Day's end: Crabtree Junction
Day's miles: 18.1 miles (!!)
Total trip miles: 203.1 miles
We woke up early this morning to get a jump start on what promised to be an exceptionally long day. When I poked my head out of the tent this morning I was greeted by a fine layer of snow everywhere, which had whited out a lot of the mountain tops around us. After shaking the rain off everything, fixing and bandaging up our feet, eating a quick breakfast, and saying good morning to our neighbors, we got moving. We wanted to at least get over Forester today by 10 or 11 in case the storm rolled in again. If we were going to be stuck somewhere again, we at least wanted to be on the other side of Forester so we would still have a shot of getting to the summit of Mt. Whitney the following day.
Yesterday afternoon there was no snow on the mountain tops...
Climbing above the treeline, we came to the last camp before the ascent to Forester Pass. Originally this is where I wanted us to have ended last night, but seeing it this morning I knew we made a safe decision to camp within the treeline last night. Soon enough, we came across two guys who had camped in this spot last night. We stopped to talk with them a little bit about the weather and Forester, and asked how they'd slept last night. "Not too good! Too windy!"
Leaving foresty Upper Vidette Meadows and nearing the windy campsite
The climb to the top of Forester was cold this early in the morning as the sun hadn't yet crested over the mountains, but we kept ourselves moving so we wouldn't get too cold. Before we began the JMT, we had heard nothing but horror stories about how steep Forester was, and how it was surely the worst of all the mountain passes. We did not find this to be the case. The trail to the top of Forester Pass wasn't very steep at all compared to other passes we had done already. It was just really, really long. The switchbacks were so long going up to the top that you could almost spend 25 minutes going in one direction before you switched around to go the other way!
The last bit of trail to the top of Forester ended up being completely covered with fresh snow, so we climbed over snow and boulders (on trail? off trail? we couldn't tell) until we reached the top. We took a very quick break to take in the beautiful view and inhale a Snickers before we began the quickest descent down a mountain pass we've done yet. We needed to cover a lot of distance today. Now that the rest of the day was going to be mostly downhill, we had to really put it in high gear.
Photoshop-ed so you can read it better - I heart Rose. Isn't he nice?
Forester Pass
The direction we came from...
...and to the south where we are headed (one of my personal favorites)
Since there was no one up there to take our picture, we tried to do it ourselves but I don't think we're very good at it... either that, or the sun is just always in our eyes every direction we turn...
...wish we had a good one from the top of Forester. Oh well, maybe we'll just have to hike the JMT again to get a better one...
After flying down the south side of Forester - which was quite steep, those who hike up this side of Forester are the people who give it it's bad reputation - we passed Tyndall Creek where the trail leveled off a lot. We walked/ran the next 3.7 miles to get off the treeless Diamond Mesa until we reached the treeline again near Sheperd Pass trail.
Hiking on Diamond Mesa passing Tyndall Creek
What was chasing us...
Just as we rounded the top of a hill and could see the treeless expanse that was Bighorn Plateau, it started storming. We hiked as fast as we could over Bighorn Plateau being chased by rain, thunder, and lightning that seemed to be moving closer overhead by the minute. As soon as we saw trees we picked up the pace until we were well within the treeline and could take a much deserved break.
Nearing Bighorn Plateau
Even with a storm overhead, you have to stop to laugh at this, right?
We kept up a really fast pace until we came to Wallace Creek, where our last climb of the day began. Combined with muddy trails and all the running and fast hiking we had done today I was feeling pretty tired, so when we neared Crabtree Junction we both agreed that we could stop for the day. Originally we wanted to try to get to Guitar Lake today, but that was another two miles away (don't laugh at me - two miles felt like it would take forever at this point in the day), and it was also above the treeline. No matter the reason, I was very happy to have made it the 18.1 miles to Crabtree Meadow and be able to stretch my tired body, eat, and sleep. This would be our last night on trail after almost three weeks on the JMT. Tomorrow we wake up well before the sun comes up to summit Mt. Whitney and complete the entire John Muir Trail. I don't think I'm ready for this hike to be over just yet - I'm enjoying it far too much; blisters, pulled hip flexor, rolled ankles, dirty hair/clothes/body, being chased by rain/hail/snow/lightning, and all... well... I could do without the soaking tent.... that would be nice. It's the small things, I guess.
After Wallace Creek, we finally began to see some signs for Mt. Whitney!!
Nearing Crabtree Meadows
You can enlarge any of these pictures by clicking on them.
How long did it take you to climb to Forester Pass from your campsite "just before center creek basin"?
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