PCT Day 84
July 23, 2021
Mile: 843.3 to 863.7
Start: Evolution Creek cliffside campsite
Finish: Lakeside camp snuggled in the woods next to Sallie Keyes Lake
Shannon and I took our time this morning waking up, enjoying the nice cool and shaded sanctuary that the tall mountains around Evolution Lake provided. We had a luxurious breakfast nestled behind some rocks to stay out of the breeze that was coming up from the southern canyon to block the wind while we were cooking. As we dined on oatmeal, tea and coffee, the rising sun colored the craggy peaks and the lake sparkled and shimmered below. We watched the other hikers below us pack up and leave. Shannon and I lingered in the beauty of the mountains and it wasn’t until about 9:30am we left but it was fine.
We spent the morning hiking through gorgeous wildflower meadows with more bright pink tufts of wild onions growing everywhere. The smell of the onions was super pungent and my mouth started watering thinking of pizza and pasta and the garlicky yummy Italian food. As my stomach rumbled with mid-morning hunger, it felt like nature was teasing us because if you closed your eyes, the heavy scent of the wild onions emanated everywhere in the hillsides. It almost convinced you that you were standing in the North End of Boston during dinner time or standing in your Nonna’s kitchen as she spent hours stirring the pot of red sauce and meatballs the same way that it had been cooked since your ancestors left the hills of Italy.
As I drooled slightly over the onion smells, I satisfied my hunger with a granola bar. I was all pumped up on my Lord of the Rings audiobook and enjoyed listening to the story as the miles passed underfoot. When we came to the park ranger station, a sign was posted from two weeks ago that warned hikers of a very bold, very aggressive black bear that had been stealing hanging food and backpacks from one of the campsites up ahead. So we made sure that we held on to our gear and watched it diligently whenever we stopped to take a break.
As we hiked on, I noticed some plants that I’d recently read about in my edible plants foraging guide. My mouth watered as we saw ripening gooseberries hanging down from their branches with their spiky outer shells and some globular wax currents that were starting to turn deep purples and maroons. The berries made my stomach rumble with how tasty they looked. Having seen these berries in my foraging books, I was excited to try some of the fully ripe ones if we spotted them.
As we hiked up over a hill that we could barely see over, we were very surprised to see a cowboy driving a small mule train coming the opposite way carrying gear out to the Ranger. We moved aside since obviously they had the right of way being the bigger of us and watched the mules hike steadfastly through the woods doing some serious work.
I smelled a mushroom before we saw it and it looked as though some sort of animal like a deer had gotten into it leaving large chew marks in the flesh. I don’t know what kind of mushroom it was growing on wood but it was cool. I also realized that with my stomach rumbling from all the smells of wild onions, mushrooms and juicy berries that I probably should be packing more food out with me on the hike.
We passed fields of purple lupines and rushing waterfalls which was really nice to see and not have to worry about where our next water source was coming from today. The trail here had rectangular trail markers carved into the bark, a practice that opens up the trees to insects and disease. It was good that the trail maintainers had stopped decorating the PCT with the carved rectangular markers and transitioned to wooden or plastic signs nailed into the bark.
We traipsed across a couple of bridges both sturdy and wide enough to accommodate mules and any other large four legged animals (or large two legged humans). The trail finally left the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with not much fanfare except that it seemed like the area immediately became less dramatic and tourist filled. We were hoping that by leaving the National Parks, it would mean that some of the National Park camper volume would also die down. Now it seemed like most of the hikers we were dealing with were John Muir Trail backpackers so we were still probably going to be moving over to let SOBO (southbound) hikers pass.
At one point we were just kind of bummed and exhausted from the day and stopped on the side of the trail to take a quick snack break. We were near the Muir Trail Ranch, which was a backcountry rustic lodge that you could mail hiker resupply boxes to via the form of 5 gallon plastic pails. For a somewhat ridiculous fee of $40, you could pay to release your resupply boxes from the ranch’s storeroom. But because this is where so many hikers resupplied on the John Muir Trail, the ranch turned a pretty business bringing hiker food and supplies into the backcountry via mule team. Most of the JMT hikers had no idea what they were doing when it came to resupplying so there was always tons of extra food in the ranch’s hiker box. A hiker box is where hikers can leave items that they don’t need and take things that would help them with their hike (a kind of pay it forward deal). The ranch was 1.5 miles off the PCT and we kind of regretted not going down there because some of our hiking friends said that the ranch’s hiker box was the best that they’ve ever seen. Supposedly the hiker box was literally the size of a bathtub with expensive dehydrated meals, like $12 Mountain House and Backpackers Pantry and all sorts of good stuff. Oh, well.
While we were trying to get motivated to keep hiking in the hot dusty forests, I was kind of down in the dumps a bit after leaving the gorgeous scenery of the SEKI National Parks. In order to cheer me up, Shannon asked if he wanted me to eat something that he pointed to on the ground. Intrigued (and also a little concerned), I looked towards our feet where Shannon pointed to a big black juicy-looking carpenter ant crawling around. Smiling, I said, “Sure, why not?”
Shannon picked up the giant ant, chomped off its head and popped it in his mouth like it was candy. Out of sheer boredom Shannon chewed up the ant. When I asked him what it tasted like, he replied that it tasted kinda like a SweetTart candy but the texture of the ant legs was not his favorite. He commented that the ant appendages were kind of like when popcorn kernels get stuck in your teeth and he kept spitting those out. But according to Shannon, the ant was not too bad overall. We later read that if you eat like 3 ounces of ants (which, by the way, is a sh*t ton of ants), that it’s a really good source of iron. Who would’ve thought it? Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to stick around and eat hundreds of ants so we packed up, laughing at each other and kept going in the late afternoon sunshine.
After spending some time eating ants on the trail, we continued up the trail up to these terrible switchbacks that were super steep, super dusty and super sweltering. It wasn’t just us who were taking issues with the vertical trail up here. On our way up, we hiked past a girl who was so sweaty that she was hiking just in her underwear. (Who knows what was going on there.) Another guy was literally passed out on the side of the trail curled up in the fetal position. We both looked at each other in alarm and checked in on the passed out guy to make sure he was doing okay or if he needed water because he was legitimately lying in the dirt under a tree. The guy insisted that he was just hanging out and that he’d catch up with his friends later. I guess everyone is feeling the steep switchbacks and maybe this guy needed to take a nap in the dirt and the girl just needed to take off her pants to get up the trail and Shannon just needed to eat some ants to make it to the top. I get it (I think)!
Some sort of special hiker ahead of us definitely won the prize this afternoon for motivating us as they had left smiley faces made from rocks and pinecones all along the switchbacks. So with new smiles and daylight waning fast, we continued hiking up the trail and finally made it over the steep switchbacks. The trail transitioned from dry manzanita and oak forests into lush wildflower fields filled with wild Angelica, fronds of ivory yarrow and Black-Eyed Susans. Up in the fields, we trekked through the gorgeous meadows of lupine and made our way up to Sallie Keyes Lakes which we’d heard were gorgeous. Whoever had said that the lakes were pretty was spot on as they were absolutely beautiful.
The water was still and calm amongst the backdrop of high mountain clouds and steep rocky cliff sides. We cut down a side trail where there were some hidden campsites and found one in the woods that had fewer mosquitoes than the tentsites down by the waterfront. We were far away from the other hikers who had all clustered at an established site right next to the PCT. Shannon and I enjoyed the peace and quiet as well as the beauty of the trout jumping out of the water at sunset as we cooked dinner next to the lake. It was serene.
Our campsite was super comfortable nestled in the pine needles and soft duff. It had been a great day. And you know, I was starting to get nervous that with all the beautiful lakes and meadows that we were going to start taking the area for granted. I hoped that we never would do that because the Sierras are so spectacular and beautiful.
We also decided to do a little experiment while we’re eating dinner to figure out what the trout liked to eat. Shannon broke apart a piece of dried edamame and tossed it in the water to see if the fish would eat it as it floated along the surface. They didn’t really seem to care much for vegetarian fare like the disgusting dried edamame and to tell the truth, neither of us really cared for the edamame either as trail food. We then found this daddy longlegs spider that had crawled onto my leg and threw it out into the water which the trout immediately gobbled up. Hey, you got to keep yourself entertained somehow! In the shadows of the trees, we were able to hide from some of the bright moonlight as it rose later in the evening and catch some nice sleep in the chilly, high alpine air.
