I woke up around 6am but I took me almost 2 hours to get out of my sleeping bag 🙂

 

The Grumpy Bear opened at 8 and there was already a crowd of hikers waiting to get breakfast. When they opened everyone rushed in to get a table but almost noone tought of getting in the line to order. I didnt care about where it would sit an so I was one of the first to order 🙂

Hikerbreakfast & coffee for 12$

 

 

Pancakes were all you can eat, but I was happy that I was able to finish everything.

 

After two hours of waiting for their shuttle to run to the general store I decided to pack my stuff together and try my luck hitching.

 

The trail provides! As I was walking out of the parking lot, the driber of a super fancy 1969 Bronco cabriolet took me with him and made my day. Sadly I haven’t got the chance to take a picture…

 

At the general store I got my resupply and decided to hike out the same day without having a zero day.

 

 

Way too much food for the small Canister…

 

The whole afternoon was filled with seeing hikers again after missing them for weeks, meeting new hikers, playing cards with hikers and drinking beers with hikers 🙂

 

At 6pm Piglet and I took of together for a 3 mile hike, just to be sure to be able to leave tomorrow early in the morning. Which would never have happened if I would have stayed in town.

 

The miles were easily done and we set up our tents next to half a dozen other hikers at a local campground.

 

After a quick dinner I went straight to bed because the next day would be only walking uphill…

 

When I left camp at 5h50 Piglet was already gone and the other hikers were still cooking breakfast. But because I only eat a bar for first breakfast I got ahead of them.

 

The landscape changed so quickly, after 2 hours of walking I couldn’t even see the desert anymore and I was right in the Sierra Nevada.

 

 

When you walk alone the day isn’t as funny and entertaining as walking in a group, but I was able to get a new longest day with slightly over 32 miles.

 

 

But the altitude of over 10’000feet I was hiking in all day after ascending it for the first time around 11am asked for a tribute. I fell into my tent at 9pm and wasnt even motivated enough to hide my bearcanister.

 

1 night is not enough to get used to the altitude, this was what I learned the hard way. I was able to get up fast and I was on my way just after 6am but I was hiking slow, very slow.

 

The bearcanister with still 8 days of food was super heavy. Luckily there were a öot of watersources so since the beginning yesterday I haven’t had to carry more than 1,5 liters of water.

 

 

I had lunch at a small supercold pond. I felt ok but couldn’t get myself going like I wished for. I left the pond at 2h30 pm with only 13 miles hiked.

 

Right after the pond I met Alex, a guy from England who said that there was small resort next to the trail where I couls resupply without loosing a lot of time to get of trail.

 

I didn’t had to think a lot about that and decided to take the days slower and resupply there for 2 days which I had left for backup before getting to Mammoth lakes.

 

 

Mount Whitney is still far away, but tomorrow I’ll be on top of it.

 

The whole afternoon was pure agony, even though it was downhill, the trail wasn’t in a good shape. If it wasn’t sand, rocks or trees that slowed me down, then it was my own motivation who did.

 

11 miles later there was the first real river crossing, knee deep but not to fast, so it was quite easy 🙂 around the river were at least 10 tents with hikers around bit I decided to tackle at least the climb to Mount Whitney.

 

1,5 miles later I had done the first 1000 of 6000 feet elevation to the summit.

 

The spot seemed good and I pitched my tent, cooked, hide my bearcanister watched some Netflix and fell asleep around 10pm.

 

It is wierd that you know that bears are around at night and you just try to ignore the fact that they are potentially dangerous…

 

Getting up was hard because knew that it would be a long day. I left the tentsite at 6h15 and hiked north.

 

2 hours later at a rivercrossing I saw Piglet chatting with Flower, both astonished that she was ahead of me we decided to hike all 3 together to the summit of Mount Whitney.

 

A mile later we set up our tents to leave all the stuff behind that we won’t need at the summit. The summit is just a side-trail and we have to get back down the same way to get to the PCT again.

 

This is my tent, because I needed the poles to walk I couldn’t set it up correctly and just left it like this…

 

 

The way up was 7 miles long and 3800 feet in elevation aand we started at 10700 feet, so the air was already thin and every little hill seemed like a mountain while you try to climb it.

 

Even though the views were incredible the pain in your lungs and your heart desperatly trying to get some oxygen to your muscles somehow take away some of the beauty.

 

 

The 7 miles which I am able to walk in 2hours took me 4,5hours. We could see the summit from the beginning on but it came only closer so slow…

 

At the top, I immediately started cooking even before I walked around to enjoy the view. 5 hours between breakfast and lunch was to long and I was starving for the last 2 miles.

 

 

Then I took some pictures, called my girlfriend which luckily was still awake even it was midnight in Luxemburg and after most of the people left the summit I flew my drone.

 

Which amazingly worked even at this high altitude.

 

The way back down was pure agony, my shin started to hurt and I exacly knew the whole way how long it would still be till I reached the tent.

 

 

3,5 hours, at least 20 marmots, a deer and a lott of long missed hikers to chat with later I reached our campsite.”Our”, there were 34 tents at the spot.

 

Everyone agreed that it wasway harder than they thought it would be.

 

After a quick dinner I went to bed and slept right away.

 

It was colder than usual when I woke up and my sleeping bag was frozen on the outside…

 

 

You can imagine that it took me forever to get up. It was planned to sleep longer but I was able to sleep more than I thought I could. At 8 I left my tent.

 

Piglet and Flower were both awake but still in their tents. After de-icing my tent which was frozen too I tried to warm myself up in the few sunbeams that found their way trough the forest. I checked the profile of the day and screamed out loud as I saw that today we would have to hike over a pass.

 

The forester pass, the highest pass on the whole pct. Only 1200 feet less than the Mount Whitney but with all the weight of the backpack, this seemed to get even harder than yesterday.

 

I left first and the motivation was not to high, but surprisingly I was able to walk not too slow and soon I was at the start of the pass.

 

The trail was in a better condition than yesterday and I kept hiking with a good pace 🙂 Main difference to yesterday, the snowfields I had to pass.

 

 

Postholing is when you sink knee-deep in the melting snow while trying to walk over it.

 

2 problems!

– under the snow is icecold water which freezes your feet
– its often balls-deep into the snow and getting back out again is as hard as you’d imagine

 

The climb was easier physically, but way more dangerous because of all the snow.

 

 

Just after the pass, the best part was about to start. There were two slopes, to sit in and slide downhill 🙂 I wrapped my groundsheet around my butt to avoid ripping my pants and down I went.

 

After the fun part, more balls-deep postholing was on the menu. For a sloid hour I was fighting the melting snow and I was thankfull for all the wet and cold feet training I’ve done back home.

 

A lot of the trail downhill was not given free by the snow so I had to gess where I had to go. That’s where the app with the maps is very handy to use.

 

 

I set up my tent in the valley a mile before the next climb next to the river just before 7pm. The mosquitos were eating me alive! I killed at least 50 of them while setting up the tent.

 

You can see them waiting to get in!

 

They were as annoying that I decided to cook inside my tent and I didn’t even wanted to go back outside to hide my bearcanister. I rather have a bear next to my tent than getting back out to those mosquitos again…

 

With the early camping I had time to watch some netflix and fall asleep after another 21 miles for today 🙂

 

 

 

The night was cold again but at least nothing was frozen this morning. If I wouldn’t have gotten the new sleeping bag I don’t think the last few nights would have been survivable…

I started late, just before 7am but Greg the guy in the tent next to me started just 5 minuted ahead, so I didn’t felt to bad.

From the beginning on the trail knew only one direction, uphill. Today, 2 passes were on the programm.

After 5 minutes the first watercrossing left me almost with wet feet, but I found a log 30m from the trail where I could cross it safe.

 

 

I passed a few tents with people having breakfast and enjoying the first sunbeams. The first hikers I passed was just a mile infront of the first pass.

Almost no snow on the southside made the ascent easy, but on the northside there was a lot of snow. The only good think was that the snow was still frozen fron the night, so I didn’t postholed to much.

The lakes had a special blue color and were christal clear.

 

The trail was rough but I still managed a good pace because I passed a few more people on the way down. At 10am I haf breakfast with this amazing view.

 

The other 6 miles downhill were covered with rivercrossings. Some without, some with getting wet feet.

After this hanging bridge I had lunch before attacking the second pass. 8 miles with over 3500 feet of elevation gain sounded not to bad, but it was the second pass for the day.

 

The views is what kept me going because they were getting better and better. Higher up the mountain, the snowfields were getting bigger and wetter. I lost the trail a few times, but so did all the hikers whl had followed me 🙂

 

The view from the top was great again!

 

Dozens of small lakes I had passed and I would still pass tomorrow…

The hike down has full of guessing where the trail would be again because of the snow. This made a fast hiking impossible…

I pitched my tent only 2 miles from the pass. I had done 22 miles and I thought it would be nice to get to bed early 🙂

 

 

No mosquitos tonight, they might not like the altitude…

Waking up and realising that your sleeping bag is frozen again is not the best way to start the day. This thing was worth every dollar I spent on it! Amazing that I can sleep in it and on the outside water can freeze.

 

No need to say that it took me forever to get up.

Almost 2 hours after waking up I was on my way and oh lord was it cold, even with gloves I couldn’t feel my hands. The first sunbeams which shined on my left me standing where I was to soak in the warmth of them.

Just as I was about to gain the feeling in my fingers back the first rivercrossing showed up. No way I would get my feet wet that early in the day. It took me a few minutes and a not so safe jump & climb to get to the other side dry.

But only half an hour later this crossing showed up…

 

 

After 15 minutes of looking for a safe dry passing possibility I gave up, took of my shoes and went bare feet through the ice cold water. The pain set in before I could even get my second feet in the river and the water went up to my knees.

On the other side, while I tried to put on my shoes the mosquitoes were attacking me again. It’s impossible to get rid of them, the swarm will follow you untill you’ve killed them all. Which took me almost half an hour of constant swearing and trying to separate a new bite from an existing bite and hitting the beasts. You know you were to late if the killed mosquito leaves a bloodstain on your skin.

The climb to the pass wasn’t to steep but the snow and the many rivercrossings made me lose the trail for almost an hour. At least I always know the vague direction because I have the maps on my phone.

 

The way back down was even worse, over an hour I tried to find the trail and a safe way down.

During my lunchbreak I had to dry my sleeping bag and my tent because they were still wet when I packed them in my bagpack this morning.

I realized it a few day before, but my stove-gas is going way to fast to an end. For the first time I doubt that I am going to have enough to et to Vermillion Valley Resort.

The speed I picked up after dinner came to an abrupt end after I saw the valley I was going to descent the rest of the day 🙂

 

After standing there for a few minutes I continued my way back down. The miles kept flying and soon I reached the point where it was going uphill to the next pass again.

I made it only 4 miles into the uphill section and left me the other 6 miles for tomorrow morning.

I tried my luck cold-soaking my rice&noodles mix to be prepared when I run out of gas. After 50 minutes it gets eatable even though it’s wierd to have a cold dinner.

The bear-canister is outside of my tent, but because the mosquitos were hungry again I still ate in my tent.

Let’s try to get out of the tent before 6am for the first time in a week tomorrow!

 

 

Almost 🙂 6h30

I think warmer temperatures would help me to get up earlier but I have no idea when it’ll get warmer again…

This was meant to be one of the hardest passes of the whole trail because of the snow.

 

It should be right.

After 90 minutes of hiking the first snow patch showed up and it was only one of many. For almost 2.5 miles I had to walk over the snow which made me slow and was echausting too.

 

5 minutes before I reached the top I met an adult man who was walking with his 2 kids.

He introduced himself as “Balou”

Before I said my name I just sang “oh shubidu, I wanna be like you huhu,…”

Took him a while to realize why that song, but I couldn’t resist 🙂

After breakfast and exchanging emailadresses with Balou because he wanted some dronefotage, I left for the downhill part.

 

I was hoping for some slopes to slide down, but the whole way down was covered in not steep enough snow. So I had to posthole for almost 4 miled untill I finally reached snowfree terrain again.

 

While eating lunch my gas-canister gave up and I had to eat my first dish cold… In adition to that I realized that I misscalculated my food and I was 1 dinner short. The one I gave 4 days ago to someone who was running low on food too!

Luckily I’ll pass the Muir Ranch tomorrow morning which opened their doors only by today and I can have a small resupply there.

The way down after lunch was not as spectacular as the ones from the last days.

Not even the largest and deepest rivercrossing so far could change that.

 

It is complaining on a very high level but I couldn’t stop thinking on how much I fucked up with my food and gas calculations…

After 23 miles I pitched my tent next to the river, hid my almost empty bearcanister and crawled into my tent for another cold dish.

 

I slept until 6h30 because the Ranch opened only at 8. So I left the campsite motivated and ready for a nice breakfast.

After an hour of hiking I stood in front of a sign saying that the Ranch wouldn’t open until the 22nd… in 5 days…

Devastated I had to pick up some serious speed because I had only one lunch and no dinner left and VVR was still 25 miles away with one pass to hike over…

 

No time to waste or be angry at the Ranch for still beeing closed, if I want dinner tonight I had to hurry up.

The whole day was pushing, pushing hard and always on the line to exhaustion. The years of running came very handy because I know the fine line between “it hurts but is still ok and beeing burned so bad you have to stop” very well.

I was hoping to arrive before 19h30 because thats when their shop closes.

 

I was doing great and had a 17h00 pace. Second breakfast took me 2 minutes because I ate it while walking, lunch (cold ramen) took me 10 minutes. But the cellphone service 8 miles ahead of VVR did cost me an hour 🙂

Calling your girlfriend after she had her birthday and you hadn’t had the chance to wish her for 5 days has priority over arriving early!

But on the last 3 miles of the roadwalk I got lucky and got a hitch, so I still arrived at 17h00 🙂

A quick resupply, beers, coke, a family sized oreo pack and a new gas canister were bought before I went to dinner!

I want a steak so bad, but I don’t trust them enough and took a burger instead. Steak will be for Mammoth lakes.

After dinner I pitched my tent, bought Ice-cream and more beers and joined the other hikers for stories about the sierras before crawling into my tent.

 

 

Plan for tomorrow -> nothing at all until 4am when the ferry leaves back to the trailhead.

 

Ok I had to get up for breakfast. But becaude I was awake since 6am it wasn’t too bad.

 

 

A whole lot of food, but still not enough… my hiker hunger hhas officialy kicked in!

 

Apart from eating and drinking I did nothing at all until the ferry arrived.

 

 

It took us 45 minuted to get to the other side.

 

At 5pm I was back on trail again but only did a few more miles because I decided to sleep another night on trail and go to Mammoth in the morning to save one night in the motel.

 

I left my campsite at 7am because I was in no hurry.

 

A small climb to the only pass for the day and after that only minor climbs 🙂

 

 

In the afternoon I passed this beauty!

 

 

900 miles done! Just over 1/3 of the trail 🙂

 

One could see all the mountains I passed the last few days from where I was hiking now.

 

 

I set up my tent at 4pm, the earliest so far but I am at the junction to get to Mammoth lakes and the bus drives only from 9-5. So I dont need to be closer and I can even sleep long tomorrow 🙂