Day 68

Day 68: June 9th
Mile 835.8 to 850.9

Despite our best plan to position ourselves for Muir Pass, the effort required to go up and down this pass surprised us. Fairly deep snow was everywhere (it seemed.) We got our shoes wet within 15 minutes and they stayed wet until we stopped for lunch, the first time all day that we were out of the snow. It took us about 7 hours, including a rest at the Muir stone hut at the summit, to go up and over and down to the first snow-free campsite to eat lunch. In comparison it took us 4 hours the rest of the day to go 8 miles down to our campsite for the night at Evolution Creek. A very tough day. The downhill over the pass was deep with snow for miles and we seemed to posthole every 3 steps. But we did feel like kids as we gave up the effort to avoid water streaming down the trail and simply splashed through the water and mud puddles without any more care.

On the bright side, we encountered the most PCT hikers this day and enjoyed talking with them at the Muir hut, down the trail, and now here at our campsite.

Mileage: 15.1 miles