Day 78
Start: East Fork Carson River
Finish: Ebbetts Pass
Daily Mileage: 23.6
PCT Mile: 1048
No rain, no condensation, beautiful night. We cruised downstream in the morning. Dropping elevation there was snow at the start but it soon virtually disappeared and we were left with just normal easy trail to travel. It was beautiful. No struggle or wet feet, just cruising along at top speed. Even when the trail went uphill at a decent grade, I powered right through it with energy from the recent town food or the pleasantness and lack of struggle on the trail; I’m not sure which.
The trail wasn’t anything spectacular or unique. It was mostly treed in with occasional views of the mountains above. Even so, that didn’t matter to me at all, just the ease of cruising right along.
The trail rolled around mountains, not gaining or losing too much elevation. Through meadows, across creeks we didn’t have to wade, just super mellow.
After 3 hours I had done 8.5 miles, nearly my top speed, offset slightly by a little bit of snow.
However, as we continued on, the patches of snow started getting bigger and more frequent. It was good to walk on since it was fairly firm with very few postholes, but it still takes more time and energy.
Later in the day, as the mix of snow and clear trail continued, I climbed to a pass with great views of the surrounding area. The daily afternoon thunderhead was in the distance but not coming towards us, and the wind was blowing to cool me off from the climb. A great spot.
Heading down got to be the most adventurous trail of the day. Down a snow field, across a wet meadow, past a lake, and into jagged volcanic terrain.
We had to traverse across a volcanic mountain, crossing several deep and sharp gullies. Most of them were snow filled, but the gully with the biggest stream was solid snowfield except where we needed to cross the stream. I scrambled up and down a small ravine to cross on a snowbridge, but Nomad took a more adventurous route. We all ended up getting across just fine, but I’m not sure it was worth the effort to keep our feet dry.
Then it was just a small uphill jog to our campsite. I was getting water in a stream just before camp, and my phone slid out of my pocket and straight into the stream. I grabbed it out and dried it off, and it seemed fine. I will keep it on me to make sure it is dry overnight.
Camp is a large flat area at the end of a mountain ridge, nice spot.
I struggled to put together the entry today. Nothing was too special or unique, so it is a bit bland. However, today was much easier than most recent days even despite the snow in the second half of the day. At this point, I will take the pleasant and easier hiking.
