Pct Walker Pass

[Leto Corrales]

WalkerPass was charted as a route through the Sierra in 1834 by Joseph Rutherford Walker, a member of the Bonneville Expedition who learned of it from Native Americans. Walker returned through the pass in 1843, leading an immigrant wagon train into California. In 1845 the military surveying expedition of John C. Fremont used the pass. He suggested it be named after Walker.[3][4]

It is the highest point on State Route 178. The pass is also the southernmost crossing along the Sierra Crest, with more southerly Tehachapi Pass traditionally marking the geographic divide between the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains.

Between Walker Pass and Tioga Pass, several hours drive to the north, there is only one paved road for automobiles to cross over the Sierra Nevada. It runs from the northern end of Indian Wells Valley at the east, to the hydrologic pass between the Great Basin and the Pacific Ocean at the top of the Nine-Mile Canyon road, then west along the Sherman Pass Road.

Getting back over into the Sierras from Independence seemed easy. A quick 5 miles up and over the pass dropped me into the stunning wilderness of mountains and clear lakes. By the time I rejoined the JMT, it was quickly becoming dark. I hiked to a campsite deep in the woods in one of the canyons between the next pass and where I started.

The next morning, I headed straight up to tackle the hardest pass I had encountered yet. Forester Pass is also the high point of the PCT at just over 13k. It was a long, arduous climb. I stopped at the top for lunch and the view was easily one of the highlights of the JMT.

On the way down from the pass, I ran into the oldest hiker I've met yet. She was 78 and had a great attitude. She was only doing 5 miles a day but I could tell she was loving every minute of it. I hope I can continue to enjoy the wilderness that long into my life.

It was the next morning when I first spotted Mt. Whitney on the horizon. Ascending to the top was one of my most memorable hikes of last year. As I approached it closer and closer, I reflected on how fortunate I was to be able to have hiked the John Muir Trail this year. Before I knew it, I had passed the turnoff for Mt. Whitney and was back on the plain old PCT once again.

From here on out, the landscape shifted dramatically into a drier climate. Lodgepole and white pine turned into juniper and pinyon. I continued on a great pace and had my first 20+ mile day since entering the Sierras.

I started to pass significantly less people than I had only a day earlier. Often times, the silence of the great outdoors was only interrupted by distant mooing of cattle grazing down in the meadows below. Mosquitoes were quickly becoming a far away memory.

I encounter my first instance of smoke and rain on the trail the very same day. The fire was far away not to worry about but the rain poured on me for over an hour. The thunder was loud and lightning close. Fortunately, it stopped raining by the time I set up camp.

The next day went by in a blur as went further downhill. Water became less and less frequent and the desert crept in. By the time I had crossed the south fork of the Kern River, the tiny town of Kennedy Meadows was straight ahead.

After a quick resupply, a burger, and as much water as I could carry, I left towards Onyx, CA and Walker Pass. The landscape started to look like back home in Reno. More thunderstorms brewed on the horizon. While the cloud cover was nice, it proceeded to rain on me heavy in the evening. The gnats were nasty and I must have swallowed a couple. Water was more plentiful than the landscape would suggest. A couple more 20+ mile days and I would be descending down to Walker Pass and the town of Ridgecrest.

Next up, the real desert. Between here and Tehachapi is the driest section of the PCT. The forecast is unseasonably cool. I hope the trail angels have been filling up the water caches. If not, it could get a bit rough.

Mount Davidson is the highest point in one of Nevada's smallest counties, Storey. It's easily seen from Virginia City and much of South Reno and Washoe Valley. While only a few hundred feet higher than most of the surrounding peaks, the difference is significant. The views from it are unparalleled

In 2017, I completed the section from Donner Pass to Manning Park going northbound on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was my first long distance hike and I learned what it takes to hike longer than a few days in the wilderness. I learned something worked or didn't but others

High Rock Canyon in the Black Rock Desert is famous for being used an emigrant route through deserts of Nevada to California. Wagons use to cross through its towering walls on the way to California. Little High Rock is less well known and less prominent. I've haven't yet been to

The walker I've tweaked to output in order to find posts in the review category for this menu item. But I want to be able to use the same walker for 'previews', 'interviews' and more. Thus far my attempts at inputting variables have just broken the whole thing, 'Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_DOUBLE_ARROW'.

Today Cache22 drove me from his home in Sacramento to Walker Pass. We took the scenic route on Highway 50 and Highway 395 traveling down the Eastern Sierra. We passed Echo Lake where my hike will end and we went through Mammoth, Independence, and Lone Pine, all towns I may visit later for resupply.

Follow my thruhike in section-by-section blog posts, or in daily posts on Instagram or Facebook (@JustAGirlAndABackpack.Blog). Please attribute all spelling/grammar errors to autocorrect and exhaustion at the end of the day.

Well, i had the misfortune of making an assumption that turned out to be incorrect. Apparently the PCT permit is directional, and you have to travel through parks and forests that require a permit, in the direction that your PCT permit has written on it.

I checked the weather for the next week all the way up the sierra to lone pine (rain or snow expected Thurs/Fri) my next stop, as well as the air quality (could be better, but not to scary), the trail closure website (nothing new), and more. I gathered some more toilet paper, filled my water bladders, did a little sink laundry, messaged all the important people, called David twice, and attempted to figure out a ride to and from Lone Pine for a resupply.

Stickers and Snackpack were dropped off, two nobos who also had the crazy idea to try to do the sierra in fall. Stickers is an artist, Lance Lekander Artworks, and handed me some cool stickers that he had made! I helped them figure out how to get a permit for the Sierra as well.

Today was a great day for seeing sobo hikers. I met Pancake around midday, a solo lady like myself. And i saw Be Positive, another gal who was currently solo but had plans to meet up with a group of guys. This the same Be Positive who i spent a day or two hiking with early on after Stehekin. She gave me an orange to munch on!

After much dragging of tired feet, worry over dwindling water supply, and a million stops to rest, to the back drop of the Take of Two Cities on audiobook, i managed to get about 15 trail miles and 2 road miles under my belt.

At the top of the ridge, we paused (i had cell service and used it to sign back into Guthooks so that i could make comments). Low Range, a British sobo hiker i had met at the Lolo Pass trail magic almost 2 months ago (at the time he was still going by his real name, which was Andrew or Richard or something), came around the corner and we had a nice chat. He had just got back on trail 3 days ago after 3 weeks off since he had been in Ashland when all the California forests had closed.

Over the ridge the ecosystem changed from desert shrub land to high desert forest, with oaks on the north facing slopes and different sorts of pines and cedars everywhere. The small cacti and spiky yucca petered out, replaced by hardy brush that stabbed and grabbed as we passed by. There were hundreds of small tan lizards and huge black and blue lizards sunning themselves on the sandstone and granite, and scrub jays croaking in the trees. The sky was a clear blue, and the haze from the smoke was only seen on the distant horizon.

Within the first mile we came to a road crossing where we met Tie Dye, a trail angel who was waiting to pick up some hikers. As we talked with him, Razor came into view, shocking both him and I at the amazing coincidence of seeing each other again so far from our last meeting in time and space. We met his hiking partner, Birdie, not too long after.

Kirsten is an enthusiastic, bilingual naturalist with 11+ years of experience as a non-formal environmental educator, 6+ years as an outdoor recreation guide, 6+ years as a content writer, and 13+ years as an eco-friendly horticulturist and landscaper. She has designed and maintained 2 websites dedicated to public-facing environmental and outdoor education information for community consumption. Successfully taught 5 online, multi-week zoom workshop series to 5-10 regular participants on an international scale.

April 30th, 2017Scodie Mountain (7,294')9.8 miles, 2900' gain[Pics] [Map]

This was another Sierra Club I provisional for an Orange County Wilderness Travel Course staffer and this time it was Dennis Loya aka Bear from Modjeska Group. Since it was just a day hike this one didn't count for students needing an experience trip but it was a good chance to get out and hike a pretty area that's only a few hours from LA. Plus they got to hang out with us!

Most participants came up Saturday night and enjoyed a fireside happy hour at the Walker Pass Campground. I however had been up since 3 am helping to run an Advanced Mountaineering Program rappelling class in Stoney Point. That didn't wrap up until 4 pm and then of course I had to go keep everyone company at the post class mexican food. As a result I wasn't on the road until sometime after 7 pm which put me up at Walker Pass Campground a bit after 10 pm after a brief stop to answer emails before dropping into the cell dead zone around the campground.

After saying quick hellos and hanging out at the fire for a little while I crashed in the back of the Jeep grateful for a few hours of sleep.

We were hiking at 8 and I got up plenty early to enjoy coffee and breakfast while hanging out in the back of the jeep and catching up with Connie Morris who had come through Kaweah Group last year. We had a good mix of 2017 students, former students, and OC staffers along with a few non affiliated hikers.

The campground is rather small and especially during the PCT hiking season can get really crowded. This early it was just a few random folks but the parking is still fairly limited and at first I thought I'd have to bivy back near 395. It's not the nicest looking but it does have a pit toilet and it's easily accessible unlike the far superior Chimney Creek Campground to the north.

After a quick trailhead talk 12 of us headed off along the PCT at 8 am.

The route up was fairly straightforward following the western gully. You leave the PCT but there's a ducked use trail that takes you up to the summit plateau where things got a bit harder to follow.

There are ducks scattered around up here but it can be easy to get lost especially if you're restricted to only compass and topographical map. Which of course Dennis was since it was a provisional.

The summit of Scodie MountainWe found the summit fairly easily around 12:40.

The summit plateau can be tricky due to the limited visibility and lack of terrain clues and we had a small reroute after we left the summit. Then we picked up the proper gully and headed down.

The eastern gully was a lot more challenging than the one we'd taken up It's passable but you do have to pick your way through vegetation and avoid the occasional slick rocks. There was even water seeping out of the ground in a few places.

We were back down to the trailhead by 4:30 pm at which point a few people had to take off immediately. Those of us who could go home via the 14 stopped at Mojave Cafe and enjoyed surprisingly decent post trip diner food which even included a few mexican options. So it was basically post trip mexican...

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