Day 62 // PCT / Part 1 / Forester Pass

Описание: Day 62 // May 6, 2022 // Trail Miles: 15.80 / GPS Recorded Miles: 15.52 / Cumulative Trail Miles: 786.10

Forester Pass.

622 vertical feet in 0.9 switch-backing miles. That’s Forester Pass. Rising to 13,120’, it’s the highest point on the PCT. From a distance, you’d never peg it as the actual pass. It’s surrounded by other, more ‘gentle’ saddles. But, you’d be remiss. It’s a glacial notch carved out of pure stone. An ice wall often masses at the top making a summit difficult and hazardous.

We camped the night before at Wallace Creek, 9 miles from Forester, so we had to sleep hard and wake early if we wanted to walk on and not ‘in’ the snow. Azul packed and headed out with us as Optimist, Jedi, and Deuces slept in. Deuces caught up. Through icy creeks and snowfields, the elevation began to climb. The reflection from other hikers’ tents blipped in the night as we walked by.

Dawn broke with a pallet of pastels in the sky. As we approached the pass, we were utterly shocked by what we saw. “THAT is the pass?”, we exclaimed, “My God”. It was a tiny crevice splitting two razor-sharp mountains.

As we hit the approach, another crew caught up to us and hiked ahead as we snacked for the intense climbed. We made slow progress uphill and noticed a small yellow flower growing through rock.

Approaching the top, we noticed the accumulated snow wall had waned enough to allow us a safe summit despite crossing an ill-placed snowy traverse. We all howled with excitement at the top. Days of anticipation were replaced with the feeling of victory.

We summited at 9:00AM and the snow had already softened. The descent from the High Point of the PCT was a succession of glissades (butt sliding on snow) several hundred feet to frozen alpine lakes.

Evening descended as we camped in a snowless forest with Deuces and Azul.

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