PCT Day 44 - 51

Annnnnd we are back! The ups and downs of the Sierra’s have been incredibly difficult, but so beautiful. Prepare yourself for the most picturesque photos you’ve seen on the blog yet. I’ve certainly enjoyed taking them!

Day 44: 6/23/2025, mile 703.4 - 710.7

This morning Dennis and I packed up our things and brought them to the breakfast area so we could be fully packed and ready. I took the coldest shower because the water heater ran out of heat. I decided not to wash my hair because I couldn’t be bothered to put my head under the running water. This retreat gave out free towels to hikers which at least made the shower worth it. Dennis didn’t know this and ended up using my tiny hand towel to dry off. I learned from his mistake. 

This morning I got to have my redemption burrito! Yesterday I saw my friends eating the most delicious looking breakfast burritos with avocados and veggies and I decided I would have one this morning. Boy was it delicious! After Dennis and I ate we called our families and hung out until the 10:30 am shuttle left for the general store. We piled so many people into one minivan!

I also decided that it wasn’t worth it to have a cracked camera anymore so I decided to buy a new phone. This was a huge purchase for me! I previously purchased my last phone with my own money (not my parents) when it got stolen from a friend’s car. This phone was three years old and had some issues, but it worked for me for the most part. Unfortunately I think the cracked camera lens was a result of an old crack that extended when I dropped my phone again. I was talking animatedly to my coworker bestie Tucker in the Fleet Feet parking lot when my phone flew out of my hands and the back side shattered. I should have just fixed the crack before the trail, but oh well. I purchased a new phone with the help of a friend’s apple discount (thanks Ariv!) and will be receiving it in Bishop. This week I mostly took photos on Dennis’s phone, so I still have beautiful photos to show for it. 

Dennis, Pablo, Flo and I spent the next 6 hours at the general store before hiking out. Dennis and I were waiting on a package to come with all of the food we prepared ourselves, but it didn’t come and so we had to buy some pricy Kennedy meadows food to resupply with. We were gifted free beers from our friend Tiny (my fifth free beer of the weekend, score!!).

Pablo and Flo were amazing and so patient to wait for us. We all hiked out together around 4pm so we could camp with our friend Zoe. 

Right when we started hiking there was about 30 minutes of rain, so we donned our rain gear. It cleared up by the time we made it to camp and Zoe was waiting for us in her tent!

Today was so exciting because we finally solidified our tramily. Zoe, Pablo, Flo, Dennis, and I make up a tramily, or as I like to say, a “tramilia”. They all decided to wait for us after graduation and it was so nice to know they appreciated our company as much as we loved theirs. Now we are all camped together and getting ready to conquer the sierras together!

Day 45: 6/24/2025, mile 710.7 - 732.1

This morning I woke up feeling well rested and enjoyed a hot oatmeal breakfast with Dennis. I left about a half hour before him and we reunited in the most gorgeous meadow about 4 miles in. We also stopped for lunch at a bridge where a ton of swallowtail birds were nesting. It was so cool to watch them fly!

Today’s uphill climb reached just over 10,500 ft in elevation. Even though it wasn’t the most steep, it still felt exhausting. Maybe it’s still the 36 mile day lingering in my body. When we finally reached the summit we had a celebratory hot chocolate.

Then we had a 7 mile descent until we reunited with our friends for dinner! We actually didn’t see our friends until we set up camp, but we only pulled in 20 minutes after everyone so we were close together all day! Tomorrow we are hoping to leave earlier with our friends and spend more time with them!

Day 46: 6/25/2025, mile 732.1 - 752.1

This morning we all tried to wake up early, succeeded in waking up, but could not break camp quickly. It was so cold camping by Death Canyon Creek that we all opted for a slow morning with hot breakfast. You will not believe it but the impossible happened today! Dennis and I were the first to leave camp, shocker, I know.

The morning began with a 4 mile climb and we celebrated at the top with a cup of hot tea and a view of Owen’s valley. Then I spent the descent chatting with Zoe until our lunch spot at Diaz creek. It has been INCREDIBLE to not have to carry tons of water anymore. We are constantly crossing streams and no longer carry 6L of water at a time. I’ll probably mention this every blog post until I finish, but it is such an incredible feeling. Dennis met us at the creek to cook ramen which has been so delicious with the hot sauce Sarah mailed me! It was a dream come true :) Then I left the creek after Zoe and played catch up for a while. I listened to my audiobook, Deamon Copperhead per Alexandra’s recommendation and eventually saw Zoe in the distance! I didn’t end up catching her until she filled up her water because I got stopped by a traveling group of 20 polish people.

They were telling me about their epic road trip and I gave them a recommendation of where to eat in Bishop. Then I finally caught Zoe and we spent the rest of the day chatting until we came across a lake. A beautiful alpine lake at 11,218 ft that I jumped into. It wasn’t cold at all, just glacial warm ;) Zoe and I both went in and sun bathed on a rock for a while.

We had a giant reunion with some other campers and had about 10 people camping together. 

Day 47: 6/26/2025, mile 752.1 - 767.5

Today we left camp at a leisurely pace. The first 10 miles were downhill so I chilled and walked with Zoe, swapping life stories until our throats were dry. We made it to our first creek crossing where we had to take off our shoes to cross at lunch!

I had my classic ramen meal with Sarah’s amazing sriracha sauce, and then crushed the 2,000ft climb right after. Once I was at the top of the climb, the most beautiful Sierra views met me. The mountains here are simply stunning! I caught up to Dennis who had set up the tent for us, hooray. We were camping in Crabtree Meadows about 7.5 miles from the summit of Mt Whitney.

We hung out and relaxed before our Mount Whitney climb tomorrow. I learned a new card game called stupidness with Flo and Pablo. Then I cooked Dennis and I dinner, and now am off to bed after the most beautiful toilet experience. 

Day 48: 6/27/2025, mile 767.5 - 772 

Today was the day, a huge Mt Whitney summit push! I somehow didn’t get into bed until 9pm, and with a wake up of 12:30am three hours of sleep was going to be a bit rough. When my alarm went off Dennis rolled over to give me a big hug and sent me off on my misson. I began my hike with Zoe, Noam, Speedboat, Free Lunch, and Frizz. Free Lunch and I quickly pulled ahead and we were flying. I decided to stop to use the bathroom before we ascended since there would be no place to go on the mountain. My friends passed me while I used the bathroom but I quickly caught up and passed them again.

I was feeling like a mountain goat with only water, layers, snacks, and a sleeping bag in my pack. It was so light in comparison to my fully packed backpack. Pablo and Flo passed me, as did Theo, but I stayed on their tails for as long as I could. I passed 6 people on the way up and surprised myself with arriving to the summit at 4:49 am, that’s a 4 hour ascent!

I got into my sleeping bag and celebrated with Pablo and Flo while we waited for Dennis. Dennis left at 1:50, about and hour after me. He gained 40 minutes on me and arrived about 20 minutes after I did. We had such a lovely celebration at the top of Mount Whitney with our friends. We took celebratory photos, shared a beer and chocolate, and called our families with the little service we had.

Dennis and I also found a geocache with Pablo! We were the last ones down the mountain because we decided on taking a side trail to hike Mount Muir (14,018 ft) as well. Just before summiting we ran into two kind day hikers who gave us some of their uncrustables (pbj sandwiches). This was actually perfect timing because I was in desperate need of some energy. I remembered learning of Mt Muir from when my college hiking partner, Bilal, summited, and I found it to be a bit sketchy. Dennis had to spot me the whole way up but finally we arrived at the summit. There was an ammo can trail register at the top wedged into a crevice in the rocks.

When we finally got down to the bottom of Muir, we found that most of the day hikers were coming up. We flew down towards camp and when we were two miles from our tent I suddenly felt sooo tired. I put in an AirPod and checked out the last few miles. When I did make it back to camp we made some ramen and proceeded to take a 4 hour nap. Just what the doctor ordered!

After our nap our group decided to push on and hike another 4.5 miles until we reached a decent campsite. The original campsite we had planned for had mosquitoes so bad that a good 100 mosquitoes were flying in your face at one time. Welcome to the Sierra’s I guess. The campsite we chose had fewer mosquitoes but still a ton! We cooked dinner as fast as we could before hiding in our tent and getting an early nights rest. 

Day 49: 6/28/2025, mile 772 - 789.5

Today’s mission was to summit Forester pass. If you’re new to the mountaineering world, summiting a pass should be done in the morning, especially if you’ll be hiking over snow. As the sun rises, snow melts, so it’s preferable to hike when the snow is firm and you have a lower chance of falling through. We hiked Mt Whitney yesterday obviously so everyone slept in until 8 and had such a hard time waking up. I ended up hiking up Forester with Theo while Dennis attempted to set a KOM (king of the mountain=speed record) on Strava. Somehow I didn’t take any photos with the famous signs, Forester is the tallest pass on the PCT and is labeled two ways! Here’s Dennis in some photos.

I decided not to take a break at the top because I wanted to descend with firm snow. I played a game of putting my microspikes on and off. There were patches of snow and dirt and no official trail to navigate. I fell through the ice once and cut my knee, but didn’t realize I got my pants bloody until I made it to camp. No need to fret, my cut clotted on its own and the blood already came out of my pants! 

We hiked above 10,500 ft for so long that there were so few bugs! I planned all of my breaks around 12,000 ft today so I could have nice big free rests.

Dennis actually zoomed today and reached camp by 3pm. I rolled in at 5pm and still our group didn’t show until 7pm or so. I finally could leisurely do camp chores such as filter water and set up my sleeping bag without feeling rushed by mosquitoes.

Day 50: 6/29/2025, mile 789.5 - Kearsarge Pass

Today we only had to hike 7.5 miles before getting out to a parking lot where we would hitch a ride to Bishop. We passed by some beautiful lakes before doing a short and steep climb. We celebrated at the top with our friends, and then I headed down with Pablo. We were deep in a Spanish conversation until Dennis and Flo caught up, and somehow Flo and Pablo sped so quickly to the bottom that we didn’t see them again until we reached the bottom.

When we were about a mile from the parking lot we were surprised on trail by two friends of Dennis’s from UCLA that came to take us to Bishop. They brought us trail beers and offered to take us to our hostel! No hitch needed. 

Austin and Brian were amazing chauffeurs. They took 4 of us to Bishop, stayed while we got settled into our hostel, and walked to Erik Schat’s bakery for sandwiches with us. I have been hyping these sandwiches up for a whole week and everyone definitely enjoyed them. I also may have loitered for too long at the focaccia sample station because I was kindly told that these “were samples only” and to just buy some bread (which I did!). I got my favorite Vegee sandwich and was a happy happy gal after that.

Dennis’s friends stayed until 5pm so I hung around our amazing hostel in Bishop and called my parents and did our laundry while Dennis entertained his friends. Then we ordered a lovely pizza from pizza factory, haggled to get a free 2L soda, and decided to chill for the night. Well you know me and Dennis, we ended up getting roped into being models for an art class at the hostel and we spent an hour posing in silly clothes from the hiker box. 

 Day 51: 6/30/2025, rest day

Today was both beautiful, relaxing, and chaotic/stressful! Dennis and I woke up by 6:30am with the sun and decided, let’s make the most of this day!

We went to a yummy local bakery, got packages from the post office (Thanks for sending me my phone Gem!), picked up more Imodium from the pharmacy, and met our friends for coffee and Black Sheep all before 10am. Then we shopped at the mammoth gear exchange and I found a new swimsuit top for $5, score!!

Then Dennis and I returned to the hostel to chill and write postcards. I backed up my phone to my iCloud and began the long process of setting it up on semi strong wifi. Then I wrote a bunch of postcards! Grandma, Papa, Nonie, Nonno, Julia, Kate, Aunty Kathy, Johnson fam, Jmckay, check those mailboxes in a few days because I have it on good authority that postcards are coming your way. Dennis and I then rode some janky beach cruisers a mile to the Vons and did our shopping. We ate a salad outside the store to fuel up and then spent way too long shopping.

Hopefully this week I’m fueled a bit better because between the sierras and diarrhea I’ve gotten a bit too thin for my liking! Time to bulk up a bit. 

After returning from the store Dennis’s super cool favorite ever professor stopped by to take us out for McFlurry’s. Yes Anna, I got an Oreo one this time! He is teaching a summer geology seminar in Big Pine and happened to be in Bishop when we were.

Later I finally finished packing my food, showered again, and cooked the first home cooked meal in months. I actually don’t know if I’ve made dinner since January (besides a jet boil dinner) because we had a meal train at my house for a whole that kept us fed and lightened the work load. I cooked a delicious stir fry which we ate at 10pm, and we curled into bed by 11. Zoe has a friend in Mammoth who offered to take us back to the trailhead but only if we could leave at 5am! Dennis was also feeling a bit tired so he opted to stay back in the morning to have a slow day and take the bus to Independence and hitch from there. We’ll see him soon!