Forester

Day 43 ~ miles 770 - 786

Forester Pass is the highest point on the PCT, at an elevation of 13,200 feet.  It also has a reputation as being difficult and dangerous....yikes.  We were heading toward the pass with a group (like I have said before, safety in numbers).  I tried not to think of my Mt. Whitney experience as we neared the pass; unlike Mt. Whitney, Forester Pass is not optional!  As usual, we fell to the back of the group as I slowly huffed and puffed and trudged across the snow fields.  We arrived to the base of the pass to find the trail up mostly covered with snow.  The trail was impossible to follow, so we had to make our own way straight up the snowy, rocky mountain.  It was very trying, and required constant and flawless focus.  Eventually, we made our way to the switchbacks of the trail.  We zig-zagged up to the pass until we arrived at the infamous snow chute, a steep chute down the mountain over which the trail was covered with snow.  On the other side of the chute awaited my very own cheering squad, all of the folks we had been hiking up with, who all knew about my Mt. Whitney experience.  It was scary, but like most things on the trail, didn't live up to all of the hype.  A couple more sketchy areas later, we made it to the top of the pass.  I felt so relieved and accomplished, but neverending snow awaited on the North side of the pass.

We celebrated up top for a bit before heading down.  We all took turns glissading (sliding on our butts) down the mountain, it was so much fun!  After hours of wayfinding and trudging through the slushy snow, we finally were almost clear of the snow.  We had lost the rest of the group, so we stopped to have a really late lunch by ourselves.  I took off my shoes and laid on the warm rock where we would break.  Almost instantly I fell asleep.  I felt exhausted and just awful in general.  I had no appetite and no desire to drink, though I knew I needed both food and water.  I'm not sure if I felt ill due to the altitude or exertion or both.  Finally I forced down a little food and some water and we hiked just a little further to a campsite where we camped with some other thru-hikers (we call the group "the kids", as they are all pretty young).  They had a fire, so we joined them to warm our bones and dry out our snow-drenched shoes.  I think it was our first on-trail fire of the entire hike (fires had been prohibited until recently).  I feel better, and we're looking forward to getting into town tomorrow.