Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

After a good night sleep and a delicious breakfast, doing laundry, filling up our BV with our resupply food and repacking our backpacks took a lot of time. That would be our last luxury respite and we were in no hurry. We were finally back on the trail by 11am. Our next goal was to reach the Muir Trail Ranch, site of our last resupply, some 50 miles away. MTR is at the half way point of the JMT and it took us 3 days to get there. Because of our late start, Day 4 was our lowest daily mileage (13.5) of the entire trip. We stopped for the night at Purple Lake and were greeted by 2 awesome dogs and one alpaca, with their keeper close by. It was very cool to see them again in the morning before we left. On Day 5, as we hiked up Silver Pass, we took a break at Squaw Lake, another incredibly beautiful high-altitude lake. Even after 5 days on the trail, Damien and I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to be there, witnessing the beauty of nature in its purest form. All the relative suffering and discomfort that we endured was rewarded by moments like this and it recharged us every single time. The next day, we pushed to MTR and we arrived there in early afternoon, after going over Seldon, another 11,000 feet pass. We collected our food, bought some gas canisters, recharged our batteries/phones, and hiked a little further before setting up camp. We were half way done, with no major physical issues, a perfect weather and right on our planned 12 days schedule. However, we tried not thinking of Mt Whitney yet, as the 2nd half is more difficult, with 6 higher passes and many uncertainties.
 
Day 7 was a long gradual climb up to Muir Pass, going from 8,000 feet to 11,500 feet in 16 miles. However, we stopped 1 mile short of the pass at Wanda Lake, another surreal camp site. We met briefly with a very cool family of four, who loved the Tour de France and were enjoying a multi-day hiking trip. The next morning, we went up and over Muir Pass, but not without Damien leaving a note inside the Muir hut. We decided to stop a little early in the afternoon as the clouds were building up in the valley, but luckily we avoided the rain. We were in the middle of Mather Pass and knew that the next day would be tough. The start of Day 9 was brutal, with the Golden Staircase, a series of steep stairs and switchbacks, gaining 2,000 feet in 4 miles up to Mather, at 12,100 feet. It was very hard work but we were far from being done with the day, as we wanted to go over Pinchot Pass as well. We stopped for lunch at Marjorie Lake, half way up to Pinchot. Despite our stop, we both felt really tired and going over the 2nd pass of the day was a struggle. We hit the wall big time for the 1st time since we left Yosemite. Also, we started to worry about our food stock.
 
On a normal year, there is plenty of hikers on the trail and also trail angels, people that provide food at camp sites. But this year, there were far fewer hikers and no trail angels. We still had just enough meal backpacking food but very little snacks. On the way down from Pinchot, a friendly couple gave us some soup and home-made food that broke the routine of eating our dried food. As we started Day 10, we were less than 50 miles away from Mt Whitney, with 2 other passes in between, Glenn and Forester. However, we couldn’t stop thinking about our food, or lack thereof. We checked the bear boxes at a camp site at the bottom of Pinchot, but they were all empty. We then asked a young hiker for food but he didn’t have any to spare. However, he told us that we might be luckier at Lower Rae Lake, as it was a very popular day hike camp site. As we approached Rae lake, we were not in panic mode yet, but really stressed out about our lack of food. When we got to the camp site, I rushed to the bear box while Damien found 3 hikers near the lake. As luck would have it, we both were successful, as the bear box contained food and the hikers, 3 siblings from the LA area, were at the end of their trip and still had plenty. It just shows how truly incredible the hiker community is, and how patient one must be during a long multi-day hike like JMT. We left the camp with a big smile, went over Glenn Pass and hiked another 8 miles before setting up camp. Day 10 was one of the more stressful days so far but now we were just 26 miles away from finishing JMT, and nothing would stop us, or so we thought.
 
During my research before JMT, I read everywhere that Forester Pass was the most gorgeous of all the passes. On a glorious morning of Day 11, Damien and I couldn’t agree more. What a beautiful, yet tough climb it was! As we reached the top at 13,200 feet, a dozen or so hikers were resting and admiring the scenery, with Sequoia NP on one side of the pass and Kings Canyon NP on the other. Only left now was Mt Whitney, 21 miles away. When we planned the hike, we wanted to be at Guitar Lake the night before, so that we could summit Whitney at sunrise. We rushed down Forester and pushed all day but in the end, we stopped for the night 1.5 miles shy of Guitar Lake. It was very cold at 11,000 feet and already nighttime when we set up the camp, something that we had always avoided. After many days averaging close to 20 miles, our bodies started to fall apart. Upon awakening at 3am for the last day, Damien felt dizzy and I had severe GI issues. We got ready and started the last climb as fast as we could because of the cold. It was slow moving, mainly because I had to stop often. We saw many people going up with their headlamps on in the distance. As the sky was clearing up, we realized we wouldn’t be at the top for sunrise. But at that point, we just wanted to finish the climb. When we arrived at the junction a couple hours later with 1.9 miles to go, it was a huge relief for us because we could leave the backpacks there for the final stretch. As Damien was finishing strongly his JMT, I was really hurting badly and it took me a lot to climb those last 2 miles. But ultimately, we reached the top of Mt Whitney, 14,508 feet, at 8am.
 
Damien immediately called Anne-Cecile to let her know that we were done but I couldn’t talk to her as I burst into tears. JMT has been a dream for both of us for a long time and, standing there together after 12 incredible days was very emotional. He and I have lived an incredible adventure and we will have these memories for the rest of our lives.
 
3 down, 12 to go…