7/6/2023
Section: Milepost 756.4 to 768.2
Distance: 12.6 Miles
Moving Time: 06:27 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2,385 ft
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Today will be short because i need to get up at midnight to do Whitney. Today’s stage winds northwest before dropping down into the Rock Creek valley making for the first major river crossing of the Sierra. From the Rock Creek valley, the PCT rises, eventually going over Guyot pass. From the pass it drops down a bit through a basin and eventually crosses Whitney Creek which was also a healthy crossing. Just after the creek the PCT joins with the JMT to go north. Here is where most people jump onto the JMT in order to climb Whitney.
Today started around 4:30 am. The group of 7 was up at 2 and on their way to take advantage of the solid, early morning snow. They were not quiet about leaving either. We woke up, had breakfast and were off a little after 5, also enjoying the good snow conditions. Wildfire left us behind pretty fast and we carried on by ourselves through a bunch of low hills before dropping down to Rock Creek. Here, Wildfire was waiting and had found a good place to cross near the Rock Creek ranger station. We followed him over and used a fallen log to cross a very healthy running river. On the other side we made a few more small crossings before circumventing a large meadow north and then west. We traveled about half a mile and found a nice rock to sit on and snack about 100 yards from where our game trail rejoined the actual PCT. The water is really running - these streams would almost be dry in a normal July but they are absolutely raging.
After our snack, we tried to rejoin Wildfire but he must have taken off. We climbed a thousand feet before the grade tapered off through some beautiful groves of Sierra Juniper and then climbed another 500 feet to the top of Guyot pass where we took another quick break. We have acclimatized pretty well by now but those 11,000 foot passes always take the breath away. We wound down, the trail was much less snow covered than yesterday but there were still some spots. At one point we just straight-lined it down to a basin - Guyot Flat - and threw on the snowshoes to cross some flat snow. On the other side we helped each other put the shoes back in their holsters and continued on good dirt for another 3 miles where we came to Crabtree meadow and Whitney Creek. Whitney creek was also raging but where the PCT crossed it, it was nice and calm. Evidently not calm enough because Amanda took a spill halfway across and I was able to grab her so she could stabilize - got it on camera too so that should be forthcoming. We got across, Wildfire waiting on the other side and chuckling at our antics and Amanda laid her things out to dry.
After about 20 minutes of drying we followed Wildfire up the PCT to were it joined the JMT, which was an exciting milestone, and turned right. A mile on led us to a beautiful campground where Wildfire was waiting for us. It was about 3:30 so we did our chores and ate dinner fast in order to get to bed at a good time for the midnight start. Probably not necessary but, gotta see the sunrise from the top of Whitney!
As I was lying in bed, Amanda thought of a good name for herself - maybe as a placeholder or maybe permanent - River Dancer.
