June 26 - Pinchot Pass

End: Near Bench Lake Ranger Station
Daily: 810.5
Total: 15 (big day!)

I felt like Pinchot would never end.

We woke up exhausted at 5:10 and took forever to get going. We finally pulled out at 6:40 am and started on our day.

We had about 5 miles of relatively snow free trail today! That really helped. But what was clear on the way up was really steep. Apparently in King's Canyon National Park they really like to make their trails suited to giants. There were tons of steps, and most of them were one and a half feet tall. I don't know how this is supposed to be a stock trail.

Anyway, bridges were interesting today. First, I just don't get why there can't be more bridges over these non-seasonal creeks we have to ford. National Parks charge like $30 per car, and they're really popular, especially the ones around here. Can't they afford bridges?

Oh, they can. I got wet onto my upper thigh in a ford that didn't have a bridge, and then be come around a bend into a meadow and there's a tiny trickle of a stream with a bridge over it. You could have easily jumped across. We just stood there laughing at it with our feet dripping wet and numb.

Then there was the crazy bridge over Woods Creek. It was a long, tiny suspension bridge that wobbled and buckled when we stepped on it. The sign said only one person at a time.

Anyway, we climbed and climbed and climbed and finally made it over Pinchot pass at 3:30. Once I just accepted that I would always be climbing this pass until the end of time, we were finally there. I also played a game where when climbing a big snowy hill, I couldn't look up until I could feel that I was at the top. That made it go faster too.

By the way, this place is gorgeous. Have I said that enough? Problem is, walking with all this snow is so tiring that I often can't appreciate the beauty because I'm focused on not falling over every which way. Or instead of seeing a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains I see something I have to get around, and what's the fastest way? This really happens more at the end of the day and I'm tired and want to get to camp.

A lot of people are bailing because of the snow. We've only seen one other group since we came back in Kearsarge. We heard one group went over Glen, decided they didn't want to be out for another 6 days, and then turned around and climbed Glen again and Kearsarge to get out. Yuck. Tons of people are heading up to Oregon and southbounding. I'm glad we stayed, although it's really hard.