The Trail Goes Where? Up to Palisade Lakes then on to Mather Pass

7/29/15 Wednesday 12 miles

I was too warm some of the night but the camp site was great and I ended up sleeping pretty well.  By 7:40am we were on the trail hiking down the canyon.  We passed by 2 nice meadows, in one meadow Peggy saw a fawn leaping in the tall grass after catching a drink from the meadow creek. All in all we saw 2 doe & 2 speckled fawn. The lower into the canyon we went the more trees and brush.  We stopped for a snack beside the Kern River and a nice waterfall then followed it down hill for 5 miles.  Our trail took a sharp left while the Kern kept on down the canyon. We entered a side valley following Palisade Creek and walked through large ponderosa trees and more brushy growth.  There had been a fire here in the past and brush the first efforts at regrowth. After 3 miles and 1,100 elevation gain it was hot outside so we found a clearing under nice big trees to stop.  Palisade Creek was very close and I found a great spot on a quiet bend to soak my feet, wash off the dust from my legs and relax. The solar power  battery was in the sun powering up while Peggy filled 2 bottles with water & laid them out to warm.  We washed our hair over the compact dirt and rinsed with warm water...it felt great after so many days to have clean hair (even if we would be hot and sweaty in an hour, for now it was wonderful!). After a nice rest we packed up and moved on, here's a look back at Peggy walking over a small trickle where Larkspur flowers were growing.

See the burn in the background.

We were wondering where the trail would go to get us out of the end of this valley when it took a turn and began to switchback up and up, climbing right out of the end of the valley and up the base of the cliffs.  

A waterfall was up above us, water running down just off trail at the switchbacks as we rose higher.  3 1/4 miles we wound up and up.  I did manage to pass others struggling up the rock face by picking a pace I could continue if there weren't too many big stone water bars to step up onto. This was a process and at some point a line of us were walking up the face one after another.  A Forest Service Trail Maintenance Crew was working on the trail as we hiked up, they were doing an outstanding job.  Moving big rocks in canvas slings they relocated them to make steps or water bars.  They were creating boxes to fill with crushed granite (crushed manually with a hammer) so the box became a step.

Working on a switchback these boxes would become new steps.

See the steep trail below him?  We walked up that and stepped onto the steps he's creating to get to the next switchback.  He used his hammer to pound granite into small chunks to fill each step.  Whew! What labor!

This was a hard climb for most everyone, plus being on the exposed cliff face was nerve wracking. 

We got over the lip of the rock wall and saw this backdrop to the Palisades. Still no lakes in sight.  Nose to the ground we kept going, kinda discouraged not to be there yet!  Then we saw an egress of water from the lakes and knew we were close!

The lakes sat one above the other with the first lake below a sheer cliff wall, no walking space at the shore.  Our trail left the first lake, where most people camped, and started climbing the wall above the lake on a small trail.  Soon we were high above both lakes on the ledges and boulder fields mixed with small groupings of Bristlecone pines. 

View from our camp.

We located a nice secluded camp nestled in the pines, a small nearby  freshet of water trickling from the peaks above and we were set. Our tents are at 10,900' about 1/4 mile above the lakes, we can look out over the whole glacial valley!  Dinner was eaten among the rocks enjoying the view,  I made dehydrated Amy's spicy red lentil curry, green beans & carrots and instant rice. Really tasty.  We stashed the bear cans, journaled, read our books and caught the sun setting in glorious pinks, reds and oranges, grey rain clouds threatened but dispersed and an almost full moon rose over the mountain peaks. A camp site to remember after one tough hike.

7/30/15 Thursday (day 9 of the hike. )

Today we have a 1,400' elevation gain in 3 miles up to Mather Pass. We started out at 7:45 am the trail curving around the end of the lake in deep shadow.  I'm not drinking enough water so I filtered another 1/2 liter.  The views were stunning and the trail a surprise where it went. The evidence of glaciers moving through these vast valleys is amazing.  We took 2 snack breaks and many water breaks, it was quite a climb up through the rocks.  I could look down the mountainside and see people on their way up and up through the rocks and switchbacks, they were tiny dots of color.

 I could also see back to the general area where we'd camped last night by the Palisade Lake in the background.  Left is my Mariposa pack by Gossamer Gear, right is Peggy's ULA pack. 

Looking south into the next valley we could see for at least 6 miles. The southern trail had various unnamed lakes in it, the path zagging over the rubble and disappearing over the rise. The south fork of the King River gathered it's forces to begin it's way down the long valley.

The farther from the pass we got the more trees, grasses and flowers there were. It began to sprinkle a bit while we were filtering water so we put on our pack cover/poncho called a Packa and moved along. Even after 51/2 miles we could still look back and see the pass. The people who moved over Mather Pass today leap-frogged with us on the trail all day. We are headed to Marjorie Lake to camp hoping that that will get us close enough to Pinchot Pass that we can get up and over early. This mornings trail was a challenge for me with all the rock steps.  This afternoons trail was better with hard dirt, steep in places,  but not as many steps to climb over.

Making pretty good time we arrived at the lake by 3:30 pm which is early for us. Looking for a campsite we walked to the end of the lake just before another incline, we located a campsite under a small group of trees and close enough to the water to make it easy. As soon as we got almost set up it started raining, it kept on raining for quite a while. One time it let up and we ran out to get water filtered, the next time we got a bit more done then we had to decide to boil water just outside the tent & eat dinner inside. 

It's a bit chilly at 11,200' and I have all my clothes on, I'm hoping after dinner I'll get warmer. My dinner was dehydrated noodles, Alfredo sauce and some veggies. It's 7:15 and still raining.

A look at Mono Lake then Hiking a Last Portion.

8/11/15 Tuesday 7 1/2 miles (round trip)

After breakfast in Lone Pine we began driving back to Medford, but first we wanted to stop at Mono Lake and walk to the waters edge.  

Peggy standing on a tufa at Mono Lake.

Peggy had been assistanting her friend, Corinne, conduct a study of the lake's arsnic level some years ago. She explained some of how they conducted experiments, some things of interest that I would understand.  The lake is an unusual place, smelling of sulphur.

Black flies at the lake edge.

Birds gathered to feed on these flies.  Indigenous people used to dry them as a source of protein & we talked about what arsnic levels would have been in a diet like that. Oddly, the flies are able to convert the arsnic into a less toxic type.  There are limestone columns, called tufas, that are created when spring water rises through the alkaline lake waters.  Tufas rise along the lake shore in varying sizes and shapes. We stayed maybe 1/2 hour then continued driving north.

Our road took us past Lake Tahoe driving the west shore, just beautiful but very crowded, tourists and vacationers everywhere and lots of roadwork holding everyone up!  We arrived at the rest stop on I-80 near Soda Springs where we hitched a ride last year just as we walked off the trail.  Getting back to the trail last year after picking up our resupply box no one wanted to take us back to I-80 so we had to skip 3.8 miles. We had decided to make those miles up on our way home.  After we changed into our clean hiking clothes we met a young couple at a picnic table who had just decided to go home to Colorado.  They'd hiked to this spot from the border of Mexico this year and decided they were finished for awhile. Chatting with them about their accomplishments, we talked about the trail and told them we had just completed the whole trail except for this small 3.8 mile section. If we arrived  back and they were still here we'd take them into Truckee to catch a bus. Locating the trail we left the car at 4:00 pm and started hiking south, we encountered ups, downs, switchbacks, puddles, dirt packed trail,  rocky steps and lots of granite.  The trail went under the freeway using 2 culverts so we entered those tunnels and walked toward the sun on the other side! 

Donner Lake from the trail. 

It took 2 hours to arrive at the road where we'd gotten dropped off last year.  We touched the blacktop and turned around.  We were racing the sunset now trying to get back in less than 2 hours. We made it by 7:45 pm with enough light to find the car. The kids were gone, hopefully finding a ride to Truckee, but tucked under the wiper blade was a note on a PCT map,  "Congrats! First beer is on us!" A $10 bill folded into the note!  What fun,  it really cheered us!  On the road in the gathering dark we chose to eat dinner & stay in a hotel in Aurora eating around 9:45 and into the hotel at 11 pm. Yikes, way past hiker midnight which is 9:00pm.  

The next day we drove into Medford around 4:00 pm, I'm home at last having completed our 4 year journey from Mexico to Canada on The Pacific Crest Trail.   Thank you Peggy for walking with me into this grand adventure! 

Good Bye John Muir Trail, Back on the PCT Again! Finally...Happy Trails to the Finish Line!

8/9/15 Sunday 12 miles

This morning was cold and damp, we're camped at the edge of a meadow near a stream so we expected this.  On the trail at 7:45 we hiked downhill beside the stream until we came to a lovely lush meadow where the stream met the meadow runoff.  It held numerous 6" fish that darted into the shadows of the overhanging grasses. 

The meadow in the morning light was beautiful and we stopped to see if we could see any other wildlife. 

After crossing the water the trail came to a gate where we pulled the top bar off to step through, replacing it to keep horses or other range animals from going beyond. 

Horsing around.

We then switchbacked up a rocky hillside gaining 500' elev. and began noticing day hikers coming toward us, singly, two or three at a time then, finally we put the story together.  They were on a horse packing trip.  They hiked the miles between campsite and the horses, mules and packers followed with all their gear and food. Quite a nice way to go.  They were on their way to hike up Mt Whitney and the packers would follow to make camp at Guitar Lake for them. In 45 minutes the packers passed us leading 10 pannier laden mules. The trail became very sandy and littered with rocks churned by many hooves, difficult to walk in. 

 We descended to Rock Creek, 9500' elevation, where there were campsites and a bear box to stow food in known bear territory.  We filled our water bottles, took off our packs and rested.  Eventually we both did some rinsing of laundry, we even rinsed out our pants as the dried salt was irritating our legs.  The laundry dried in the sun but we got our shirts wet to keep us cool while hiking, it was getting pretty warm and the next miles were waterless. We had 5 1/2 miles of uphill trail to our campsite.

Leaving Rock Creek.

The forest became open and dry, filled with big old Bristlecone pine standing alone or in tight groups of 3 or 4 trees sharing a root system.  

We climbed 1500' up to a plateau near the Siberian Pinnacles (what a great name). Our camp spot was off the trail looking toward the headwaters of Rock Creek. The wind was up in the evening, the sky was deep blue and there were a few puffy clouds.  This was our last night on the trail together.  The idea of completing the trail almost too much to think about. 

The lake basin with crags backing it. This was our view from the camp site.

The air became chilled as the sun set lower, our tents beckoned and by 6:30 we were tucked in, reading, journaling and ready for bed.

Boulders and tents.

Tomorrow is our last trail day.

8/10/15 Monday. 11 1/2 miles then 2 more down Mulkey Pass to the car at Horseshoe Meadows.

It was a gorgeous clear night and I saw a long shooting star when I woke up.  The Perseides are supposed to be happening about now, maybe I saw some of those shooting stars last night.  

We began hiking at 7:42 across a relatively flat sandy hilltop.  

I was intrigued by the Siberian Outpost, a sloping broad plain at 10,000' that looked like a sandy meadow, trees seemed to grow in swaths. 

Boulders sand and trees the hills look like piles of rubble.

Winding up and down we began meeting other hikers passing us going north. We have no water for about 3 1/2 miles.  Some places it was so sandy it was like backpacking on the beach in deep sand, I had a hard time getting a push off of my toes to make much headway. 

This could be dolomite rock (white limestone that only Bristlecone pine can grow in) the whole hillside was glaringly bright.

We passed some pretty meadows off the trail. 

Around noon Chicken Spring appeared, a cirque lake that was showing the effects of the drought, no water flowing in the outlet.  We had to walk to the lake & filter water, some looked very green but we found some clear enough that I could filter it.  

Chicken Spring set in a granite cirque.

There were groups of campers there.  One group of 8 were all wearing shocking pink t-shirts. 

Hiking further we saw the cut off for Cottonwood Pass which led to Horseshoe Meadow.  We wandered over to look down into the meadow. 5 more miles and we'd be finished and walking there.

This  terrain is typical of the Southern Sierra, sandy, dotted with sage and Bristlecone or Sequoia. 

Near Cottonwood Pass.

Peggy's water from Chicken Spring tasted awful so she poured it out and got water at a tiny trickle of a spring she found past Cottonwood Pass. This last few miles noodled around until at last we were descending through some switchbacks and sidelining a hill, then we were striding up to a clearing with signs on a tree.  I felt like I recognized this...

Mulkey Pass!!!

We looked at each other like kids at Christmas, tears in our eyes we gave a 'Whoop' grabbed each other in a hug and jumped up and down. All at the same time! 

Then the packs came off and we did photos for awhile until we decided we'd better finish this at the car. We had stashed Peggy's car when we first arrived July 21st at the parking lot below.  The trail from Mulkey Pass down the mountain was a better trail this year than last.  We made it down and were walking across Horseshoe Meadow to find the campground where the car was.  This time we knew what direction to walk and choosing our own path through the forest we arrived at the car in about an hour.  Packs off, gear stowed Peggy got her key out, we'd both carried a key to her car the entire trip, just in case. How very weird to be driving!

We drove 45 minutes down the steep, winding road to the valley floor and eventually made it into Lone Pine.  I had called ahead to reserve a room and we slid into our room at the Dow Villa, an old hotel with old time charm. Showered, with real clothes on, we went to celebrate with a lovely dinner (no sitting on rocks huddled over ziplock bags!) then we found a laundromat and did our hiking clothes because there was a small section we were hiking above Lake Tahoe that we'd missed when we caught a ride to Soda Springs last year. By the time 9pm rolled around I was so tired I felt comatose, Peggy & I slung our clean clothes over our arms and ran for the hotel! 

Guitar Lake Camp and Mt Whitney Climb

We 8/7/15 Friday 11 miles

I was cold at first last night but warmed up after awhile, I had on down vest and hood, wool cap, leggings, wool socks & down lap blanket. Stars were brilliant in the night and at some point lightening flashed across the sky over the Kaweahs.

We began hiking this morning wearing  our down jackets. We were both curious about what was over the rise in the plateau, when we got there we saw a tiny round lake blue as the sky set in the wheat colored grass of the plateau.  

The expanse is so pretty we just looked around breathing deep, what a lovely place.  Here's a panorama.

We eventually left the plateau hiking down into the canyon of Wright Creek.  Up and out of that canyon and down into Wallace Creek, not much but boulders and trees.  We got water, rinsed clothing and put wet things on our packs to dry while we hiked. Up out of that canyon we hiked around another hillside to the trail junction up to Crabtree Meadow and Ranger Station.  This is the gateway to Mt Whitney and to the lake where people camp to stage their summit of the mountain, Guitar Lake.   I struggled with the steeper rockier sections of trail today and seemed to take forever to get anywhere. Just before Guitar Lake is Timberline Lake, a small delicate Lake with no camping signs.  

Timberline Lake.

but by 2:30 we got to Guitar Lake.  

At 11,500' elevation it's windy and could be chilly.  There are no trees here and the campsites are in the boulders, each person here should have picked up a 'wag bag' from the trail junction at Crabtree Meadow.  It's a poop bag, there is no pooping at Guitar Lake or on Mt Whitney.  You turn your bag in on your way out Whitney Portal for disposal.  Otherwise you carry it.  Since we are not leaving out Whitney Portal, I guess we carry it...   

The sky is so blue, not a cloud in sight. Many others are here all perched in the sand between the boulders waiting to summit in the morning.  We waved to Danny & Frank as they jumped into Guitar Lake to swim. Jacob must have been shaking his head, way too cold!  Some folks hike up to Whitney's summit in the wee hours by headlamp to watch sunrise on top.  I'm not wanting to brave the cold.  We'll start up at 7. After dinner and stashing the bear cans, we are as prepared as we are able to be to hike up tomorrow. 

8/8/15 Saturday  12 miles

The alarm woke us at 6 and we were hiking by 7. I have 1 1/2 liters of water, lunch & warm clothes in my pack.  It's very cold and my hands are stinging and burning in my gloves. Round trip up Mt Whitney from camp is 8.5 miles and 3,000 elevation gain and then loss.  The sky is crystal clear and very blue.  The valley we are in is in shadow.  First we skirted Guitar Lake and climbed to a rock plateau above it.  There was another smaller lake up there.  The trail had a stream running down it so careful placement of feet was necessary.  Above that lake we skirted the base of Mt Whitney as more water ras in the trail.  We were hiking with a few others by then.  Soon the trail began switch backing up the base of the mountain and Peggy's foot slipped on a sand covered rock and she went down, hitting her tailbone smack on the stone. She injured herself last spring in the snow slipping on ice covered steps and this really hurts an already tender injury. She saw stars for a moment after jarring herself badly. She began walking after a hand up and went a fair way until she didn't feel good to go on, headachey and shakey she made a wise decision to go back to camp and rest. I decided that since I had a good enough start up that I would keep going by myself.  

Mountains across from Whitney reflected in the cold lake surface in the morning hours above Guitar Lake. 

The trail got more rugged, climbing up stone steps and stepping around boulders fallen on the trail, sometimes using both hands to get by a tight place. 

A nice part of the trail.

Looking down on some of the lakes above Guitar Lake.  

Higher still.

Mt Whitney day summiters start on the highway side and hike steeply up to the portal at about 2 miles from the summit. Then they walk the remaining 2 miles up with all other backpackers.  JMT hikers can start here or end their hike here.  Either way they can leave their backpacks at a small sheltered spot called Trailcrest and hike up 2 miles without backpacks on.  I emptied my pack of everything but lunch, water and warm clothes so I traveled light and didn't stop at Trailcrest but did take a photo.

Just a sheltered wide spot on the trail. 

Finally I am high enough to see Guitar Lake where Peggy is keeping watch over our gear. 

There are 'windows' along the trail to the summit that sometimes the wind blasts through, this day all was calm and I could see down to Lone Pine on the valley floor. These windows look like jagged teeth from far below looking up.  

 

I asked someone to take my photo as I had a snack and rested. 

A selfie on top!! That's the Mt Whitney hut in the background,  in a storm you should get off the Mt, not be in the hut.

I signed a register on top and thought the plaque would make me legitimate! The plaque has all the details! 14,496' whohoo!

This is what the top is like, flat rocks wind and weather worn.  Expansive views and the edge right there!

A panorama. 

I arrived at 11:15, stayed about 30 minutes looking at a big map and locating peaks, having a snack, then I started down at 11:45.

I took a photo of the windows from above, they looked like teeth.

The trail runs just beneath them so you can look out of themed you walk by.

Taken between the teeth,  Aqua lakes in the rocks below on the highway side.

I was behind these guys going down and got a view of where the trail goes.  It looks impossible but it's not too bad. 

Sky pilot cheered me up, they are tenacious, and place beauty in the most impossible spots. 

My back trail on the right and the trail going across the windows on the left, this panorama shows some of the scope of what I saw.  

I made it down by 3:00.  I thought I'd lost my lunch and was hungry when I got back.  Peggy gave me a bar of hers that was extra.  Later I found lunch in a pocket that usually only holds my water bottle, I'd put it in the wrong place and couldn't find it.  Doh!

We chatted a bit about the summit and her headache.  She was feeling a bit better but it had been hot in the bare sunshine all day, she'd made shade with her tent and tried to keep cool.  We packed up ready to go when a Ranger stopped by.  I told him we were just leaving and he waved us on.  We hiked another 4 miles down to 10,370' elevation to the Crabtree Meadow camp area for the night.  Storm clouds began gathering.  Once at Crabtree Peggy found an actual pit toilet for campers so we disposed of our wag bag contents! Hooray! Such excitement over all that.  Tents got set up, dinner made, some sprinkling of rain but not much. We got dinner done & this tired girl collapsed into her bag. 

Up Kersarge Pass to the Lakes. On the Trail Again Headed for Forrester Pass.

We 8/4/15 Tuesday 14 miles

Yesterday after lunch we came back to our room and saw 2 young men packing their bear canisters at the picnic table in the heat.  It was the 2 guys who were traveling with their dad, we'd seen them off and on through our trip and dad was suffering blisters from his waterproof boots.  The boys got him settled to rest his feet at Charlotte Lake just on the other side of Glenn Pass where we took off trail to go out to Kersarge Pass.  The boys came out to resupply since they are going slower than planned and a man they met told them they could have his resupply box if they could get here,  he was going faster than planned and didn't need it.  We chatted awhile and encouraged them.  The food they were given  was really nice quality stuff so they should enjoy that part!  They were going back up after they were done, hurrying to get back to their dad.  Nice guys, Jacob, Danny and dad, Frank.

We had breakfast this morning and were bound for the trailhead by 8 am with one other hiker  It is 5 miles to the pass from the parking lot, we started at 8:35.  We've decided to hike over to the Kersarge lakes and spend the day there taking this first day slower and doing something we wanted to do, spend the afternoon at these beautiful lakes. On the way up the switchbacks we ran into a guy we'd hiked with last year for a day, John, from Pennsylvania!! What a pleasant surprise! Catching up on news and taking a picture we said our goodbyes, his friend had twisted his ankle and needed to get off it. That was sure fun to see him!  We went over the pass around 1:00 and made our way down to the lakes, tomorrow we'll take the trail to a lower lake & hook up with the JMT again.  

Our campsite.  There's lots of fish jumping in the lake. 

The lakes are beautiful, tucked at the bottom of the Kersarge Pinacles, they're deep blue.  We hiked to the back side of one and found a good camp on a flat spot in the boulders.  By 2 we were all set up, reading books or poking around by the lake shore.  There are a nice handful of folks here but all spread out.  We had a group of 3 guys in our site wanting a place to land but I told them there were great places in the rocks just over there!  They did indeed find a nice spot, farther away from us. The views were awesome and we're glad to have decided on a short day after the 5 mile climb.  The packs got weighed at the Motel, I almost didn't weigh mine because it just makes it harder.  But I finally did, it's 32.34# with everything loaded in it.  Eat up tonight, carrying it all is no fun!

8/5/15 Wednesday.  5 miles

I had a headache last night although the temperature was fine and I was comfortable my sleep was fitful. By 8 we were hiking cutting cross country to find the trail below the lakes. Passing Bullfrog Lake we met up again with the JMT.  From our views down the canyon where we are hiking we can see a long glacial valley and a good sized stream running it's length.  We think Forrester Pass is at it's end standing at 13,200' our highest pass on the trail.  We were correct, Bubbs Creek runs down from the peaks and as we hike today we'll cross it.  

Bubbs Creek, Forrester Pass is up there hidden from view.

On our way we met Jacob, Danny and Frank.  Peggy stopped to give a tip to Frank about running duct tape from the inside sole of each shoe up the back of the heel and over the back of the shoe.  This should allow the heel to slide more readily and may ease blister pain.  We left them setting up camp early by Bubbs Creek.  Neither of us feel energetic today, so 5 miles will be just fine to let us camp 3 miles from the summit, not too high that we're on exposed rock but high enough to get us up and over in the morning. We found a camp spot overlooking the valley and can see where Bubbs Creek begins flowing from peaks above us.  After setting up camp we found a tiny trickle of water and set about filtering 2 liters each.  I sat looking over the valley eating lunch and a fat marmot joined me munching tender grasses not far away. While Peggy rested I went exploring ending way up above our camp on the granite ledges looking down on our tiny tent site.  I carefully worked my way back down to the camp which is at 11,200' elevation. I've enjoyed sitting here looking over the valley and watching for wildlife.  The wind is up in the evening with high overcast.  Tomorrow we climb 2,000' in 3 miles.

8/6/15 Thursday  10 miles.

The big buck is on the right.

This morning we watched 2 large bucks grazing below our camp,  one with 2 forks on each side and the other had 4 points on one side, 3 on the other. They were big deer. 

Hiking by 7:45 it was pretty chilly out but clear skies prevailed. We had just over 3 miles to the pass so we moved up to the next rocky ledge around the corner and we were above tree line.  I'm glad we camped where we did, this would have been cold camping last night. We moved up and up the rock ledges and were joined by more and more people.  The pass can't be seen from below, you have to get above some of the bluffs in front of it.  

Still can't see the pass from here but it's to the right of the big peak. 

One was a beautiful stack of rocks named Gregory's Monument.  From below it looks  like a peak but we went around it and it looks like a jigsaw puzzle of stacked rocks in a huge rounded turret.  

See the rounded side in the middle of the picture? 

Behind it is a patch of snow sticking to the mountainside melting in a stream off the cliff.

We're getting higher, behind Peggy are the back side of the Kersarge Pinacles. 

Up this high are more sky pilot flowers, stunning blue colors in the white rock crevices and yellow alpine gold, another high altitude flower.  Stopping to look around and catch my breath there are small aqua blue lakes here and there.  Our final resting spot was by a big lake at the foot of the peak.  

You can almost see how clear the water was. 

We had a snack at this lake and while resting we looked up and saw 2 F18 fighters escorting a big passenger plane, we were thinking Air Force One?? Going to LA to campaign? Who else gets a fighter jet escort?  

From this lake we are 1,000' from the pass and we began to switchback up the steep mountainside to the top.

The pass is around this hillside of rubble. It took some time to get up there but soon we could see people, tiny like ants, standing in the pass.

We made it! We're even smiling!

There were not many places to rest up there, it was exhilarating to me to stand and look around, the views were wonderful and wide.  I looked down from the very top & here's what I saw.

That's the trail down there, wow! It just drops from the top.

Peggy had been there before and knew the path down could be sketchy so she started down before me.  I stayed a few minutes longer and began my descent.  A very tight 2 or 3 turns,  very steep and rocky so stepping carefully using both hands,  I eased my way down.  I could look down a split in the rock chimney and see Peggy crossing over an open ledge, hugging the wall because it was a quick slide down hundreds or more feet, just dust and rock.... In early spring this is notorious for being a snow ledge where one slip means goodbye.  There were others making their way up this path who had to pass us as we went down.  

 The lady in red is taking her friend's picture as he stands in the right corner at a switchback.  Just over the lady's head is a tiny figure in blue, that's Peggy just having passed the chute on her way down the mountain.  I'm not that far behind her but it's a steep trail down. 

The plain where we will be walking once down Forrester Pass. 

There are people up there in the 'V' the trail comes down the left side then passes to the right side to switchback down.

Farther down the switchbacks all we see is granite rock.  That's the 'V'of the pass up there.  

You might think it was boring but it was very beautiful, each rock has a story.

The hike down through the glacial plain was wonderful, looking all around I could see evidence of glaciers scraping their way across the landscape.  We saw a coyote loping across the plain with a rodent in it's mouth.  We figured it was a mom coyote, pretty skinny, taking food to the den. We passed other hikers going down to camp in the Tyndell Creek valley below.  One I chatted with and when I mentioned where I lived he told me his sister used to live there.  Turns out I know her! The hiking world is a small world.  We decided to take a quick break by a small stream past Tyndell Creek and past the trail to Shepherd Pass, there we met Jacob, Danny and Frank who were looking for a camping place.  Frank told Peggy he'd done what she suggested with duct tape and had his most comfortable hiking day of the whole trip. Good news!

We began climbing up to a plateau which we both fell in love with, this is the Bighorn Plateau, wide open views, sparsely treed with old Bristlecone Pine. Clouds were gathering over the mountains but we hoped it would stay clear so we could enjoy this beauty awhile.  We decided to forego camping where we'd planned and we found an off trail site nestled in the pines overlooking the valley. We were excited to be camped in this gorgeous place.  Now we just needed to find water.  After tents were put up we walked about 200 yards to a dry meadowy area.  We searched for sign of water and finally decided to walk uphill to a greener spot where there was a dry creeklet, looking uphill a wee bit we found a nice little pool of water, clear and cold.  Perfect!

Found water to the left in this meadow.

Our tents. 

Looking left from my tent.

Looking right from my tent, those  to the right are the mountains of Forrester Pass. 

A bit of hail and rain but that's all. We sat in our tents with everything zipped up but I had my head stuck out the zipper because it was too pretty not to look out! Pretty soon we both were doing that. By 4:30 the clouds lifted and light was playing over the peaks. The remote Kaweah Range are across from us, they are very difficult to get into. Large clouds are building just over the far mountains and it's dinner time if we can break away from the wonder of the day to eat. How blessed we are to be here now, in health to hike and be able to do what we've been able to do.  Dinner then to bed at 6:45, reading journaling & planning for tomorrow.