Day 45 - Glen Pass — Walking People Out of Poverty

May 30

Depart Mile 789

Arrive Mile 800.9

Scientist and I decided to get on the trail early, so we could get up and over Glen Pass while the snow was still hard. Before I go any further on my blog I thought I’d share a little background on Scientist, who I got to know a lot better last night. It’s amazing how much you can learn about a person when you are out in the wilderness alone. Scientist obviously got her passion for hiking from her father, who had walked the Appalachian Trail way back in the late 70’s. Until recently Scientist has been living in Colorado, and then she received a call from her father seeking help in finding a new family home. Scientist jumped at the opportunity to help, as it would mean she could get so much closer to her beloved PCT.

The new home was in the Folsom/Sacramento area, and if I’m not mistaken it’s about one hour away from South Lake Tahoe. If that’s the case there may be a chance our paths will cross again, and it could be as soon as next year when I return to the PCT to pick up where I left off due to my unfortunate accident. What I found particularly funny was Scientist’s story about telling her family that she had applied, and been granted a permit, to walk the PCT. The funny part was Scientist’s Christmas list which was full of light-weight hiking gear. The other story that brought a smile to my face was Scientist’s “hoarding story”, whereby Cliff Bars and Ramen noodle packages were piling up in her bedroom. One thing I can tell you is Scientist went to the nth degree to be ready for the PCT, as the home she found for her father came with a 15 acre Oak tree farm. Scientist spent several weeks camping in the forest testing her gear, and practicing at living in the rough!! Scientist also spent a lot of time in the gym and spent countless hours on the treadmill with her back-pack. I wish that I could have spent a night one on one with the likes of Einstein, Legend and any one of a number of interesting people I met along the way.

We set off around 5:45 am and enjoyed a pleasant walk which, unfortunately, quickly changed from relatively flat terrain to a serious climb. Due to all the snow it soon became a battle to get up and over the pass before the snow started to melt. The higher we climbed the more difficult the walk became, primarily because we had to walk in deep post holes. Finally we reached the summit, but not before passing another 3-4 hikers who were also struggling mightily with the conditions. At the summit we had to stop and put on our snow crampons/spiked as there was a very steep downhill section to navigate. Coming up the pass neither Scientist or myself felt the need for snow footwear but going down was a far different proposition. I stopped to take a couple of photos and urged Scientist and another hiker, Scarecrow who had joined us earlier that morning, to go ahead and I would catch up. I had purchased Katoola spikes from MEC, which I had used extensively up on Nose Hill when training with Tina and Dave. I noticed that Scientist was using Yaktrax, which I had used previously but was not a huge fan, as I was forever coming out of mine. I meant to mention to Scientist to be careful with hers, but unfortunately Scientist was off downhill before I could blink!! Hopefully Scientist will read this blog and heed my warning. I know Yaktrax are lighter but in the interest of safety I would always opt for the heavier Katoola’s. As I had done a ton of training in snow, and was used to these types of conditions, I quickly caught up to my “pacesetters”, who, because they live in the US, would not have trained in snow each and every weekend during the winter. We now had to negotiate some tricky terrain that more often than not had led us to water, but eventually we were out of the snow and found ourselves in gorgeous country highlighted by Rae Lakes.

It was now about 9:30 am and we decided to stop for a well deserved breakfast. We had stopped on top of a huge flat rock, which overlooked Upper Rae Lake and we stood and looked down into the lake which was well stocked with trout. The sun was out, the sky blue and we really felt like we had landed in God’s Pocket. What could be better? Good company, lovely weather, idyllic conditions, stunning views, and a hearty breakfast and coffee to look forward to. Does it get any better than this? After a 45 minute break we decided to move on, and just as we were leaving a couple of the folks we passed coming up Glen Pass arrived. We were happy they would be using our campsite and hoped they would enjoy the experience as much as we had. We had only been on the trail 3-4 minutes before we came to a major obstacle, in the form of a water crossing which was about 50-60 feet wide. There were rocks that we could use as stepping stones but it was going to be a tricky to get to the other side! Scarecrow decided to go first and within seconds he was knee deep in water. Upon seeing this Scientist decided to just wade across, and because she was wearing sandals there was no hesitation. I was next up and right away I nearly suffered the same fate as Scarecrow. One of my poles went flying and I was in danger of it floating into the main body of the lake where I would never have been able to retrieve it. Fortunately I was able to snag it with my other pole. I now steadied myself and managed to get about a third of the way across before being confronted with another problem. This time do I take the stone to the right? Or the one to the left? It was a really difficult decision, but finally I alerted Scientist that I was going to throw my poles in her direction and heaved them in her direction. Eventually, after several minutes I was across and dry! It was only then that Scientist informed me that she had videos my efforts on her phone. I’m sure Scientist will have a lot of laughs at my expense in the future, but that’s ok.

We now resumed our journey and made great time before we eventually stopped for lunch. I decided this was a good spot to take my tent out to dry, and I should mention we had been joined by another couple of hikers. After lunch I still had my tent to knock down and suggested the others go ahead and that I would try and catch up to them. Unbeknown to me at the time this was s huge mistake! The afternoon was lovely, and I felt I was making some decent miles as I travelled up a valley with the river on my right hand side. There were several creeks tumbling down the mountains, that were off to my left hand side, but I was able to safely navigate them. Unfortunately I arrived at one creek that was roaring and bubbling and I came to a dead stop. There had to be a way across, because Scientist, Scarecrow and the other people that had passed me earlier were nowhere to be seen. I dropped my bag and set off uphill to scout the creek and see if there might be another place to cross that would be easier than where the trail ended. Unfortunately there wasn’t and it looked ever bleaker looking downhill. As it is extremely dangerous to attempt water crossings without any other people present all I could do was sit and wait. Would you believe I waited two hours before anyone else arrived? It was the group that I had passed earlier that morning, just before going up and over Glen Pass.