June 15th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 14
Start Location: Campsite Mile 811
End Location: Campsite Mile 825
End Location GPS: 37.05299, -118.54217
Today was downright scary. Mather pass was the worst of the passes so far for us. Ascending there is an almost vertical section near the top which is the only way through at this point considering snow covers the summer switchbacks. The vertical section is snow and loose scree and I nearly had a heart attack watching Carolyn go up it. She was pushed to her limits as to what was safe/ unsafe out here, but we both made it and now have a good story to tell. You couldn’t pay me a million bucks to do that again (well, maybe you could ?). Some other hikers said they thought hat section was fun. Good riddance.
The decsent was equally tense as we glissaded down steep slopes. Glissading is the act of sitting on ones bum and sliding down the snow, like sledding. There was one glissade that ended in a bunch of large rocks and boulders and you had to control your speed so not to ram right into them. I used my ice axe to control myself and it worked well, Carolyn did not, and I ended up having to block her at the end of the glissade to prevent her from going into the rocks. Phew. We eventually made it down through all the snow and felt better once we were in the trees again.
This section is taking a lot longer than we anticipated. We were doing 18-20 miles through Whitney and Forester so we thought the rest of the passes would be similar. Man, how wrong was I? We are pushing 15 miles and that is with hiking a good 12 hours. These passes are still covered with a ton of snow making progress slow. Not to mention all the fords. I suppose we could keep our shoes on, but it’s been so cold that I’m afraid having wet shoes and socks would not be wise.
But wow, this range is so spectacular in the scenery section. The land certainly makes you work to see it’s hidden gems. We had to start rationing our food since this is taking us about a day longer now. My stomach has been growling like a bear with an upset stomach and diaheria after a night of drinking too many delicious but potent craft beers.
