June 19
The day began by walking through alpine meadows and up a large ascent towards Muir Pass. I had been planning on camping somewhere before Muir Pass and going over in the morning, but even after ascending over 3,000 ft, I felt strong and kept going. There was also nowhere to camp before the pass, as it it was maybe 4 miles total of walking through snow, and the lake just before the pass was completely covered in snow and there was nowhere to camp.
I had hiked over all the other passes in the morning while the snow was still more solid, but by the afternoon, the snow was slushy, which means lots of post-holing. My feet felt really good, probably because they were very cold, having to walk through ice water streams and then snow. It was great for me – no swelling. Probably not for anyone else though. I have been feeling content with less and less. My backpack feels so light as I’ve eaten most of my food by now, but I still feel like I want even less.
After having a Snickers bar, I felt like I had enough energy to keep going up Muir pass. I hiked up the ascent with Rey, also known as Pink Snow, a woman named Snowshoe, and Shoe Leather. Snowshoe’s government name is Sylvia, but she got the name Snowshoe by Rey because she never seemed to posthole – she just glided over the slushy snow as if she were wearing snowshoes.
I felt powerful today, strong, like I have finally hit my stride on the PCT.
We got up to the summit of Muir pass in the afternoon and visited the hut, took some pictures, and signed the trail register. On the way down, there were a lot of streams of water running under the snow in the path where people had hiked previously. At one point I fell through the ice and fell into a river below. I was really afraid because I wasn’t sure how deep the water was, and I was going down in it. Luckily it was only about a foot that I fell, but it was still scary. By the time I was on the way down, I had a hiked about 15 miles. To describe the way down, there was a wide open area filled with rock islands surrounded by snow. There were many trails that people had hiked through the snow, and the actual trail was not easily identifiable. To avoid the melting snow and rivers, you had to head to the rock islands and scramble if you could. It was basically a lot of choosing your own adventure.
Rey and Snowshoe went ahead, and I hiked with Shoe Leather for awhile. We had to cross an actual river covered in snow, and I made it across, but I looked back after awhile and he wasn’t there. Had he fallen into the river? Fallen through the melting snow field? I waited for him to pop up. He never did. I waited some more. “Shoe Leather”, I started yelling. “Alex!!!!” I heard nothing except the wind tearing through the icy mountains and rock formations. There was nothing. He was gone.
What do I do? I waited for what felt like a long time and kept walking backwards trying to find him. Eventually I saw someone up quite a distance ahead. It was Shoe Leather. He had somehow passed me – hidden by a large hill of rocks. That’s what I get for trying to be a good person and caring about people. I get left behind. I caught up after a little while. He didn’t know I had waited for him.
I found one campsite and showed Shoe Leather. He decided to stay there for the night and I kept going. Rey and Snowshoe were far ahead at that point and I was completely alone in this massive open field of rocks, snow melt rivers, snow fields and boulders.
At one point, I was far from the actual trail which was covered in snow, and I was on some rocks. I started slipping on some icy sand covering a boulder and I started going down head first straight into another boulder. I was so far from the trail, from anyone, and I was completely alone. My only thought as I started falling was I hope they find my body. This is why I didn’t want to hike through the Sierra alone. Like I have said before, on this trail it’s only one wrong step and you’re done. People die every year on the PCT. I had the wherewithal to put my hands into fists and fell on the side of my wrists so as to not break them, and I kept my head up to keep my face from smashing into the rocks in front of me. I didn’t break my sunglasses dangling from my neck, or the phone strapped to my chest on my backpack. Somehow nothing broke. I just ended up with some badly scraped knees and a palm, and some blood running down my legs.
I caught up to Rey and she told me how she had gotten her trail name Pink Snow. She is a scientist and had been taking snow samples of the pink snow – the algae that causes the phenomenon. She was a diver in college, I was a swimmer. We talked about being an athlete, the trail, hiking alone.
After a few more miles I decided to set up camp next to a lake and Rey continued on. I camped next to Snowshoe.
I got a message from Paul that he wasn’t going to wait for me at Muir Trail Ranch. He complained that there was no Wi-Fi or toilets and too many mosquitoes. Oh, and he broke a tooth and needed to see a dentist. I knew it. I knew he wasn’t going to wait for me. I asked where he would wait for me – my own mind game. So often, men want you to be the crazy one so they can absolve themselves of guilt. If I send some crazy rant, he can forever just say I was crazy for no reason, not that he caused me to have a normal angry reaction to his behavior. If he wants to tell me he’s not going to wait for me, he has to say it. I’m not giving that over. I felt powerful today. Confident I didn’t need to hike with anyone. This is my hike now.
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