Day 77
Start: Kennedy Meadows North Resort
Finish: East Fork Carson River
Daily Mileage: 6.3
PCT Mile: 1024.4
Cookie Monster, Nomad, and I took a nero out of Kennedy Meadows North. With shorter days in and out of the campground, we effectively had a day off while being in civilization for only a night. I was good with that length of time rather than taking a zero because the food was already getting old. South Lake Tahoe ahead should be a much better town stop for a zero, and we plan to take one there.
We left on the 2:30 shuttle back up to Sonora Pass and took off up the trail on the mostly snow-free south side of Sonora Peak. The trail wound around a bit and there was snow in the gullies, but the great volcanic rock continued.
We climbed over a couple shoulders of the mountain, crossing into different drainages and hit 10,500 feet. Descending this would be the last time that we are above 10,000 for the entire rest of the trail north. Quite a change after being so high in the Sierra for so long.
The trail descended a valley on the north side of the mountain which was predictably snow covered. Something else that going lower will hopefully eliminate in the near future. Buried trail, so just made our way down and along the Carson River.
Dark clouds were rolling in this afternoon, and there was some thunder and occasional sprinkles around. Approaching camp, there was even lightning and thunder in close proximity. Luckily our planned camp was below treeline, so I quickly setup as soon as I got to our spot, but nothing really came to pass.
We should be getting into some less challenging terrain with less snow and big climbs and tough crossings. We are going to work on ramping up our mileage to get rolling on the trail. It is day 77 now and there is still a bit of trail to go before I’m even half way done. The seasons, future wildfires, and hot weather will drive me forward.