Day 47 | mile 823.2

June 12, 2018

Day 47 | mile 823.2 - 848.1

Well. Today was the hardest day on the PCT so far.

Started like usual, except there was a horse at the campsite. Walking by 6. I was determined to hit 10 by 10 today - first time in the Sierra. When I checked at 9:30, I was already at 10.5 miles. No snow, easy streams.

I’m having a weird skin issue on the backs of my knees. I thought it was sunburn at first, but now I don’t think that’s it. It might be all the postholing. I’ve been wearing my wind pants just in case it’s sun-related.

It was hurting a lot because I was sweating going up toward Muir Pass. I stoped to get some water and take a break. Washed the backs of my legs. Still burning.

Going up to Muir Pass was a challenge. There was snow on the approach for 3 miles. Trail finding was very difficult because you can’t even see the pass until you’re right on it, basically. So you don’t even know what you’re aiming for.

Potable and I checked out the hut once we were up there. I ate a bagel just outside the hut.

Going down was a complete disaster. Sometimes postholing is fun. You never know when you’re going to fall through and it looks funny. Well, it wasn’t funny today. I was pretty scared I would get frostbite or something else bad.

you can't really tell, but my shoes are submerged in water here

My feet were completely numb within minutes. And my fingers were too because I was digging myself out with my hands every few steps. Potable was ahead of me and I’m not even sure he’d come back if I yelled for help.

We were trudging through waist deep snow with icy water running underneath. Sometimes you for lucky and you managed to stay above the snow for a few steps. Most of the time we didn’t. We went 1 mile like this and it felt like 10. It was awful.

note my scowl by now

Finally got out of the snow and onto a mostly dry trail at 5. A few more miles to camp. And Swedish candy was my fuel.

Followed Evolution Creek down into the valley again. It's a similar pattern with all these passes. But this one was especially pretty. Or maybe I was just feeling euphoria from being out of the snow.