Day 76
Start: Kennedy Canyon
Finish: Kennedy Meadows North Resort
Daily Mileage: 10.1
PCT Mile: 1018.1
Cookie Monster, Nomad, and I got an early 4:30 start this morning since we would be crossing a higher area with snow and steep traverses. We were unsure how hard it would be and how long it would take, so we played it safe. We also wanted to get to town for a rest after a week of snow and creek crossings in Yosemite.
We had camped at the base of a high ridge, in sight of the climb up it. Our camp was in a clear patch of earth, but we were straight into snow. The night was fairly warm, but the snow had thankfully hardened overnight, allowing for easy travel; much easier than it had been getting to the campsite.
We headed up to the light of our headlamps on an old jeep road before it disappeared under a sloped snow field. The area had fairly high slope angles, sufficient for an avalanche, but with the snow hard and consolidated it was not a risk right now. However, it would have been a greater risk if we had started up it yesterday afternoon.
The jeep road ran out, and since it was dark, we couldn’t spot the boot path we knew was there. So we began making our own traverse up the slope to where we could next see a spot of trail above us. With the snow in good condition, it was not difficult, and just a touch exposed. Gaining the next stretch of trail we were able to hook up with the boot path and follow it the rest of the way up.
We started the traverse of the ridge which was so much different than the rock we had been on previously. This was cracked and brittle volcanic type rock and made for nice treadway. We started on the west side of the ridge which was snow free due to dun exposure, and made for great scenic and easy walking.
Flipping over to the other side of the ridge we had some icy snow slopes, and we had our microspikes on and our ice axes out most of the time as a matter of course. There was good bootpath for the most part, so it was not challenging, just the consequence of a fall was unpleasant at times.
Nearing the end of the ridge, we had to drop down to Sonora Pass. Usually we are climbing up, but running the high ridge we were way above the pass and road this time. The trail descended the north side of the ridge which was mostly covered with snow.
We definitely made use of or microspikes and ice axes on the way down. At times the path got steep and was a bit exposed even with the traction. We inched our way down and got to a flatter snow slope over a creek. The trail continued to traverse across the mountain, but we had no reason to do that since it looped back and crossed the creek again much further down. There was a great slope down the creek, so we just walked our way straight down that to save time and effort, and it was probably safer than traversing needlessly.
A fun descent, though as we went down the snow began to soften and our creek snow ran out. We bounced around after that but didn’t really try to stay with the trail since it was mostly covered. A lot more postholing, but we made it to the road running through Sonora Pass.
After about 15 minutes, 5 of us managed to cram into a pickup truck with 2 seats with a driver paying some attention to the windy road down. We got dropped off at Kennedy Meadows North Resort which is an off-grid campground offering all the ammenities a hiker needs to rest, fuel, and resupply.
Big meals, showers, laundry, and WiFi use ensued since there had been no signal in the deep mountains for the past week.
We were all really surprised and impressed with the trail today. It was not as difficult as I had expected, and it was amazingly scenic. Also, we had only seen a couple thru-hikers for the entire last week of walking. After we showed up, a steady stream of hikers started arriving. It’s amazing how we can be an hour or two apart and be traveling together so in-sync that we never see each other.
