Lissner and Hon

May 16

May 23

We have to figure out our plan for the Sierra also. Many hikers are going to skip ahead to miss the snow and come back later in the season. Other hikers are going to bus up to Canada and hike southbound to allow the snow to melt.

We’ve only come 450 miles and still have the most exciting parts ahead of us.

June 12

We hit the highest elevation on the PCT, Forrester Pass, 13,200 feet on June 10. The snow is very patchy around 9,000 feet and becomes heavy at 10,000 feet, so we spend the majority, if not all, of our hiking days searching for hidden pieces of trail and navigating through canyons and passes with GPS and a map.

We have been wearing every article of clothing we carry to sleep warmer. I keep a jar of peanut butter in my sleeping bag and will eat a few spoonfuls if I wake up cold. One morning we woke up to frozen socks and shoes. We had little fuel to spare, so we sat on our shoes for a good half hour until they were pliable enough to put on. Even then, they were freezing and intensely painful. Because of the rapid snowmelt, there are a plethora of icy streams to cross and ford on a daily basis.

We’ve covered 90 miles of Sierra so far. Our elevation will remain mostly above 10,000 feet until we reach South Lake Tahoe, 400 miles away. We are in good spirits and have enjoyed the challenge of surviving the first section of the Sierra.