Coming down from Mount Whitney, you’d think that after climbing the highest mountain of the lower 48 states, that we’d celebrate with a little rest. You’d be wrong. In the Sierra, many of the mountain passes are covered in snow. You make your life easier if you climb them when the snow is hard. Slushy snow is not the easiest or safest terrain. So after summitting and subsequently descending Mount Whitney, we hiked as close as possible to Forester Pass, which is the highest point on the PCT, at 13,153 feet. You may be wondering how this is the highest point, when we’d just climbed a higher mountain. That is because Mount Whitney is not on the PCT. We just hiked an extra 16 miles for fun and I would definitely do it again.

On our way towards Forester Pass, we had to cross a stream. I stopped to take off my socks and cross in just my shoes. This was a mistake. The moment I slowed down, a literal cloud of mosquitoes engulfed me. I am a chill person in almost all situations. However, I had no chill, I absolutely lost my cool in the swarm. Whatever words you want to use to describe me swearing and sloshing across a creek as mosquitoes took advantage of my slower pace to land on me in dozens. Still cursing loudly, I stomped out of the creek and walked off towards camp. At the campsite, I stood and killed about 50 of them, just to feel better and work off some aggression.

The cold overnight calmed the mosquitoes down a bit, and we made our way to the pass. We had a creek crossing that was a little sketchy. I really appreciated having Daisy Dukes and Husk with us, because they crossed first and had Tinkle, Queso, and I throw our packs to them. It made it a lot easier to land a far jump from rock to rock over the rushing water. That was an adrenaline rush to start the day. We had a few more before the day was done.

We crossed snow fields over a frozen lake to get to the switchbacks in the rock face and then there was a steep snow chute to cross. That snow chute is somewhat famous among hikers and we all yelled at the top of the pass to celebrate crossing it. The fun was not over once we’d gotten to the top. There was still a lot of snow on the northern side, interspersed with rocks that we had to scramble over, being careful not to fall through the snow near the rocks, which is softer. Daisy demonstrated this very well and fell through the snow to his torso. The trail is not visible, so the route goes from snow to loose rocks, back to the trail. It’s a bit rough on the ankles and knees.

Daisy sunk hip-deep in snow

Once clear of the snow, there was water. Lots of snowmelt streams and marshy areas mean wet shoes and socks. Further down from the pass, the water had channeled into beautiful streams and waterfalls. This was the first of many days where I thought, “This is the most beautiful day on trail.” It ended with a very steep hill, once again pursued by mosquitoes, but at the top, we had a trail reunion! First was Jinx, Twinkletoes, and John, and after that, Deadzone/Helen! We were all headed to Bishop the next day and made plans to go bowling. Husk, Queso, Tinkle, Daisy Dukes, and I continued to Bullfrog Lake, where we camped in a peaceful spot and I ate the miso soup that Queso donated. It was a calm retreat at the end of a trying, but rewarding day.

We were on a side trail to another, extra pass that would take us to a trailhead where we could beg a ride from day hikers headed down the mountain into Independence or Bishop. After a nice, downhill hike from Kearsarge Pass next to waterfalls and lakes, we got a ride in the back of a pickup. It was so strange to leave the mountains. It felt kind of like leaving home. It was home, for the longest section without a town. I was a little sad, unexpectedly, but nothing that wouldn’t be cured with food. Lots of food.

It was a little shocking when we entered society again, in the form of a gas station. Such excess! Cold soda? Fruit? Chips? My hungry days were over. We missed the bus to Bishop by a day, so we got a hitch from Dan, a PCT alumnus and future CDT hiker, as well as an Australian flight attendant and political activist. If anyone who reads this lives in Australia, you should vote for him. No matter what he’s running for, just vote for him, he’s cool. He took us right into town, where we took our smelly selves to breakfast, where I had the best bacon I’ve tasted in my life.

Once we got to the hotel, I also had the best shower of my life. After getting clean, we set out on the town again and I had the best steak that I’ve ever gotten from a bowling alley in my life. Yes, there was a pretty good restaurant in the bowling alley. We played a couple games (I won both) and had a great time with hikers we’d been with at various times: Husk, Queso, Kristy/Excel, Josh/DHS, Jinx, Twinkletoes, John, Dragon, Butters, Hot Mess, Helen/Deadzone, Sea Bass, and of course, Tinkle and Daisy Dukes. Another fun reunion was had by all.