Mega Snow!!!

We are at the end of a rest day in Lone Pine. In the last stretch of trail we climbed above 10000 feet for the first time. Snow appeared in patches. On the morning of the second day out we decided to push 24 miles to be at the trailhead before 5pm, giving us a chance to score a hitch before dark. We were concerned that nobody was at the trailhead and had plans to road walk the ~20 miles down to the extremely hot lower elevations. Luckily we got a lift from a mom dropping her son off to hike.

The recommended motel was crawling with hikers, most of which we had never met before. Notable among them were a Portlander couple we had met pre-trail, Topsy-turvy and DataMuffin.

Most hikers staying here have hitched backwards from another trailhead about 4 days ahead of us. They have given us a lot of info about those next days. The snow is going to make things challenging, much more than the last time we hit this section. The snow is record breaking in volume. It is melting insanely fast, swelling the creeks into rivers. 50% or more of the trail is beneath snow. The snow will slow our progress to a single mountain pass a day. We will need to cross each pass in the early morning to avoid traveling on slushy snow.

We are carrying a mind bending 20 lbs of food a piece. We figure on ten days of travel to get us about 150 miles down the trail. This next ten days will be the most challenging and spectacular hiking that either of us have ever experienced. In this section we will climb Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the 48 states. We will assault 6 mountain passes each over 12000 elevation. The highest is Forrester Pass at a lofty 13500. All this with record snow cover.

We are ready. We have added snow gear to our load. Today we radically changed our diet. Staples are now breakfast and cheese. We are removing emphasis on sugary snacks in favor of super dense fat sources. Emphasis will be on large feast breaks only a few times a day. We will wake before dawn, cook a  breakfast and be on the trail with full stomachs and some extra leftovers for later. We will start walking as soon as it is light enough. In the evening, we will go to sleep early to maximize morning time.

Sugar will come in liquid form. Powdered drink mixes will fill our water bottles. Kool-ade, lemonade, chocolate drink and cider mix will keep our blood sugar at a happy level.

The 10 lbs of cheese will be lunch and dinner fare. We have some crackers to eat with the cheese to round it out. Dinner will be late and light with mainly fat and protein, providing restful sleep.

We don't know who will be out there when we get up. Hikers will cluster in groups starting at Mt Whitney. If we hit a lull we will likely wait a day for good people. Gene and Charlie are about a day behind us in a big group of cool folks. It would be nice to see all of them again.

We scored a lift back to the trail from a local at 6:30 in the morning. Time for sleep. A few tidbits:

--- you will most likely not hear from us for a few weeks. There will be no cell service or wireless internet for several hundred snowy miles.

--- My Poison Oak is finally on its way out. It was ugly for a bit, but it didn't slow me down.

--- My Achilles is 100%. The last section was strenuous and I didn't hear a peep from it. That injury has been healing for 400 miles now. I am lucky to be this fit at the point it is needed the most.

--- Zm is healthy and strong. Her legs are made of steel.

--- I cast an enchantment spell on our ice axes today. I covered them with runes and power symbols and gave each a name. Zm took 'Ies Fortze' leaving me with 'Cold Fury'. They will help protect us from snow and ice.

Here we go! Most likely we won't surface until mid July! We are ready.