Day 69 (Ian) - Forester Pass
Waking early on July 11th (Day 69), we actually decided it was too cold and went back to sleep for another hour or two. Then, CB made us all hot chocolate with cocoa butter nibs for extra fat! What a wonderful way to start the day. A few miles later, we could finally see Forester Pass in front of us. Hikers need to climb a rock and snow field (just out of sight in the bottom right corner of the photo), then ascend some switch backs cut into the rock face on the right side of the photo, before crossing The Chute (the tiny snow field at the top of the notch). This would be an ice axe required excursion.
So first we needed to make sure all our gear was in order. Patch Adam didn’t have a safety strap on his axe, so we pulled together some paracord and Scribe braided one.
As we reached the rock and snow field, it became obvious that we could either scramble over just rocks, or climb just snow. Scribe and Jailbreak opted for the rocks, while Bandaid, Patch Adam, and I went for the snow. It was exhilarating taking one step at a time up the snow using my ice axe to stabilize myself on the slope with each step. Once onto the switch backs, there were the most beautiful purple flowers!
Then, we crossed The Chute. There was a very well constructed path cut into the ice which made this relatively easy. It would have been scary as hell to be the first person to have crossed or to be whoever it was that cut the track (probably a Ranger).
Finally at the top, and reaching the highest elevation along the entire length of the PCT, we posed for photos. Jailbreak created an amazing dichotomy with his Forester Pass photo and his starting photo from the Southern Terminus: the bright, clean, smiling Jailbreak at Mexico versus the hardened, dirty, chain-smoking Jailbreak on Forester. It was a sight to behold.
The view from the other side was utterly breathtaking. It was amazing to see from on high the transition between the different climate zones: bare rock, snow, and ice up top slowly becoming covered with trees at the start of the long valley eventually morphing into a lively forest with tiny alpine lakes and fields of flowers. We would not be walking through the eponymous Kings Canyon, which is in the west of the park, but it felt like we were walking in the lands of giants - lands which did not truly belong to us, where we were only guests and must earn the right to be there.
Bubbs Creek was the final water hurdle to our day before a steep climb up the north side of the valley to Kearsarge Pass Trail near mile 788. Bubbs Creek was so flooded! With several weeks of hiking through the Sierras left ahead of us, my thoughts were filled with what other crazy sights there were left to see.
