Skip to main content

The High Seirra Passes - Part 3 (D-42 836.5 - 862.2; D-43 862.2 - 883.9; D-44 883.9 - 903.2 plus 3.5 to trailhead)

By

The next 3 days were like Groundhog Day. The same routine was repeated over and over. Get up early in the morning so that I could start hiking by 5-5:15 am and get over the pass before the sun became stronger and then, hike as quickly as possible to the bottom of the next pass. The one great difference now was that I had Guy's company and that was extremely invaluable. Having someone to hike with, especially the tough sections, is so good and he was a great hiking companion. The mental effort put in to cross the passes would have been at least 2-3x, if not for Guy's company. Many thanks to him!

I am just going to post some photos with comments.

   Going up to Muir Pass

   Muir Hut on the top of the Pass

Ice bridges that one has to be careful while crossing. If it breaks and you fall in, the best is you will get wet and the worst is you can get pulled under by the water stream

Trail by the side of a frozen lake below Muir Pass

   Frozen trail with designer patterns

    Rock crossing

   A beautiful alpine lake

   Alpine meadow

   Sun dog

Bear Creek that had to be waded across - ice cold water! Water upto the knees

   Deer sighting

   Nature's toilet paper - soft, large leaves

A sheltered campsite with soft pine on the ground

  Alpine lake on the way upto Selden Pass

For the first time, the weather turned a bit iffy. Encountered snow, sleet & rain while going up Selden Pass

   Another waterfall

    Snow-fields up to Silver Pass

   From the top of Silver Pass

   I can't get enough of these alpine lakes

Almost a double-lane highway crossing over the creek 🙂

Guy and I reaching the Mammoth Lakes trailhead

At dinner with Guy and his wife, Beatriz in Mammoth Lakes. Both of them were also super-helpful in sending text messages across to Shalini the last few days over satellite device while there was zero cell service in the Seirras

Data:
D-42

D-43

D-44

Comments

Merlyn Patil said…
Beautiful pics Ravi!
May 31, 2022 at 8:23 PM
Unknown said…
Thanks to you my Guy made it to Mammoth.I am very great full.
Hope to see you when you get to South Lake Tahoe.
May 31, 2022 at 8:31 PM
Shiva said…
Thanks for sharing your experience, Ravi!
Glad that you made it through the passes safely and found some good company!
June 1, 2022 at 6:24 PM
Anonymous said…
Amazing shots and experience Ravi. Glad you made it across those passes safely without too much issue with the weather
A
June 1, 2022 at 7:55 PM
Kuhu singh said…
Stunning pics Ravi! What a lifetime experience you are gathering! All the best for your trek and keep posting! There’s a book in here I see for future when you are not trekking!
June 4, 2022 at 9:05 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pleasures of being on PCT (D-16; 303.7 - 328.8 miles)

By
Heading out from the cowboy camping experience last night, I was looking forward to Deer Creek Hot Springs that is apparently very popular among the locals too & tended to get crowded during the weekends, even though one has to hike in a mile or so from the trailhead parking (or hike 308 miles on PCT 🙂). Reached it early enough, but still it was chock full of people - locals & thru-hikers both - most of whom had camped there overnight in spite of it being a No Camping zone. People were lazing around in some of the pools in various states of undress, as it was a clothing optional area. It was way too crowded for me and I decided to head out. But, as I was heading out, I saw a small pool of water with nobody in it and the water was pleasantly hot (not just warm). Pool I "discovered" away from the crowds Close-up of the pool Me in the pool 😋 What a lovely feeling to be in a hot pool, especially after not having had a hot
1 comment
Read more

Why you shouldn't (or should) thru-hike the PCT? (D-115: 2592.1 - 2613.1 - Nero @ Mazama, D-116: 2613.1 - 2642.6)

By
Over the last 116 days, I have had plenty of time to think about what's good or bad about this thru-hike and just in case, one of you is thinking about doing a PCT thru-hike, here are my thoughts about why you shouldn't or should do it.   Why you shouldn't do a PCT thru-hike - It is very tough physically and mentally - There is less than 50% chance that anyone starting it will finish - Almost everyone seems to have negative physical effects including weight loss, muscle loss, days & days of tired legs & feet etc - You will definitely get scratches, bruises and cuts, if you are lucky. If you are unlucky, major sprains, muscle tears & other hike-ending injuries. Btw, most people who stop do so 'cos of injuries. - You will trip & fall down multiple times (when the avg number of steps is 50000 - 70000/day over uneven paths, the law of large numbers takes over and some of those steps will lead to falls) - It is an expensive activity, with a bulk o
1 comment
Read more

A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

By
It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border.  Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions.  People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping.  By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington.  People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morning around 8:40 am
13 comments
Read more