Miles hiked: 22.2.
Up at 5ish like normal with soft pink clouds hanging above the surrounding mountains. I have coffee in bed trying to catch up on journaling, then pack and start walking about 6:45 as sunlight starts hitting the high peaks.
I have about a mile and a half to warm up before climbing the famous Forester Pass. The trail winds up through more rolling rocky county like where I camped, with some more biggish (for this neighborhood) lakes and streams tumbling through the grass in little rocky channels. Take a break at the bottom of the pass, drinking water and gazing up at the sheer wall with a little notch atop a chute of scree and talus. The trail switchbacks up one side of the chute, then near the top cuts across the notch and finishes the last hundred or so feet in an impressive set of switchbacks up the side of a steep arête.
I trade down for rain jacket against the chilly wind and start up the pass, stopping after 10 minutes in the semi-lee of a rock to have the granola bar I should have had at the bottom. I look back out over the valley I walked through yesterday and this morning, the jagged shadow of a saw blade ridge easing across meadows and rocky little hills and tarns of all shape and size. Crossing the notch now, the trail mercifully wide so I can stay back from the edge. I can only imagine what this would be like with a bunch of snow in the chute, as is often the case when they hikers pass here. At the top of the pass in the chill wind I look out over a landscape totally different than I've been in the last few days. In stead of the rolling meadows and round topped mountains I've walked through the last few days, to the north is all jagged peaks and spires of dark rock and deep steep sided canyons. Everywhere to the north the land seems to be trying to be vertical, in a battle with gravity as big blocks apparently come crashing down with some frequency. Little lakes are tucked in here and there in bouldery depressions, shimmering in the bright light and with williwas scampering across the surface. I had planned on a snack break at the pass but the wind cutting through the pass dashed those plans.
Crossing this pass I crossed from Sequoia into Kings Canyon National Park. On the way down I had a failed attempt at glissading when I simply sank into the snow, then a few steps later had great luck sliding on a patch of ice on the trail, resulting in a quick fall onto my backpack. If the JMT hiker climbing toward me saw this, he kindly didn't mention it.
The trail wound down a ridge toward some lakes and I passed several hikers climbing the pass. It seems that most people like to camp just shy of the passes, then get the climbing done early when it's cool and there's no lightning clouds around.
The next several miles the trail descended alongside Bubbs Creek, through Lodgepole pine with little meadows and patches of wildflowers. Around noon I reached a trail junction, with the PCT turning right up a steep slope and another trail continuing down stream, I guess out to the roads that come in from the west side of the national park. This was the beginning of the climb up Glen Pass. The trail climbed up through forest and talus with the deep call of Sooty Grouse to a hanging valley, where at another junction a trail headed east toward Kearsarge Pass, which is another common route out to resupply in One of the Owens Valley towns. The PCT passed above Charlotte Lake, a beautiful blue below pale mustard peaks, then climbed into a crazy landscape of geological turmoil. It looked like the glacier had just melted away last week, and the mountain had only been uplifted the week before. Very large forces are at work here. Moraines of giant boulders rise above little tarns with rocky shorelines. The seems to be no soils anywhere yet, just big rocks. The trail is well graded and impressively built up the head wall of the pass, then follows the narrow ridge for a hundred feet before plunging steeply down the north side. This is tough going, with big steps down and lots of fist sized rock all over the trail.
Again, as when crossing Forester Pass this morning, the landscape and geology are very different on the north side of Glen than he south. There is much more color in the rocks now, with whole mountainsides rusty and stiles with white and black veins of some other rock. Down below are the Rae Lakes, a very popular place to go backpacking for 4-5 days. Up above is a bench like bowl called the 60 Lakes Basin, which sounds like a great place to go check out. Down along the lake shore there are lots of people setting up camp or enjoying hanging out by the water. Trout weave back and forth in the clear water, and a big lenticular cloud continues forming right overhead. I run into a ranger and ask him about mosquitoes down lower where I'm headed, and he says they just got bad. I decide to stop and eat dinner up here where it's windy and a bit cooler, then hike further down tonight and hopefully arrive at camp just after dark when the bugs will hopefully be asleep.
I stop along the shore of Arrowhead Lake, take a quick swim in the cold water, then start cooking. I have to wear long pants and rain jacket against the mosquitoes, but the view across the lake to high granite peaks and domes on the other side more than make up for the bugs.
After dinner and a bit more trying to catch up on journaling I start down a steep sided canyon toward Woods Creek. The lenticular cloud that had been overhead all day is now turning garishly red and pink as the sun sets. It seems like something from science fiction. Around dark me and a deer give each other a good scare, then a mile or so later I get to the Woods Creek crossing and find a couple thru hikers sitting around a humble fire. They are Dub Step and Splob, and they are tons of fun to hang out with and I end up staying up until 10:30.
Birds.
Rock Wren
American Pipit
Clark's Nutcracker
Fox Sparrow
Oregon Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cassin's Finch
Hammond's Flycatcher
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Brown Creeper
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Sooty Grouse
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