Day 77: It was so nice to sleep in today! Even though that doesn’t really mean much I still woke up crazy early. But it was nice to just be able to keep laying in my sleeping bag and tent with no rush to get up. Casey, the owner of Sonora Resupply, was there to get people their food packages. It’s a really cool idea. Hikers can order food boxes to be delivered here so they don’t have to go into town. You can choose whatever foods you want and the price really isn’t that bad on most things. I didn’t get a box but some of our group did. Anyways he was there and let us cook up some pancakes, eggs, a burger for Scotty. He gave us some donuts and coffee. He was awesome. I did most of the cooking and more hikers came over to eat some too and it only cost us a couple dollars. Then we continued to hang out waiting for Freckles and Tim. Hefty had a couple friends there who came to meet him. Later, while I was off with Scotty trying to find random moments of service and talk to REI about his sleeping pad, Stats sprinted by and yelled “trail magic” we had no idea where he went but we finally found some peeps. Freckles and Tim included. Hobo Joe was there cooking up some magic. Burgers, I made a grilled cheese, he brought beer too. We hung out for a bit then when we headed back to pack up a guy offered some fresh fruit and sourdough bread. He was so cool. He rents out llamas for hikers. Like people who can’t carry their own packs or just want a companion. Really cool. Finally we headed out and maybe it was so hard because I was expecting it to be easy. But we hit snow right away and lost the trail. We ended up going up a bunch of sketchy rocks. Scotty came back down and sort of guided us on where was the safest way to go. Then we got around to the trail and him and Jitterbug were going at it a bit. He was upset with the dangerous route she had taken. But overall it was just a misunderstanding. And I think just a fear based argument. It is so funny how fear can play such a role in people’s emotions. It’s something I already know, but it’s more vivid out here. Even within myself. My tattoo that says love over fear is a big guide for me now. On the walk to camp, which we just did 9 miles, I was following Stats and Jitterbug and we were along a creek and turned left to head up towards the forest. Jitterbug stepped on the snow near and rock and popped right up and over it, then when I tried the snow caved and I post holed down to my hips on my right leg. When I fell my shin scraped the rock and knee hit it really hard. I immediately fell over in pain screaming. I cried and felt the pain as Stats and Jitterbug sprinted over and helped me get out of the hole and checked my leg out. Luckily nothing bad happened it just scared me and hurt really bad. For how I screamed they both immediately thought my trip might be over. I ended up with a cut and a painful knee but I was able to keep going. It was sore for the remainder of the day, but I think it will just be a bad bruise.

Day 76: I didn’t sleep great. But not horrible. I don’t really think I was much warmer than usual as I expected to be since it wasn’t just me. But oh well. When we got up, Freckles and Tim decided to stay and sleep in more. So Stats, Scotty, and I headed out. It was hysterical maybe a quarter of a mile into hiking I tripped. On a tree limb and it happened so fast I had not time to react to catch myself and just straight face planted. It was amazing!!! For the amount of times I have fallen on this trail I think I could make at least a 30 min compilation of them…and wish I could. We continued on then we got to Dorothy Lake which was covered in ice and snow so I’m glad we didn’t hike here last night. We took off across the lake then up Dorothy Pass. At the top of the pass Scotty left as soon as we got there. Didn’t say anything, was just angry and walked off. Later I found out it was because we walked across the lake and didn’t wait for him. Which I totally get we were in the wrong. I just don’t think about that kind of stuff, my focus is always just trying to keep up. But we definitely fucked up there. So then Stats and I trekked I’m alone. And thank goodness he’s so kind about sticking to my slower snow pace and a good navigator. We did a massive day today. And today we crossed the 1000 mile marker!!!!! AMAZING! It’s so funny to look back at 100 mile, 200 mile markers and see that we have made it to 1,000. We headed to Sonora Pass and it was some good incline followed by looooong ridges on steep slopes across the snow. We decided to cut part of the trail and just headed straight up the mountain for a bit before then following footsteps straight across. You’d walk and follow footsteps, look up, and still have forever to go. When we reached the top it was kind of surreal. To our back we’re snow covered mountains and to our front a lot of dry mountain peaks! Yaaaaasss! We chilled at the top for a bit to snack. I stuck my snickers bar in the snow for a few minutes to make it not melty. Off again we go. Across a couple more steep snowy ridges. My least favorite thing of all time. But slowly and sure we made it across. Then the downhill. Stats was carefully walking down but slipped a few times and I followed his lead. But I kept slipping as well. It was almost harder to try and go down slow. But this was super steep so butt glissading seemed scary. But I got sick of falling and would rather “fall” in more control so I sat down and went and oh my god it was so fucking fast and fun! Fastest butt glissade of the trail. I had snow spraying up all over my face. It was like I was at a water park! At the bottom we followed footsteps for what seemed like a really long time to get to the road at Sonora Pass. I stopped to get water and at that point I lost Stats. He went one way and i went another. Which ended up really scaring me. I got to the road and kept howling and yelling his name and for a long while got no response. I was confused. And went to the trail but it was covered in snow and there were no footsteps so I knew he didn’t come this way. I kept howling and yelling and finally I heard something. But just barely and I couldn’t figure out where it came from. But I only heard it once. So I started down the road and finally I found him at the campground. With Jitterbug and Hefty, and Scotty. I got there pretty upset at Stats but knew it was just coming from fear not that he did anything wrong. Mended things with Scotty and Stats once I ate some food, hangry doesn’t do well with attitude along with being tired. Glad to be done for the day. We did 25 miles with a shit ton of snow. It was brutal but now we can make tomorrow really chill.

Day 75: woke up early and passed the other group before crossing Kerrick Creek. This one luckily wasn’t bad especially having to do it at like 6am, there was a log a couple hundred meters upstream. This is later where another fellow PCT hiker, Tree Wang, was washed away. And where I think a girl named HappyFeet was also uncontrollably forced downstream but was able to catch herself on a branch or rock and pull herself out. Basically we were lucky to be able to safely cross at the log. Thank goodness for this cold weather stretch we’ve had. We had a couple other crossings today but no major climbs. No passes. Just a lot through trees and snow. I don’t remember much of the day honestly. I just remember Hefty heading off to get to Dorothy Lake right before Dorothy pass since he has to push to get to South Lake. Me, Jitterbug, Stats, Scotty, Tim, and Freckles stopped and ate dinner with plans to keep hiking but to eat first. I thought of Doing decent miles today but honestly I was fucking wiped at this point. It all turned into an argument from here. jitterbug went off to catch Hefty. And we kept going back and forth about how much longer we’d be hiking, or just try to find a dry campsite. Tim and Freckles don’t care about camping on snow and at this point I didn’t give a shit. I just wanted to stop or go. I needed an incentive to go or allow myself to be done. After walking a little bit at a time we finally found a semi decent spot. Water close by and little dry spots. I ended up just sleeping with Stats. I was too tired to set mine up and figured 2 people in a tent would be warmer. With a negative feel to the day I went to sleep. Waiting for another snowy miserable day.

Day 74: More wetness today and my butt chaffing is legit taking my soul right now. I fell in the morning. No not on snow, on freakin mud. I am so annoyed with myself. I’m not athletic. Who was I ever fooling. I can’t even walk. And I think I may have upset Scotty because when he offered to help me up I said no and brushed him off. This day we had some craaaazy crossings. First we had to cross Wilson Creek. But the trail runs next to it for quite awhile so we just stayed on one side of it which ended up working great. One thing I really remember about this morning was how frozen my feet were. Shoes weren’t drying over night, then with all the crossings, and walking consistently in snow they were helping me feet stay warm. The numbness was extremely painful. I tried to find little pockets of sun to stand in while waiting. Then we did Benson Pass. Somewhere along the way we left Scotty. He said he wanted some alone time so stayed behind while we climbed the pass.
I can’t remember for sure but I think this day Hefty and Tim jumped into a lake that was legit all ice except for a small pocket. I gladly denied that invitation. Later we had Piute Creek. Probably the most interesting creek we crossed. It was freezing cold. We all stripped down to as little as possible. And attempted to cross on foot. Jitterbug is tall and got closest and barely went under right at the end. For me, I had no chance. So with my pack on my back I swam across. And swimming with a current, with a pack on, and in freezing water is anything but easy. Once we crossed and we’re drying off for a bit Scotty came. We hollered at him and he tried to Javelin toss his trekking poles across the water. The first didn’t go so well it landed in the water. I tried to grab my pole and grab it but couldn’t reach it. Then when I tossed my pole to Jitterbug I missed and mine also went into the water. Tim being a bad ass just got back into the freezing water and grabbed both of our poles. HERO!!!
Then we were off again. Later I don’t remember where we were heading down from but me Hefty and Jitterbug went on a rock descending adventure. I shouldn’t have followed these 2. They’re fucking bad asses. But we ended up cutting off like 1.5 miles of trail. We got to some rocks where we saw Crushers group again. Tim and Freckles showed up soon after also complaining about that sketchy hard descent. But here we are….but where is Stats? Nobody knows. No one knows if he cut the trail or followed the trail. And Yardsale was missing too. We kept eating and hanging out, I was getting worried. Should we head back out and look for him? What if we get lost or hurt going back? Finally, Yardsale arrives and she took the actual trail route and said Stats was behind her. And he soon came too. After a small break and drying out gear we headed out again. Our next crossing wasn’t so deep we had to swim but it was still pretty deep. We again took our clothes off, or most of them. Then with packs on our heads we headed across. We ended up hiking about 17 miles today. We planned to cross Kerrick creek before setting up camp but there was a great campsite just about a half mile before it that we are staying it. It’s big, dry, and open. So nice. Again trying to just dry shit out as much as possible. Scotty created a little like smoke drying set up. He is always trying crazy things. It didn’t quite work out, but it was sure fun watching. I’m really struggling right now, just with always being with people. I feel like I’m always having to try so hard to keep up, which in turn makes me really fatigued, and makes me fall more. I miss desert hiking. You knew how many miles you’d made in a day and about how long it would take. You knew how many days until the next town, I don’t think I brought enough food this section. And you could just hike, alone, without thought or worry. I miss it. I’m hoping after Sonora Pass the snow will be far less. In previous years there’s usually none after then, but this year has been crazy so far. So who knows.

Day 73: Hefty never made it to us last night so we’re hoping to see him soon. And we did! He met up with the trail just a little further up and was just finishing packing up his gear right off the trail when we passed. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of snow to begin the day. We got to actually hike on some dry trail! Well I guess I shouldn’t say dry trail. There were times we were hiking on the trail and the water was up to my shorts. Just high knees through it for awhile. Then you’d think it’s over and nope it’s still going. We’re hiking on a beach. We’re heading towards Soda Springs and then Glen Aulin where we knew a bridge had been wiped out. We have some big crossings today, that have turned almost everyone around. Interestingly enough the one sending everyone back to Tuolumne Meadows is called Return Creek. But we have to get there first. That’s about 14 miles from where we started this morning. First we had to cross Delaney Creek, and we did so no problem. We found a nice log about 400 feet upstream. And we left a nice little note in the dirt for following hikers. Later we crossed another creek. Before crossing Tuolumne Creek on a bridge. Now unfortunately these next few posts are going to be probably inaccurate. I barely wrote in my journal this next bit due to just being too tired to deal with it. So I will probably mix up days and when events happen. Tuolumne Creek had a bridge for us to cross on. The unfortunate thing is that the water levels are high enough where both ends of the bridge are under water. But we were able to get our feet a bit wet and get across, into more snow. But to our right where another bridge was to connect to another spot across the river, it was totally wiped out and down stream a bit. It’s literally insane to me how much water is here. We continued onto Glen Aulin passing the absolutely raging Tuolumne Falls. It was right off the trail. So freaking cool. After the falls things got a little…..wet. The part of the trail that is now drowned it water looking like the beach I mentioned before. We made it through and past the camp ground. Next crossing was McCabe Creek, I think we just went through this one in pairs. Or probably me, Tim, and Freckles went together and Scotty stomped through solo. In .2 miles we face the evil Return Creek. The one sending everyone back south, but it’s a freakin breeze!!! Haha I can’t believe it. Just like Evolution creek was, all fear mongering. I say this knowing everyday out here the situations are different. But damn I’m glad we’re out here seeing for ourselves. There we are all wet, hungry, and we find awe sunshine….lunch time. We sat in a small flat campsite next to trees and on rocks laying out all of our belongings and trying to let them dry before we head back out. And immediately you have to take your shoes off, your feet are drenched and nobody wants trench foot. While we’re eating we are surprised by other hikers! It’s Yardsale, Crusher, Bandit and their crew. They had just come from upstream where they crossed. They had apparently crossed all the crossings away from the PCT, where we did them basically right at the crossing. Just that anticipation of it being bad and automatically looking for alternates. But i think we have learned from that and choose to check it out from the trail first then venture from there if it’s not safe. After lunch we have more water to encounter. Spiller creek was next. And honestly I think I was just trying to be brave and the current looked super mellow. After Scotty crossed I decided to just go for it too. Except I got stuck, and it wasn’t so much the strength of the current, more the slippery rocks I was having trouble moving. And I started laughing, as I usually do in sketch situations. Idk why. But Scotty comes back out and helps me get across, everyone else then decided to partner up! We passed by Miller Lake then just one more crossing! Matterhorn, making it a 20 mile day! It’s pretty high but mellow. But we link up and get across to a wide open field/meadow where we will camp. Now hopefully our stuff can dry before morning if we make a fire. Soon we see Crushers group line up one behind the other, linked, crossing the creek together. Step by step they easily made it across. And immediately met us next to the fire. Since were wet all day you can get pretty chilly. Had a good dinner with everyone chatting and hanging out. But I had to get to my tent because I had some nice butt chaffing starting that I needed to tend to. Thanks Stats for the hydrocortisone 😭😭! Stupid wet shorts all day.

Day 72- Before I left I had actually talked to a couple people from home and I’m so excited because Brit is going to come meet me in Tahoe!!! Yay!! We left the church late morning and hitched back to the trailhead. The people who gave us a ride made the guys sit in the back of the truck while me and Jitterbug sat inside and they gave us some beers. Then we started again on the nice 7 mile road walk back to the trail. Hefty had connected with us while he was in the Valley and was leaving today and planning to meet us, and hike with us for the next section. He had to make good time because some of his fam are coming to meet him in Tahoe. During the walk we saw some peeps from another group heading towards Lee Vining. It was part of the group from when we stayed at the suspension bridge. Twigsy being one of them. He is someone I met I think in Tehachapi at the hotel. Super amazing kind man that you just love to be around. Then we saw another guy from there group who was just straight up a total dick to us. Their plan was to road walk to the next town rather than attempt the water crossings. Continuing on we saw Freckles and Tim and ran to them! I was so excited to see them and Tim looked great! He bounced back so quickly. So altogether down the road we continued. When we got to the trail, Scotty made Hefty a sign to let him know we were ahead camping. He wrote Ognion like the sign from Bishop haha (Good story I know). We set up camp at a legit site with a bear bin for us to stash our food away in. It was a nice camp spot. And a good way to set back out onto the trail. Enough miles to get the legs moving and get familiar with the pack weight but not fatiguing. I’m kind of nervous for this next section. Will I know when something is too dangerous before already being in the middle of it? It’s been getting a little colder so hopefully that means the water levels will have dropped. But I trust my family, and I think we have the knowledge and patience to find good safe crossings. It will definitely be an adventure.

Day 70-71: well these short 7 miles into Lee Vining have been anything but easy for poor Tim. He keeps getting really light headed. Freckles is a winner of a girlfriend. She straight up just took his pack out it on her front and started walking. Scotty helped her while Stats and I stayed back with Tim just trying to chat and make sure he was ok. The simplest thing would just fatigue him instantly. (This was actually from the afternoon hike yesterday) this morning we got up to go and Tim wasn’t quite ready. He needed more rest. But we’re just a couple miles to the road. Me, Scotty, and Stats head out to try and get a hitch. The road walk is actually nice. I mean there’s a creek and tons of trees, and it’s closed so we can go all over. We wait for quite awhile at the trailhead but a lot of people were just coming in, and idk why I say a lot of people when we only saw a couple. Finally a guy who was there to find specific birds to photograph offered to give us a ride to the lower trailhead where there were more people. So he did, and then we waited there…..for hours. Nobody would pick us up. It’s so frustrating. If you’re leaving you’re going where we need to go. And ugh it’s so frustrating to see vehicles that are totally empty like come on….and of course this adorable hippie girl pulls over but her car is too stuffed with things. So we just wait more….and then watch Tim and Freckles ride by in their hitch. At first I was jealous, but Tim needed to get to town more than we needed to so that was best. Finally we got a ride. The guy immediately told us how bad we smelled. Haha. Then we found ourselves in Lee Vining. We immediately go get food, then head to the local coffee shop to get some WiFi. Freckles and Tim hitched into Mammoth to get Tim to the hospital. After sitting for awhile and being bored, the guys were doing stuff on their phones, I decided to go walk around and talk to locals. To see if there were any trail angels or info on where we can stay. And good thing I did! The Presbyterian church lets people stay there sometimes. Apparently a group of people biking from Texas to Alaska stopped in the other weekend. So I went to meet the pastor who showed me around. We basically get our own space, a big back room that has a room where we can sleep on the floor, a full kitchen, a ping pong table, and A SHOWER! This is the greatest. So I went and told the guys and we headed there. I was so grateful this was seriously the best thing. Then we went to the Mobil gas station for dinner. Now as weird as that sounds it was literally the dopest and most amazing Mobil ever to exist and the meal I had was one of my favorites of the trail. This place was popping. Live music, beautiful views, and a huge green lawn. I will legit go back there just to go to the Mobil station. Dinner was really fun with the guys. While we were here we also met Jitterbug and she ended up coming to the church also, and later her friend Snitch came as well. Jitterbug is going to head out with us for this next section so she doesn’t have to wait for people coming from the valley. This next section has I believe like 8 huge water crossings….that number is probably not accurate but we had a lot. Recently our friend Strider posted a video of his group trying to get through and they couldn’t. Part of the trail looked like a beach, and bridges were totally washed out. We will see how this goes……Tim has been diagnosed with Giardia. Coming from some untreated water he drank. They gave him a bunch of IVs then a couple pills to take only once. And he should be good to go tomorrow!!

Day 69; this morning was amazing. Slept in until 7 AM and didn’t even leave until 9 AM. It was so nice to just sit and have a breakfast this is probably the first time on the trail that I’ve done this just sit and enjoy my food and conversation before heading off. Usually every day is just a rush I need to get out as fast as I can but not today. Wet, but not a lot of snow which made me happy. Stop for a swim with Scotty Thomas crocs in Santee. Sunday is so adorable with his go pro running and jumping with it. He kept taking time to record videos of him jumping into the water. It was freezing cold but it was awesome. The walk to Tuolomne Meadows has been one of my favorites yet. We have been hiking next to a beautiful creek almost the whole time. And honestly it’s been nice to actually walk again! I’m like finally I can walk fast, I’m always last in the snow so it feels so good to just be able to move and go again. Yesterday, I forgot to mention Scotty found some tools….one being a very heavy and large axe that he decided to take and carry with him. He is insane….hahaha. So when we got to T. Meadows he decided to ditch it near the trash cans by where the rangers stay. This spot is so weird. People can’t legit live here? Everything is super beat up and old. Some don’t have roofs or anything. This probably sounds weird coming from me since I’ve been living out of a tent. But for people to come stay here for seasons? It doesn’t make sense. Then we get to the road, and in this moment I legit thought my life was over. I was walking with Scotty when a man from the woods came walking towards us. Hood up and in all black. This road is closed so nobody is getting going to be in here hiking. I legit thought, and so did Scotty, it was a crazy man out to kill backpackers. Then we hear a….a howl??? Oh shit, it’s Stats. Omg we were cracking up. I was so terrified for a second. Stats has been here hours waiting. He thought we were ahead and was pissed at us for not waiting for him at the road. But no we were behind. So we sat and ate while telling him the story. We ran into some rangers and yep road is still closed. And no idea when it’s opening. That means we have a 22 mile hike into the Valley. An extra 44 miles total. In snow…..this is when I started contemplating really going into the valley. We walk down the road to the post office and store….which literally don’t exist. A lot of Tuolumne was destroyed by the heavy snow fall. Roofs caved in and what not. So we just sat. No trying to get a hitch. It’s only rangers and they won’t help us….but wait. It’s some bike riders…so Scotty jokingly gets some wild flowers and gets down on one knee as they pass to ask for a ride. Hours later more of the group arrives, then more, until we are all there. In what will become the last time we’re all together, and unfortunately the last time I will ever see some of these people. In an immediate and quick decision some of us chose to walk 7 miles to a junction where we can from there hitch to Lee Vining, nothing special here except it’s not a 22 mile walk. And for me I was just in Yosemite before the trail and it’s so close to me I didn’t feel the need to make this big effort to go. So I decided to go to Lee Vining, along with Scotty, Stats, Freckles, and Tim. I think at this point Tim had little choice. We needed to get him to a doctor ASAP and there won’t be one in the valley. So that’s it. We say our quick goodbyes and the rest head to the JMT to go into the valley. We don’t make it far down the road before we have to stop and stealth camp. Tim is just so fatigued and drained he can’t go anymore. I feel so sad for him. What’s going on? Maybe Giardia? Well overall, it’s been a beautiful day and the campsite is just as beautiful. Within the trees, feeling distant from the world even though the road is right there. The bears here are tricky so tonight I don’t sleep with my bear canister. I put it a little away. Apparently there’s a female bear in Yosemite who has learned to open them. Eeeek. So tonight we sleep, and tomorrow just a few more miles to town.

Days 68 we woke up early at the lake and headed out we knew had we had a couple of passes to do on the John Muir trail before getting back to the Pacific crest Trail. when people ask me what my lowest point during the trail was, or the time I struggled the most, today is that day. So, we did the first pass and I’m definitely tired. I’m just over the snow at this point; nothing to do with snow is making me happy. It’s literally, I’m just making myself get through it that way I don’t quit. First pass go up, head down the pass, and we have to walk around the lake. Then we go up another pass and we’re sitting on these rocks, Freckles is calling her sister in Australia to say hi we randomly a phone service up there. Then Scotty all the sudden comes and says,”hey guys bad news” and I look at him with a Blank and slightly evil bitchy stare. Then he says we still have one more pass to do….. and that was all it took I I broke. In my personal life I don’t like crying in front of people and I rarely cry, but at this point it didn’t matter. I had lost all hope for myself and I was miserable. I just started bawling on that rock surrounded by snow at the top of an amazingly beautiful pass. but I saw none of it at that time. I just saw struggle and I wanted to leave. I explained that 90 percent of the time I was never having fun it just sucked all the time and the only time that was ever fun was camp, but everything else was just horrible and I couldn’t take it any longer. Scotty held me and just let me cry. Then Freckles came and held me too. This was probably one of the most vulnerable moments of my life. And these people who are here for me, really I barely know them, but they feel like they have always been a part of me. So I wasn’t scared. I knew they had me. And they just let me cry, and keep saying I want to leave. That wouldn’t happen, I can’t back track at this point and it’s still a ways to Yosemite and deep down I knew I’d regret if I ever quit. So then I got my shit together, somewhat and we hung a bit longer. While Sante made his trail espresso to enjoy, then we headed off down another snowy pass onto another one. I get why people do the JMT it is beautiful. A tall pass to see everything then you get to hang by a lake. They’re basically all frozen now though. Right before the JMT/PCT junction was a good flowing creek with 2 nicely placed logs next to each other to form a bridge for us. We decided to take a break there. And Scotty as usual, started making me laugh. He found some tools and decided to try and fish using the ice axe. This dude..haha. Then we headed on. And once we get to the junction, I think it was Freckles, heard and saw something. Then we started howling, it’s how our group finds each other and communicates and how we became the Wolf Pack. Freckles asks loudly “hefty!??!” There is was under a tree all alone. Apparently up until his last few miles the trail had been super mellow and dry. Some of the group was ahead, they think were ahead of everyone since nobody knew what Happened to us. And Russ has gotten sick so him, Emi, Meg, and Simon are behind. We decided to tackle the next pass. Island Pass. These next 2 passes on the PCT are apparently the easiest of the trail. But honestly I’m so wiped at this point everything sucks. We follow Hefty up the pass then stop at the top for lunch and a nap. Unfortunately Tim isn’t feel good either. His energy keeps dropping rapidly and he keeps feeling sick and light headed. It started yesterday and has definitely worsened. Hopefully the nap helps. And it does. It helps all of us. Then we see Meg, Russ, Emi, and Simon. Poor Russ is so congested. But there’s nothing you can do out here but keep hiking. So we all take off. Tim and Freckles had to stop for Tim a bit and stayed a little behind us. Then the longest fucking approach to a pass to ever exist. The longest most annoying field of endless suncups. If you don’t know what those are look them up and just know they’re the worst. The field was never ending….you’d hike for a bit and look up and nope, looks like you’ve made no progress and still have forever to go. We’re all kinda spread out at this point just going our own paces. But I’m trying to get this shit done so I’m trying to get up to Scotty who is WAY ahead. Step, slip, head down just keep following foot steps. Finally I’m there. At the pass, and Javalou is there. Him and Cros are going to camp here, Stats went ahead. I literally crashed on the rocks. Like my body was absolutely done at this point and I just laid there for a bit as everyone else came up. And we all cheered loudly and were so happy to see Tim make it up. It is so clear something is wrong, he’s so pale and looks like he has lost 20lbs. The thing is this uphill was long but not hard like other passes but the downhill…..UGH. We tried to go one way, nope not safe. Back track and go around this way. Lots of slippery down hill walking and so fatiguing. The constant pounding on the quads is brutal. Finally we’re down. We all go to find a campsite. The first one we found some of us didn’t like. So some stayed, Hefty kept going ahead of all of us and me, Freckles, Tim , and Scotty hiked just maybe .5 miles further and found a beautiful dry campsite. And we got to light a fire. It was a great fire, cozy and warm and we just sat and reflected. It’s whenever you get to camp, you tend to forget all the shit and stuff just seems good again….until the morning that is.

Day 67- we got up early to head out. Literally immediately we all got split up. I was with Scotty, Freckles, and Tim. Later we saw Hefty across the way and Javalou, and Sante. But Javalou and Hefty went ahead of us. We felt all cool because we took a fairly steep short cut and found ourselves on the trail, dry trail! And for awhile. It was so amazing. We also got to walk and see Devils Postpile a really interesting structure creating in rocks (pics above). We even went through a burn area which I always thinks looks pretty cool. So since Mt. Whitney the PCT and JMT have been connected. Later today they will split for about 12.5 miles. The PCT will stay higher on a ridge while the JMT will go back into the passes and lakes for a more scenic view. We’re hiking and it’s snowy and never see the junction. About 1.5 miles in we find out we are on the JMT. We talked about heading back but, the distances were the same between each trail. And a couple of south bound hikers said they had met quite a few PCT hikers who took the JMT to bypass a hard creek crossing on the PCT. They said the others were hiking up to the lake where there were tons of downed trees to cross on, then the back tracked a bush wacked to get back to the PCT. So we chose to stay on and just head up to the lake. The JMT is quite snowy, I don’t think the PCT would have been this snowy. We only made it about 7 miles once we got to the JMT. When we got to the lake we each took some different routes just dependent on what we felt was safest. I followed some guys from another group, we crossed probably 5 different logs going every which way and when we got to the other side we decided to stop and eat lunch. And decided to just stay on the JMT rather than bush wack. Why not since it’s the same distance??? We ended up camping at Shadow Lake, about 5 miles from where the PCT and JMT reconnect. Hopefully we will find the rest of the group there. But who knows. If they had dry trail they may be far ahead of us now?…who knows. There was a lot of mosquitoes here when we got here and literally within 60 seconds Tim and Freckles had made us a fire. What super heroes!!! This was a good night. It was nice to be with a small group, it’s much more personal and intimate. We laughed a lot, smiled a lot, and had a damn good view to look at.