Day 139

Day 139 (pct 29): 29 miles

It was still pretty darn cold this morning. I knew it would be a little chilly cause I was camping by water which I don’t want to do cause water holds pockets of cold air but there is just water everywhere here. With a later start I got to Muir Pass around 10am. Going up wasn’t too bad. The last 1.5 miles was on snow and a little more slow moving and tiring but nothing dangerous.

When I got to the top I checked out the hut where I debated pushing to and sleeping in last night but I’m glad I didn’t. It smelled pretty rank in there. I was here a few years ago in July and it was just so different now seeing everything surrounding the area in snow.

The descent from Muir Pass wasn’t very fun. It was gradual and easy but there was a solid snow field for 5 miles. I was moving slower on it and my feet were soaked. But the worst part of it was that I was getting cooked by the sun. The reflection off the snow was killer. I’m really glad I found this pair of sunglasses a few days ago but even with them on the whole time my eyes were burning through the sunglasses. Sometimes I wonder how much damage I did to my eyes on the AT refusing to bring sunglasses.

There was another time today where I got risky with it for a steam crossing. I did a 5 foot broad jump onto a skinny rock sticking out of the water and it definitely wasn’t the smart thing to do but it worked.

After that I went by sapphire lake, evolution lake, McClure meadow, evolution meadow, and walked along the San Joaquin river for a while. This brought back a lot of memories from my first trip here doing this section in the opposite direction. Evolution Lake was one of the best places I’ve ever been. I took a break in the middle of the day there to dry out my stuff

I had to cross evolution creek today which is usually one of the worst river crossing but I took the alternate which is a little safer and just did it barefoot no problem. Water was a little chilly though

Having my legs coated in layers of dirt today actually protected me. I slipped going down a steep area today and my knee scraped a rock and it definitely should’ve been bleeding but it just took off the layers of dirt and a really thin layer of skin. #KeepItDirty


Late in the day I had a coughing attack and couldn’t stop for like 15 minutes. Then I channeled my inner wim hof and worked in some deep breathing exercises and it stopped.

I thought I was being attacked by some hornets today. I heard this ominous loud buzzing in my ear and started swatting around my head but it didn’t stop. I took of my pack thinking they might be stuck on there but it turned out to just be the label on my water bottle starting to come off and flapping in the wind.

The lowlight of the day was seppukuing myself. Earlier in the day I had my first scare with a tick (not sure if that’s what it actually was cause I’ve never dealt with one but it might’ve been) so I was a little cautious about feeling things in my legs. Later I felt something in my leg so I went to brush it off with my hand (still holding my trekking pole) and that pole jammed into a rock and the other side jammed into my babymaker. I fell down in pain and skinned up my wrist. A series of unfortunate events

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: none just silence