8/6/2019
Hello again, and welcome to the last week we spent on the JMT. We will pick up where we left off from the last post. On the morning of 8/6 we woke up at the bottom of Mather pass. We started up the pass in the morning. This would prove to be one of the most dangerous passes we did on the JMT. There was still snow fields on hillsides. I didn’t get pictures of this part. I really wasn’t thinking about photos, I was thinking about getting up and over this pass without falling to tell the truth. I did get a photo from the top though.
The rest of the day would also prove to be one of the hardest for me. To get back on schedule, Laura and I would have to hike another pass this day. We pressed on and got to the bottom of Pinchot Pass. This is when we saw weather on the other side of the pass. We came up with a plan to slowly hike up the pass and keep an eye on the weather. When we got to the point of no return, the weather seemed to get worst. Being this was the second pass we had done that day and the weather not allowing us to take a break, I wasn’t in the best of moods. I didn’t get to take pictures on the pass at all. We had to get down from elevation as soon as possible with the storms blowing in. Turns out we never even got rain where we were. We setup camp just on the other side of Pinchot Pass where I was able to take pictures of the pass. The clouds rolling through would focus the sunset on different rocks and mountains. It was like being in a light show from the heavens.
8/7/2019
We woke up and started hiking to Glenn Pass. Laura and I hoped to get over Glenn by the end of the day. If we did we would be back on track to make a reservation we had for a whole day in a town with a motel room. The weather would have different plans. We started out this day feeling pretty good. After the hard day before, we had really covered some ground and all was looking good for us to make the reservation. That was until we got to the Rae Lake area. These lakes are just under Glenn Pass. As soon as we got to the elevation of these lakes a very large lighting bolt jumped out of the sky. We turned back and found a place to set the tent where we were not as exposed. As soon as we got in the tent it started to rain. This was about 1pm. For the next 5 hours Laura and I huddled in that tent as mother nature through everything she had at us. Wind, rain , and golfball size hail hit the tent in those hours. The mountain peaks got in the way of seeing too much of the sky and was hiding what the sky looked like farther out. The last hour was a break with sunshine only to be followed by another band of rain and hail. That happened over and over again until it finally stopped. After waiting out this storm, we packed up and started hiking again. It was now 6pm and we would not make our goal of getting over Glenn, but we could get as close as we could to it. We went to sleep that night knowing what the next day would bring. We would have to get up at 3am and start hiking. We had another two pass day the next day, and we had to be at a trailhead by 3pm the next day to catch a shuttle to our room. Here are some photos taking this day along the trail.
8/8/2019
We got up at 3am to start the hike. After we had our packs ready to go, we started hiking to the pass with headlamps. The sky was amazing this early in the morning. Somewhere out there was a storm. It was too far away for us to hear the report of the lighting, but not far enough for us not to see the lighting flashes. We walked in the silent darkest which was interrupted by flashes that would light up the mountain sides. We both stop and turned off our headlamps for a while just to watch the show. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It was a little unnerving too. We just couldn’t take another storm stopping our progress. The dark morning sky slowly turned into a cloudless blue morning sky as we ascended Glenn Pass. This pass felt very easy to me in the morning, but it was Laura’s hardest. The pass had a few snow fields that were in pretty hairy spots. It was also pretty steep. I didn’t know if the readers know this, but Laura has a fear of hights. She got over it though in the first light of the day. It was breathtaking in more ways than one. I was able to get a photo of Laura crossing one of the hairiest snow fields on that pass and of the whole JMT. She looks like a badass, which she is.
We were on our way to the next pass. Kearsarge Pass is not on the JMT. We added it to get off the trail and head into town. We had a reservation at a motel in Independence, CA that had our last resupply and a room with a bed and bath. We had to get over the last pass and down to the trailhead parking lot before 3pm though, which was the only thought in my head. I looked up and was surprised. I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful Kearsarge was going to be. At the top looking back to the JMT was amazing.
8/9/2019
A zero day in town. A zero day means that is how many miles we hiked that day, zero. I spend the day napping in a bed, eating pizza, drinking cold beer, and taking many, many baths. Laura spent most of the day exploring the town. It was a much needed rest.
8/10-8/12/2019
We caught a shuttle back to the trailhead and started back up the 2,500 foot climb over the pass back to the JMT. The day’s rest really put a jump in our step. We were up and over that pass in what felt like no time. We had a plan to take our time with the last of the trail, but we ended up just pushing on through it. We hiked over Forester Pass on the 11th. Everyone on the trail had heard by this point that someone had fallen to their death on Forester the week before. It weighed heavy on everyone’s mind as we hiked to it. It did have a lot of snow on it, and it was very steep. You had to chose which way you took to get to the top as most of the trail was covered. They all had their downsides, but we made it over and kept pushing on.
On the 12th we got to Guitar Lake. This would be the last night on the trail. We got there pretty early in the day. That meant we could relax around the lake. I fished for golden trout, and I caught them until my arm was too tired to fish. Laura jumped in for a cool down and a short swim. I only got my feet in. That water is pretty cold up above 10,000 feet. It was a bitter sweet night. The end was only a day away.
8/13/2019
We got up around 3am to start the hike up to Mt. Whitney, and the end of the trail. As I was packing up camp I saw the headlamps of people already on top. I could not believe it. We started to hike up with our headlamps as well. The sunrising over the valley we were just in was other worldly. It seemed like as every minute passed and every foot of elevation gained the world change before your eyes. Laura was having a harder time with this hike. It was very steep and had spots were one wouldn’t make it out alive if one took a bad step. But boy, what a feeling to be finished!
We had finished the longest and hardest hike of our lives. I had lost 24 pounds on the hike and Laura lost 15. I have to say I still don’t know how I feel about the hike as a whole. By the time it was over, I was so done with waking up every morning with a mountain pass to climb over. The trail is very hard and very long. I felt like I didn’t have enough time in places I wanted to explore because we had to get the miles in that day. It felt a little like saying you saw the country, but only from a car window on the Interstate. These were some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and am likely to ever see. This trail took me there, but I had very little time in those places. I believe Laura is more clear about her trail experience. She loves the fact that our feet took us to places like mountain tops and 250+ miles. The more time passes, the more I can see her point of view. I just needed sometime away from the trail to see it.
You don’t have to take a three week hiking trip to explore and enjoy the public lands this country has to offer. The National Parks System is one of the things that truly makes this country already great. Get out in them and fight to keep them. They will give you more than you can ever repay.
until next time…
Wes Burt
burtsontherun 