#mather pass

I was perusing trail journals this evening ever curious about NOBO hikers hitting the High Sierra. These are photos taken by Joshua de St. Croix who started at the border in late March. The top photo shows the southern approach to Pinchot Pass. Joshua talks at some length about river crossings and the deteriorating condition of snow bridges that had been helpful in crossing a number of big creeks.

Crossing the South Fork of the Kings was described like this,

When we got to the river we quickly noticed the 8-10ft tall snow banks that lined the river and the lack of snow bridges around us. We looked around and after not too long found the snow bridge that had looked to have been used earlier by the other two hikers [ahead of us] so we took our chances and successfully crossed for first of two crossings. Again we had to walk down the middle island for a few hundred feet before finding the second bridge they had used and crossed it as well. It didn’t look as though either snow bridge was going to last much longer and I’m sure will be problemmatic in the coming weeks for the hikers behind us.

A lunch-time snooze

That night they camped positioned to take on Mather Pass early the next morning before the snow got too soft. Joshua's photos capture the dramatic snowscape. This is not backpacking for the under-prepared!

Mather Pass can be a long 10.5 mile, daunting approach with over 4,000′ of elevation gain when coming from the north. The dramatic climb up the Golden Staircase (1,500′ of gain) leads SOBO hikers to the Palisade Basin and the Palisade Lakes before the push to the 12,093′ pass (the second highest on the PCT).

This is a similar view to the upper photo but with snow covering the pass.

And, the final approach to Mather Pass coming from the north.  For NOBO hikers, the approach is much easier with a modest 2,041′ of elevation gain spread across about 5.5 miles.

Named to honor Stephen Tyng Mather (1867 – 1930), who served as the first director of the National Park Service. Mather began his working life, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, as a reporter for the New York Sun. Later, he worked for the same company in which his father held a senior position -- the Pacific Coast Borax Company -- until he left to start his own borax company.

By 1914, at age 47, he was a millionaire, had retired from the borax business, and was indulging his passions for the outdoors. That same year he toured Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks and came away unimpressed with the upkeep and administration of the properties. It just so happened that the current Secretary of the Interior was an old classmate, so he fired off a letter of complaint. The Interior Secretary’s response would change history.

A couple of years ago we posted a series of images around the prompt . . . why I love the PCT. As a part of that, I posted my own collage (link below). I find that pictures make the words unnecessary.

Other people's photos inspire me as well. The set above included as well as the sets we have posted over the past several weeks.

Day 113 – whiteout 

PCT day 26The day started out like every other one in the sierras, with a cup of coffee. Then I was off to climb Mather pass and see where the rest of the day took me. The 4 mile approach to Mather was amazing with peaks all around and the Mather snowfield seemingly right in the middle of them. As I approached the last 400 yards I could see the switchbacks cut into the steep snow wall. It was…

Rob DiPerna describes his ascent of Mather Pass from the south like this:

As I scrambled toward the pass, I was struggling with every breath, every step. As I watched that storm come towards me, my survival instinct kicked in and I started climbing for my life. About half way up the pass, it began to hail. There was no time to celebrate when we finally made it to the top. The thunderclouds were closing in on us from all directions. We got off the pass fast, and the rest if our afternoon was filled with being peppered with thunder and hail.

His photos of the darkening skies descending on the pass truly say a thousand words.  My heart races just thinking about it. See Rob’s blog at: https://robdiperna.wordpress.com