PCT Day 65 – PCT mile 815 to Little Pete Meadow (832.8)
June 8, 2026
Total PCT miles: 17.8
Non PCT miles: 0
Total: 17.8 miles / 28.6 km
Total elevation gain: 2917 ft
Total elevation loss: 4997 ft
Steps: 42587
The Middle is Mather Pass
Today’s Sierra pass is Mather. This is Apparently the last of the difficult passes. Some hikers say Mather is more challenging than Forster Pass. After having now completed both I can see how both could be terrifying depending on the conditions you faced. Fortunately for us Mather was rather easy today.
Morning!
Since we only had 3 miles and 1000 ft of elevation gain to reach the top of Mather we decided to leave at 0600hrs. I had a decent night sleep but I’ve been waking up lots in the night with pins and needles in what ever sides arm I’m sleeping on. It’s something that has been going on for a while but definitely getting worse lately. While packing up my tent I caught the tail end of sunrise colors over the mountains to the south. The trail was easy going and thankfully it didn’t go below freezing so the rock hops across the creeks were easy.
I finally got my first look at the pass and immediately understood why this could be very difficult in poor conditions. The series of steep switchbacks lead you up the final 500ish feet. Fortunately the switchbacks were 90% clear and the small portion that wasn’t had really good boot tracks. I didn’t even bother putting on my microspikes.
From the top of Mather Pass you are rewarded with great views of the northern valley bellow and Palisades Lake Basin. There was a significant amount of snow on the northern decent and the microspikes went on.There were boot tracks going in multiple directions but all of them pretty much went the right way in the end. I picked a line and carried on. The early morning snow was grippy and my microspikes works great.
The rest of the day was just incredibly beautiful and was the most picturesque day I’ve had on the PCT thus far. First was the Upper and Lower Palisades Lakes then down a canyon hiking beside the raging Palisade Creek that I’m happy I never had to cross.
We emerged out of the canyon to one of the most beautiful vistas I’ve ever seen while hiking. Before me was a deep valley backed by a wall of mountains. My jaw literally dropped at the view in front of me. We spend some time admiring the view before continuing down the 1000ft decent in just 3/4 miles. My knees certainly felt this one! I wish we could have stayed longer but there was no safely accessible water nearby.
At the bottom we stopped to rest our knees and have lunch. There was a dear here that was completely unbothered by our presence. From here we continued down into the valley before reaching the lowest point of the day – 8000ff and navigating many stream crossings.
From here we started a slow gradual climb along side the Middle Fork of the Kings River. We passed Grouse Meadow and High Stakes and I almost made the decision to camp here and catch up with the group tomorrow. But alas we carried on. We finally got to a stream we might have been able to cross and keep our shoes dry but I made the decision to cross it bare foot. Mostly because i intended to stand in it for as long as i could bare the freezing cold water. My Achilles are sore today and the cold water felt great.
It was a short mile hike left to where i am now camped at Little Pete Meadow. When I arrived Chopps had started a campfire to cook the fish she caught earlier in the day. There are 4-5 nuisance deer here who kept coming into camp with no fear. How much excitement do we lack currently? Well we had a race to see who’s water filter could fill up two 1 liter bottles the fasted while hung off a log… yup that’s entertainment at its finest. Later our group was joined by another louder group of people…
Tomorrow is Muir Pass. We won’t get there while the snow is firm so I’m expecting a slush fest and postholing.
Of course….. Everytime you go above 10000 ft these signs are there
I had another decent sleep last night. Falling asleep well before it was dark outside and waking only twice before it was time to get up at 0400hrs. The early morning was due to the 7.4 miles and 3600 ft of elevation gain we had to hike to get to the top of Pinchot Pass.
The day started by crossing a suspension bridge over Woods Creek. This creek is more of a raging torrent of water so I was really glad there was a bridge here. That said we’ve passed a few other raging torrents that don’t have bridges. It makes me wonder what exactly is the criteria for building a bridge in the middle of the Sierra?
Almost immediately after the bridge we started climbing. It was, at least for the most part a gentle climb. We crossed an unnamed stream we had to take our shoes of to walk across. The water was absolutely freezing but at least I got my morning foot bath done early. At around 10500 ft we started to get patches of snow and shortly after we donned out microspikes to traverse a ridge. It took until 10:15 to reach the top of Pinchot.
Going down the other side was easy there were some snowy patches but microspikes were not required. We passed some beautiful unnamed alpine lakes and stopped for lunch.
We descended to just below 10000 ft which was our original camp site plan. However the group decided to make a few more miles and get in a better spot for Mather Pass tomorrow. Also this allowed us to cross the South Fork of the Kings River today. This is a notorious river crossing on the PCT but fortunately due to the low snow year none of the rivers have yet to be particularly bad.
We managed to find a log, island, log, rock jump bridge to avoid getting wet. Well all except “High Stakes” who ended up taking a plung.
We finished out day with a second crossing of the South Fork Kings River that I decided it was best just to cross in my camp shoes. The water was moving fast but only knee high. We are camped now just bellow 11000 ft leaving just over 1000 ft over three miles to Mather tomorrow. This camp site is incredible and I am literally surrounded by mountains on all sides. It seems like every night the campsite we find is better than the night before!
The good news is my hip belt seem to be holding. The bad news is I have come down with a head cold. Hopefully I get a good night sleep and feel better tomorrow.
I actually slept well considering we were camped over 11000 ft last night. Probably the best sleep I’ve had in the Sierra thus far. The low last night was apparently 5 degrees if you believe my Garmin so im sure that helped. We were up and on trail at 0700. A lateish start but there was no rush today. We had only 1000 ft of elevation over 1.7 miles to get to the top of Glenn Pass.
Ridge walk on the other side of Glenn Pass
The climb up Glenn was slow but steady with almost no snow on the acent. It wasn’t a particularly beautiful hike up but there was a nice mostly frozen alpine lake. We reached the top early enough that the snow field on the other side was still hard. There was a solid boot track to follow along the ridge that brings you to where the switch backs down would normally start but today was more of a choose your own adventure kinda affair.
Most of the switch backs were snow covered and the easiest route was down rock fields. My microspikes went on and came off multiple times while navigated the tricky but non-technical decent. The views into the valley bellow and which hold the Rae Lakes promised the effort would be worth it..
Looking back up at Glenn Pass
We were down at 0845 and a group of hikers going southbound walked by. We sat and watched them do their accent up for a while. I will say I’m glad I was not going their direction. From here only a little snow remained and the easiest way to finish was to glissade (slide down on your butt). This was my first time glissading and it was a lot of fun… minus the rock I almost hit.
I was then treated to the Rae Lakes which are incredibly beautiful alpine lakes. We took our time as we had less than 10 miles to hike today to the bottom of the valley. We stopped several times to enjoy the views and have lunch with the least shy chipmunk I’ve ever met.
I was very grateful for my new camp shoes as we had to do 3 water crossings that involved getting wet. The water was freezing but at least my actual shoes and socks stayed dry.
The repair job I had done on my pack is already starting to let go. I really hope it holds to Mammoth. My pack is way too heavy to not have A hip belt. I’ll do my best to be as kind to it as I can over the next week but I’m not optimistic that it will hold.
On the way down to our campsite we passed 800 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail! Wild to think I’m not even 1/2 done walking through California. It’s like driving across Canada – Ontario takes forever and the rest flys by (hopefully).
We’re camped at 8500 ft tonight which means it should hopefully be conducive to getting good rest. Tomorrow is an early start. We have 7 miles and 3500 ft of elevation gain to reach Pinchot Pass.
View from the top of Glenn PassHiking down the other side of Glenn Pass
PCT Day 61 & 62 – Zero Day in Bishop to PCT mile 791.1 via Kearsarge Pass
June 4&5, 2026
Total PCT miles: 1.5
Non PCT miles: 7.6
Total: 9.1 miles / 14.6 km
Total elevation gain: 3167 ft
Total elevation loss: 1401 ft
Steps: 21763
Zero Day In Bishop.
I shared a room at the Motel 6 with 3 other hikers. 4 thruhikers gear exploded all over the place… Let me tell you that room definitely had quite the pungent odor. The last time I had slept in a real bed, had a real shower or done laundry in a machine where it actually came out cleaner was May 20th in Ridgecrest. Finally having all three was incredible.
I think this is the busiest zero day I have had. I started with breakfast at 0900 and didn’t finish chores until 2300 when I finally was done updating this blog. There was almost no rest time and I walked more than 18000 steps throughout the day. But it was productive.
Damaged left hip belt!
The most important item on the list was getting my back pack repaired. The left hip belt is literally holding on by a few stitches. Yesterday I had taken a chance and went to The Rubber Room which is a shoe repair shop that specializes in repairing climbing shoes. The guy there told me he could fix it but to bring it back in today with a piece of webbing that I ended up getting from Eastside Sports for free. Thank goodness because ever other avenue I attempted was unsuccessful. They did a great job with the repair and I’m confident it will hold. Durston reached out today to let me know they will be replacing the pack because it’s a manufacturing defect! I’m out on the trial now so Mel is stuck handling this for me.
I finally caved and bought a pair of camp sandles. After my experience at Tyndall Creek having something I can wear around camp that’s dry is important. I also got my trekking pole tips replaced again – this trail is sure hard of trekking poles. This time they are name brand replacements unlike what I was able to get in Agua Dulce so hopefully they last longer.
Then came the dreaded resupply. It’s another 7 day food carry from Bishop to Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) where we will pick up two days of food to make it the rest of the way to Mammoth Lakes. I find resupplying overwhelming, especially in large grocery stores. I did manage to get all my snacks at the Dollar General but I probably spent almost two hours in the Vons grocery store overthinking what I was doing. Later came the Tetris to cram it all into My bear canister. It almost all fit but I had to sacrifice the Swedish Fish unfortunately.
The rest of the day was phone calls back home, eating as much town food as possible and updating my blog. Sadly I never made it into the pool at our hotel and thankfully we all just did our Landry together so I didn’t have to wait around for that or I would have never been able to finish. Fortunately I now have town clothes or I would have had to walk around all day in 35 degree temps in my rain gear!
June 5 – Kearsarge Pass to the PCT
This section of the Sierra is best travelled one mountain pass per day and that is exactly what our plan is. Thankfully this means the first few days are a bit lower in mileage because my backpack weighs entirely too much. I’m already thinking of all the things I can send home after this part is done. Today’s plan is to get over Kearsarge Pass and in position to go over Glen Pass tomorrow morning.
We were picked up at 0900 at our hotel by Chops’s dad who drove all the way from Oregon to visit. It’s about an hour from Bishop back to the trail along a very beautiful drive. On the way up the Temperature dropped from the 35 degrees it was calling for in the valley to somewhere in the low 20s.
This was completely frozen 2 days ago!
We started on trail around 1030 and it was slow going as we made the 2600 ft climb up to the pass. Everything was very familiar as we had come down this way only 2 days ago but it was remarkable how much it seemed the snow had melted in that time.
We reached Kearsarge Pass and stopped for lunch. I’ve packed out a delicious deli sandwich for lunch and dinner. I’ve been meaning to pack out town food for the first day when back on trail but I think this is the first time I’ve done it. From here we continued to the PCT. The route we took was slightly different than the route I took out and provided higher views of the lakes below. Before we got too far we were stopped by a Forest Ranger who “checked our permits”. Basically she just asked what the last name was on them as she did not want to make us dig them out of our packs.
Our campsite tonight has no water nearby so I filled up and carried 4 liters of water from the last stream. Thankfully it was only 2 miles from here because between the extra weight and the elevation going to just over 11000 ft I was near my physical breaking point. We set up camp early and played cards.

From here we only have about 1000 ft over the next mile or so to go over glen pass. The temperature will not drop below freezing tonight so I’m expecting a wet slushy day on the backside of the pass. It’s warm enough that I just saw a Mosquito…
Woke up this morning in this beautiful campsite very excited to get to town. It can be quite the process to get out of the mountains and into one of the nearby towns. PCT hikers typically resupply out of a few common routes. The first real exit is Cottonwood Pass into Lone Pine which we skipped. The next pass is Kearsarge Pass. The closest town from there is Independence but it’s a small town with few services. Most hikers, including our group go to Bishop which is about 50 miles from the trail head making this normally one of the more difficult rides to arrange. Fortunately I was able to use my Garmin Inreach to contact Kieth who will be picking us up at 10:30!
Not only can the ride be difficult but it’s a 7.4 miles hike from the PCT over Kearsarge Pass then down some 2600 ft to the trail head. In the Sierra you can leave every few days if you choose but it takes a lot of time. So balancing food carries, mileage and resupply is difficult. But the call of town food is strong and the pack is light so it was time to giddy up!
We were on trail by 6 am with way more time than we needed to walk the remaining 5.7 miles to the Kearsarge pass trailhead. We didn’t want to risk being late for our ride and Ness and myself would be up that early anyways.
The hike up and over Kearsarge Pass provided great views into the Sierra behind us and eventually the valley on the other side. It was mostly well graded but after a week in the mountains we were tired and moved slower than we aught to.
The way down is really well graded thankfully because we will have to make this 2600 ft climb with a full 7 day resupply in two days. Just over the pass we passed a frozen alpine lake. As we descended the temperatures got warmer the lakes now unfrozen. We passed several day hikers and several people camping at the various lakes down the trail.
We arrived at the parking lot with well over an hour to spare. We met a woman who was driving a jeep with a camper trailer who is supporting her husband on the PCT. Man it would be nice to have a camper waiting for me at all the trail heads! She gave us some cookies and water we didn’t have to filter and we chatted while we waited for our ride.
Keith arrived at 1000 dropping off his group of hikers and picking up 7 of us to bring to Bishop. This is now the Third time I have met Keith and I’m sure I’ll be lucky enough to meet him again. From the parking lot down to the valley below it’s a 5400 ft elevation drop down some very twisty turney mountain roads during which the temperature increased by near 12 degrees and my ears poped
More than once. The ride to Bishop with the Sierra to the left and Inyo Mountains to the right was incredibly beautiful. Some day I’ll have to take a road trip down here.
If your ever in Bishop I highly recommend the Erick Schat Bakery and Wonderland Chinese food! After we ate we settled into the motel 6 and were later joined by ReRoll and Yukon. Putting 4 people in a room makes it a lot more affordable although slightly less comfortable. Let me tell you the smell of a room with 4 thru hikers in it is something else.
Now for a good night sleep and what I know will be a very busy zero day.
