made camp in the trees above the lake with the plan of sleeping in and getting as close to Donahue Pass as we could. As it turned out, camping in this area is banned because of dangerously high CO2 levels around the lake and because many of the local rodents carry plague. Double whammy.

We set off this morning at 8:30, immediately climbing towards Mammoth Pass. I felt my lack of acclimatization and cardiovascular strength almost immediately, but I pressed on. The views at the pass were decent, and we were soon walking the closed Red’s Meadow Road in the valley below to go view the Devil’s Postpile, a collection of hexagonal columns of basalt. I found it underwhelming.

The road walk afterwards—to avoid the downed bridge over the Middle Fork San Joaquin—was hot and relatively boring. We opted to walk the road to shave three miles off of the distance to Canada and because AO likes road walking apparently. Eventually we were back on the PCT proper, chipping away at the 4,000 feet of gain between us and the pass. Once we emerged out of the forest the views were some of the best I can remember.

We continued climbing up to the stunning Thousand Island Lake. The views of the lake and surrounding mountains were sublime, so we decided to camp near Island Pass a few hundred feet above the lake to take it in. At a tarn near Island Pass we met a group of five through hikers (Skippy, Oceania, ???, Cowboy, Toby) so we decided to eat dinner and camp with them. I’m lodged between two boulders off of Mile 925.5 trying to hide from the wind as I write this and plan tomorrow’s big day—I think it will be my first thirty plus mile day in quite some time!