Walls of Snow at Mammoth & Donohue Pass — PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [23]

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Part 22 ‘To Dare the Huge Snow-melt River Crossings?’ 

Day 71 (07/06) – Bishop… Again!

It was another zero-day in Bishop for me. There was a strange nostalgia of being here again, but without my closest trail friends. I had been suddenly aware that everyone I knew was ahead of me (most skipped ahead), or were off-trail. It was a lonely feeling. I hung out with some other groups – most of these new people were still technically a week behind us, so they were all new faces. The day was largely non-eventful overall. I had decided that I’d skip the section from where we left Bobby Hill at the Piute Pass turn-off, all the way to Mammoth. It would mean skipping a fairly large, 54 mile (86.9 km) section – but, being safe was a priority.

Distance hiked: 0 miles

Total PCT hiked: ~856 miles (1,377.6 km)

Day 72 (08/06) – Mammoth

Today, I would leave for Mammoth to catch up with the others who had pushed ahead. I got a message from Han Solo, who was in the area but was now off the PCT. He was road-tripping in his Jeep Wrangler and offered me a lift to Mammoth.

He arrived about 2pm, and we went to a gourmet jerky deli place, where I bought the tenderest and tastiest teriyaki-flavoured beef jerky I’ve ever had! We arrived in Mammoth and found the other guys (Grim, Akuna, Rubberball, Thirsty, Mellow, Canary) and soon after Princess and Spring (two hikers I briefly met in Tehachapi) arrived briefly.

Grim was with his girlfriend at the hotel across the road, and we all agreed to head over there to use the spa, pool, and sauna. It was damn nice!

We had a fire going and ended up making S’mores again, as we did back on the trail. Grim and his girlfriend brought over fresh vegetables, bacon, and stock. I chopped them up and wrapped them in foil and put them on the hotplate. They turned out delicious!

Day 73 (09/06) – Getting Back on the PCT from Mammoth

This was the first morning I felt like I actually slept in – waking at 7am. We all decided on going to the café and getting a breakfast burrito and coffee. Han Solo drove us to Von’s (a supermarket), so we could resupply, and then we returned to camp to sort out repackaging and being the difficult task of jamming food into our bear canisters. As usual, mine overflowed and I had to take extra bags.

Rubberball, Grim and I also needed to go to the post office. I had a ziplock bag full of junk that was in Rex’s parcel, which she left for me at the hostel. I also decided I didn’t need my beanie, as I have two hooded jackets – so they both can end up in my bounce bucket of random items – which was waiting for me there at the Post Office.

My final chore was getting a permit for Yosemite Valley at the nearby visitor centre. Then it was time for yet more farewells, as I fist-bumped and hugged the guys (Akuna, Rubberball, Grim and Mellow) goodbye. Han Solo drove me to the ski resort where I would start my hike. I also farewelled him and set off, immediately back on the snow.

I farewelled Han Solo after he dropped me off, and began my journey through the ski field. The road was cleared initially, with walls of snow 2 metres high in places! Then, I had to ‘road walk’ over non-cleared roads on deep snow around Minaret Peak. Here, I’d descend Postpile Road, which allowed me to rejoin the PCT at Agnew Meadows. I passed around 5 other hikers, but none of them were thru-hikers like me. It was mostly tedious ridge walking that had some exposed trail, but was mostly snow-covered.

I found myself tiring very quickly, and was desperate to find a good tent site to get out of the strong winds and snowmelt running over almost all surfaces. It was futile, I ended up choosing a crappy spot that was: a) not flat, b) wet, and c) exposed to the wind – fantastic! It was pretty much the worst camp I’ve ever made, but the terrain and weather were just not on my side that day and I needed to stop. Hopefully, I could get some sleep at least. It was so windy and not flat that I couldn’t even be bothered cooking dinner – just cheese and jerky wraps with peanut butter tonight.

Distance hiked: 7.5 miles (12.07 km)

Total PCT hiked: 920 miles (1,480.6 km) (after skipping 54 miles due to dangerous river crossings)

Day 74 (10/06) – Island and Donohue Pass

The sleep was just as crappy as my campsite was. I woke up all through the night from several things. ‘This camp was trying to tell me something!’ I grumbled to myself aloud, ‘No, I’ll never camp that shitty again’. It was too hard to even make breakfast and coffee, so I just packed up and left – it was perhaps only the second or third time I hadn’t made coffee in the morning on trail. I ended up making one of my water bottles caffeinated by putting some Mio drops in (a little flavour bottle – I had both a caffeine and an electrolyte one).

Ahead of me were sections of exposed trail to hike on, but it was mostly snow-covered and steep in parts. The wind never let up, which meant I had to hike with my rain jacket on over my other layers. I burned the layers off one by one as the sun came out and intensified the warmth.

Today’s goal was to hike over Island Pass, and camp before Donohue Pass to do it in the morning. However, Island Pass was so tiny, I didn’t even realise I crossed over it. I was so accustomed to the large, steep passes back in the John Muir Wilderness Park area. So now, I decided to get over Donohue Pass also today, which meant at least 12 miles. The snow softened but never enough to actually posthole, which could be accredited to the wind keeping it cooler.

The climb up Donohue Pass was easy but ongoing. On the top, I managed to time it so well that I actually crossed paths with three hikers doing the John Muir Trail section of the PCT (that I was currently on), but in the opposite direction. We chatted briefly and departed opposite ways. I was happy because my new side had less snow after a certain altitude (not like the total snow-covered section they were heading into).

I was following recent steps on the way down, and that led to a steep section of trail. I decided to follow them and soon found myself on a very steep and dangerous snow slope between two rock layers. Not only that, but I had to awkwardly take my pack off on the slope to get my ice axe out and follow in their steps. It was slow-going, but I got through to the bottom with a small glissade.

I ended up finding a camp soon after, perched on a hill to the side of the valley. It was just past 3pm, and I was fairly tired, so I camped there. I made some ultralight camp shoes out of my spare insoles by threading some para cord through the toe straps and using a lighter to melt the joins together. The reason I need them is, so I can walk around without the sharp pine needles and cones jabbing in my foot all the time. I made some pasta and ate some snacks before retiring to sleep.

Distance hiked: 12.5 miles (20.12 km)

Total PCT hiked: 932 miles (1,499.91 km)

Next Post:

Part 24 ‘Solo Hiking to Yosemite Valley’ 

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