August 3

(near) Twin Lakes to Deer Meadow – 20.5 miles

This day presented three major challenges; Pinchot Pass, crossing South Fork Kings River and Mather Pass. The first of these was met early the morning since I was camped only about 3 miles short of the summit of Pinchot Pass. On the north side of the pass, the trail passes several beautiful lakes, the largest of which is Lake Marjorie, as it descends to South Fork Kings River. This is one of the major river crossings on the JMT, and earlier this year a PCT hiker was fatally swept away while crossing. Word had quickly spread, and rangers left notes on trail signs, to avoid crossing the river at the “summer crossing”, but to instead follow the river upstream a couple of miles where it breaks into smaller tributaries that are easier to cross. Successfully crossed, and back on the trail, I pushed on to Mather Pass. Shortly after rejoining the trail, I ran into a backcountry ranger and stopped to chat with him for awhile, learning a bit about trail conditions and his life as a ranger. He was one of several rangers I saw during the course of the trek; both men and women, younger and older.

As with all the passes, there were snowfields to be navigated, and in this case a steep scramble was required over very loose rock to get around a snowfield and back onto the trail toward the summit. North from the summit, Palisades Lakes were visible in the distance, my tentative destination for the day, but nice camp spots were already occupied once I arrived there and walked along the lakes, so rather than cram into a site, I opted to carry on further for the day. I headed down the Golden Staircase to Deer Meadow which would shorten my mileage up to Muir Pass the following day. The “staircase”, the last section of the trail to be completed in 1938, is a steep series of switchbacks covering about 1,400’ in 2 miles. I was feeling the mileage and challenges of the day, so shortly past the bottom of the descent, as soon as I saw a relatively flat spot near a stream, I set up camp to recharge for the next day.