John Muir Trail Trip, Summer 2005

Day 5: Upper Vidette Meadows to Diamond Mesa

Day 4: Onion Valley, CA to Upper Vidette Meadows

Day 6: Diamond Mesa to Wallace Creek

Looking up Bubbs Creek towards Forester Pass, early morning

We woke up at 0620 and had energy bars for breakfast, as it was quite cold and we needed to get started as soon as possible for the big hike up and over Forester Pass. Forester is the highest pass on the Pacific Crest Trail - 13,180 feet and quite a strenuous hike by all reports; it will be the most difficult part of our trip, probably harder than even Whitney would have been. We were out of camp by 0730 (out of practice taking down the tent and cleaning up, apparently!) and heading for Forester. The first two or three hours were spent alongside Bubbs Creek, in mostly wooded terrain that was full of beautiful summer alpine flowers.

After climbing a long ridge out of Bubbs Creek Valley, we reached a lovely alpine meadow with granite boulders and a crystal-clear lake. We had a small snack there and continued up the trail. At this point we were passed by some hikers from the United Kingdom, having previously been passed by a single woman hiker who was going ultralight (almost no gear, one water bottle and a pump - not my style).

Looking north from just below Forester

We thought we saw Forester around the corner, but alas, it was not to be so soon. We instead climbed at least three ridges before beginning our final ascent. The entire morning was a very good lesson in reading our handy topographical maps, as they helped indicate exactly how much farther we had to go. We passed at least three deep blue lakes and crossed several snowfields (the hiking poles were very useful here, as they were just past the dangerous time of the year).

We reached the top of the pass, which was about 6 miles from our campsite last night, at 1400. I love hiking in the Sierra because you don't run into the same weather problems as in the Rockies; instead of having to worry about inclement weather after noon or so, you mostly just have to worry about adequate water supplies, as they're a much drier range.

Looking south from Forester towards the Kern Trench

I had a lot of trouble getting up the pass - asthma and a rapid heartbeat made it a somewhat unfun ascent - but reached it eventually. I'd have to say this is probably the most strenuous hike I've ever been on, and this time I was carrying a 5-day's pack to boot.

We had more energy bars for lunch (tasty and filling and nutritious, even if they'd have been boring and chewy at home) and met a pair of nice hikers on top of the pass; the man of the pair was even carrying a laptop with him! It weighed almost nothing, but it was very bizarre to see a laptop on the trail. We discussed the possibility of installing Ubuntu on it, and he seemed interested in learning about Linux. Sadly, I lacked an install CD, and wireless was out of the question...

Just below Forester pass - lovely above-treeline scenery

The way down was, if anything, more hazardous than the way up. We hiked down a very long switchback followed by several smaller ones that had literally been blasted out of the granite cliff about 1000 feet above the basin floor. We hiked a bit farther down to a nice creek on the eastern side of the basin. It's really quite wonderful up here - no other humans in sight at all, only a few marmots. I set up the tent, pumped water from the creek with our filter, and made freeze-dried lasagna - probably the best meal in my life!

Our camp is at about 12,000 feet - very cold and windy but quite beautiful. There aren't any trees up this high; 11-12,000 feet seems to be the average treeline altitude in this part of the range. It's all just low grasses and granite, not even any bushes. Below us is Tyndall Creek valley, which even has trees. Up here the granite is golden and smooth, and the water is as clean and clear as glass. We camped a suitable distance away to avoid contaminating it.

Near the campsite: waterfalls on Diamond Mesa

We're abandoning Mt. Whitney- Forester has taught us to relax! Also, weather reports from fellow hikers have indicated that Whitney is icy and somewhat dangerous from the back side, so it's probably a blessing. Tomorrow we'll likely hike down to a spot before Crabtree Meadows that was recommended to us by a fellow hiker today. The moon is up - waxing a quarter - but the sky is still light and blue with rose around the horizon. Hopefully the wind will die down after sunset (which is pretty common around here), though it will still be quite cold. The marmots are whistling shrilly in the evening light.

The hiking poles were extremely helpful today with both the snow on the way up and the steep trail on the way down. Some more ibuprofen and a few yoga exercises have helped me relax; Dad was very sore after the hike down, so I was the one dealing with the camp stuff for the evening. It's nice to be able to trade off. We're going to sleep around 2030 at night; the sun is already down below the peaks in August, and this week we'll be living with its rhythms. Very nice.