The John Muir Trail: Day 17 (Upper Palisade Lake to Sawmill Pass Trail Junction)

Happy to be on top of Mather Pass!

Highlights of Day 17

Crossed two passes today: Mather Pass and Pinchot Pass
Food cravings ALL DAY LONG.

Trail Journal

8:30 pm

Well we made it over Mather Pass and Pinchot Pass today! We managed to make up most of the miles that we lost due to weather around Muir Pass, and assuming the weather stays nice like it was today, we should be poised to finish on time or even a little early.

We’ve been using the Tom Harris map set, which divides the trail into 13 maps. For weeks before we embarked we had them taped to our bedroom wall, & would study them before bed. It was so strange this evening, during our nightly in-tent ritual of tracing through the next day’s route on our maps, to realize that we’re now on map #3 (when you hike SoBo–South Bound–the maps are in descending order beginning with #13 and ending with #1). Tomorrow we’ll pretty much hike all of map #3 and camp at the beginning of map #2. (Weather allowing–always weather allowing).

It’s so strange because this has been such a large undertaking, and there were so many points in time when I thought we wouldn’t finish. Now here we are, nearing the end. Provided the weather is fair, we’ll be done in 4 days. It seems like nothing considering all we’ve gone through in the last 16 days. Granted, we still have some major challenges ahead, and if the weather is too bad then we might still not make it all the way to Whitney. Tomorrow we cross Glen Pass in the afternoon–the time when storms in the Sierras usually kick up. The day after that we cross Forester Pass, which is an absolute beast. It is over 13,000 feet tall and has miles and miles of exposure on either side. That’s what I’m most nervous about.

After that, we have a much-needed easier day hiking to Guitar Lake. From there we’ll leave early early in the morning, pre-dawn, to make our summit attempt on Whitney. Then it’s down the Whitney Trail, headed haste post haste for a delicious burger, fries, & cold soft drink at the Whitney Portal store!!!

I should mention that I’ve reached the point where I think about food just about constantly. I’ve read & heard that that happens to backpackers after being out for a while, & I’ve experienced it to a lesser degree on shorter trips, but this is unreal. I’ve NEVER thought so much about food, nor talked about it, so much in my life. Food definitely dominated our conversation today–I felt like every other thing out of my mouth was another craving or thing I can’t wait to eat when we’re done. Pizza (specifically Bronx’s Whitestone, as well as the double pepperoni that a place in Rocklin makes–large & small pepperonis, with the small ones just a little crisp and curled up around the edges, yum!) dominated most of my thoughts, but was accompanied by an Indian smorgasbord, sweet & sour pork, hot dogs, corn dogs, hash browns & ketchup, fresh bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravy, cheeseburgers, and La Favorita carnitas burritos.

In fact, I’m tempted here to go into much further detail, but I’ll try to refrain. I’m sure it would be boring to anyone in their right mind, not on a 22-day backpacking trip. Tomorrow all bets are off though–I seem to be growing hungrier & hungrier, & the food cravings have been unleashing themselves at an alarming rate.

Gotta get to sleep–had less than 8 hours last night, & a pretty strenuous day. Tomorrow will be another 16+ mile day, with a chunk of elevation change as well. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to do some laundry–I must confess tomorrow I’ll be re-wearing a pair of underwear, & wearing a pair of socks that I wore for 1/2 a day previously.

So far we’ve been good about laundering at least socks & underwear so that we’ve been able to wear clean pairs each day, but our days have been so long & exhausting that we just haven’t found time.

TMI? Perhaps. 🙂