Kennedy Meadows to Kearsarge Pass

When I talk to people who don’t hike about the trail, their two biggest fears for me are usually nefarious people and bears. I always assure them that no PCT hikers have ever been killed by bears and that hikers are generally nicer than normal people. My two biggest fears for myself have always been slipping on ice and river crossings. As I headed into the Sierra I had thought I’d be facing both of my fears, but the incrediblely low snowpack this year meant that this section felt much more like mid summer than late spring. Here’s how this section went.

June 1st – Day 50

I set off from Kennedy Meadows with a very heavy pack. In addition to the seven days worth of food I carried, I’d also added a bear can, crampons, and bug protection, adding nearly five pounds to my pack. It was a warm day and I was really feeling the extra weight. Three miles into the day I passed the Kennedy Meadows campground, where a representative from the PCTA was doing voluntary permit checks. I showed mine, and he stamped it. I officially had 35 days to make it to Sonora Pass. Time limits are put in place to try to reduce crowding in the Sierra. 35 days felt like plenty to me, but the representative warned that this section was difficult, and it had taken him 37 days when he hiked the trail in 2019. I thanked him an continued on.

It was a hot day and I’d spend the entire day climbing. Between the heat, the weight of my pack, and some severe menstrual cramps I wasn’t feeling all that great. I took frequent breaks and quickly fell behind Pez, Baby Bigfoot, Wiggles, Zod, and Keebler. I gave up on the planned campsite 20 miles into the hike and settled on a campsite about 14 miles in instead. The site sat above the South Fork of the Kern River, over a footbridge where swallows nested. It was a beautiful spot. As I set up camp I noticed a small hole in my shirt. I did my bet to patch it up. I could feel that my shirt was on its last legs so I’d ordered a new one to Mammoth Lakes. I just hoped that my current shirt would last that long. It was a beautiful evening, and not nearly as cold as I’d expected the Sierra to be.

June 2nd – Day 51

The warm morning helped me get up early and I felt good. I decided to just hike without a specific goal in mind and see where I made it to. Five miles in as I filtered water, that goal changed. I was shocked to check the water report to see an almost 20 mile dry stretch ahead of me: unheard of for the Sierra. I couldn’t believe that I’d need to carry nine pounds of water in addition to all of the extra food and gear I had. I filled my water bottles to capacity and hefted my pack back on. This was the curse of a low snowpack year. I continued on with a new focus on getting to the next water source.

Around 2 pm I caught up with Pez and the rest of the group having lunch. Despite the climb and the heavy pack I’d made really great time! We agreed to hike the remaining 11 miles to the next water source and camp there. It was a very long day of hiking, and I spent nearly 14 hours covering over 25 miles, but the scenery made it worth it. I was so excited to be in the Sierra that I didn’t mind. I ate dinner in the dark after getting to camp and slept well through another warm evening.

June 3rd – Day 52

In the morning we sat around and discussed a plan for summiting Mt Whitney, a 16 mile detour that most PCT hikers tackle. Pez and Wiggles wanted to see sunrise from the summit, meaning they’d need to camp as close as they could. It would take them two days to get that close to the mountain while still getting enough sleep to summit that early, leaving them with two very big mileage hiking days following their summit to avoid running out of food. Baby Bigfoot, Zod, and myself decided that a daytime summit would be fine for us, so we planned to getting close to the mountain that morning and summiting the next day. Zod recommend a campsite that he liked, Rock Creek, as our destination for that night. He proposed that we all camp there and that the daytime summit crew head up the next day while the sunrise group go up the following morning. We agreed and headed out for the day.

As the trail climbed higher I was surprised to still see it all snow free. This portion of trail had been where Cheryl Strayed bailed due to too much snow when she had been in this section in mid June, yet I didn’t even see patches of snow. I arrived at Chicken Spring Lake for my lunch break and finally saw a bit of snow on the cliffs above.

Pez, Baby Bigfoot, and Wiggles were already at the lake when I got there. As I studied my map while I ate lunch I started to get concerned about our summit plan. The Rock Creek campsite was 15 miles from the summit. I’d remembered rangers telling me that I should try to be off of the summit by noon due to thunderstorm risk. Even after hiking 750 miles I didn’t think I could manage 15 miles up Mt. Whitney before noon, so I asked Baby Bigfoot if she wanted to abandon Zod’s plan and hike another 5 miles that evening to get closer to the summit. She agreed, so we cut out lunch break short because we had a lot more hiking to do that day.

We crossed the border into Sequoia National Park and celebrated. We were finally in the high Sierra! We stopped for dinner at Rock Creek before finishing the last five miles of the day. I was shocked at how low the water level was. Zod had warned that this crossing was waist high in 2017, and would likely still be shin high now, but when we got there it was a pretty easy rock hop across. My feet even stayed dry. It really was unbelievable how little water there was. After lunch Baby Bigfoot and I powered through the last five miles and got to camp by 8. I was feeling proud of myself. I’d covered 50 miles in two days in the Sierra. I felt strong and capable, and went to bed excited to tackle Mt. Whitney the next morning. Baby Bigfoot and I were proud of ourselves for making our own decisions.

June 4th – Day 53

It was summit morning! I’d asked my mom vis my satellite messenger to send the weather report. She said it looked good, with only a 10% chance of rain, and not until after 2. I hoped that was true. I decided that I’d turn around at the first crack of thunder, as the last place I wanted to be in a lighting storm was the highest place in the state. We were up by 5 and hiking by 6. At 7 we got to the Crabtree area where we left our bear cans in a bear locker to reduce the weight of our packs. We were at Guitar Lake by 8:30 and I felt confident in my ability to make it up by 11.

I passed a lot of hikers coming down as I went up. It seemed like most had opted for a sunrise summit. As I got higher I was shocked to see that there was no snow on the trail at all. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t need my spikes in early June. Still, my progress slowed due to the altitude. It was clear that an 11 am summit wouldn’t happen. I still hoped I could make it before the weather turned, as clouds were starting to form above the summit. The air was thin and I huffed along. While all the hiking I’d done helped my hiking stamina, it did nothing to prepare me for the altitude and the thin air on the approach.

Finally around noon I made it to the summit. While there hadn’t been many thru hikers attempting to summit in the daytime, there were plenty of dayhikers from the Whitney Portal side. I was greeted at the summit by dark clouds. It looked ominous and I remembered the “Extreme lightning danger” sign I’d read as I’d come up. I spent about 10 minutes taking pictures before I heard the first crack of thunder for the day. It also started snowing on the summit. So much for clear weather until 2. I packed up and headed down as quickly as possible.

Thunder and lightning punctuated the descent, and it either rained, snowed, hailed, or a combination of the three for the bulk of the time down. I hurried towards the treeline. At guitar lake I ran into Wiggles and Pez who were planning on camping there that evening. I told them about the thin air and wished them the best as I continued on, still needing to get below the treeline before the storm worsened.

I finally got down to Crabtree and set up my tent so that I had a dry place to eat dinner. The storm eventually subsided by 5:30 so Baby Bigfoot and I hiked another 4 miles to the next campsite. It was a long, tiring day, but we were proud of ourselves! I was glad to have made it to the summit before the storm, even if I was only there briefly.

June 5th – Day 54

We woke up freezing, our tents and sleeping bags covered in frozen condensation and dew. It took a long time for me to get moving in the morning but eventually I made it out of camp. I just wanted a chill day, but I still had to get over Forester Pass, the highest pass of the PCT. I spent most of the morning climbing. Slowly the vegetation faded away to just rock. The climb was gradual and didn’t feel too difficult after Mt. Whitney. During a break I took my pack off, and a piece of my shirt got stuck to my pack, nearly tearing the entire sleeve off! I resigned myself to getting a new shirt in Bishop and put sunscreen on my now exposed shoulder. I got a mile from the top of the pass and entered a large snowfield. Halfway through I realized it was a snowfield on top of a frozen lake and the ice was thinning. I made it across, but was very glad to be lighter than the average thru hiker.

The last mile was tough, but snow free. Even the dreaded cornice at the top was small enough to leave the trail snow free. The view from the top was nice, but nothing compared to the view from Whitney, so I spent little time there before heading down. There was more snow on the back side, with patches maybe 100 feet long. In a few places the snow was several feet deep, with evidence of people “postholing” and falling through. Again, I was glad that I was lighter.

The valley below Forester was absolutely stunning, more beautiful than the pass itself in my opinion. I took a long break admiring the sound of the waterfalls and the beautiful scenery. Views like that one were the reason I’d started this hike. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to explore such an incredible place.

The trail followed a river for a while before climbing again towards Glen Pass. As I stopped to refill my water Pie Ax gave me some wild onions she’d found to add to my ramen that evening. It was a nice evening, but the bugs were bad so I hiked the last few miles with a bug net. Low snow equals more bugs sooner, unfortunately. It was another cold night.

June 6th – Day 55

I woke up and took my time getting ready. My bear can was frozen shut so it took some time for it to thaw. Fortunately I only had 8 miles to go to Onion Valley Campground, where I’d be exciting to Bishop to resupply and take a few days off. These 8 miles aren’t part of the PCT, but almost every hiker does them because the trail is pretty and the food carries are already long.

The scenery was unbelievable as the trail climbed. The weather was perfect and as I sat to take in the view it felt like the most perfect day of hiking I’d ever had. The morning was quiet, with no sounds except the gentle roar of the waterfalls in the valley. Again, I felt nothing but gratitude to have been able to be on the trail. I got to the top of Kearsarge Pass around 9 and then headed the five miles down, passing many hikers on the way.

I got to the campground around 11. Baby Bigfoot’s parents were there to give us a ride to Bishop. I was grateful for the ride, as there were a lot of PCT hikers trying to get a hitch. We headed into Bishop and I was very aware that I smelled worse than I ever had in my life. I was never more grateful for a shower when we finally got to the hotel. I went to the bakery in town for food, then the barbeque joint with Pez and Wiggles (who managed to catch up and got to Onion Valley only 15 minutes behind has) and then rested the rest of the evening.

June 7th – Day 56

Today would be a zero day! I got breakfast with Pez and Ghost, who I hadn’t seen since Idyllwild, and then did laundry. I got a new shirt to replace the ripped one I had been wearing and in the evening convinced the rest of the group to watch the premier of The Bachelorette with me.

June 8th – Day 57

This would be my first “double zero” or two days in a row of no hiking. We would have a 7-8 day food carry ahead of us, so we felt we needed the rest. I slept in and then packed my resupply before heading to a froyo/wine bar in town. It was nice to feel fancy for a bit.

Afterwards we went to Rusty’s, a bar that was filled with 50% hikers and 50% cowboys. I lost a game of giant Jenga. Afterwards we saw Cruella in theaters because we could. It was the first movie I’d seen since the pandemic. It was really nice to have what felt like a real weekend before heading out on another difficult, remote stretch of trail. Wish me luck getting to Mammoth before I run out of food!

Until next time,

Megan “Fire Ant” Spencer