Day 44

Mile 815.1 to mile 832.2, plus 1.5 mile on Bishop Pass Trail

PCT Miles: 17.1 (27.4km)

Total Miles: 832.2 (1331.5km)

My body clearly got the memo about the early day yesterday: after I had an early dinner at 4:30pm, I was in bed around 6pm and slept almost all the way through the night. I just had to get out of the tent to pee during the night, but it was totally worth it! The sky was full of stars and absolutely divine! I can’t wait for new moon to do some stargazing here in the Sierra Nevada!

I woke up completely rested and it was my earliest start ever. At 5:26 I was already heading to today’s pass: Mather Pass. After around 45 minutes hiking, I met Tangent, Bullfrog, Geezer and Fizz again. They were discussing the best approach to climb the ice wall to the summit, which lied just in front of us.

Everybody with spikes or crampons on and ice axe in hands, we started the climb. I went to a not very good route and ended up facing something more vertical that I felt comfortable with. I had to use my axe to carve footholds on the snow so I could advance. For maybe half an hour I climbed using my axe as a third point of contact on the frozen mountain. It was nerve wracking but at the end I did it! For me, Mather Pass and Forester Pass are tied as the most difficult passes.

After summiting, it comes an exhausting way down, also in snow. The difference is: now there’s sunshine and the snow is starting to melt.

On the way down I found a nice little pool and went for my first alpine swim! The water was freaking cold but the sun afterwards quickly warmed up! Skinny-dipping in the Sierras ✅!

Since it was a big descent, after a while the snow was completely gone. That means normal hiking speed! So much better! I met again Tangent, Bullfrog and Geezer at lunch time and we hiked together for the whole afternoon. They have a pace similar to mine and they also need to make it to Bishop tomorrow, for food reasons. Perfect!

So, at the moment I’m on a trail (Bishop Pass Trail) to exit the Sierra and go to town (Bishop). This trail is about 13 miles long (I’m 1.5 miles in) and there’s the pass in 4.5 miles. If everything goes according to the plan, tomorrow we will all be in Bishop!