PCT Day 71 – PCT mile 902.3 to Mammoth via Horseshoe Lake Trail

June 14, 2026

Total PCT miles: 2.1

Non PCT miles: 3.2

Total: 5.3 miles / 8.5 km

Total elevation gain: 948 ft

Total elevation loss: 1089 ft

Steps: 14864

A proper Nero into Mammoth! Yesterday we got as close to the exit to Mammoth as our weary bodies could carry us. Today we get to reap the benefits of yesterdays suffering!

We were up and on trail at 0600. Not because we actually needed to be on trail that early but because we would both be awake anyways so we might as well make the best of it and hike in the cooler air. It was only 2.1 miles to the Horseshoe Lake Trail and it was all mostly downhill and easy hiking.

The Horseshoe Lake trial had some elevation gain but nothing terribly significant. We passed by two lakes along the way and were at the trailhead at 0800. From here we would wait for the bus to take us into town. Unfortunately the first bus of the day doesn’t come until 0930ish but it like almost all the busses in Mammoth are free! But no hitch hiking or needing to reach out to Trail Angles to bring us into town was required!

While we were waiting several other hikers showed up and we began trading stories about the last section. I was relived that everyone pretty much felt that the last section was as brutal as I felt it was. It was nice not to be alone in thinking it was exhausting and challenging.

The group of us all went to The Stove for breakfast / Lunch / what ever we could shove into our mouths before going on our ways.

High Stakes and I checked into the Motel 6 and Yukon Later joined us. Later in the evening Alligator, Sage and Pinecone arrived in town and we met up at the brewery. It seems like many of the people I’ve been hiking with are separating here. Chops, Yukon And ReRoll are heading out tomorrow with an ambitious timeline to South Lake Tahoe. Alligator is going to start pushing the miles harder. Sage and Pinecone will leave the day before us and High Stakes and I will enjoy a double zero. I’m sure I’ll see some of them again and meet new people as I continue along the trail but it doesn’t make it easy to potentially say goodbye to these people who have been suffering along side each other for the past few weeks.