Day 76, 14 miles
Emigrant Wilderness Stanislaus National Forest
Packed up early and hiked the mile to the road. The first car to drive by gave us a hitch in to the small resort of Kennedy Meadows North 8 miles down a steep, windy canyon.
I needed fuel and a few more supplies. Of course I had a toasted egg, cheese, and tomato sandwich. We didn’t get back to the pct trail head till the afternoon.
It was only 2 miles to get over Sonora Pass. It took us over 2 hours. We kept traversing, trying to avoid the steep, snow field. I ended up scrambling up rock and mud with my micro spikes on. Sweet did the snow traverse. She is much more confident with the steep drop-offs.
At the top we both felt the altitude. Sweet was nauseous and got a pretty significant nose bleed. My breathing was laboured and my heart was pounding in my chest as if to shout “slow down, slow down”. So I did.
On the south side of Sonora Pass there is an 8 mile long, dry, exposed ridge, then more snow switchbacks down into the forest and valley below. We hiked till 8:30 and camped beside a noisy river with several other tents and occupants already asleep.
Omg….the mosquitoes are sooooo bad. It’s only just started.
We are back in the Sierras! I’m so excited.
trail whispering - moonshadow 
Hi Sally, great story and photo with the beer. Keystone Light should love it. Again, what wonderful people these Trail Angels are.
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Yes. The best part of this journey has been the amazing, kind, and generous people of California. I am treated like a celebrity where ever I go. It’s been wonderful.
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Just curious as to why there is such a long lag time between your posting and my receiving. The Emigrant post was dated June 26th, but I didn’t receive it until July 9th. Did you pass Medicine Man between Sonora Pass and Tahoe? When I dropped him off at Sonora Pass there were three hikers who had turned back on their way to Tahoe because they were not properly equipped for the snow conditions. I took them down to Kennedy Meadows so they could spend a few days hiking in that wilderness where there was less snow. Then they were going to have the friends they had planned to meet in Tahoe come get them. They said they were going to make sure there was plenty of beer along the PCT from the Tahoe end during the time they were there since they had found out firsthand what a tough hike it is. SO, I can’t help but wonder if it was their beer you were enjoying. Hope so.
Happy trails…
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Ha! Maybe! I do remember meeting a medicine man. I’m sorry, but I can’t remember where. As for my blog, I create a draft everyday. Even if I have been hiking for 14 hours. It is a commitment. Of course there is no wifi and very little cel service in the mountains. It takes a strong wifi or all bars on my AT&T cel plan to upload photos and to publish those daily drafts. When I arrive in town I spend many hours updating those posts. They are published staggered so that you don’t get a bunch at once. Thank-you for following.
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