Trail Day 60: Vermillion Valley Resort (6.6 miles off trail) to tentsite (mile 889.2)

10.5 PCT miles, plus 6.6 miles on side trail

Today was the first day in a long time that I put on dry boots in the morning. It felt good. I ended up ready to go before everyone else, so I decided to head down the trail that rejoins the PCT before by myself.

It was a long, but pleasant walk. I was really surprised to see that I was almost to the PCT junction and none of the usual suspects had  passed me yet.

Morning on the trail around Lake Edison.

Morning around the lake.

Finally , Sage came by. He didn't seem to know where anyone else was either.  I told him I had planned to wait  for everyone at the trail junction.

Sage and I got to the junction and waited.  I ate some snacks and even took a nap before I saw Songbeard show up. Apparently,  those with AT&T were able to get signal part way around the lake, and that caused a huge delay as everyone was checking messages.

After a short break, we continued walking the PCT.  Unfortunately,  this was mostly an uphill section and I seem to struggle with that more than other people. Today I was having an even harder time. I felt a little nauseated and had to sit down on a rock part way up.

I realized that I had hiked almost 7 miles on a half liter of water. That wasn't good. I only had another half liter on me so I took some sips and slowly headed up the switchbacks where I knew I would eventually find water.  I bumped into Taco Slap and Phoenix, who were waiting for me.

I told them what had happened and they gave me some of their water while they sat with me. They then walked very slowly with me until we found some stream runoff. I drank a liter of water right there and immediately felt better. We then joined thr rest if the group at the top of the switchbacks for a rest.

Heading up.

We spent most of the rest of the day trying to get up to Silver Pass. There were a lot of switchbacks.  At one point the trail went through a pool of a magnificent waterfall. There was also a lot of bushwhacking.

Waterfall cascading over the trail.

Me fording the waterfall pool across the trail.

 We had a water crossing that we had to do early because of the availability of a log, but then had to bushwack back to the trail. The majority of the way up to the pass waa bushwacking, or walking through snow since the trail was mostly covered. Navigation was difficult as well, and I was struggling physically with the uphill aspect.

Log crossing.

Phoenix getting water.

Snowfield.

What made this pass even more annoying was that it had a couple “false passes,” so when I thought it was over, I would round the top to see that I still has more to go. I was very relieved when I reached the top of the pass, and the views were beautiful.

Looking back at the approach. 

Looking towards the descent.

The descent was an entirely  different experience.  The snowline appeared to be higher than previous descents and there were only a couple short traverses and several long, well defined glissade chutes.  It was actually a lot of fun.

Walking the traverse. 

Above a set of glissade chutes.

Songbeard and Sage racing down the glissade chutes:

Me glissading after Silver Pass:

As we were close to the edge of the snowline, Songbeard took one of the water crossings too fast and got a litte wet, so we dried out on some boulders and ate dinner. While we were eating, another thru hiker named Julia came to join us since her phone died and she needdd help navigating.

Nearing the snowline.

Wildflowers in the high meadow.

It was very late by the time we got going, so it was another race down the valley to get to a campsite. As I was flying downhill, I got a glimpse of the setting sun and some beautiful water features. I also had mosquitos slapping against my face, so I can only imagine how it would have been had I stopped.  We got to the campsite and immediately set up our tents and went to bed.

The setting sun through the trees.