Day 1
I woke up early, around 5 or 5:30–combination of jet lag and Bartholins Cyst pain. Got my pack repacked and took a final shower, loaded the GPS waypoints for the High Route onto the InReach. Said goodbye to Chris and Stone and I headed out towards Kings Canyon. It took us about 2 hours to get to the Trailhead since the SHR starts at Roads End, the end of Highway 180. I got my walk up permit-I was the first one to get a walk up although I was pretty late at 10:30 am for a same day Permit, and there were no reservations for Copper Creek trail, I noticed. The Sierras are kind of funny because there are certain “access points” that are almost impossible to get permits for even if you apply 6 months in advance-but often just a few miles away, with equally spectacular scenery, it will be completely dead. The ranger was really nice and excited that I was doing the Route. She mentioned there was a “low pressure weather system” moving in-maybe I’ll get some storms. I said goodbye to Stone and started hiking about 10:45. The Copper Creek trail gains 5300 feet before the SHR veers off the trail, which is really nice because it’s way nicer to gain all that elevation on gently graded trail. The hiking seemed almost painless to me for hours even though it was straight up and my pack is massive with 8 days of food and a bear canister. I met one other couple who were staying on the Trail and heading towards Granite Basin. At 9000 feet I started to feel pretty tired and was definitely feeling the elevation by 10,000 feet and had to really slow down. The Route finally veered off the Trail and due north towards Grouse Lake. I camped at Grouse lake, 7.1 miles for the day according to the waypoints. There is a discrepancy in the waypoint info versus the guidebook of 30 miles, which is kind of a lot. Shrug. I’m just going to do what I can. I’m going to have to get off early and figure out how to get this Bartholins cyst lanced if it won’t go down on its own so I’ll have to exit at Tuolomne Meadows or something, but maybe it will just go down and I can stay on Trail (Route). Grouse Lake is a classically beautiful Sierra Lake, and it is completely silent . I really, really hope I sleep tonight. Martijn sent me a text on the InReach which lifted my spirits a lot. Going from life and being together in Utrecht for 8 days back to utterly alone in the wilderness is a bit of a shock to the system.
Day 2
Chilly morning. It’s definitely September. I got started just before 8 and hiked 12 miles in 10.5 hours. I guess this is the “new normal.” I went over Grouse Pass and then curved around to Goat Crest Saddle, which Steve Roper describes as “the first challenging feature in the SHR due to the descent with its huge granite aprons.” I had no idea what a granite apron was and was excited to see one- but was disappointed by a very reasonable, moderate descent. It’s possible that a lot of these features are completely different when there is significant snow, which there is none of right now. I hit a wall in the afternoon-probably some left over jet lag-and very slowly went over the third Pass of the day, White Pass. I camped at about 6:30 pm. There is way less daylight now than in Canada a couple of months ago. The Bartholins cyst is really bothering me-lots of pain.
Day 3
My cyst was terribly painful through the night. 800 mg ibuprofen and 1000 mg Tylenol and I lay awake for hours in pain. I thought, “something is wrong and I need to get out of the wilderness.” I looked at the maps and found a way to loop back to Roads End in about 20 on-trail miles, then figured I’d hitchhike back to Fresno and go to the emergency room. I became very anxious and thought about how far in I already I am-off Trail, and utterly alone. Then, at 1 am, the cyst spontaneously ruptured on its own, making a huge mess in my tent. And the pain instantly went away. I went to sleep immediately. I woke up at 7 and texted everyone on the InReach the good news. I was overcome with emotion and in tears. Because I get another 9 days in this paradise instead of just 1. And it’s so hard, and so beautiful at the same time, and I miss Martijn, and I love this so much. We are such frail creatures and sometimes we are given these beautiful gifts, like love, and a few more days in the most beautiful mountains in the world. The sun crested the Sierra range, white and glittering, and a misty white lenticular cloud settled on the horizon. And I can barely stand all this beauty and these feelings.
Got started hiking at 10 am. It was really slow going, probably because of my interrupted sleep. I climbed slowly up 1600 feet across a huge granite bowl and eventually picked my way across Red Pass. If you were to just read the Sierra High Route guidebook, some of this would be very confusing. Steve Roper simply says a couple of sentences about “traversing around from White Pass to a point 50 feet below Red Pass where you can gain the Pass.” I have No idea what he is talking about here-White Pass and Red Pass are separated by a massive granite bowl a couple of miles long with a ridge that you have to cross and then pick your way down on a downhill traverse to finally get to Red Pass. This took me hours. Once again……GPS FTW! The track I am using, available at onthetrail.org, has not yet done me wrong. Late today it was leading me towards what looked like a sheer 100 foot granite cliff-but when I got up to it there was a really nice little series of ramps that you couldn’t see from far off. After Red Pass the route drops 1600 feet down to Miriam Lake, a sapphire blue lake. The final 350 feet to the lake is your choice of steep gullies-Steve says “take the left gully.” But then later on he says to those going the opposite direction to “take the gully one over from the right.” I guessed and had a pretty easy time of it. Finally the route climbs up into Lakes Basin-Roper’s route is over Frozen Lake Pass but I’ll take the easier option over Cartidge Pass. But, that’s a project for tomorrow. I found a sweet little creek with a stunning view and set up an early camp. Took a bath with water heated on my stove and settled in my multiple layers of down. Thanks, geese.
Today was all off-trail, and SLOW. I’m going to buy back some time in the next section by just staying on the PCT/JMT between Mather Pass and Muir Pass. It saves me 7 miles and probably a LOT of time. I’ll miss some sweet high mountain stuff, but not too much-and the Trail through that area is pretty high and gorgeous anyway.
Day 4
I got moving at 8:25, a little late because I kept waking up with strange lucid dreams, probably because of the elevation. Oh well. I traversed the beautiful Lakes Basin in a big arc and then made my way over Cartridge Pass on the old JMT, which was more like a boot track. But it wasn’t particularly difficult, just high. On the other side of the Pass was stunning views of the mountains to come as well as shimmering Bench lake on the other side of Kings Canyon, which I slowly dropped all the way down into, 2000 feet. The forest smelled like the California I remember from the PCT, which made me smile-I’ve been at such high elevation that the plants I was used to on the PCT, the sages and pines, don’t grow. I made my way up the Canyon for a couple miles and then got on the main PCT towards Mather Pass, which is still on the High Route. I saw so many people! Probably ten. All going the other direction towards Mount Whitney. One PCT southbounder who I immediately recognized as a thruhiker by her pace and her clothes and the fact that she didn’t stop and chat. I camped just before Mather Pass at a lake, a spectacular camp, if a little high at 11,600 feet. I’ll probably have to camp at about the same elevation tomorrow-I’ll be REAL acclimated for the Hayduke (not really necessary). The sky grew dark, velvet dusky blue-and the western-facing mountains glowing rose from the setting sun. One star came out, then another-and the half moon frosty white against the velvet. And utter silence.
Day 5
Today was 18 miles of trail. I got up and over Mather Pass quickly in the morning and ran into hordes of people. The descent down was long and kind of tedious, although very beautiful. I ran into the same couple going the opposite direction that I had met on day 1. I got to the LeConte Ranger cabin at about 6 and camped with a group of guys from Toronto who are doing part of Andrew Skurka’s Kings Canyon High Route. It’s nice to camp at relatively low elevation and with people…as long as the bears stay away.
Day 6
Another long all-trail day…but through beautiful country, and I was in a much better mood. I slept really well because the campsite was only 8500 feet and also because I camped with people, which makes a big difference. I’ve hiked this section of trail before since it’s the PCT, and I remember the seemingly endless ascent up Muir Pass and the equally endless descent. It didn’t feel particularly hard, though-I guess in comparison to travelling off trail. This section of Trail is particularly barren and alpine, surrounded by massive peaks on all sides. I got to Muir hut about 1:15 and then my camp at Evolution Lake at 5. This lake is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen, and that’s saying something. For a long time I just sat at the lake’s edge in the silence, watching the mirror surface broken by little jumping fish. I think that I’ll think about those little fish for a long time. This would be a magical trip to do with a partner, or group of friends. But I am feeling the solitude of these last two hikes.
Day 8
I rose and began to walk about 8. I ascended Darwin’s Bench and interrupted a small group of juvenile deer. They blinked their soft brown eyes at me in the morning sun, powerful legs able to carry them up the mountain much faster than me, and yet they stayed. I came to one, then two, then three jewel blue alpine lakes, each higher than the last. The only sound was the wind, and the water lapping the rocky shores. I slowly scrambled up Alpine Col, elevation 12,600 and no Trail in sight. At the Col I met a couple who had come up the way I would go down, a happy surprise. I descended the Col over about an hour, climbing carefully down massive granite boulder after boulder. I cliffed out at one point and had to do a sketchy 4th class step-around which went quickly enough. I slowly picked my away around the bouldered western shore of Goethe Lake and finally dropped down into Humphries Basin. I cut across the Meadows to Piute Pass in the evening light and finally started to make my way down the trail. I camped maybe 3.5 miles from the Trailhead. It is comforting to be so close to getting out.
Day 8
i got moving around 7:30 and made the rest of the way down the Piute Pass Trail. The aspens are turning golden, whispering in the comforting morning light. I hitched to Bishop with an old hippie surfer from Escondido who talked my ear off about “the way Baja used to be before the Transpeninsular Highway.” I rested in Bishop for 2 days and then made way to Denver to spend a week with Jocelyn and her family and the kids.
I’m tired of being alone. Though this hike was fantastically beautiful and challenging, it wears on me-and I look forward to sleeping inside, and being with loved ones.
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