Monday July 20, 13.4mi/21.6km

Lower Mills Creek Lake (86.5/10,860ft) to Fish Creek PCT Jct (99.9/9540ft) (CA)

Morning hiking is the best, good temperatures, no bugs, and views like this.

I had a steep xc descent, which basically meant walking down slabs next to a waterfall.

It was easy hiking, but still very engaging given the feeling of exposure.

The view from the bottom was unique.

After an hour of descending slabs and meadows, I happily joined a trail thru a flat forest.

When I got to Mono Creek, it looked like I was going to have to ford it.

Wet shoes are no fun, so I scouted a bit and found a makeshift bridge! Log walking is fun.

I followed the popular trail alongside Mono Creek for a few minutes, then split off up to Laurel Lake. It was a steep climb.

The steep climb ended and I was rewarded with easy meadow walking!

There was even a faint trail most of the way.

I got to Laurel Lake, which was really more of an alpine pond.

The guidebook instructions say to walk around the lake, and start climbing the pass at the two huge boulders. I easily found the boulders, and had first lunch in the shade of one of the giant rocks.

Bighorn pass is next to the dead tree in the photo. I climbed up the left grassy ramp, right to the top.

At the top, I could see down to Rosy Finch Lake.

And see that the clouds were gathering….time to move on. The next pass was less than a mile away, Shout-of-Relief pass. It was an easy contour around the basin, to the notch on the right.

I was at the next pass 45 minutes later, gave the obligatory yell, and descended down before thunderstorms started.

Near the bottom of the pass, I saw yet another marmot. I’ve seen so many I’ve started giving them names to distinguish them, this is Steve.

There were acres of fully green meadows…and then this one red flower. So strange.

I walked by many small lakes and tarns, mist without names. Cotton lake was one of the larger ones, and it had a unique view looking off into the thunderstorm clouds.

For an hour, there was frequent thunder, and rain for maybe 15 minutes of umbrella time. But it was enough to get the ground wet. Descending on wet slab, yuck.

By the time I reached the lower meadows, the sun had returned. This was called Horse Heaven meadows, probably because of all the grass. I called it mosquito hell.

After a mile of furiously swatting and killing mosquitos, I left the meadow and joined the JMT/PCT again.

It’s such a well built trail!

I camped a minute away, and will do the big climb up to Lake Virginia tomorrow.

Sunday July 19, 14.1mi/22.7km

French Canyon at Merriam Jct (72.4/10,010ft) to Lower Mills Creek Lake (86.5/10,860ft) (CA)

It was a surprisingly easy hike up the 1000ft/300m to Merriam Lake, it started on a faint trail, then became easy xc.

Looking north past Merriam Lake.

The shores had crazy patterns in the sand.

The view looking behind me over the lake was like a postcard.

It was only 8am and too early for swimming, so I continued climbing. The notch on the right (below the two jagged spires) is Feather Pass, my objective for the morning.

There were more tiny alpine lakes along the way, and with a better view of the pass.

There was even some snow left, hiding against the north face of a cliff.

The final climb to the pass was on easy slabs, it’s like a slanted sidewalk.

The top of the pass was very windy, so I didn’t stay long. The view looking ahead, into Bear Lakes Basin:

A very short part of the descent was on snow, and I was excited to finally use my microspikes for real.

Looking up what I had just descended.

The first two lakes in the basin were Bearpaw Lake and Ursa Lake.

I swam in both, this one is Bearpaw lake.

The trail also passed above Big Bear Lake, which I think was the largest bear, but inaccessible due to cliffs.

Next, I traversed over to Black Bear Lake and made sure it was swimmable…Yup. I continued up the hill, this is the view of it behind me.

On the climb up to White Bear Lake, there were tons of chattering marmots.

White Bear Lake was the highest one.

I accessed the lake thru a break in the cliffs, and walked down a nice grassy ramp.

The melting snow made the swim extra refreshing.

I left the lake and walked over to White Bear Pass, and could see all the way down to Brown Bear Lake. There was a ton of talus to hike thru.

I had lunch and a swim at Brown Bear Lake, this was the warmest bear yet.

It was hot, so I stayed until a cloud came by to continue hiking. When I had my shade, I walked on, passing the final bear-themed lake, Teddy Bear Lake.

I left the bear lakes basin and had a nice xc walk for an hour. I arrived at Lake Italy, which is a huge lake, and very windy. I think it was almost three miles long.

After the lake, some storm clouds came in. I waited to see if a thunderstorm was developing, but fortunately it was just a lot of wind and sporadic raindrops. So, I continued up to Gabbot Pass, the last pass over 12,000ft on the Sierra High Route.

The view behind me looked very dark and stormy.

The view ahead looked promising.

I descended the pass and there was a short patch of snow, with red stuff growing on the surface. It made strange red footprints when I walked on it.

I hiked down past Upper Mills Creek Lake.

I saw a wolf! (I think, it was a large grey canine with pointy ears). I stopped for the day at 5:30pm, at Lower Mills Creek Lake.

Watching the sunset from my tent was a great finish to an awesome birthday of bear-themed lakes, swimming, and alpine wildlife.

The alpenglow was intense. Amazing!

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!