PCT Day 51 - Walker Pass

As I laid down tonight the moon was visible in the southern sky just above the mountains which have turned black as twilight faded away. I can't help but contemplate the journey and distance we've traveled so far in less than two months. We've walked 651 miles and the Sierra Nevada, Snowy Range, mountains are visible on the distant horizon. I'm cowboy camping again and can already see Jupiter and Saturn along with the Big Dipper. When the sliver sized moon sets in an hour or two the Milky Way will be visible and I'll stare at the night sky until sleep catches me. Today we only planned to hike 8 miles but they came easy and fast and by 10:45am we were at McIver's cabin. It's a hole in the wall cabin, conveniently placed on trail which sat on a sun drenched mountain with a piped streamed. We cleaned our clothes and ate lunch, walked through the old run down cabin which had initials, names, well wishes and catch phrases carved into it dating back to at least 1978. If there were more shade we may have stayed for the rest of the day and night but since it was hot we pressed on and finished our first section of this hike with a quick 8 mile decline to Walker Pass Campground. We will stay here for two days until we catch a bus to Lake Isabella and then on to LAX to reunite with the family in Florida. The trail is uncertain when we return, we will likely flip up several hundred miles to avoid, for now, the snow covered Sierra's.
These past 50 days outside in John Muir's Wilderness have been completely amazing and the vastness of this area along with the constant changing landscapes never cease to amaze this mid-western born traveler. Florida will be nice, it will be yet another blessing to be around family and especially the unpredictability and innocence of the 5 young nephews. Hopefully some of our stories will inspire them to take amazing adventures when they get older so they to can see the wonders and wilderness of this world.
-Joe



It's so quiet up here on our mountain top home this morning. Joe cowboy camped last night so I had the tent all to myself, although Joe was right outside, just feet away.

We have 16 miles left until Walker Pass, where we will get off trail for a week. Our plan is to do a quick 8 miles to the next spring at McIver's Cabin and chill the rest of the day.

The hike today is mostly even and slightly downhill- easy. The trail takes us through both wooded and open desert like areas. It's odd seeing such different ecosystems all in one day, even in a mile of each of other!

The first 5 miles is on a ridge with pines, and the last 3 is on a dirt road which looks to only be used for off road vehicles. This dirt road will be the trail until we reach the cabin. We get to the cabin around 10:30 and its a real dump. The stream is nice though, so we decide to stay long enough to wash our clothes and eat lunch. We saw two Gopher snakes while doing so, they are super chill and okay with us sticking camera's in their faces, and following them around as long as we could.

Chickadee, Bonus and Sack (other PCT Hikers) joined us for most of our stay at the cabin.

We had 8 more miles until Walker Pass Campground, it was understood that we would carry on and just take a zero tomorrow (Thursday).

The rest of the hike was thankfully not on a road, and the trail was beautiful with mountain views and we even saw another storm roll through (and another Gopher snake). We got some of the last views of the white blanketed Sierra's. They seem so far off- but at the same time we are at the cusp of them.

The last couple of miles are especially pretty- lots of purple flowers covering an entire ridge and the storm in the distance, made for beautiful photos.

We hiked down to 5k feet, Walker Pass unfortunately wasn't much- no trash cans, and just a couple RV spots, and the rest is dedicated to PCT campers. The campground didn't offer much shade, and only a couple picnic tables.

We got to camp around 4pm, there were about 8 other hikers hanging around the picnic table, one of them was a guy I follow on Instagram!

We met Pavlov, Squirtle, Half Facts, and Chickadee was there too. Joe and I had dinner with everyone.

Joe and I set up the tent, but Joe knew right away he would be cowboy camping; he's tried to get me to cowboy camp too, but I worry about the bugs. Since I have a quilt and not a sleeping bag the creepy crawlies can crawl right in.

-Madelyn