8/7/17: Seasonal Stream Tentsite Mile 841.6 to Mile 815.5 Tentsite

Brrrr last night was cold and so was this morning! It was tough finding motivation to get out of our sleeping bags and it took us longer than usual to get walking this morning. We had a couple miles of climbing up to Muir Pass. There was an alpine lake that was still mostly frozen over and we walked over a largely snow covered trail as we ascended the pass. It felt very wintery! I was glad we only had a short ways to go because hiking was feeling tough at this altitude. At the top of the pass was Muir Hut, a stone building that offered shelter to hikers caught in bad weather. It was surprisingly clean inside and offered protection from the cold wind. Wolf Bird had spotted a couple hikers below us when we were ascending he pass and we suspected it might be Yote and 2.Toe so we hung out for a while waiting for them. Soon enough the two of them appeared! They also introduced us to Wes, a guy from Asheville hiking the JMT that they’d met. After a while a couple girls section hiking the PCT also showed up. We all hung out and chatted in the shelter for a bit and snapped some photos making for a long leisurely break. Eventually we bundled up and set off to descend the pass. It was mostly snow for a couple miles and then transitioned to dry trail and then hot trail as we got to lower elevations and the sun beat down on us. Wes’ hiking pole broke on the descent which was a bummer as he didn’t plan to go into a town for the remaining 80 or so miles of his JMT hike, so he didn’t have a way to fix or replace it. 

As soon as we got to the end of the downhill from Muir Pass we began climbing uphill again and would do so for about 11 miles until we reached the top of the next pass, Mather Pass. Wolf Bird and I took a lunch break about two miles into the uphill. Wes caught up to us and was excited to tell us that he had run into a guy who just so happened To be carrying an extra hiking pole and lent him parts from it to fix his broken pole! The trail provides. 

After lunch we had 9.5 miles to the top of Mather Pass. I mustered up my mental strength and did my best to walk a steady pace for the next 3-4 hours. The climb started gradually and then changed into switchbacks and a steeper climb after a while. I was feeling pretty good but started getting tired about 3 miles from the top of the pass. It was getting late in the day, around 6pm and I was feeling a time crunch as I wanted to get to the top of the pass while it was still early and light out.

Wolf Bird started walking with me and telling me about ideas he had for a book he wants to write. Listening to him helped distract me from my growing exhaustion. As we walked we passed many (mostly JMT) hikers with their tents set up already. One group asked if we had enough water to get over the pass and another group told us there weren’t any good campsites before the pass. It felt a little strange to be getting unsolicited advice and also their words made me feel worried about our plan for some reason even though we definitely had time to get over the pass before dark. As we neared the final two miles of the pass, a dark cloud appeared over the top of the pass. I got worried that it was about to thunderstorm, and was especially worried that we’d be on the highest elevation in the area in an open exposed section. I started walking as fast as I could to try to get up and over the pass quilt. That didn’t last long as soon I ran into snow. 
I waited for Wolf Bird and we navigated he snow together.  Well more like he went in front and I followed. There were a couple really scary and sketchy areas with steep snow and also loose rocks but we got through it just fine. The last switchbacks to the top of the pass took every ounce of eedfort we had. Luckily the dark clouds cleared and I felt less pressure to get over quickly. Finally we reached the top! We felt so accomplished… What a long climb! We later would decide this pass and Benson Pass were our two toughest passes, at least going southbound. 

The view from the top of the pass was beautiful and also startling. The other side of the pass revealed a starkly different terrain. It was much flatter and open on the other side. It looked like the moon! Everything was illuminated by the setting Suns rays and it was just beautiful and peaceful. 
We descended down the switchbacks on the other side of the pass quickly and had to also do some scrambling down loose rock and sand which ended up being fun. It was growing  late and darker out and we were aching to get to camp after such a long day. We finally reached the flat open terrain at the bottom of the hill and began looking for campsites. We ran into a group of young guys who were hiking the High Sierra Route and chatted with them briefly. Finally we found a place for our tent and set up quickly as it was growing cold. I cooked dinner and set up the tent while Wolf Bird got us water. It was one of our later nights, as we didn’t arrive at camp until almost 8 or so. As I was about to get in the tent for the night I heard a howling shout from up on the pass. This is the classic noise that Yote and 2.Toe do to us from far away! We were wondering if they’d make it over the pass tonight as we hadn’t seen them since noon or so. Guess they made it! Wolf Bird howled back at them and we snuggled in the tent until Yote and 2.Toe arrived about a half hour later. I was super impressed, as 2.Toe is coming down with a cold but still managed to do a huge 27+ mile day!! We chatted with them through the tent walls, as it was cold out already. We went to bed late after a long and tiring but rewarding and beautiful day.