Saturday July 18, 11.7mi/18.8km

Shelf above Evolution Valley (60.7/10,870ft) to French Canyon at Merriam Jct (72.4/10,010ft) (CA)

I got an early start to get over Snow Tongue Pass before the snow got soft and mushy. It was easy xc walking for awhile.

I hiked past a lake labeled “11106” on my map.

And this other pond that had great reflections of the mountains.

The last few hundred vertical feet to the pass were on easy, stable talus. My favorite kind of talus!

The view from the top of Snow Tongue Pass was cool. And terrifyingly steep.

After a long snack break, I finished my twizzlers, and chose my line thru the steeeep talus below. I was very focused, and some of the talus was loose, so I only got one photo.

And after I finished the steep scary section, I got a photo looking up to where I had just been.

Surprisingly, there was almost no snow. I didn’t even need my microspikes or axe. I enjoyed the stroll down to Wahoo Lakes, a very fitting name to celebrate that difficult and scary pass.

These purple flowers were almost the dominant species around the lakes.

I left the lakes and met a couple in the middle of a small talus field. They were awesome to talk to, having done almost every backcountry pass and valley out here. It was also the weirdest place to chat, as we each grasped our own boulder, ha! We parted ways and I dropped into Humphreys Basin.

It was super easy walking, and with green! The passes are fun but feel desolate with all the grey rock. The valley was filled with more of those purple flowers.

And the grass grew in these amazing patterns.

I stopped for lunch under the shade of one of the few trees, and found that my M&Ms had melted and reformed. The flavor was actually really good, dark chocolate and peanut m&m mixed together.

I climbed up to the next pass, and this view of Desolation Lake surprised me. I didn’t know there was a lake over there! I think that is Mt Humphreys in the background.

The walk up to Puppet Pass was very easy and not steep at all.

The other side was steep, but it provided this expansive view at the top. The lakes are Lorraine, Paris, and Puppet.

The descent was on talus…again. But this time it was stable talus and not so steep.

When I got down to the lakes, I of course took a swim. It was cold but worth it!

After an hour, I got moving again, and I could see ahead down to lake Elba, and across the valley to Merriam Peak.

As I got closer, I could see a huge waterfall crashing thru a crevice in the granite mountainside.

Once I got into the valley, I got to walk a real trail again!

I followed it for a mile, then setup camp at a trail junction, before a steep climb up to the next pass. Hopefully tomorrow’s passes are easier!

Friday July 17, 20.7mi/33.3km

Dusy Basin/Bishop Pass Junction (40.0/10,740ft) to Shelf above Evolution Valley (60.7/10,870ft) (CA)

Today I got to hike on actual trail, so I covered a ton of distance and took a ton of photos.

I was woken up at 6am by the sounds of this gal munching on the grass near my tent.

I packed up at hiked out in the chilly morning, watching the sun come up.

As I descended the Bishop Pass trail, I was shocked to see an actual bridge!

It crossed and re-crossed the stream, with many waterfalls along the way.

As I got lower, a forest appeared. It’s been a few days since I was low enough to see a forest.

And even some aspen trees.

And this behemoth of a pine tree.

The stream became a giant waterslide, running smoothly down a massive granite slab.

After a couple hours, I reached the junction with the JMT/PCT. Time to climb back up!

It was, of course, a superbly maintained trail.

And I had to stop and get a photo with the classic rock monster!

As I hiked up toward Muir Pass, I saw tons of hikers, I think I counted 20. And tons of waterfalls!

Nearing the top, I saw the source of these waterfalls, alpine lakes!

The trail did cross one very short patch of snow, probably only 50 feet.

At the Helen Lake, I ran into the hiking duo I saw at Glacier Lake, back on day 2. Bjorn and Taylor are doing their first long backpacking trip, taking a backcountry route thru King’s Canyon NP. So cool that we crossed paths again!

At the top of Muir Pass, is of course Muir hut. Looks the same as when I was here in 2015.

Except now the hut had become sentient, and is writing notes!

And there is a new commemorative plaque.

I ate lunch in the hut to escape the wind, and chatted with 10 other hikers coming and going. I hiked out at 1:30pm to see the afternoon storm clouds gathering, as I descended from the pass down to Evolution lake.

Hiking along Wanda Lake.

Hiking down to Sapphire Lake.

The outlet of Sapphire lake was nicely crossed on a perfectly placed series of stones.

The Evolution Lakes are my favorite, the have greenery around them.

And marmots too of course.

I departed the JMT/PCT just after the Evolution Lakes, hiking cross-country thru a nice forest, contouring across the hillside at just under 11,000 feet.

After two miles of this, I stopped to camp. It was a great spot, on a shelf 1500ft/450m above Evolution Valley!

Thursday July 16, 12.2mi/19.6km

SHR/JMT Junction (27.8/11,400ft) to Dusy Basin/Bishop Pass Junction (40.0/10,740ft) (CA)

I was camped out in the open, so when the sun hit my tent at 6am I was awake, and hiking at 7am. The JMT was nice to walk, I didn’t have to pay attention to navigation.

I easily climbed up to Mather Pass (named for the first Park Service guy) on switchbacks, and has good views to the South:

And the the north where I was heading:

On the descent from the pass, I saw many marmots scurrying about.

As I got lower, I walked by the Palisade Lakes. They were cold swimming!

After 6 miles, I left the JMT/PCT and hiked cross-country. This started out with a climb up some easy (but wet) slabs.

And then, the talus pile of despair.

I successfully navigated the talus, and a series of granite ramps that interconnected if you found the connections. It was a fun puzzle. The reward for finishing the puzzle was another small lake!

The rest of the journey up to Cirque Pass was easier, with nice little stone ladders.

And grassy ramps!

From the top of the pass I could see ahead to Glacier Creek Lake.

I ate lunch on the pass, enjoying the views and the lack of mosquitos. I easily descended the pass via a series of granite ramps, and arrived at the lake.

The view looking down the lake Outlet was cool, it just disappeared over the edge.

I climbed up to Potluck Pass, which was supposed to be a series of granite ramps to the top. I never found the right ramps, but I did find something that worked, but was more like class 3 scrambling. It was annoying, I left as soon as I made it to the top, I wanted nothing to do with that pass. About halfway down, I remembered to turn around and take a photo.

After I crossed over another saddle, I could see down into the Barrett Lakes Basin. At this point I also noticed that thunderclouds began to form.

The meadows along the descent were so soft to walk on, and the streams so clear.

I walked around upper Barrett Lake for a mile, it was nice and breezy and refreshing.

And the shores were surrounded by purple flowers.

Looking up to the final pass for the day, Knapsack Pass. It was easy.

On top of the pass I could see tonight’s camp, in the Dusy Basin Lakes.

The descent from the pass started with the typical granite ramps, then I followed a stream the rest of the way. It still had some snow in the shaded gully.

I walked along the lakes for a mile, outpacing most of the mosquitos. I put up my tent at the last lake, where the Bishop Pass trail comes in.

Tomorrow should be an easier day, it’s all on established trails, including the JMT/PCT again!

Wednesday July 15, 14.1mi/22.7km

Horseshoe Lakes (16.5/10,525ft) to SHR/JMT Junction (27.8/11,400ft) (CA) + 2.8mi side trip

The day started off early (6:30am) and easy through an open forest.

I contoured around a ridge until I got to Windy Pass. I saw people up on Windy Ridge, so I decided to climb it too. The first part of the climb was very talus-y.

When I got to the top, it was indeed very windy. But the views to the north were intriguing. I think that canyon is the Middle fork King’s River.

I could also see west down to the Horseshoe Lakes that I camped at last night.

I made my way back down to the SHR and had a snack, what a fun 90 minute detour. I made the quick jaunt over to Gray Pass, which hardly felt like a pass at all.

Then I had a fun descent on granite slabs almost 1000ft down to Cartridge creek.

The creek itself was flowing fast, but I found a dry crossing on rocks.

I re-climbed 1500ft/450m up to White Pass, mostly thru alpine meadows.

The flowers were all blooming at once!

Near the top, a near little rock wall was springing forth with little waterfalls.

The view from the top of White Pass.

It was very windy on White Pass, so I decided to continue another mile to Red Pass. It was a quick walk over, with basically no elevation change. The occasional tiny snowfield made things interesting though.

Looking ahead to Red Pass.

I got to Red Pass and had a huge wrap and some chocolates. Not a bad view for lunchtime.

The rocks change color from red to the grey/granite in the distance.

I descended White Pass, down 1500ft/450m to Marion Lake, passing more interesting snow formations along the way. A creek flows under this one!

The lake was intensely blue.

The final part of the descent was quite steep and talus-y, but it went.

The random plaque at the lake proclaimed it was named for Helen Marion Leconte.

Of course, I went for a swim in the ridiculously blue lake.

The climb up to the next pass started with… talus!

There were more tiny lakes along the climb to Frozen Lake Pass.

The final climb to the pass was very slow on unstable talus. But I finally made it up. Looking back to where I climbed all afternoon:

Looking ahead, down to Frozen Lake:

The initial descent was super steep on loose rocky sand and not fun, but then I got to a snowfield and glissaded down, wheee!

I took a snack break at Frozen Lake, you can see the pass (notch on the right) I just came thru.

After another hour of easy walking, I came to an actual trail! This was the JMT/PCT, and it looked so smooth compared to my talus route!

I setup camp near the trail, and even saw two southbound hikers, presumably JMT hikers (too early for PCT sobos). What a long day!

Tuesday July 14, 12.4mi/20.0km

Lower Tent Meadow (4.1/7810ft) to Horseshoe Lakes (16.5/10,525ft) (CA)

I was up early to finish the climb before it got hot. It started off cool in the shade.

As I climbed higher, there were more alpine meadows, and less shade.

The view south to the mountains across the King’s Canyon.

I finally climbed up to 10,000ft/3000m and there were meadows everywhere.

The first alpine lake I got to was Grouse Lake. The water was warm, so I went in for 10 minutes to rinse off.

I climbed up to Grouse Pass, and had great views of the lake behind me.

And the same lake from higher up, with a cool pointy mountain next to it.

I dropped down from that pass into a shallow valley, then followed this cool sounding creek uphill. It made the most interesting noises.

At the top of the creek was a little pond, evaporating rapidly in July heat. I stopped for lunch.

The next pass I think was called Goat Crest, and it had the most relaxing climb up, with its soft grass ramp.

And at the very top of the pass was a tiny surprise tarn!

The view down the other side of the pass was splendid. The lake is Upper Glacier Lake.

I made my way down to the lake, the descent was a little tricky, some of the options ended in small cliffs. Eventually, I got down and went for a swim.

As I was getting dried off, I heard voices! I’m many hours from the nearest trail, so this was quite surprising. I got a photo of the couple, to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.

The next lake was Lower Glacier lake, very warm and mucky, so I didn’t swim. But it makes a nice photo!

I could see down into the valley that I was about to enter. I would soon learn the valley was filled with hungry mosquitos.

The walking was nice though, mostly on smooth slabby granite.

The last part of the day I joined a trail for two miles. It was a little hard to follow, but still better than the obscure parts on the Bigfoot Trail.

I passed by the State lakes, and didn’t swim with all the mosquitos. Then I came to the Horseshoe Lakes, which were surprisingly bug free. So, swimming again!

Then I made dinner and setup camp.

I get double excited at mealtime, because I love food, and also my backpack gets lighter! This section is 10 days long, which is a ludicrous amount of food and weight to carry. It doesn’t even all fit in the bear canister…yet. It will tomorrow night though!

Monday July 13, 4.1mi/6.6km

Copper Creek Trailhead (0.0/5035ft) to Lower Tent Meadow (4.1/7810ft) (CA)

I drove most of the day, heading south on the 99 freeway to Fresno. With a couple stops for a new shirt and printing my permit, and the traffic, I didn’t arrive to the trailhead until 8pm. Sunset was at 8:45pm so I got some quick photos at the trailhead.

They even had a boot cleaning station for invasive seeds! Just like New Zealand.

The trail was very nice the whole way, the flat part only lasted a couple minutes before it started to climb.

After about 1000ft/300m of climbing, I got one last photo of the mountains across the river canyon before the sunset.

It was getting darker…

By the time I got to the campsite at Lower tent meadows, I had climbed 2800ft and it was 10pm. I had a quick snack, crawled into my tent and promptly fell asleep.

Saturday July 11 & Sunday July 12, 0mi/0km

I spent two days off my feet, and getting cleaned up and organized for the next hike!

I spent 1.5 hours driving the dirt FS roads to get back into civilization.

Eventually the road turned paved and dropped 5000 feet to the valley.

It was grossly hot down low.

I spent most of the day driving south down the coast. And I found a new flavor of pop that was very refreshing… lemonade Ginger ale!

I met up with one of my CDT trail family, Bard. He and his girlfriend had moved to California, and we reminisced hiking stories and had some delicious Thai food for dinner. I spaced on photos, I only managed to get one of the cool little old train depot building that I slept in.

I said my goodbyes the next morning (from 6ft/2m away of course), and made a quick trip down to my friend Matt’s house in Oakland. Again, I spaced on photos, but he looks the same. 🙂 I stopped for dinner #1 immediately afterwards.

I drove inland, and had dinner #2, at another In-N-Out burger. Hiker hunger is real! I also went grocery shopping for my resupply for the first 10 days on the Sierra High Route.

It’s a ton of food, and it doesn’t come close to fitting in the bear canister.

I checked into a nearby motel, it had been a week since my last real shower with soap.

Tomorrow I have a few more small errands (printing my permit, buying a new shirt), and then I make the drive to Road’s End trailhead in King’s Canyon National Park!

Friday July 10, 21.0mi/33.8km

North Yolla Bolly Spring (338.5/6160ft) to Ides Cove Trailhead (358.8/6860ft) (CA) +0.7mi to car

It’s the last day so I got an early start at 7am. And morning hiking is the best.

I could see the ridges I would be hiking all morning. And the trail was nice.

And then…the trail disappeared. For 3mi/5km, I walked a ridge thru a burn area, and the trail was overgrown with small thorny bushes and blocked by fallen charred trees. Finally, at a trail junction, it reappeared.

So I sat down and had lunch! I sat for an hour in the shade of a Jeffrey Pine, hiding from the heat. After lunch, the nice trail resumed!

And the views kept coming too. I think the peak in the distance is Mount Linn.

The afternoon ridgetops were rather sparsely vegetated, and it was sunny and hot. At 7000 feet elevation.

This tree made me laugh, all twisty.

Finally, after an 8 mile dry stretch, I came to a water source. A tiny thing called “D Spring.”

It was cold and clear, so I was happy, and drank a liter before I realized it. I went another couple miles to the highpoint of the Yolla Bolly section of the BFT, a shoulder of Mount Linn, at 7400ft. The views to the east were smoggy, you can barely see Mt Shasta.

The view back to the ridge I had just hiked:

And the views to the west were much clearer, no smog.

Mount Linn was looking tall from my spot, the trail goes around it.

I loved that someone added “BF” to the trail junction sign. Bigfoot Trail is represented!

Once I left the ridge, the trees got huge. It was a nice cool shaded forest.

A view down into the Redding valley.

I kept trying to get a photo of Mt Lassen, but it was too smoggy.

More views into the valley.

The last spring on the BFT was named Talus Spring, and it even had a plaque. How unusual.

A mile later, I was at the trailhead, with the requisite finish photo.

I walked another 0.7mi/1.1km to my car, which was parked at the lower lot, it couldn’t make it up the deeply rutted road to the upper lot.

I sat down and enjoyed the snacks and Snapples I had stashed in the trunk.
Bigfoot trail done!

Thursday July 9, 20.0mi/32.2km

Red Mountain Creek (318.5/2720ft) to North Yolla Bolly Spring (338.5/6160ft) (CA)

I enjoyed a couple hours of walking on terrific trail, above the South Fork Trinity River.

Apparently this section is also a National Recreation Trail!

I gradually climbed along the river, with cool views to the valley.

I crossed the river, and I noticed that the map said it was 3.4 miles to this point. Ha! I walked a smooth flat trail for 2 hours, it’s probably closer to 6 miles. After finishing my jar of Nutella, I forded the river and started the roadwalking section.

The road gradually climbed 2000 feet over 10 miles, so it was easy to cruise along. Occasionally there was the random point of interest.

I could see the end of the road (far right in photo) as it weaved around the mountains.

I bet this sign said something interesting before it was burned up.

I made it to West Low Gap trailhead at 3pm and had a long break in the shade, since I knew the next part was uphill, exposed and hot.

Eventually after eating hundreds of calories I started hiking again. Within a few minutes I passed by a fence and entered the Yolla Bolly Wilderness.

The trail was neat as it slowly climbed below some mountains thru a burned area.

I could see the trail up ahead for a mile, a nice preview of the upcoming hiking.

There were a few small creeks, and these butterflies would gather by the dozens.

The trail was mostly a nice path thru grass, but occasionally would have thorny bushes that were very “exfoliating”.

I arrived to this campsite early, but the section after this is burned so I didn’t want to continue and camp under dead burned trees. Plus, it had a nice spring.

And it seemed befitting that my last night on the Bigfoot Trail had a warning about the creature.

I made my usual tuna and pasta dinner and watched the sunset. Tomorrow I’m done!

Wednesday July 8, 28.2mi/45.4km

Philpot Campground (292.3/2750ft) to Red Mountain Creek (318.5/2720ft) (CA) + 2.0mi for missing a turn

As I left the campground this morning, I noticed the sign called it a picnic area. Weird.

There was a series of dirt FS roads and I missed a turn. After a mile on the wrong road, I realized my error and backtracked, and I was back on course by 8:30am. Bonus miles! The correct dirt road was barely a drivable road.

And it had a weird sideways car. That’s some bad parking!

I walked along in the shade on the quiet old road, and started noticing paw prints. Hopefully I didn’t run into their owner.

After 5 miles I emerged onto a paved road, and walked it for a mile. It was only 11am and already hot.

Caltrans was building a new bridge, and I stopped to watch and have a snack. They have some cool equipment.

I returned to more dirt roads after that, this time in a burned area. The warning signs seem a little alarmist.

A couple hours of walking in the hot sun (no shade in burned areas), and then I finally left the road and entered the forest on the Smoky Creek trail.

It was a beautiful trail, I could tell that a trail crew had been out this year to work on it. The tread was freshly dug, all the plants were trimmed way back, and there were no branches/logs to step over.

The trail descended 2000ft down to the Smoky Creek, and of course it was even hotter down low. So I went for a swim.

I was glad to have a shaded trail for the last two hours of the day, as I followed the South Fork Trinity River upstream.

I got to a large meadow by a stream, and decided to camp. It was 6pm and still hot, my watch said 34C.

Usually I plan my days based on the mileage given by the Bigfoot trail maps. But today’s distance was definitely wrong, there’s no way I hiked 26 miles. My GPS shows 24 miles, which feels more realistic. After this hike is done, I will compare my recorded mileage to the maps for each day. Most days I think the maps will show an undercount by 5-10%, but it will be interesting to see. Only two more days until I’m finished!