Length: 15 out of 55 Miles Completed
August 17 - 19, 2024
For one of our 2023 fundraiser trips, we hit the South Lake trail to complete the 55 mile thru-hike ending at North Lake, a mere 15 minute drive away. It would take us six days to complete at a comfortable pace. We had packed, weighed, repacked, weighed, unpacked and packed again trying to get our packs as light as we possibly could. We were ready for extremely high, fast, and cold water crossings from the heavy snowfall the Sierras experienced earlier in the year. That morning as we prepared to say goodbye to society for six days, there were rumblings and reports of a hurricane forming in the Pacific that was headed straight for California.
We climbed up to Bishop Pass, slowly but surely, meeting plenty of snow along the way. There was no lack of ice cold, delicious Sierra water to filter, but that also came with mosquitoes. Lots of mosquitoes.
We hit Bishop Pass and over into Dusy Basin just as the sun was starting to go behind the mountains. Shop was set up for the night with quite the view around us. We woke up the next morning covered in frost and condensation from all of the lakes around us – at 10,000 feet, we were a bit chilly.
The next morning, we packed up and hit the trail for a long day. However, we started to notice something. Everyone we passed was headed out to the trailhead, opposite of our direction. Every so often, we'd get a "hey, did you hear about the storm?" or "I hear the rain is going to be pretty bad." At one point, a JMT-er told us his wife had messaged him on his Garmin:"GTFO." He was hustling out before the storm hit.
We pressed onto Le Conte Canyon. A ranger intercepted us – she said, "I can't force you out... but get out." The NPS had been evacuating all backcountry rangers from their posts, as the already-full rivers and water crossings were predicted to rise to very dangerous levels, leaving hikers stranded or swept away. We continued on a bit, considering our options as we were about 15 miles in. Do we keep going? Do we turn around? Can we find a shorter way out? No, yes, and no.
The rivers were already fast and full. One of the bridges leading out of Dusy Basin was damaged. The bridge over the South Fork San Joaquin was out and folks were still finding viable workarounds. We were already facing a lot of roadblocks.
We flipped a U-ey, hiked a few miles, and set up camp for the night with a warm fire, feeling a bit defeated. We were still 13 miles from the trailhead. We ate everything we could from our bear jars in an attempt to lighten our packs for the climb out.
Day 3: We kicked it into high gear to get back to the trailhead. As we went back over Bishop Pass, it started snowing on us. Brrr.
After a long day of hiking in the rain and snow, we returned safely to our South Lake trailhead. We had completed 15 of 55 miles of the South Lake/North Lake thru-hike, unsure if we'd be able to get permits again.
(Spoiler alert: we did.)
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