Day 58: Glen Pass & the 800 Mile Marker

Date: Thu 6/14

PCT Start Mile: 789.9

PCT End Mile: 804.4

PCT Mileage for Day: 14.5

Total PCT Mileage: 804.4

The Highlights: Glen Pass, the Rae Lakes, and 800 miles

Today was exhausting. I didn’t feel well when my alarm went off and was slow to get ready. And, as it turned out, really slow the rest of the day too.

Squishy came by as we were packing up. She and LOL had camped about .7 miles back. We let her know we’d be heading out in about 20 minutes and meet up with her down the trail somewhere.

Our first part of the day was the remaining 1.2 mile climb to the top of Glen Pass at 11,948 ft. The climb was steep, and not feeling well, I was moving even more slowly than usual. It took me an hour to trudge to the top of the steep rocky switchbacks, Shawn following my incredibly slow pace. Squishy was waiting for us at the top. No sign of LOL yet, who was still packing when Squishy left, so we continued on.

The descent from Glen Pass started with crossing a high snow field before a rock scramble down to the visible trail switchbacks below. The descent after this was mostly dry, with a few snow fields along the way. We continued descending for around 9 miles, passing by the gorgeous blue-green Rae Lakes, and slowly making our way down rocky trail and through stream after stream.

When we first started doing stream crossings, we would make attempts to keep our feet dry. At this point, we just plunge right through in our shoes, as there is rarely a way to keep dry and there are so many crossings that if we had to take our shoes off each time, we’d spend hours just on the water crossings. Our feet are constantly wet now, and we’ve grown used to this.

At the bottom of the descent, we took a lunch break. It had taken 6 hours to go about 10 miles. Not my finest day. I was just really dragging.

After lunch, we began our climb to Pinchot Pass. This is basically how this entire section of the Sierras will go: long ascent to high pass, long descent to valley, long ascent to high pass, repeat through six passes before reaching Reds Meadow/Mammoth Lakes.

A very wobbly suspension bridge preceded the climb, and we made our way across one person at a time, as instructed. They need to take some lessons from Nepal – their legit suspension bridges can handle entire herds of animals.

Not far into our ascent, we passed the 800 mile marker. Another hundo down!

Unfortunately, our lunch break did not improve my speed and I continued to slog up the climb. While we had originally hoped to get in two passes today, the afternoon was growing late and with 2.7 miles to go to the top of the pass, I was worried about how long it would take to summit and then descend, especially since it’s been noted that there is snow on both sides of the pass.

We cut our losses, acknowledging my slow pace, and quit for the day. We’ll be up early to tackle the remainder of Pinchot Pass and also cross Mather Pass tomorrow. When Squishy came along, she also set up her tent, equally exhausted. Still no sign of LOL today. She is a very competent hiker so we aren’t worried about her, but it’s too bad we got separated. I’m sure she probably isn’t that far back from us, but there is no way for us to contact her without cell service.

Camped early, we had eaten dinner and were in our tent by 6pm. Looking forward to a long sleep and hoping I’m feeling better and moving a bit faster tomorrow.

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