Tag: Pinchot Pass

Day 16: Pinchot Pass to Mather Pass

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Hiking over Pinchot Pass was easier than the previous two passes, but it still involved a long uphill slog through large snowfields and scrambling across a couple of treacherous outcrops of razor sharp rocks. By this time I had grown somewhat used to the High Sierra landscape of barren, brown peaks dusted with snow and interspersed with forested river valleys. It contrasted greatly with the mostly tree-covered mountains and gray granite in the Tahoe area where I grew up, only a few hundred miles to the north but significantly lower in elevation.

From Pinchot the track wandered down to the South Fork Kings River where a ranger had posted a sign warning not to cross the raging waterway at the trail. Instead we followed the ranger’s suggestion to trek upriver for 1.5 miles to a green meadow where the river braided into five or six smaller streams. Incidentally this was also the only point along the entire PCT when a ranger checked my permit. After a couple of false starts we managed to find the crossing and rejoin the PCT on the other side, winding its way back up toward the river’s headwaters and Mather Pass.

Day 15: Arrowhead Lake to Pinchot Pass

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At the bottom of Arrowhead Lake a deep and wide outlet flowed down the valley into the south fork of Woods Creek. Luckily it was moving at a slow, lazy pace and though cold, crossing the thigh-deep stream did not pose much of a challenge. The tributary led us down to its confluence with the main current, where this remote (and rather convenient) suspension bridge spanned the creek.

A long, hot climb followed as we made our way along the rushing creek and across tumbling side streams to Pinchot Pass, named for the first director of the US Forest Service. Setting up camp on a hilltop just before the pass, I attempted to collect some water by filling my bottle with snow and placing it on a rock in the sun to melt, which turned out to be very inefficient in the rapidly cooling evening air. I sat out under a half moon watching the sun disappear behind the ridgeline, painting the mountains in pink alpenglow.