PCT Day 51 - 59

Welcome back! The past few weeks I have had very little service, so cheers to 3 bars of LTE so I can finally post another blog :)

Day 52:7/1/2025, Kearsarge Pass - mile 794.7

Today was almost the earliest day on trail, except we were still at the hostel. Zoe had a friend who was working in mammoth who offered to drive us to the trailhead if we could leave by 5am. We got a nice cup of coffee and made it to the trailhead by 6:30 am, but decided to sit in the parking lot for a few hours before heading up. Zoe and I chatted with Flo and Pablo about some pretty interesting medical ethics and developments before they decided to head up first. Zoe and I were feeling productive and decided to sit and finish our blogs before heading up. We were both feeling a bit behind in our writing, and it felt good to finally be done!

We headed up Kearsarge pass with our friend Merit who took it slow but steady with us. Our packs weighed so much with all of this food! I cracked a joke about my Hyperlight (brand) backpack and said it was Hyperheavy.  Finally in the early afternoon we reached the top of the pass and I had SUCH a delicious lunch. I’m trying to pack out more vegetables to help with my trail diet which so far has consisted of way too many carbs. Today’s lunch was. Tortilla with a packet of chicken, carrots, spinach, hot sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Chefs kiss!

Zoe, Merit, and I stuck together for the remainder of the day. We had an extremely steep summit of Glen pass, but at the top we were met with a beautiful vista of Rae Lakes.

There were so many sparkling blue lakes below us! When we got to camp we were reunited with Flo and Pablo. Dennis arrived about an hour after and we all ate dinner and then got some extremely restorative sleep. 

Day 53: 7/2/2025, mile 794.7 - 805.3

It was so difficult to wake up this morning. I got at least 9 hours of sleep, had a slow morning and hot breakfast, and Dennis and I set a new record of leaving at 9:30 am with Merit. I didn’t check the elevation map today and was pleasantly surprised to find that we had a lovely 6 mile descent to start the day. We had a few river crossings and got our feet wet to stay cool.

When we finally descended all the way to a large river, we found a super cool suspension bridge to cross!

For the next 8 miles or so we would be climbing uphill to go over Pinchot Pass. Due to our late start, we were a bit worried about getting caught in a thunderstorm because we could see large clouds brewing in the distance. I ran into Dennis a few miles into the climb and he requested we have our lunch break now. Great, I didn’t want to wait until we were at the top! We had lunch and quickly packed up to continue the ascent.

We found that we were not moving very quickly today and everyone seemed so tired! Maybe the crazy busy town day was catching up to us. Dennis and I kept peeking back at the ominous clouds and decided to find a campsite to rest in while the storm came. It was already sprinkling and we knew it would rain soon enough. We told our friends we’d go one more mile before setting up. This was probably my fastest mile of the day! I also passed by a connector trail to Sawmill pass which I have hiked with my friends Beatrice and Tomás. There was a sign that said overgrown and I agree, it was definitely an overgrown trail!

I walked so fast because every time I peered over my shoulder I could see dark grey clouds getting closer and closer. Finally, I found Dennis and we set up the tent so fast!  

The thunder booms were so loud overhead by the time Zoe, Flo, and Pablo rolled in. I decided to reward us by making soup to eat in our tent during this storm. I even added spinach to make the soup bougie. As I was boiling the soup my French friends asked what does bougie mean in English? They told me it meant candle in French! We all decided to wait for an hour or so before deciding to continue on. I rested in the tent for an hour and took a second hour to nap. When I woke up the storm had mostly passed and the rain had stopped, but it was already 7:30pm so we decided to stay for the night and get an early start the next day.

I cooked some gourmet Mac n cheese by putting an avocado on top! Dennis, Flo, and Pablo played an epic game of Yahtzee and then it was time for bed! It was so chilly that it hailed on us during the storm and I could see my breath in the air. Time to snuggle up!

Day 54: 7/3/2025, mile 805.3 - 828.6

Surprise surprise, Dennis and I were the first to leave camp at 6:20 am. We had two passes to summit today. First we had about 1,500 ft left before going over Pinchot Pass. This one was steep at the end, and took us a while to summit. We had a few bathroom breaks on the way and lots of delayering as the sun rose. We ate breakfast on top of the pass at 8 am and then descended towards the next pass, Mather pass.

Both passes were around 12,000 ft. The next incline was beautiful! It was a gradual climb of about 6 miles. The elevation gain was only 300 ft/mile, so not that bad at all! I ran into Flo and Pablo at the base of the summit and followed them to the top.

Finally it was lunchtime! I ate another delicious concoction of tortilla, spinach, shredded carrots, hot sauce, tuna, and Parmesan. Holy smokes, delicious. Today I learned that Pablo and Flo eat 4 TORTILLAS A DAY! I was blown away, I only eat one at lunch! They each eat two tuna packets with two tortillas per packet, brilliant. We were on top of the pass with a lot of clouds but none that threatened of thunderstorms yet. Unfortunately for us, we picked a campground 10.5 miles away and had to descend over 5,000ft to get there. The going was rough, the rocks large, and the downhill steps were many.

With about 2 miles to go Pablo and Flo found me in one of my favorite states, head between my legs. I was so tired! I didn’t realize at that moment, but I was about 22 miles into the day, so of course I was tired. After the next mile I found Dennis and he had a tent site staked out for us. I said no please let’s do one more mile to Pablo and Flo. We made it eventually and set up our tent and cooked dinner in a haze. It was so exhausting! We decided not to set an alarm and would wake up when we felt like it. 

Day 55: 7/4/2025, mile 828.6 - 845.6

Today was one of those days with a lethargic start. Yesterday we hiked nearly 25 miles in the sierras, holy cow. That means big big miles. I woke up around 9 am and peeked my head out. Shoot! I didn’t see Pablo and Flo’s tents and they must have left. After a 180 degree scan I found them having breakfast on a log in the sun. I came out of the tent in a daze and went over the day’s plan with them. They ended up leaving camp at 10 am and Dennis was still curled in his sleeping bag. I filtered water, made coffee, and packed up my things. A leisurely time later we left camp at 10:49 am. New record!

For the first 4 miles of the day, Dennis and I hiked together. It was a mellow ascent with a beautiful view of some meadows and a river. We ran into an interesting ranger who checked our permits (we had to ask her to because we are collecting tallies) and told us about some crazy rescues done from the park. Then we headed on our way. The ascent started to get steep so Dennis and I decided we would meet for lunch at Helen lake, 5 miles and a few thousand feet of ascent ahead. Prior to the lake I came across Flo and Pablo who took one of their famous trail naps. I made it close to Dennis before they finally caught up. Once everyone was reunited I convinced Pablo and Flo to jump in the lake. Dennis already had and I had been thinking of how refreshing it would feel for miles! I also wished there had been an abundance of lakes during the desert portion of the PCT and I’m trying to use this bounty of lakes to my advantage now! After lunch and the boys game of Yahtzee we finished the last mile climb up Muir Pass.

There was a summit hut from 1930 with a trail log and a book of silly confessions. We enjoyed reading them before deciding to push 6 more miles to camp.

It was already 6 pm, but since the next few miles were downhill we flew down. I was listening to music which I rarely do on trail and having a blast singing to myself. I came across two really nice ladies who gave me some peanut M&M’s, Nonie’s favorite!

Shortly after we made it to camp and found a ton of hikers here! Most seemed to be JMT hikers but after a bit of searching I found that Free Lunch and the Swedes were here too. I cooked up some Mac n cheese with carrots, weird combo but I liked having veggies, and now I’m off to bed and up to date with my blog for once! 

Day 56: 7/5/2025, mile 845.6 - 865.4

Today was beautiful and exhausting all at once. Dennis and I left camp early around 7:15am and the plan was to head to Muir Trail Ranch by lunch. It would be a 15 mile walk there which ended up being ambitious on my part. I spent the day listening to an audiobook and walking mostly downhill, but the ranch ended up feeling so far away!

I had a few larger creek crossings such as Evolution creek, and meandered with my head in the trees. Eventually I arrived at MTR to find Dennis already there chatting with some JMT hikers. This ranch serves as a resupply point for hikers. It’s an expensive resupply because it is only operated by mule! You have to send food in a 5 gallon bucket (like a Home Depot bucket) and it costs $95 for the mule to carry the bucket, after whatever the shipping fee is. A friend of ours ended up getting off trail sooner and gave us his resupply! We were very excited.

After a while at MTR our friends trickled in. We all ate lunch and decided to leave to hike another 6 or so miles uphill to a campsite. The uphill wasn’t that bad because I was passionately yapping to Dennis, one of my favorite hobbies. I finished my audiobook at the end of the climb, thanks for the rec Ale! Upon arriving to camp I ate the most delicious meal ever! 

Day 57: 7/6/2025, mile 865.4 - VVR

This morning I woke up after nearly 9 hours of sleep. I seem to be constantly exhausted from the ups and downs of the Sierras. I took my time packing up and was unfortunately attacked by crazy mosquito hoard. The first mile was uphill to Selden Pass and I still couldn’t take a break up top due to mosquitoes. Dennis caught up fairly quickly and we admired the beautiful Marie lake.

Today was mostly downhill, except for a secondary 1000 ft climb mid day. We had a few river crossings and after 4 miles in Dennis and I parted. He would be waiting for me near the VVR junction. I listened to a podcast and tried to tune out the rumble of my stomach, I couldn’t wait for this fresh food at VVR! Today ended up being more difficult than I anticipated. I was so eager to eat real food at VVR that I didn’t want to eat lunch, but by 2:30pm my stomach was shouting at me and I couldn’t wait. I stopped amidst a hoard of mosquitoes and shoveled down a tuna wrap while simultaneously filtering water. It was a painful few miles until I finally saw the blue waters of Lake Edison. I couldn’t wait to be down there so I could jump in! By the time I got down to the road VVR seemed so close, but so far. I let two cars pass without even trying to hitchhike and ended up taking a side trail down to walk along the water.

The water side had huge boulders that I had to hop from one to the next but I enjoyed the sounds of the lapping waves. I even decided to jump in, only waist high because the water was chilly!

Eventually I got to VVR and realized that my friends did not beat me there. Not even Dennis! Flo, Pablo, and Theo all took a nap, and Dennis was geocaching which let me arrive first. When they did arrive we all ordered a slice of the lasagna of the day and got our free hiker beer to go with it! How delicious. I was feeling quite hungry, so I ended up having a ramen dinner as well. I stayed up until nearly 10pm chatting with Pablo and Flo on a giant hammock before getting into bed myself. 

Day 58: 7/7/2025, mile VVR - 894.6 

This morning we splurged and had a delicious breakfast burrito, coffee, and pancakes. Hiker refuges like making GIANT pancakes for super cheap, we really appreciate it. We got on the 9am boat across Edison Lake and paid the $20 to bypass the 6 mile walk back. I befriended an older gentleman who was also a Bruin back in the day. He gave me some otmeal and hot cocoa that he was going to donate to the hiker box, score! The boat ride was a leisurely 45 minutes, and before we knew it we were back on trail.

We said hello to a few friends who were in line to take the boat back to VVR and set off on our quest to find Zoe. Within a mile or so, there she was waiting at the trail junction! We hadn’t seen her since the morning after the thunderstorm and it had been a few nights camping without her. By the time we were caught up we decided to push ahead to a lake called Purple Heart. The morning had a pretty intense climb that I happily conquered with Flo. Typically, he and Pablo are mountain hosting ahead of me, but Dennis was chatting with Pablo and that gave me the chance to walk with Flo for a change. We stopped up the climb for a water and snack break before going over the pass of the day. Today’s pass was actually so chill in comparison to the others and we made our way down the other side until we found some nice shade to eat lunch. At lunch Zoe caught back up, and I ended walking with her for a majority of the rest of the day. We hit  rough mosquito patch and another short and steep climb, but we conquered them together. Tonight we camped by sken JMT hikers who were fresh on the trail, oh the newbies!

Day 59: 7/8/2025, mile 894.6 - 904.4

Today we hiked off of the PCT via Horseshoe Lake Trail, an extra 3.5 miles or so. Dennis and I left camp by 7 am and had a gradual 5 mile climb greet us. Dennis stopped to finish the book he was reading, so I carried on and spent the morning wandering through such a nice gradual scenery. I listened to a podcast and enjoyed the soft light through the trees. Zoe caught up to me right when we reached the Horseshoe Lake trail junction, and I stayed with her until the very last 0.7 miles. I sprinted at the end, backpack and all to catch Dennis. We were trying to make the 12:30 bus and missed it by 5 minutes. Luckily for us, a kind woman named Melissa picked us up and gave us a hitch into town. She owned a construction company in Mammoth and showed us some of her projects as we drove by. We are delicious burritos at the Latin Market that were honestly pretty reasonably priced. Then, Dennis and I walked to a few gear shops and the post office before getting a delicious coffee.

Even though this whole trail is practically one long date, Dennis and I occasionally have coffee dates on trail because why not?! After the coffee we took the free Mammoth trolley bus to the Mammoth Mountaineering Supply shop where we exchanged some Darn Tough socks that have seen better days. We found our friends at Vons and made a game plan. First we would grocery shop for our resupply, then we would find and Airbnb. Once the Airbnb was secured we split into two groups - lasagna and laundry. Dennis and I got dinner ingredients and then headed to the Airbnb while Flo and Pablo did our laundry. We enjoyed some incredibly showers with the best shampoo and conditioner I’ve had on trail, including the fancy hotel shampoo from LA graduation! My hair finally isn’t crazy greasy for once. Zoe and her two friends from the Appalachian trail met us at the Airbnb and we enjoyed another amazing lasagna and the beginning of Wall-E before heading off to bed.