PCT Day 75 – PCT mile 917.1 to mile 934.2

June 18, 2026

Total PCT miles: 17.1

Non PCT miles: 0

Total: 17.1 miles / 27.5 km

Total elevation gain: 4324 ft

Total elevation loss: 4062 ft

Steps: 42718

I am exhausted. Not in the same way I was before getting to Mammoth but more so in the way after you do the biggest workout you’ve done in a long time and then for fun decided to repeat it several times in the same day. Not sure that’s a thing anyone would actually do but that’s how I currently feel.

We were up early which didn’t really matter because for some reason or another I did not sleep well at all last night. On trail at 0500 to make the best out of the somewhat cool start to the day. I could feel the heat radiating from the ground… last time I felt that was in the desert. But I was thankful that the sun was hiding behind the mountains because the first few miles of the day was quite exposed and would have been a sweaty affair otherwise.

Our early start wouldn’t help make Donahue pass any easier as we wouldn’t make it there until the afternoon but it did mean we got to see the morning glow on the mountains and we would probably avoid being in the worst place if there were afternoon thunderstorms.

About 5 miles into our day and moving at a pretty good pace it happened again. I took a step and my right foot inverted inwards. I heard a crack and had an instant sharp pain. I sat down and rested for a bit and the pain fortunately went away pretty quickly. Apparently 700 miles is not enough time to completely heal my sprained ankle. I am starting to wonder how much damage I am doing to it. The only thing I have currently to help support it is an ACE bandage. So I guess I’ll be wearing that until I get my new brace in South Lake Tahoe.

The morning ridge walk finished at Thousand Island Lake. I mean there is no way there is actually a thousand islands in this lake but the name is at least partially fitting. It is a beautiful spot and many hikers do trail Nero’s or even zeros here. I for one think the 30 ish minute break we took was more than enough.

Afterwards there was some pointless ups and downs before we reached Rush Creek, which was rushin’. I got a garmin message from Pinecone who is a day ahead of us warning us that the crossing was pretty sketchy. It’s a bit cooler today than yesterday and the water level was no where near as high for us as it was for them and we crossed without issue.

Around 1300hrs we reached the top of Donahue pass (11073 ft). This is the last time I will be over 11000 ft on this hike. It was a relatively easy pass with very little snow on the accent or decent. But the amount of water crossings on both side was a bit much. While we were at the top dark stormy looking clouds were beginning to form. The last place on the PCT you want to be in a storm is on top of a pass so we started decending as quickly as possible Now in Yosemite National Park.

The day started out with nice dirt paths but now it was nothing but rock steps and water. I eventually gave up trying to keep my shoes dry because there was just too much water. The decent down to where we would camp was an ungodly number of stone steps that vibrated through me with every step.

We arrived at camp just as it started raining but fortunately it was never more than a little sprinkle.