August 13, 2025
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is one of 11 national scenic trails in the United States. Over its 2,650 miles, from Mexico to Canada, it crosses 3 states, 48 wilderness areas, 26 national forests, 7 national parks, and 5 national monuments. Over four different years we successfully trekked the entire trail, starting in 2016 and finishing in 2023.
Beginning the PCT in 2016 at the Mexican border; Completing the trail in 2023 at the Canadian border
Now we are back in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to hike on one of our favorite sections of the PCT. The trail through the Sierra Nevada takes hikers through a series of scenic wilderness areas and national parks. Multiple high passes, ranging from 11,000 to 13,000 feet, must be climbed, with subsequent descents to pristine meadows, lakes, and streams. And this section is notable for having one of the longest paved road-free stretches of path in the United States, totaling over 200 trail miles.
We last hiked this portion of the PCT in June 2016, encountering high water crossings and snowy passes. So we looked forward to a much different trail experience in August 2025.
A First Stage Challenge of High Altitude and Intense Sun
After spending two nights acclimatizing at about 8,000 feet in Mammoth Lakes, California, we took an early morning bus to the town of Lone Pine. There, a shuttle driver met us and drove us to the Cottonwood Pass Trailhead at Horseshoe Meadow (10,000 feet).
Beginning our trek at 11:00 am on a sunny day, we climbed 3.7 miles to the pass at 11,140 feet. As we hiked, we had beautiful views of Horseshoe Meadow below us.
We made good progress until just below the pass, where our lack of energy after eating a light breakfast, coupled with the intense sun, forced us to greatly slow down. Finally reaching the pass in the Golden Trout Wilderness, we joined the PCT and headed north.
After ascending for another half mile, we came to Chicken Spring Lake. This was the first water source of the day, so we took a long break to eat some lunch and hydrate. Since the next reliable water was over eight miles away, we filtered enough to take us an additional 4.5 miles to our planned camp for the night. This added about four pounds to each of our packs already carrying four nights of food.
The trail leveled out soon after we started back up, but it was rocky and slow-going at times.
We didn’t remember much about this section of the PCT from nine years ago, except for the beautiful vistas. The clear day provided us with those same views.
The lunch break helped, but the extra weight, warm weather, and higher altitude made us both tired. About 2.5 miles before the end of the stage, I actually hit a wall and needed to stop and rest.
We decided to use an old trick to keep going – cook an early dinner by the side of the trail. This would provide us with more energy and lessen our water weight. After an hour break to meal prep and eat, I felt much better, and we continued on.
Soon after we entered Sequoia National Park. Nine years ago we had reached this same point in the late morning; it was now almost 6:00pm, due to the dinner break.
Darren at the Sequoia National Park boundary in June 2016 and August 2025
A short time later we completed our planned 8.6 miles for the day and found a nice camp at about 11,000 feet to spend the night.
Trekking in the Shadow of Mount Whitney
Continuing north on the PCT in Sequoia National Park, we began an 11.1-mile stage by hiking mostly downhill toward Rock Creek.
We had camped at Rock Creek nine years ago and enjoyed seeing the beautiful site again with much lower water levels. A ranger checked our permit, and we stopped for an early lunch before continuing.
A steep 2.5-mile climb took us away from the water. As we ascended about 1,400 feet, we ensured that we stopped often to drink water, as it was another warm day. Still not used to the altitude, we also paused occasionally to catch our breath as we topped off at about 11,000 feet. We had different ways of taking climbing breaks: Darren briefly stopped at every shady point on the path, while I paused each time after taking 100 steps.
Our stage ended after a rocky descent to Crabtree Meadow. To the east we could see the backside of Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet high.
Hikers can climb the mountain from here and either exit down the other side to the east or return back to continue hiking north. We climbed Whitney many years ago, so opted out of doing it again.
Our previous Mount Whitney climb: Looking down toward Crabtree Meadow; Celebrating at the top of the mountain
Since it was only mid-afternoon, we instead found a great campsite near the lower meadow’s edge at Whitney Creek to settle down and relax for the night.
Joining the John Muir Trail toward Forester Pass
We woke up after sleeping much better at elevation. After enjoying a leisurely breakfast, we packed up for a short but challenging stage.
As we started hiking, we joined the 211-mile John Muir Trail (JMT), which runs from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney. From this junction, the JMT runs concurrently with the PCT for the next 146 miles, until diverging for a short time near Mammoth Lakes. At Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows, the JMT leaves the PCT for good to head to Yosemite Valley. By previously hiking the PCT we have also completed most of the JMT, except for the two sections just mentioned.
We scheduled a short stage to put us into position to climb Forester Pass the next morning. This pass is the highest on the PCT and JMT at 13,120 feet. Even though we had about 2,000 feet of climbing throughout the stage, we felt more acclimatized and didn’t have to stop as much.
Water sources were also plentiful, and the creek crossings much easier than nine years ago. During our 2016 crossing of Wallace Creek the water was above my knees. Now I had a much easier time in the shallow stream using the rocks.
Wallace Creek crossing then and now
After leaving Wallace Creek, we climbed to the high point of the stage, taking us to the Bighorn Plateau at 11,400 feet. The views were expansive on the bright and cloudless day.
Our stage ended with a descent to Tyndall Creek in the tree line at 10,900 feet. Arriving there a little before 2:00 pm gave us time to take a nap and enjoy a lazy afternoon.
Over Forester Pass and Down to Vidette Meadow
We woke up early and began trekking at about 7:20 am, as we had 4.8 miles to go to the 13,120-foot high Forester Pass. The first four miles were a steady uphill hike, gaining about 1,400 feet. As the air thinned out at about 12,000 feet, we took quick breaks to catch our breath.
Even though we could really feel the altitude now, hiking toward the pass was so much easier than nine years ago, when we walked through quite a bit of snow, while wearing microspikes, to reach the top.
Trekking toward Forester Pass in June 2016 (left) and now
What hadn’t changed were the sweeping vistas that we had. Now above the tree line, Darren joked that it felt like we were hiking on the moon.
We even spied the occasional marmot next to the trail.
We reached the base of the pass with just under a mile to go to the top.
After a break along a creek, we began an 800-foot climb up numerous rocky switchbacks and stone steps.
Near the top of Forester Pass, a narrow “snow chute” section with a steep drop-off is a well-known PCT hazard. It was terrifying for me to cross in 2016. Now, it was a place to take a quick breather before heading just a short distance further to the top of the pass.
Crossing the snow chute in 2016; Taking a quick breather at the same location nine years later
The pass marks the border of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the views in both directions were exceptional on the crystal clear day.
We took a break with the other hikers who were there and had some photos taken.
At the top of Forester Pass – 2016 and 2025
We created a short video to show what it was like to climb to the pass.
Rather than glissading down the snowy north side of the mountain (as we did nine years ago), this time we descended ridges and a series of switchbacks to the tree line.
After 7.8 miles and a 3,600-foot loss in elevation we reached Vidette Meadow. There, we set up camp near Bubbs Creek.
It felt good to be sleeping at only 9,500 feet. Unfortunately, there were large black carpenter ants all over the ground, and I got bit a couple of times. At least they stayed out of the tent, and we slept well after the long stage.
A Final Stage through Spectacular Scenery
The final stage took us through one of our favorite areas in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was forecasted to be a warm day, so we got another early start at 7:10 am to begin a 1,000-foot climb over 1.5 miles.
Tired from the previous day of hiking over Forester Pass, we took this first section slowly.
As we ascended, we checked our progress on Darren’s Garmin watch, which showed our real-time elevation gain and what we had to go for the stage.
At the top of the climb, we turned off the PCT / JMT to hike east toward Kearsarge Pass (11,800 feet). Along the way we passed Bullfrog Lake.
As we continued east, we stopped often to photograph both Bullfrog Lake and the series of Kearsarge Lakes. The lakes were just beautiful in the early morning sun.
We could feel the heat rising, making this the hottest day so far. And walking east into the sun, with little shade, made the hiking more challenging. The conditions were not just affecting us; there were several other groups on the path who were also laboring in the heat and taking frequent breaks. Fortunately, we didn’t have a pickup scheduled at the Onion Valley Trailhead until 3:00 pm, so we just took our time hiking.
After a steep climb to reach the pass, we took a short break to admire the views one last time before descending down the other side.
After hiking about halfway down from the pass, we had plenty of time to stop and enjoy lunch at Gilbert Lake. A short time later we completed our 2,600-foot descent to the pickup point at the Onion Valley Trailhead.
When the shuttle driver picked us up to drive us to the town of Independence (elevation 3,900 feet), he told us that it was currently 107° F there, validating the unusual heat that we had felt on the mountain. It was a good time to end this section hike, with a total of 50 miles trekked over five days, with about 12,000 feet of elevation gain and 12,500 feet of loss.
Map of our 50-mile, three pass trek on the PCT / JMT
It had been nine years since we had last hiked this trail in June 2016, in wet and snowy conditions. As we took our final steps to finish this trek, we felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience this PCT section in a totally different light.
Trekking through this area affirmed our love of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Pacific Crest Trail, and we looked forward to other trekking adventures here in the future.