I was up early today to get ready for our 0500 hrs start. The goal was to get over Silver Pass and the following nameless accent before it got too hot outside. The sun seems to just hit differently in th Sierra. It’s Been in the low 20 Celsius which isn’t that hot even if it’s unseasonably warm. But add in no clouds and the elevation and it often feels like I am roasting.
We were up Silver Pass (10778 ft) by 06:30 just as the Sun was starting to really hit the surrounding mountains. Even if the passes are starting to get lower in elevation the views are still beautiful and the accents are still painful.
From here High Stakes and I decended down to towards the valley below. I must have really looked like I was zombie walking because eventually High Stakes stopped me and basically forced me to eat. I hadn’t had much of a breakfast this morning and was definitely feeling well past lethargic. Having now lost 35 lbs it appears my body has few if any reserves. I ate near 1000 calories of snacks. Now feeling much more human, we continued on our way.
We made our way up the nameless exposed accent at 1000 hrs before it was too hot in the day for which I was very grateful. The climb would have been much worse a few short hours later.
The afternoon was one of my favorites so far in the Sierra. Not only was the trail much more dirt than rock but we past several incredible alpine lakes. Lake Virginia was definitely my favorite even if we had to do an underwater rock hop to prevent us from getting completely wet. On top of this we had great views of the mountains to our west all day long and eventually I believe we could see into Yosemite which isn’t far away!
We crossed paths with a few South bound John Muir Trail hikers and traded intel on the passes ahead. I had hoped to send home my microspikes in Mammoth but based on what they said I’ll hold onto them for a while longer.
The last 5 miles I started to get some pretty significant pain in my lower legs / ankles and needed lots of breaks. I’m really glad that tomorrow we will be in Mammoth and are taking 2 zero days to give our bodies a chance to recover a little and eat as much as possible.
Just shortly before camp we passed the 900 mile marker on the PCT!!!! We are now more than 1/3 complete the trail and have less than 200 miles left of the Sierra section but still a long way left to Canada.
The Sierra Nevada has been everything I hoped it would be and everything I feared it might be. The scenery has been absolutely breathtaking. Towering granite peaks, alpine lakes, snow-covered passes, and some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever experienced. But it’s also been the hardest section of the trail so far.
The days have been defined by long climbs, thin air, rocky terrain, and carrying heavier food loads than anywhere else on the trail. Every pass seems to reveal another pass. Every exhausting climb is rewarded with incredible views that somehow make you breifly forget how much your legs hurt.
There have been moments when the Sierra felt relentless. The combination of elevation, distance, and terrain can wear you down physically and mentally. Yet looking back now, those are the days I’ll probably remember most clearly when this journey is over.
Mammoth feels like a turning point. Almost every hiker I’ve talked to says the trail begins to ease up after this section. The climbs become more gradual, resupplies become easier, and the miles start coming a little faster. After weeks of grinding through some of the toughest terrain on the PCT, that’s a welcome thought.
Of course, “easier” is a relative term when you’re still walking across the United States. 900 miles down. A lot more trail ahead. One step at a time.
PCT Day 69 – Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) to PCT mile 883.6 via Mono Creek Trail
June 12, 2026
Total PCT miles: 2.3
Non PCT miles: 6.9
Total: 9.2 miles / 14.8 km
Total elevation gain: 3114 ft
Total elevation loss: 1106 ft
Steps: 27136
It was nice to “sleep in” this morning, getting up around 0700 hrs with the sun warming my tent and the sound of VVRs generator starting up. It was also nice to have a real breakfast with eggs, bacon, ham and French toast even if it was almost 40 dollars Canadian. I did mention VVR was really expensive yesterday right?
Since High Stakes and I are planning on taking it slow to Mammoth we had a lazy morning. We planned to leave at 0900 ish but that eventually turned into 1030 as we both were really good at procrastinating. The rest of our group left at 0500 and will get to Mammoth a day earlier than us.
Afraid we were going to end up just spending the entire day and vortexing in VVR we finally said enough is enough and got on our way. We took the Mono Creek Trail that goes along the west side of Lake Edison back to PCT as a result I technically skipped approximately 4.9 miles of the trail. But I had to hike almost 14 to do it so I’m more than okay with it.
We thought the Mono Creek Trail would be a leisurely walk along the lake. We were wrong. It was well over 1000 ft of accent and decent to go over some pointless ups and downs.

We joined up with the PCT and started climbing up towards Silver Pass. Our plan was to get close enough so we can cross it early tomorrow. It’s unseasonably hot for June in the Sierra. Today was 23 degrees, no wind, no clouds just hot sun blazing down which made the climb up slow and sweaty. It didn’t help that a good portion of the trail was steep stairs made of rock. We had two creek crossings that required taking off our shoes… both times i stood in the cold water for several minutes.
That’s about it for today. I’m sure if you’ve read the last few days you’ve probably gathered that I’m not having the most fun out here and you would be correct in that assumption. I think the combination of elevation, heat, miles, backpack weight, not eating enough and not sleeping the best is catching up to me. That’s okay, I didn’t expect this to be easy and honestly I’m still embracing the suck for the most part anyways. But I’ve decided that I will take two zeros in Mammoth to hopefully get some actual rest. In Mammoth I’m getting my new pack and I can start mailing home a few things like my Ice Axe. Also after Mammoth the elevation does really start to go down and the food carries are not as long. hopefully by the end of next week more normal temperatures will return!
PCT Day 68 – PCT mile 865.4 to Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) via Bear Ridge Trail
June 11, 2026
Total PCT miles: 10.3
Non PCT miles: 7
Total: 17.3 miles / 27.8 km
Total elevation gain: 2379 ft
Total elevation loss: 4921 ft
Steps: 41062
I’m not sure what to write about today. This stretch in the Sierra has definitely been the hardest physical thing I have ever done. Everything hurt by the end of the day. My knees from the constant rock stairs I follow to go down a mountain pass. My ankles from all the weird awkward steps I take on various rocks. My hips from carrying the bulk of weight of my pack and subsequent rash I’ve developed. My back and shoulders, also from said pack. My arms from using my trekking poles constantly to help me along my way and my head. Oh don’t forget my poor feet that spent a good part of the day wet. Thruhiking is hard work.
I was shocked when I woke up at 0400 this morning to get ready to leave that I didn’t have much of any condensation in or on my tent. Camped literally next to an alpine lake I expected to wake up a semi soggy mess. Small victory! By 0500 we were moving up the final 1.7 miles and 1000ish feet of elevation to the top of Selden Pass (10913 ft). There was barely any snow on the accent and the maybe quarter mile on the decent was surprisingly solid. There would be no post holing today! The views from the top of the pass as the sun was rising were beautiful but no where near as dramatic as some of the higher passes.
From here we started a long descent following Bear Creek. As we continued to descend the creek for larger and more ominous. In a few short miles we would cross it. Bear Creek is another notorious water crossing on the PCT and today it was flowing. The water was up to my mid thigh, maybe slightly higher and the current was strong. I almost lost my footing more than once. Looking back on it our group just kinda went for it individually instead of working together to make it safer. Fortunately everyone passed safely and other than my shoes being wet for most of the rest of the day no harm was done.
We continued along the side of Bear Creek for a few more miles crossing many streams that feed into it getting feet and shoes wet more than once. Then started the second climb of the day.
By now my legs were screaming at me and most of the group was feeling the pain of the last several days. But we took limited to no breaks as VVR and the promise of real food was calling our names. We reached the Bear Ridge Trail around 11:00 and started the long decent. By now we were basically marching zombies with one thing on our mind “foooooooooood”.
Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) is a common stop for PCT hikers to break of the Bishop to Mammoth food carry. There is free camping and thru hikers get one free drink but everything else is pricey. Want to do Landry 10$. Want to have a shower 10$. WiFi 20$! Food from the restaurant is expensive and so is the resupply. Fortunately they are nice enough to open a tab for you so you don’t know how much you spent until you leave. Also fortunate is Mammoth isn’t far away so you don’t need a large resupply. It was nice to get here around 1400 hrs. But 17 miles in the Sierra without breaks by 1400 is a long hard day.
There is a weight scale here. When I started the trail I weighed about 230lbs. Today I weighed in at 195 lbs. My hip belt on my pack is almost as tight as it can go and my pants that were tight when I started the trail are a number of sizes too large. It’s safe to say if you want to loose weight the PCT diet is the way to go.
High Stakes and I have decided to take a slower pace and take two and a half days to get to Mammoth instead of just two. The rest of our group is pushing forward on the original timeline but we are both exhausted. This will also allow us to get into town early and maybe actually relax.
The good news of the day is my replacement back pack has arrived in Mammoth and im already starting to make a mental list of the things I can start to mail home to lighten the load and hopefully reduce some of the pain.
Today was a no mountain pass day. To celebrate what should be an easier day we slept in again and didn’t start on trail until 0700 hrs. Unlike yesterday we didn’t pay dearly for the extra sleep.
A few miles into our day came the biggest obstacle of the day, Evolution Creek. This is one of the more notorious water crossings on the PCT. You have two options on how to cross this creek. 1) at the actual PCT crossing point or 2) at Evolution Meadow alternate route. In high water years it is strongly recommended to cross at the alternate. This year the snow levels are really low But what is around is melting fast due to the unseasonably warm temperatures. High Stakes and I chose to do the alternate while the rest of the group did the PCT crossing.
Evolution Meadow was the perfect way to cross this creek in my opinion. It was nice and easy and only knee deep with very little current. It happens that the main crossing wasn’t that bad either. Depending on how you crossed it was either waist deep with little current or knee deep with some current. All that to say this year this crossing is not a concern.
Over all the morning was really nice. Once you make your way down to the valley you have multiple miles of almost flat hiking. It was nice to be moving fast and coming to the realization that once I’m out of the Sierra I will be able to move fast regularly. Through the valley the trail follows the South Fork of the San Joaquin River and crosses it three times on bridges. I’m very glad there are bridges here. In 2023 one of the bridges was destroyed in the record snow year. This resulted in a long bypass. In 2024 people tried to cross the river without the bridge and several were swept down river (no serious injuries that I know of.)
In the afternoon we started our accent towards Selden Pass that we will cross tomorrow. It was 23 degrees and bright blue sunny skies as we made the 2000 ft climb. If it wasn’t for the shade I would have swore I was back in the desert. I took my time hiking from shady spot to shady spot until i reached a creek where the group was taking a break. At least the water is still ice cold!
It wasn’t far to our campsite located next to Sallie Keys Lakes and the million mosquitoes that were waiting for us there. I guess mosquito season is arriving in force…. Great.
Today was suppose to be an “easy” day and I guess for the Sierra it was. I’m starting to get more pain in my right ankle, Achilles / posterior chain. The shoes I’m currently wearing don’t have the insoles I normally Hike in so maybe I’ll pick up some in Mammoth. Or maybe it’s the decents that have really been like giant stone stair cases the last few days.
Thankfully my pack is still holding up and it’s replacement has allegedly been shipped so I should get that in Mammoth as well!
PCT Day 66 – Little Pete Meadow (832.8) to PCT mile 848.5
June 9, 2026
Total PCT miles: 15.7
Non PCT miles: 0
Total: 15.7 miles / 25.3 km
Total elevation gain: 4150 ft
Total elevation loss: 3274 ft
Steps: 40028
We probably should have left much earlier today but for some reason we decided to “sleep in” and leave at 0700hrs. I won’t lie I really enjoyed the relaxed pace this morning. There wasn’t even any condensation on my tent! Extra bonus! I got to hang out with the deer that were still chilling out near the tents and just take it slow. I noticed that one of the deer was wearing a tracking collar. Wonder what the purpose of that is? It was nice to sleep in but we definitely paid for this decision later in the day.
We had about 3000 ft of elevation gain over 6.8 miles to reach Muir Pass. Sitting at just under 12000 ft it is a long and gradual accent and decent. It is often described as one of the toughest passes due to the miles of snow fields one must cross in both directions. This description is 100% accurate.
On the way up hit snow at 09:30 hrs about 4.5 miles into our day and dint see any real dry trail until near 14:00 hrs about 4 miles after the pass. So almost 7 miles of walking on snow was completed. Because of the temperatures the snow was more of a fine slush and perfect conditions for post holing.
On the accent I had to be careful of what boot tracks to follow. The wrong tracks lead you to the left of the waterfall which becomes quite treacherous to cross. Fortunately I was paying attention to my map and went the right way and managed to prevent Yukon from going that way. We passed two unnamed alpine lakes and continued up into basically a field of white. It was mostly a choose your own adventure kinda affair. I didn’t wear my microspikes, the slush snow was perfectly fine to walk on without.
We finally reached Muir Shelter just before noon and had a little break. I put on my waterproof socks (thank goodness I bought these) for the way down. There was no real trail to follow. Just go down into the white void and hope you don’t post hole too much. Multiple times I did post hole to my knee and a few times almost to my hips.
I’ve never been so happy to see dry trail in my life. I even yelled, part in anger, part in exhaustion and part in relief. Muir pass sucked. 100% the hardest pass so far, do not recommend. Patches of snow continued on for another two or so miles but at least the worst of it was over.
We now entered into Evolution Basin which despite my semi foul mood was beautiful. We had to cross the Evolution Lake inlet which had a nice rock hop bridge that was mostly submerged. Fortunately my shoes were already soaking wet so I didn’t care about getting them wetter.
High Stakes and myself found rock overlooking Evolution Lake and took a nice break and started the process of drying out our socks and shoes.
From here we finally started to really descend and it was only a few more miles to our camp site for the night. The whole group is tired after this long slog. Fortunately there is no pass tomorrow. But there are some of the more challenging river crossings to contend with. Just to add more fun into the day it looks like mosquito season is starting because we had a decent number of them at camp tonight.
