Category: Walking

Day 73-74: June 14-15th
Mammoth Lakes

We have been taking a zero day in Mammoth Lakes, CA to rest and resupply before continuing along the Pacific Crest Trail to Yosemite National Park. Tomorrow morning we will take the shuttle bus to Red’s Meadow were we exited the trail on Saturday.

We are using this rest stop to eat and eat and eat some more. Lon has lost more than 19 pounds and Deb about 6, and our hiking pants are cinched almost as tight as can be. What a great excuse to eat ice cream!

It has been cold the last few days so we would like some June warmth soon, but not too warm.

Day 72: June 13th
Mile 882.8 to Deer Creek (Mile 901)

The weather seems to have cooled down a bit. We started the day by climbing the two miles of the Pacific Crest Trail and 1,000 feet over Silver Pass (10,700 feet) which fortunately did not have any significant snow.

We continued past very pretty forests, Tully Hole, Purple Lake, and are now camped at Deer Creek.

Tomorrow we will go into the town of Mammoth Lakes to resupply.

Photo: Tully Hole

Mileage 18.3 miles

Day 70-71: June 11-12th
Vermillion Valley Resort

We had an excellent enjoyable stay at Vermillion Valley Resort eating good food in the cafe and picking up a couple of days supplies to get us to Mammoth Lakes, CA.

We took the afternoon ferry back to the Pacific Crest Trail, so we got a late start hiking and only actually hiked four PCT miles. We did climb about 2,000 feet as we camped just short of Silver Pass.

Photo: Crossing a very low Lake Edison on the way back to the Pacific Crest Trail from VVR.

Day 69: June 10th
Mile 850.9 to mile 868.1 (17.2 miles)

Today began with an easy downhill hike along the Pacific Crest Trail for miles along Evolution Creek and the San Joaquin river. As we crossed the third of four bridges (bridges !!! what a novel park idea for water crossings !) for the day, we left Kings Canyon National Park and entered the John Muir Wilderness.

After our break for an early lunch, we began the climb for Selden Pass. This was not a tough pass but the gentle climb was miles long; however, it was virtually snow-free as southbounders had told us.

The weather changed for the dramatic as we headed downhill. Black clouds, light rain, thunder and lightening. We quickly found a campsite and are snug in our tent listening to the surprise storm above us.

Tomorrow we will reach Vermillion Valley Resort – we are looking forward to three good meals.

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

Day 67: June 8th
Mile 824.4 to 835.8

Today we took an on-trail nero, only hiking about 8 miles along a very pretty section of the Pacific Crest Trail. We took several long breaks, rinsed some clothes, relaxed. We are camped 2.8 miles south of Muir Pass (12,000 feet) which we will hike over early tomorrow morning. We expect a lot of snow from the reports of south-bound hikers we encountered today.

Mileage: 8.4 miles