Mileage-wise today is an easy one, just 14 miles. Unfortunately, it involves 3 climbs to 11k. 3,600 feet of ascending. I’m learning that any climbs above 10k take a LOT longer. I’m apparently not built for speed at altitude.

Crossing Rock creek turned out to be easy. There were a couple logs spanning the raging waters below so I just walked over with feet dry. Wouldn’t want to fall in that thing.

Climbing the first hill I ran into one of the couples that passed me yesterday. They were taking a snack break. Turns out I was right about their experience. They hiked the PCT last year. Names are Cinch and French Fry. She is a nurse, he is a teacher, and both need their hiking fix every year. This year they are southing from tahoe and doing some obscure routes in the area. They were talking about how much harder the trail was this year compared to the last due to snow. Nice to hear what I already feel.

They told me it takes a couple of months to recover from a PCT hike. Cinch said he was stiff for a month and had lost most of his upper body strength. I’ve heard this from other hikers, so I guess I have that to look forward to in a month or so.

On the first decent I hit a nice looking meadow. It looked like a pleasant place to stop until I got closer and discovered it was skeeter-ville.

 

Just pausing to take a picture turned into a slapfest. There was a river crossing here. I took my pack off to switch my shoes to cross. Slap…slap…slap, slap slap. Screw it. I threw the pack back on and stomped through the water.

Got lost on the other side in a frenzy to run away from the mosquitos. When I came back I found Soho sitting next to the creek with his shirt and shoes off. I don’t know how he can ignore all these things sucking his blood. We talked for exactly 2 minutes then I ran up the next hill followed by a cloud of miserable creatures. I’m walking in wet shoes today.

 

Somewhere along the way Soho passed me heading up a hill. The dude climbs so much faster than I do. It is impressive.

The top was a barren plateau.   Had a little pond up there as well.   This place was a little spooky. 

I’m now on the JMT and running into tons of people headed South toward Whitney. Generally they look like a pathetic lot. Their packs are too heavy, some are using sticks instead of trekking poles, some have music blaring from battery powered speakers. Many are wearing heavy boots. Most are not the lean, trim hikers I’m used to seeing. Their mileage is often 10 to 15 max a day. They look at me in awe when I tell them I’ve done 1,300 miles so far. I’m really surprised at how elitist I have become.

Well at least the views just keep getting better.

Had to ford Wallace creek after the next climb. I switched to my junk shoes after that since walking in my wet ones was no longer the fun I hoped for.

After the last 11k peak, it was a long descent down to Tyndall creek. I passed a father and son pair. Dad was bent over doing something with his son’s boots. His son was bundled up in long pants, shirt, and hat, and a bandana over his face to ward of the mosquitos. All I could see was his son’s eyes. They looked lost and scared. I had a look at the repair job. His dad was wrapping his sons boots in paracord apparent because they are falling apart. They are North bound and have been on the trail for 2 days. Jeez. I just moved on, there is no hope for these ding-dongs.

Bottom of the final 11k peak was Tyndall creek. I took the time to switch shoes for that one. Now I good shoes are super wet again and my crappy ones are dry. Oh well. Soho found us a nice camp spot, but the mosquitos have to be even worse here than the first creek. It was only 5pm, but I quickly setup my tent and jumped inside and never got out.

Soho was wondering around camp drying stuff, cooking food, etc. He must be covered in mosquitos. There are 15 of them trying to get at me in my tent. I cooked there, ate, talked to him through the liner. Finally, after eating, he said the mosquitos were bothering him so he too was going to his tent. As soon as he zipped up, another 10 mosquitos showed up on my bug net. He must have been the bait that kept them away. A little later I unzipped a small opening and threw my bear can out. It rolled down the hill. Fine by me. I quickly zipped back up. Die mosquitos….just die.

14 today. Tomorrow Forrester Pass !