The John Muir Trail: Day 19 (South of Glen Pass to South of Forester Pass)

The view outside our tents when we woke up this morning.

Highlights of Day 19

Hiked over Forester Pass, which is the tallest point on the Pacific Crest Trail, and tallest & last of the major passes on the JMT before Mt. Whitney.
Hiked past a wild fire.
Surpassed the 200 mile mark.
Had just enough cell phone service to send parents a short email from top of Forester Pass.

Trail Journal

10:30 pm – First trees south of Forester Pass

We crossed Forester Pass today–the tallest and last of our major passes before Mt. Whitney, yay! It’s above 13,000 feet, so we ascended REALLY slowly so as to avoid altitude sickness.

I can’t believe we’re done with all our major passes!! In 48 hours from now we should be in a hotel somewhere near Lone Pine, weather permitting. Tomorrow we hike to Guitar Lake–a shorter, less intense hike than the last 5 days or so–and then tomorrow night we’ll get up early (like 1am early) to climb the steep steep switchbacks up Whitney. Then we head to Whitney Portal and towards a delicious cheeseburger! (Please note that cheese sticks were added to the food craving list today.

But enough of looking ahead–let me tell you a little bit (really, just a little–I have to get some rest!) about today….

The big excitement today, other than getting over the pass and getting 1 day closer to all the food my heart desires, was that there was a wildfire on our way up towards the pass. We asked backpackers coming down the other way how large/close to the trail it was, and they said it was still small & pretty far from the trail, so we decided to cautiously proceed. It was right at timberline and the wind was blowing it up (where it had no fuel), so we decided it looked contained for the time being.

Not long after, we saw a helicopter come check it out. It circled for about 15 minutes before leaving.

Also of note today: we passed the 200 mile mark!! By our best estimations while hiking, we’ve probably gone approx. 223 miles so far. Pretty amazing!

We also were able to email our parents from the pass today–we got only the barest of service, and intermittent in the extreme, but it looked like I was able to send 2 emails. I know it might seem silly, but I’ve been looking forward to getting in touch with our parents for days. It makes me happy to think that they now have an update, short as it had to be, on where we are & what we’ve been up to. Made my day!

…Last thing, then I need to get to sleep: we didn’t get into the tent until after dark, due to our slow progress up the pass, and while I wish we’d had an earlier night/more time to rest, I was so amazed with the stars! Can’t wait to see them more tomorrow night while going up Whitney. I think there’s no moon, or pretty close to it, so the stars will be extra amazing. I also saw a few meteors and one really bright satellite tonight while eating dinner. Been a while since I’ve seen either of those!