Day 13 - Leaving VVR
To try and set an accurate mileage for today’s walk is difficult as VVR is off the PCT. What I will do is provide the mileage from where we started our walk, which included a 20- to 25-minute boat ride across Thomas Edison Lake. This is the route the vast majority of hikers take when re-supplying. We caught the ferry shortly before 10:30 a.m., and it was just the four of us, as the majority had left on the 9:00 a.m. ferry. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, and the water was lovely and calm. We were dropped on the beach and set off walking at 10:50 a.m. The first mile or so was lovely, walking through a beautiful forest, and although there were some ups and downs, it was nothing we couldn’t handle. Things began to change gradually when the trail decided it wanted to go up, and up, and up. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad as we enjoyed some good shade cover from the trees. We finally stopped for a quick lunch in a lovely shaded area, and the rest was very welcome. As we were not going too far today, we decided to shorten the break and were back on the trail within 30 minutes. We were heading up Silver Pass, which has a well-earned reputation, and we were soon to get fully acquainted with the reason why. Earlier in this blog, I made reference to The Golden Pass, which also had a well-earned reputation. The difference was that we were coming down Golden Pass, but now we were heading up Silver Pass. All of a sudden, we were climbing stairs, and this section is known as The Silver Staircase. It was now becoming very hard work, but Woody and I stuck to our task (Huckleberry and Traveller had gone on ahead), although we had to stop a couple of times for a well-earned water break. I think I failed to mention that the sun was now beating down on us, and it was getting hot and toasty.
We met a number of hikers coming down the stairs, and they were all heading to VVR to re-supply. They were in for a treat tonight as pizza is on the menu. Although the conditions were difficult, and the weather was against us, Woody and I were able to roll into camp around 3:00 p.m.
It was time to set up camp and discuss the strategy for tomorrow’s walk, which is a continuation of the climb up Silver Pass. Because we arrived at camp early, it meant we were eating earlier than usual. As a result, I think we were all in bed by no later than 7:30 p.m.
