PCT Day 47 – Side Trippin to Soldier Lakes
Stats
Start: Chicken Spring Lake – Mile 750.8
End: Whitney Creek – Mile 766.3
Elevation Max: 11,514
Elevation Min: 9,744
Elevation Change: 2,837 up & 2,520 down
Average Heart Rate: 103
Walking Time: 5 hrs 1 minutes
Date: 5/19/2022
The Walk
The sun woke me up, but I want in a hurry to get moving. Quest and Trunkle came in late last night and we were gathering the crew for the next phase of the trip.
I eventually up and packed up around 8. I walked to the lake to filter some water and saw everyone circled up. They were chilling and eating breakfast.
I caught up to them. We chilled for another hour eating snacks. Quest packed out a box of cheese it’s and a big tub of Nutella from lone pine. Then headed out for the day. We planned to take a side trail. Rock Creek Trail to Soldier Lakes.
It was only 2ish extra miles from the PCT and had a lake and a creek to follow. The morning hike was beautiful through tall pines. The trees were getting bigger. It was another perfect day for hiking.
At the rock creek trail I left the PCT. It was nice to be off on a side trail, exploring the Sierras. The trail was smaller and harder to follow than the pct. It felt like a hike out in the woods. I had taken a picture of Zoe’s map. Just in case I got turned around.
I felt confident finding my way to the lake! I was the first one there and saw a beautiful lake framed by mountains. I walked all around and didn’t see anyone else. But I did find some bugs. Lots of flys near the water. Luckily they weren’t biting.
Then I put my backpack on a tall rock away from the bugs and soaked my feet. The water was cold! Makes sense for a lake filled with snow melt.
I heard everyone else roll in and we all relaxed for a few hours and had lunch. Then I jumped in! 2 alpine lakes in 2 days… why not?? The water didn’t take my breath away. Which was a nice change. I stayed in for a minute before drying off and warming up in the sun.
I relaxed for a few more hours and started hiking around 3. We had 16ish miles to go. The hike as beautiful. We were hiking around 11k feet all day and you could see mountain tops just above.
Running water abounded and animals were everywhere. Coyote, deer, marmots, chipmunks. We saw them all, eventually we got to the ranger station around 7:30. There were tons of tents around.
I set up, had dinner, and prepped my backpack to climb Mount Whitney. I am ditching a lot of gear and food, basically doing a day hike. Tomorrow I’ll be on the highest point in tbe 48 states! And I’ll be there for sunrise. We’re starting at 1am to make sure to get there by sunrise. Can’t wait!