The next morning we woke in anticipation of hiking Forester Pass, its 13,153 feet notorious for causing hikers' knees to wobble and minds to consider the real danger of falling over a cliff from the explosively carved trail edge. The granite walls rise to form a sort of tunnel entryway to the narrow switchbacks that climb to the pass.
A low snow year made the 95 degree snow chute death slide fortunately less challenging. We traversed it cautiously, but without incident.
The pictures speak for themselves as to the view from the top.
As we descended, we lost the trail in a snow field and had to "blue blaze" (make your own way), which for us was a vertical rock slide straight down the mountain to the most pristine glacial lake we had seen yet.
We jokingly named our route the Forester Yeti Trail Alternate because we stumbled across a pile of bones in the rocks.
The rest of the day's hike was very relaxed but awe inspiring as we made our way down a seemingly endless valley of majestic towering granite, cascading waterfalls, and grassy meadows.
It was surreal to think that we had actually made it into the pinnacle of the High Sierras, true backcountry wilderness. We camped at Bullfrog Trail Junction that night with intentions of hiking over Kearsarge Pass and into the town of Independence to resupply the following day.
Kearsarge Pass is a popular resupply exit point for hikers because it breaks up the roughly 12-14 day hike between Kennedy Meadows and Vermillion Valley Resort. It also boasts incredible views of the kind of jagged protruding granite peaks one would imagine the High Sierras to offer.
We were shocked at the disparity between the freezing temperatures at the top of the pass and the 100 degree temperature in the valley below. Leaving the Onion Valley trail head into town, it took the longest time yet to get a hitch: 2.5 hours. Another thru-hiker, Coaster, had been descending with our benefactor and upon hearing of our wait, gave up his prearranged ride to us. The ride, although much appreciated, got us into town AFTER Coaster and included a "shoved down your throat" sermon about accepting the driver's born again Christian beliefs or going to hell. Thanks, Coaster (premeditated "generosity"?)! In town, we hit up the Subway, collected our resupply and got stranded. Our sleeping bags were cleaner and housed less insects than the hostel where we spent the night, but the showers were welcomed. In her defense, the proprietor runs the hostel, motel, Chevron station/mini mart and Subway all in the same day 24x7. Two minutes into the next morning, we had a hitch back to the trail.
A low snow year made the 95 degree snow chute death slide fortunately less challenging. We traversed it cautiously, but without incident.
The pictures speak for themselves as to the view from the top.
As we descended, we lost the trail in a snow field and had to "blue blaze" (make your own way), which for us was a vertical rock slide straight down the mountain to the most pristine glacial lake we had seen yet.
We jokingly named our route the Forester Yeti Trail Alternate because we stumbled across a pile of bones in the rocks.
The rest of the day's hike was very relaxed but awe inspiring as we made our way down a seemingly endless valley of majestic towering granite, cascading waterfalls, and grassy meadows.
It was surreal to think that we had actually made it into the pinnacle of the High Sierras, true backcountry wilderness. We camped at Bullfrog Trail Junction that night with intentions of hiking over Kearsarge Pass and into the town of Independence to resupply the following day.
Kearsarge Pass is a popular resupply exit point for hikers because it breaks up the roughly 12-14 day hike between Kennedy Meadows and Vermillion Valley Resort. It also boasts incredible views of the kind of jagged protruding granite peaks one would imagine the High Sierras to offer.
We were shocked at the disparity between the freezing temperatures at the top of the pass and the 100 degree temperature in the valley below. Leaving the Onion Valley trail head into town, it took the longest time yet to get a hitch: 2.5 hours. Another thru-hiker, Coaster, had been descending with our benefactor and upon hearing of our wait, gave up his prearranged ride to us. The ride, although much appreciated, got us into town AFTER Coaster and included a "shoved down your throat" sermon about accepting the driver's born again Christian beliefs or going to hell. Thanks, Coaster (premeditated "generosity"?)! In town, we hit up the Subway, collected our resupply and got stranded. Our sleeping bags were cleaner and housed less insects than the hostel where we spent the night, but the showers were welcomed. In her defense, the proprietor runs the hostel, motel, Chevron station/mini mart and Subway all in the same day 24x7. Two minutes into the next morning, we had a hitch back to the trail.
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