Trail Day 55: Tentsite near Kings River (mile 813.1) to tentsite (mile 828.5)

15.4 PCT miles

Today was the big day. We got up early and started heading up the Kings River towards Mather Pass, fording our last tributary along the way. The other group had caught us as we were packing up, so we were all headed there at the same time.

Almost immediately after crossing the last tributary, we were walking through sun cupped snow fields again. Phoenix and I were the last ones in the group,  taking our time when picking our way across the snow.  We took a break at a part of exposed trail a little ways out, while the other group started  towards the pass.

Hitting the snowfield on the way to Mather Pass.

The group taking a break on a bit of exposed trail.

The other group when straight up a traverse left of the pass that hit a rock field. The water report, along with a seminar I had watched about the passes had warned not to take the rock fields. We were going to bypass it when the other group called down to say the scamble was easy.

We turned and headed up towards the rocks. As we were scrambling, the other group had a change of heart and told us to stay low. We reached the end of our rocks and started to traverse the snowfield. I was last,  so the steps were already pretty well kicked in for me.

Every description of Mather Pass describes how steep and fear enducing it is. The traverse we did was not so bad at first, but ended up getting incredibly steep after a while. The snow was soft at this point as well.  It was very scary.

We made it to a small section of rocks to rest and survey the situation.  There was a traverse above us that would lead to a rocky area that had some exposed trail, followed by a final small traverse through the snow to the pass. This is the route the other group took. There was also a nice, clean traverse below us that would lead to the rocks/switchbacks, and then to the top. That is the route we all should have taken.

Stuck.

We were in a tough spot. To get to the top traverse from our rock perch, we would have had to boulder up some very steep granite. Songbeard and Sage tried to scout out a route, but came up empty. We considered trying to go down to the lower traverse,  but it was way to steep.

Mather Pass from our rock outcropping. We still need to figure out how to get there.

While we tried to figure out out next move, some of the guys from the other group tried shouting out suggestions from the rocks/switchbacks. They said to go back the way we came and then go down to the lower traverse. They hadn't come that way though and didn't know how steep it had gotten. We were not going that way.  

In the meantime, Stick Figure came around the corner, following our tracks.  He made us so nervous. He didn't have an ice axe.  I’m pretty sure he didn't have crampons or microspikes either. He was leaning into the slope and kicking down into the snow several times with each step to try and compact the snow as much as possible.  We warned him of our predicament, but he kept coming to our slope. A little while later, another hiker, David, also rounded the corner. He took our advice, though and started kicking steps down to the lower traverse before he hit the worst part of our tracks.

Eventually, the guys of our group figured out a plan. We would have to boulder down to a part of the slope surrounding the rocks, then cut a path to join the upper traverse.  The problem was that bouldering to this spot was tricky, especially with the big backpacks we were carrying.

Sage made it down and volunteered to kick the steps in the scary slope up to the top traverse. Dad Jokes was stationed at the bottom to help us onto the ledge we needed to start from. Songbeard was up the rocks a little ways to grab our packs to help us up one at a time, then lower us down to the ledge to the steps Sage was cutting.

It all made me incredibly nervous. I went last to watch how everyone was doing it. While this was going on, Stick Figure made his own way off the rocks and somehow stomped his own steps around the rocks we were to scared to go around,  joining Sage’s steps on the other side.

Eventually,  it got to be my turn. Songbeard grabbed my pack, helped me up, and then he and Dad Jokes helped me down. Following the steps was one of my all time most terrifying experiences. I had my ice axe ready to go in case I fell. All I did was look at each step and made sure it was as solid as possible before putting my weight on it. Even when I got to the top traverse,  I still had to use the same technique since it was both very steep and had some rocks poking out underneath.

Very slowly, I, and everyone else, made it to the rocks/ switchbacks. We sat and rested and watched David make his way on the lower traverse to safety.

Everyone resting and calming down after the traverse.

I used this opportunity to reapply sunblock. I reached down into my bag and pulled it out, but I felt liquid come out of my nose. It was blood and I dripped it on my hands,  shirt, and sunblock bottle before I could figure out that I had a nose bleed. Great,  that's just what I needed at that moment. I used some tissue from Songbeard to try and stop the bleeding. We had to get going, though so I wadded some of the tissue and stuck it in my nose.

We then all did the final push through the snow to the top of the pass. We were all elated to finally be up there, but now we needed to get down. Most of us were out of water too, since it had taken longer than expected to get to the top.

Looking back at the ascent.

Looking down at the descent.

The traverse down was steep and in soft snow but nothing compared to what we had just done. I was still nervous from the ascent, but we took our time and made it down to a water supply, rehydrated, and ate lunch.

Starting the descent. 

Taking a break on a rock island.

Passing a frozen lake.

More descent.

Descending into the valley was an interesting experience as well, since it was snow covered all the way down, with the exception of some granite areas. We rested on one of those granite slabs, and heard a CRACK! Across the way we were able to see a rock fall. It wasn't a very big one,  but it made a big noise.

Blue skies, waterfalls, and rock falls.

As we continued on the trail, we were thrown for another loop. The trail that had been blazed through the snow didn't follow the official trail and was now becoming hazardous because of the melt. The were snow bridges forming which were hollow underneath from rocks and water.  Some were clearly pretty solid,  others were clearly very sketchy.

As a result, we would take the blazed trail across the snowfield, boulder up the rocks to where the trail was exposed, then boulder back to the snow trail when the official trail became buried again.  It was very time consuming.

As we were making our way down the trail we heard another large CRACK! I looked across the way to see if I could see where the rock fall was. It wasn't a rockfall, it was a thunderstorm in the distance. Come on, Sierra, give me a break. We were still well above the tree line.

That's no rock fall.

Luckily, we were at the end of the difficult scramble part of the trail and made our way through the snow as quickly as possible to the switchbacks that would take us down to the valley. The switchbacks were mostly exposed so we were able to run down them quickly. Of course there was a catch, there was a waterfall flowing over the middle of the switchbacks, flooding the trail. It kept crossing over this flooding so we had to keep walking through ankle deep water on the way down.

Not good.

The switchbacks were beautiful and I wish I could have stopped to take pictures. The views were amazing,  wildflowers were starting to appear and there was a gorgeous, large waterfall cascading near the trail. However,  it was more important to get down in elevation and I was practically running down the trail.

Finally,  we reached the valley with one final obstacle. There was a mini waterfall coming down onto the trail, flooding it knee deep in some spots. We waded through this, walked down the forest a ways, found a campsite, and took a long break. The dark clouds ended up rolling over without even dropping any rain.

Taco Slap wading through the trail flooded by the waterfall. 

Because we made up such good ground getting down into the valley, the group wanted to push the miles today and see how far we could get. This meant we were racing through the beautiful,  green forest and I didn't get a lot of time to take pictures. We had to keep moving and at a fairly fast pace. We actually ended up passing the other group at their campsite and made it two miles further to a camping spot on a lake.