Mile 888 to 903.2 plus 3.5 miles on Mammoth Pass Trail

I awoke to sunlight on my tent. It was a strange feeling to wake up when the stars aren’t still strung out over the night sky. After a moment, it all came back to me. An agreement around a smokey fire to sleep in and take the time to make oatmeal and coffee in the morning. To take time to feel civilized again.

With maple and brown sugar oatmeal in my stomach and the taste of coffee still on my tongue, I pulled my pack onto my shoulders. No groan escaped from my lips this morning, however, because it was town day and I had gorged myself on all my extra food over the past two days. With dreams of a shower, laundry, and food that doesn’t need to be rehydrated, I put one foot in front of the other and started down the trail.

We quickly came within sight of a raging waterfall and river, but when we came around the bend, there was a bridge and I knew everything was going to be alright. It was town day after all.

Waking up at low elevation out here is such a luxury. No shortness of breath as you climb, dry trail instead of slippery sun cupped snow, and flowing water everywhere. We decided to make the most of the good trail and powered forward as fast as our legs would take us.  Get it while the gettings good, so to speak.

We passed flooded meadows with meandering rivers as we climbed out of a valley and through stands of pine and occasional aspen. As the sun reached the apex of its arch across the sky, the smells of the forest intensified under the heat from its rays.

As we crested the mountain and dogged around a frozen lake, we began the descent down the opposite side, which was still in shade. It was hell. But instead of fire and pitchforks, there was a steep slope with 6 foot high mounds of snow crammed between trees and bolders. In the midday sun, the snow was getting slushy, and it just a matter of when you would fall and how hard not if.

The trail disappeared under the snow and we were left with vague footprints heading straight down the mountain. Not thrilled by a straight descent, we zigzagged down the slope when possible. Doing standing glissades (aka “controlled” slides) down the backsides of the snow mounds. I was thinking, “is this the one where I fall” the whole time. I know, nothing like positive pre-visualization. Well, the self-fulfilling prophecy came true. As I attempted to step 2 feet off a snow mound to the slanted ground below, my feet slipped and raced for the sky as my head lunged for the earth. WACK, my pack hit snow and my head hit pack and little birds started flying around my head. I am not sure if my head hit my bear canister or the ice axe attached to the back of my pack, but whatever it was, it was solid. A little dazed, I slowly sat up, unstrapped my pack, and looked at the damage. The strap that holds my ice axe had ripped out. Great. I took the part of cord still attached to my pack, tied it around the handle of the axe and continued on. What else can you do out here?

We descended to Purple Lake and took a well deserved break in a picturesque setting. It was great to be off of that mountain.

We continued on and made it to the Duck Lake drainage where we ate lunch. We ran into another group leaving as we arrived. There aren’t too many people out here since so many PCTers and JMTers are aborting their hikes. As we sat, we heard the calls of “Marco” and “Polo,” which heralded the arrival of the Lazy F*cks. They were coming from Vermillion Valley Resort where they resupplied. We, however, chose to head into Mammoth, a larger town, to doing our resupply.

During our lunch break, some backpackers who were out for the weekend came up and asked us about the trail we had come down. They were aborting their trip and trying to figure out whether to turn back the way they came our take another bail out route.

As we set out for the Mammoth Pass Trail, which would take us to town via Horseshoe Lake, we ran into Haymaker. He is hiking the trail for the second time in three years. His backpack is 36 liters, which is literally a daypack. Not sure what he has in there, but apparently his sleeping pad is only a torso length foam pad and his sleep bag is rated for 30 degrees. He said his lower half is pretty miserable when it is cold outside. His longest day in the Sierra was 37 miles compared to our 22 miles so he certainly can travel fast.

We arrived at the Mammoth Pass Trail and were surprised so see snow even though its elevation is in the 8,000s. Typically, the trails have been clear under 9,000 feet. Somewhat disheartened, we started the 3.5 miles to Horseshoe Lake. As we went, we ran into tremendous tree fall with hundreds of trees strewn over and along the trail. Our dreams of a 1 hour hike were dashed and we began a 2 1/2 hour slog. It was tough going and we were getting tired, but we made it through to the beautiful Horseshoe Lake just as the sun was setting.

We waited in the parking lot for the Mike and Vanessa, friends of Vipr and Fun Dip’s uncle to arrive. They have graciously offered to host us for a couple nights in Mammoth. We are indebted to them, and I would like to thank them for their generous hospitality.