Day 135

Day 135 (pct 25): 26 miles

Today I finally felt like I entered the Sierra. The aha moment was when I reached Bighorn Plateua (1st video). This was a large flat area surround by the jagged mountain peaks and I found myself just smiling at the natural beauty. I finally I felt like i had arrived.

Up at these high elevations I’m starting to see a lot of marmots. They’re really cool animals, like a cute groundhog, but they can be the most mischievous food thieves of all time. They really don’t care about people too much.

Went over forester pass today, the highest point on trail. It wasn’t too bad cause the approach is gradual and there was a lot of snow on the backside but there were a lot of tracks to follow so it wasn’t bad. Big thanks to all those who went before me and blazed the trail. I started to feel the elevation get to me the last .5 miles or so. I was getting short of breath quick, but I also was climbing a lot so who knows. I reached the top around 5:30 then it was a race to get down as fast as possible cause it was f*ckjn cold. Fun fact: for every 1,000 feet of elevation it is roughly 3-5 degrees colder.

Going down was beautiful dropping down into the valley. I would’ve taken more pictures but my hands were numb most of the time. Around sunset though it was incredible. With the sun rays partially blocked by a mountain ridge it looked like light was coming out of one of the valleys.

My trekking pole slid really deep into the snow one time today and I contorted my wrist so I wouldn’t fall. It hurt really bad but thankfully it was so cold I didn’t need to ice it and now it’s all good.

For those coming behind me these conditions were on 5/20

I had to skip mt Whitney (highest point in The lower 48 accessible via side trail) cause of the current and upcoming weather. If I’d have done it today the wind chill was single digits all day and it would’ve trapped me in camping at high elevations for the next couple days. With as cold as it supposed to be, I gotta climb the high elevations in the daytime and then sleep as low as possible to stay less cold.

May is mental health awareness month. Please consider donating to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at the link in my bio!

Song of the day: shoota-Playboi carti