Forester pass

The way up to forester was quite easy but as spectacular as usual , with some lakes in the way up. I met a guy doing a few days trip. He did the John Muir trail 30 years ago. He said how everything look the same, the only difference said that there are more people. We talked about the gear in those times, how heavy was everything and how difficult would be the PCT in that time. When we realize we touch the wall, because Forester pas is a wall, looks impossible that could be a pass over there. The Forester service is who did it . they dig a path on the wall, a few switch backs .

Thanks god, there were not ice shot, everything was clear. I had some nightmares thinking in this location and the possibility of a fall. I saw some youtube videos of this and it is breath taking with snow..

wow the  north side of the valley in front, some snow but nothing crazy. Welcome to the High sierras!!!! this is crazy . Forester pass!!

I start the way down, ones that I get into the valley it get flatter and I saw a signage :

Check point ahead.
Be ready to present your Canadian permit entry
I saw the trail cut with the 3 flags : mexico, usa and canda

And a guy dress like the clasic canadian police show up.
Hi , I am a trail angel , please join us for dinner.
I couldnt believe, you can expect trail magic in any road that you cross, but not in the middle of the sierras. Those guys carry all the food over Kesarade pass, that is not an easy one, into the valley to feed the hikers.
We were there about 10 of us, hot dinner, whiskey and mas-mellow. They did breakfast also for us. Well done guys !!! and thanks.

great great day

Mt Whitney

The night was not as cold as expected for this altitude ( 3500 m I think). I did not sleep very well as I  set the tent in not a very flat spot. At 5.30 I started the way up. I left the tent and the bear canister in camp but I carried up my rest of my gear, it is too much risk for me. I slept at high altitude so I thought I would be ok. I was wrong . I started suffering very early. I couldn't breath, not feeling very well. Every 200 m I have to stop. I drank and eat. I started to improve little by little . I think more the altitude it was the air so cold in the early morning.

At 8.00 I was feeling much better, and finally I summit ed. it was harder than expected, 4400 m altitude.

At some point Zero, a PCT hiker arrived:

- I brought a German beer but I am already with the altitude, he comment.

I thought I was bad in the way up but I went down I saw the people like a Zombies. They are crazy. I stopped a guy. I asked a question and he took 10 seconds to give me an answer...... People need to stop and recover.... They come from the Portal, the other side of the mountain and I imagine they have to gain more altitude..

Back in the lake we catch some trout by hand . One bring the trout up the river and the other just wait in the shallow part to catch them. We did some Titanium brusquetas with those.

We still had some time to get closer to Forester pass. I dreamed many times about it. We finished 9 miles from it. Tomorrow is maybe the most iconic point of the PCT. It is the peculiarity of having a small ice shot in the top with a big fall. This year should be ok as there are not much snow.

Last night I hear some noise  I did not know what it was. I discovered today that a marmot did a hole in the hip pocket of the back pack. It was the bloody marmot of Guitar lake , watch out people!!. Bears are ok, marmot are the problem......

Aproach to Mt Withney

I did the approach to Whitney camping  in guitar lake , just a few miles from the top. Now I feel that I am in the high sierras, water is all around, lake after lake, green meadows, this is beautiful. Now  I understand why people talk so much about the sierras.

I saw many marmots, they are all over . I passed some incredible campsites during the day. Here there are not bridges over the rivers, so you have to find the best pass, or just cross it and get wet.

I found taylor in guitar lake . I did not reconize him at the begining , he just come down from Whitney .

Guitar lake remind me Picos de Europa, but there you can not camp. Tomorrow Whitney, highest point in the lower 48.

Sierras day 3

I think today is the latest that I woke up. Around 8.00 , 15 miles today. that is nothing.... Not much exaitment . I did not find any of the regular hikers, just a few that hike this area.

The best of the day was the chicken lake. It is the first one of many mountain lakes. I saw there what I think is a marmot.

During the day I got bored so I decided to do some cross -country, bush -walking

I saw some rangers fixing the trail. One thing that really surprise me today is the sand. There was a lot of sand doing a difficult advance. It was a easy climb into the lake and after a way down into the river. On the way I passed some nice meadows and the Siberian area. The valleys start to change into the granite mountains .


Very close to camp I saw a group of deers not very afraid of me. I had dinner with a couple that had been in Galicia, we were talking about bears, etc....

The pain in my knee is back after a few days ok. I was quite stupid yesterday pushing the way up like a crazy and today it pay back. I had to put the knee support at the end of the day.

I am living the food in a bear box overnight so no worries.

2nd day in the sierras

This was by far the coolest night in the PCT finished with all the layers on, included the rain gear. The water filtration was frozen and not sign of bear activity. The group that I was the day before left before me. it was too cold to leave the sleeping bag.  During the morning I was alone and I was stooping all the time without take a pace. I was entertained with the acrobatic movements of the f-18 flying by during the morning. At afternoon I reach a river where I found everybody having lunch. they said the just arrived half an hour ago.it surprised me as I was slacking all the morning so I did not so bad finally. I did at lunch all my food calculations and I really can chill now. I can 15 miles in the next 5 days with the 2 big climbs, forester and whitney, both over the 4000.

A funny situation was also in the morning when I tried to open the bear canister and it was stock. I couldn't open it. I checked around and everybody had left..luckily a hiker show up and help me to open it. And the same happened tonight so cleaned all the seals to avoid this situation. Good camping spot with dockets and mountain goat.

1st day in the Sierras

Sorry sorry...... I am still on the trail. In this moment I am in Ashland..... I had been very unlucky with the opening times and dates when I got into towns . Always reaching the town on sunday monday. I will try to catch up as much as possible. Everything goes well, on track and lucking forward to Oregon!!!!

Back to sierras:

 

We woke up knowing that we have to climb all day, around the 1000 m, not much, but with all the sierra gear and food for 7 days it was enough. The first part I did alone  and I saw a coyote. We did breakfast in a huge valley  with a river and a bridge. Perfect place. In the afternoon we continue climbing in group with stops evey 45 minutes. We were suffering. My water filtration system by gravity is working well just need some time to set up but I am happy. It is slow but better than squeeze . i left tonight 2 l filtering and hopefully it will not freeze during the night.

Valleys that goes to higher valleys , like this all the time. When we reach the top we saw what we thought it was Mt Whitney. In the way down we decide to stop to cook. We are in bear territory and the procedure is not to cook where you sleep. Cook little bit before. We are carry also the bloody bear canister. It weight more than 1 KG. I can not fit the 7 days of food inside. So I sleep with the canister away of me and the rest of food with me.

Going down I saw a deer, nothing special but 5 minutes later i looked left and I saw a bear. I want to shout to the rest of the people, Bear Bear, but I have to grap them and point it, not noise ..ppssss. It did not see us. We took a few pictures. It is really big, I thought it was like a big dog, No. If you trouble with one you have not chance. This is the things that you want to see during the PCT. Lucky day for me: Coyote, dear and Bear. mountain lion is next. We are sleeping 2 miles away from the bear encounter in Death creek. Good night....