Mammoth, CA Where The Best Beer Is

Day 47 0 miles PCT – 4.4 actual miles, stayed in Independence CA

Day 48 0 miles PCT – 1 actual mile, stayed in Independence, CA

Day 49 10 miles PCT – 18 actual miles, stayed at Arrowhead Lake

Day 50 16 mils PCT – stayed at Southfork of Kings River

Day 51 15 miles PCT – stayed at Palisade Creek

Day 52 12.28 miles PCT – stayed at the Muir Hut on Muir pass

Day 53 20.5 miles PCT – 22 actual miles, stayed above Muir Ranch

Day 54 19 miles PCT – stayed by Mono Creek Bridge

Day 55 13 miles PCT – stayed atVirginia Lake

Day 56 17.76 miles PCT – actual slightly less lots of trail crossing to get to beer! Stayed right outside of Devils Postpile National Monument

Day 57 7 miles PCT – stayed in Mammoth

Day 58 0 miles PCT – stayed in Mammoth

My shin splints became unbearable! I took a few days off at the hostel in Independence. We watched a lot of the history channel. It’s amazing how much stuff was accomplished by ancient aliens! We entertained ourselves making fun of the history channel for a while!

After resting my shin, I headed back to it. Luckily there was snow everywhere so I could ice my shin almost anywhere. On one of the occasions when I was doing just that by a river, out of nowhere a coyote emerged 20 ft away and walked by me. It didn’t know I was was there so it was in no hurry. It disappeared into the woods farther down the trail. Little simple amazing things like this make all the pain and effort worth it!

Took a short cut down Glen Pass by glissading. As I was sliding down the hill, I noticed that a boulder was growing into view rather quickly with no visible run out between me and an increasing number of large boulders! I had to rollover and weight the ice axe to come to a stop. I smashed my left hand on a rock as I was trying to gain purchase with the axe. I managed to stop shortly after I smashed my hand. I then traversed the run out, kicking in steps as I crossed the drop off between me and the trail. Overall, I think it would have been just as fast to hike the trail after putting on and taking off my crampons and having to traverse back to the trail, but the slide was way more fun!

The section of the trail that mirrors the JMT is amazingly beautiful. After every pass, lakes turned into waterfalls leading to the next lake. The only downfall was at the bottom of the passes there were mosquitos lying in wait! The day I descended from Muir Pass was especially beautiful, lots of rivers flowing in pine forests. I stoped at Virginia Lake early because I was tired. It was a great decision, as I got to observe a beautiful sunset over the lake, sun reflection of snow covered mountains only intensified the visual experience.