More passes = more fun
We kept the same regime: wake up early, pass before the sun, have fun, and eat everything. I didn’t know being higher up makes you even hungrier, so I learned that the hard way, but we’ll get to that later. Honestly, I actually believed I was having the best trip of my life, because it was true. The PCT is the best long-distance hike in the world. If there’s something better I don’t know about, tell me – I’m down. But so far, nothing comes close.
Starting the day with the sunrise
There is no trail, so we just try to get closer to the pass and figure it out from there
Mandatory chill at the top waiting for everybody from the tramily aka the gang to make it to the top
The infamous Mather Pass
Now we were getting closer to Mather Pass. Almost like mother, but with an A, so Mather. We were using this app called FarOut, where people leave comments about passes, camps, and water sources—extremely useful. Like 95% of people on the PCT use it. And the comments there are kind of insane. One of the first ones I read was “let me tell you what death looks like”. The second one was something like “I ran up Forrester Pass, I laughed at Glen Pass, but I cried climbing up the Mather”. The third one basically said the pass is just a sheet of ice.
So naturally, camping below the pass that evening, we were pretty scared of what was waiting for us in the morning. I remember writing just a few words in my notebook that night: I am afraid of tomorrow. But we also knew that morning was the best time to do it. So the plan was microspikes on, ice axes out, and at some points even climbing on all fours, grabbing onto rocks. And that’s exactly what we did the next morning.
This is the night before Mather Pass. Some of us cowboy camped, sleeping in tents right above 10,000 feet—so about 3,000 meters of altitude. A few fighter jets even flew over us.
And yeah, remember when I said I was hungry? I kind of was, but not fully. Some of us had more food than others, and I hadn’t calculated properly—I was probably missing at least 500 calories that day. So someone offered me a Clif bar, which was like 250 calories, in exchange for a favor: take their small wine bottle from Mount Whitney down to the stream to cool it off, then bring it back so they could relax in their sleeping bag. Of course, I did it.
Of course, being strong, we all made it to the top. We were extremely excited. One person was so scared and hyped at the same time, they had to take a shit. You can’t dig a cat hole on the pass – it’s all rocks – so unfortunately, we just had to leave it. Sorry, nature.And of course, we took a beautiful picture of all our ice axes. Those things basically saved our asses on the climb up.
Took a selfie to appreciate my life
Honestly, I feel like luck always celebrates the brave – or whatever the saying is. That year, I really appreciated my life. Having that bit of scarcity makes you focus on just one thing: surviving. There’s no way back, so you just have to climb Mather Pass. Not worrying about anything else made me realize how lucky I am to be out here – playing with fire, playing with ice, doing what I like, and learning what I like. And that felt like just the beginning of many, many things to come.
Bishop
So finally, after this long stretch in the Sierras – after surviving a lot of things – it was time to resupply in Bishop. To get there, we actually had to go over a pass just to reach the road. It took us half a day to ascend, and then we had to hitch. There was nobody on the road, so Boogie and I just decided to chill and wait. Getting to town ended up being another hour of hitching.
In town, we stayed in a hostel. It was hilarious – they were just growing weed in the middle of their backyard. We were also celebrating some birthdays, so we went bowling. I really felt good that day. It was just nice to chill, to actually feel like you’ve completed something and acknowledge it. It’s a good feeling. You should try it one day.
Last night prior to hitting the town, we wanted to see how many bear cans we can stack on top of each other
Of course, I won… ok, I am lying, I did not
So after struggling with food in the prior section, I took it seriously in Bishop. I wasn’t going to be 500 calories short again. This was my daily eating strategy for the next five-day stretch:
Daily Resupply Breakdown:
- Honey Bun: 550 kcal
- Pop-Tart: 370 kcal
- 3 bars: 700 kcal
- 2 ramen: 800 kcal
- 2 Knorr rice sides + meats: 1,100 kcal
- M&Ms: 150+ kcal
- Gummies: 200+ kcal
- Peanut butter: 400 kcal
- 2 Tortillas: 300 kcal
- Cheese + salami + hummus: 400 kcal
Total: ~5,000 kcal per day.
Show must go on
As much fun as it was, I started craving bigger miles. My body was used to the movement. I had a major dilemma: do I follow my gut and push harder which meant leaving the group or do I stay with the crew? It was so much fun with them, but I felt like I wasn’t pushing my potential to the limit. In the end, I chose to finish the Sierras with my buddies. I don’t regret it. Later, when I went through all my pictures, I realized that my best memories weren’t of the places themselves—they were all with the people. I really, really enjoyed that.
At the same time, around day 60, I finally realized that to use Spotify offline, you actually have to select “offline” before you lose service. All my songs would just disappear and I was pissed. I learned it later. Fine.
Some ideas sound better in the head than work in reality, a train glissade is one of them
Of course, being in the Sierras early in the season isn’t just about the snow it’s about the fact that there is a lot of it. And like I mentioned, we were jumping into water all the time. Daytime temps were around 15°C, which feels fine if you’re moving all day, but all that snow melting into the rivers means a ton of crossings.
Some of them can get hectic. Not just ankle deep, sometimes knee deep, sometimes waist deep. I was lucky; I’m 194 cm (6’4), so I didn’t struggle too much, but it can turn troublesome fast.
At the same time, I really enjoyed those tranquil evenings. You made it through the day, you’re alive, and now you can just chill – eat dinner, play Sudoku in your tent, or watch a Netflix series.
Mammoth Lakes
Well, I guess it’s time to talk about strangers’ generosity one more time. Just before heading to Bishop, we met this guy who lives in Mammoth Lakes—a small, super expensive town in California, known for skiing. He said, once we got there, we could hit him up and camp in his backyard. Thirteen of us, many tents.
When we got to Mammoth Lakes, he wasn’t around, and it’s crazy expensive, so we went to a cafe for some coffee. The guy who runs the cafe? He just invited us to camp in his backyard. That was such an awesome gesture. Not only that, he brought out a power charger with a ton of sockets so we could all charge at once. And yeah, I ended up watching the NBA Finals—I couldn’t believe Golden State won again in 2022.
And let’s not forget one of the chores of going to town: the laundromat. You show up, dressed in all your rain gear, and basically loiter there while all your stuff is being washed. And of course, before you even toss in your socks, you have to pre-wash them four or five times in the sink for a few minutes each, because otherwise all the dirt from your socks ends up on everything else. Then you still have to run a full wash twice. Annoying, but that’s real life on the trail.
Hiker trash, everybody
The Yosemite National Park
So we were getting closer to Yosemite National Park and decided to do a detour. Technically, this isn’t the original PCT route, but we decided to do it anyway. It was funny in a way—we wanted to do Half Dome, but you need a permit, and those come through a lottery. We didn’t have cell service for most of the trail, only a few days before reaching the park.
The pass where we finally got service was insanely windy, so we all applied while hiding behind a rock. Somehow, almost everyone who wanted got in. I was super excited that the whole gang could make it up. Below, you can see some pictures and a few of the best memories from our Yosemite detour.
The Half Dome
The actual Half Dome hike from Yosemite National Park is around 28 km, 1,600 meters but it’s in and out, so you climb all 1,600 meters in the first 14 km. With slackpacking (just carrying the essentials for the day) and two months of hiking every single day, we absolutely killed it. I was flying uphill, passing everyone on the way up. By the time we reached the permit checkpoint and could actually start climbing, there was almost nobody around.
That’s when I really thought, wow, my body has gotten used to this. I’m getting stronger, and now I’m curious to see what else I can push myself to do.
So the Half Dome “hike”—well, it’s not really a hike. The final stretch is basically just pulling yourself up and stepping on these wooden planks. If it’s slippery, you’re out of the game. Honestly, I don’t understand how this is allowed for the general public. It’s so steep, and some people do it in flip-flops without knowing what they’re getting into. You also gotta bring gloves—otherwise, gripping those metal cables will tear your palms apart, and it hurts like hell.
Hitch out of Yosemite
Hitching out of Yosemite was pretty fun too. We had to get back to the trail roughly a 2 hour drive from where we’d hitched in. Traffic was heavy, but naturally, there were four of us with massive backpacks carrying our next stretch of food.
This guy stops and says, “Oh, you’ve got big backpacks, probably some cool stories. I’ve got a spare day, so I don’t mind taking a longer route.” Man, these Americans are so friendly. Of course, his trunk was full, so we were all in a sedan holding backpacks on our laps. My legs went numb; we had to stop a few times just to shift around.
Then he casually drops that he works for the FBI. I started prodding, trying to get more info, playing the naive European card as usual. He didn’t say much, but mentioned his daughter works at Amazon and is living a better life. So, I guess the lesson here is… work at Amazon, get the corporate job over the FBI.
I don’t know, he doesn’t look like he works for the FBI but maybe that’s good, anyway, here is the picture
The rain
Honestly, weather-wise, we’d been ridiculously lucky up until this point. A few cloudy days here and there, but generally, fantastic weather. You gotta appreciate those days because now it changed. It started raining. And it didn’t stop for 36 hours. Some of the water crossings became unpassable.
You know it’s going to be bad when you have to do a river crossing 10 minutes into the day
One morning, our group split. Some of us left early, the others slept in. The late sleepers were an hour behind, and by the time they got to the stream we’d crossed earlier, it was uncrossable. They had to camp and wait for the morning, when the water would freeze overnight. We crossed just fine, with the water up to my waist, I’m 6’4”, just to remind you. Wet, cold, and mosquitoes, yeah, somehow the rain didn’t stop them. I couldn’t believe it: raining and mosquitoes at the same time. Not fun.
Not to mention, in some parts it was so flooded that the actual trail became a river. That’s where the famous phrase came from: the trail is a river because, well, we were just walking in water.
That day, we just kept crossing rivers. It was wet, it was hard, and then… a 1000mile miracle happened. The sun came out. Our stuff started drying. I was ecstatic I didn’t want to climb back into a soaked tent.
I know I look bad, you don’t have to tell me that but I am happy
Finishing off
And now I’m wrapping up with some random pictures, like all of us hitchhiking in the back of a pickup. The guy was going the other way, but he decided to pick us up and drive us 30 minutes back, which was about a 1-hour detour for him. Me chilling at South Lake Tahoe, close to the lake, all of us just hanging out and having a great time. A few more random shots showing how nice this year was—early season in the snow, still figuring it all out.
Stats
Sierra Totals: Distance: 429 miles (691 km) Time: 35 days Elevation Gain: 107,030 ft (32,620 m)
Sierra Daily Averages: Distance: 12.27 miles (19.74 km) Elevation Gain: 3,058 ft (932 m)
Sierra Daily Averages (Active Days Only): Distance: 13.42 miles (21.59 km) Elevation Gain: 3,345 ft (1,020 m)
This section was all about having fun in the snow, tackling a pass a day, jumping in lakes, soaking in the scenery, and enjoying the towns along the way. Like Boogie said, “smile before miles.” We weren’t pushing for speed, I was just out there living the experience.