Silver Pass: Miles 875 - 890

Silver Pass, at 10,747 ft, was relatively snow free but was still full of beauty.  It's funny how things can be a little easier to enjoy when you aren't getting beat up or fearing for your safety.

Beautiful lakes........

........ in the middle of nowhere!  Amazing!

This picture catches the color of most of the lakes and streams we have seen.  I mean, it looks as though we are in an amusement park and a water ride should be floating by any second!

There were LOTS of giant trees!

Free showers!  But the water heater was broken.

It was literally like existing in a postcard day after day........ a beautiful but very smelly postcard.

Mornings in the High Sierra are amazing! Really bright blue skies, in the 50's and 60's, and very little humidity.  

Possum on top of Silver Pass thinking deep thoughts...... and probably looking forward to lunch

It is so hard to walk through this place and not be blown away at EVERY turn.

Muir Pass: Mile - high 830's - 850's

Muir Pass, at 11,974 ft, was a lot of fun to go up........ not so much going down.  Going up the south side in the mid-morning, the snow was nice and firm as we went over snow fields and followed lake outlets up to the pass.  It was so beautiful with a relatively gentle grade.  We arrived to the pass where there is the John Muir Hut and chatted with some hikers and the local marmots.  We decided to head out around 10:30 and that is when all of the real fun began!  The north side of Muir Pass was really gentle so that meant it got a lot of sun which meant really soft snow!  It was a really big snow field so for the next 2 miles we post-holed consistently to our knees and sometimes to our hips into streams of snowmelt under the snow.  Now we knew what thru-hikers had to deal with in heavy snow years and we wish that on no hiker!  We were doing about 1 mph versus our normal 2 - 3 mph.  We were glad to experience that element of the hike that other hikers have endured but our shins and calves weren't too pleased!

Not even terrible beasts.........

........nor soul crushing cold could keep us from Muir!

By the way Possum has his hat tipped I would say that we shall continue up!!

Focus..... Focus!

We have made it!!!  The Muir hut at the top of the pass

Mr. Johnathan Muir.......

....... and Possum have a pondering thought in common.

Whoa!

When you REALLY want a cold-drink then you just have to go straight to the source my friend.

-- sorry that we didn't get more pictures coming down from Muir Pass but we were a little bit busy keeping upright.

Evolution Creek as it came into the valley from the high lakes.

This is the Evolutiom Creek ford which can sometimes hit hikers at mid to upper thigh.  As you can see our ford wasn't that bad but what you cannot see is the swarm of mosquitos invading Possum's personal space!  Since he was a little slower crossing the river and had to focus on not falling in the creek, the mosquitos could keep up with him and attack his cherub-like face like fighter planes attacking King Kong on top of the Empire State Building.  Even with the beard they were relentless!  Almost Awesome had a different 2-prong technique of prematurely flinging herself in the creek BEFORE crossing so as to confuse the hoard as she crossed and also act as a bath.  The results from her attempt were inconclusive.

This was a rowdy waterfall

"Mom, where does our drinking water come from?"

What's the Mather? Mather Pass: mile 815-830ish

Mather Pass, at 12,097 ft, was a cool pass.  For most of the morning we walked through a really big boulder field and  as we approached the pass we could see that the trail swung to the right, went left across a big bowl in the mountain, and then did a BUNCH of switchbacks up to the pass.  Since the snow was in great shape we thought it would be quicker and more fun to avoid the trail to the right and across the bowl and just tackle the snow wall up to the switchbacks.  We crossed the boulder field and did a HUGE cardio workout by kick-stepping up the snow wall and working up a sweat.  The snow can be a lot of fun when it is at the right consistency!

Possum is almost off of the snow and onto the switchbacks.

Have you ever been right in the middle of something and thought to yourself, "why did I do this?"

Finally to the switchbacks and looking back down to the boulder field

Possum on top of Mather.

Looking north from Mather Pass

Even with less snowfall this year the lakes were beautiful!

Lower Palisade Lake

Possum is a little upset that his afternoon snack is finished but he is happy that he has PLENTY of water

It was really cool to see the snow fed creeks turn from rapid water to gentle, meandering streams down in the meadows.  The streams took on an emerald shade that looked as though we were at a theme park.

Pinchot Pass: Mile 807

 

This suspension bridge was a welcome sight since it meant we didn't have to ford the river.  It was a dry, swinging, beautiful sight.

We were impressed to see that only 1 board was broken and tied together with paracord.

We followed Woods Creek most of the morning up to the pass.  At this section the fast-flowing creek was just a few inches deep but had carved the granite to be really slick as it roared down the mountain like a crazy slip n' slide.

For scale, this creek that we followed was about 30 feet wide

This waterfall was about 40 ft tall and really loud.

Almost Awesome on top of Pinchot Pass at 12,142 ft.  There wasn't too much snow on this pass so it gave us a little more of an opportunity to look around while we hiked.

Glenn Pass and Upper Rae Lakes: Mile 790-795

During normal snow years not a lot of people hike over two passes in one day.  Typically, a hiker tries to be up on the pass in the mid morning and tries to be off of them by noon.  In the early mornings the ice can be really treacherous and turn a simple slip into a pant-peeing slide down a mountain and can even be fatal.  On the other hand, if a hiker waits too long then the snow can get REALLY soft and cause them to post-hole with each step up to their hips, for hours on end, which can be quite tiring.  

   Forester was our first pass of the day and as we ate lunch we thought let's go over Glen Pass as well.  It was early and we hadn't done but maybe 14 miles and it was a low snow year so we thought why not?  We had a gut feeling to go for it even though some people who had come southbound over it told us it was STEEP and getting REALLY soft.  Heading up around 1 pm, the snow  was getting soft but we weren't post holing as much as we thought we would be so we kept hiking.  As we climbed over the pass at around 2:30 the snow on the north side was at a great consistency that allowed us to kick step, with only a few post holes, down the STEEEEEP and very focus inducing pass.

One of us was a little shakey after clearing the snow but we won't name names :-)

This is what we saw on top of Glen Pass at 11,946 ft.  It was breathtaking!

..... and that is what we went very slowly down.  

Looking back at the north side of Glen Pass......

........ and moving down to Rae Lakes.  We hadn't read much about this area so we were SO surprised by their beauty!  Most hikers got out right before Glen Pass to resupply.  Add that and the fact that we went over Glen Pass later in the day and it made a very isolated Sierra hike for us where we saw maybe 5 John Muir Trail hikers and 2 PCT hikers over 6 days.  We so enjoy other thru-hikers but it was nice to feel absolutely alone.

All of these crystal clear lakes were in a 4 mile stretch of the trail.  We saw a lot of trout in them and it was amazing!