Sierras update

Greetings envious blog readers!

I am currently in Mammoth Lakes, at the north end of the High Sierras. I still have a few hundred miles of Sierras to go, but the really high passes, extended snow travel, deep stream fords, and low temperatures are behind me. I think.

The High Sierras were amazing, as you can hopefully tell from the pictures. All the climbs, high altitude, and snow travel were exhausting but very rewarding.

Just for fun, here are a few figures for the numerically inclinded among you:

• 2: number of times my pants have fallen down as I was hiking due to weight loss
• 43: number of streams I crossed in the first hour of hiking a few days ago
• 22: number of minutes it took me to eat an entire large bag of kettle chips when I got into town yesterday
• 907: number of miles hiked so far
• 8: number of high passes I went over in the High Sierras

The big news I'm excited about right now is that very soon I get to see Amy! She and her sister Robin and Robin's husband Ernie are coming out to hike with me, arriving late on the 30th. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them and having them experience the trail with me a bit.

Joel

pictures from mid June

The pictures are from newest to oldest -- reverse order!

PCT Panoramas

Panoramas in the Sierra Mountains.

more pictures from the PCT

The white tents are part of Hiker Heaven.

Pictures of the PCT

Above, Joel and others making lunches for firefighters at Wrightwood.

Sierra Adventures

Greetings warm blog readers!

I have completed the first leg of the Sierras, and am currently in Independence at mile 790ish. I'm happy to report that the weather has been much better than was predicted when I was in Lone Pine. We've had some cold and snow but nothing that's too tough to handle.

Three days ago I summitted Mount Whitney (the highest point in the lower 48 states), and yesterday I went over Forester Pass (the highest point on the PCT). Mount Whitney was very cold and cloudy, but the clouds cleared up for a few minutes while I was at the summit allowing some beautiful views and a strong enough cell phone signal to call my wife! Yesterday was a perfect day to go over Forester, with great snow conditions and clear views. I've been hiking with a small group in the Sierras, and we had a wonderful day and tons of fun. We glissaded down the north side of Forester, which means you sit down and slide down the mountain using your ice axe to brake. We had many laughs and took videos of each other glissading.

I just sent home another memory card, so hopefully we'll have some pictures of the Sierras up soon.

Lastly, my friends Natalia and Sam who are manually updating the Google map with my Spot location are currently out of the country. As such, the map won't be updated until they return. Don't worry - I'm doing fine and my wife and parents are still getting the live updates every night when I push the OK button.

Joel

Pictures!

pictures

more pics