October 3

Distance: 16.0 miles | Ascent: 3250′ | Descent: 3410′

Mile marker: 1823.6

Lunch: J&A – chocolate banana oatmeal (A-, ?)

Dinner: J – spaghetti mac (B), A –

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Oh boy….

Several times yesterday we got weather reports. The clouds were suspicious and there were some ominous winds. At lower elevation, the report foretold of rain. When we got to our campsite at 10,900′, the weather report had turned to snow. Preparing for the worst, we had made sure our tent was storm-ready, with extra stakes and the rain fly extended as close to the ground as possible.

At about 11:15 pm, one of the tent lines loosened in the wind and the tent collapsed on Jason. Alex, tucked down inside her sleeping bag to keep warm, was unaware until Jason frantically woke her up. Fortunately, it was an easy fix with an extra stake and a slight readjustment. No snow yet.

Soon after, the rain started. Well, freezing rain. It caused the tent to sag down as it hammered inches above our heads. The freezing rain turned to snow as the wind continued to push our tent askew. We woke often – either by the tent sagging down to our faces or a strong gust of wind rattling the walls. Each time we took the opportunity to slap and shake the tent above, knocking off the snow and ice. It was not a sound night of sleep.

At daybreak, the weather continued above us. The temperature had fallen significantly, too. We were not keen on going outside the tent to start our day wet and cold. So, we stayed inside and called for more weather reports. The precipitation was slated to end at 8ish. Like our French couple friends beside us, we decided to stay inside and sleep in, like a school snow day! Although we were not really sleeping much by that point – the icy tent had sagged onto our faces and feet, and we laid there wondering what kind of day lay ahead. How much snow had fallen on the next pass?

When we got brave enough to peak outside the tent, we were greeted with a wonderful winterscape! It was spectacular! It was also very, very cold.

Because of the storm, we started our hike much later than we had originally planned. We had to climb up and over Muir Pass. As we climbed, the snow got deeper and harder to wade through. We were hiking near the French couple, and our two teams took turns leading the way (being in front and making the first footsteps is exhausting). It was slow going, and the sky continued to be dramatic. Sometimes it was blue and sunny, other times grey and snowy again. But, it was a neat opportunity  to admire the first High Sierra snow of the season, up close and in our faces!

When planning our hike, we (like many of our fellow SOBOs) followed the common advice to get through the High Sierra by mid-October to avoid snow. Of course, weather is unpredictable. Some years, the first snow comes in September. Other years, not until November. We got lucky by experiencing the first snow on October 3rd! And, unlucky.

Our target was to go up and over Bishop Pass today and get into Bishop. This would’ve been a little more than 24 miles. The snow stymied this goal. We had known that as soon as we saw the snow.

We lunched at the John Muir Memorial Shelter with the French couple before working our way down from Muir Pass. We walked through more snow and some hail. It was dramatic.

When we got below 10,000 ft, it began to look like fall again, sort of. We still went through waves of sleet and hail occasionally.

We came across a rock someone(s) had turned into an adorable monster face. He did not appear to be enjoying the weather.

We made it to the Bishop Pass junction and set a new goal of getting the bulk of the climb finished. Fortunately, we weren’t having to wade through snow at this elevation.

It was blisteringly cold, though. As the sun set, it easily dropped below freezing and we quickly tried to set up camp. Frustratingly, the first two sites we tried turned out to be seated on just an inch of sand covering slabs of rock. We couldn’t stake in. We hustled to find a third site tucked in trees with a few inches of soil that we could sink our stakes into. Success!

We’ll make it to Bishop tomorrow morning. We lost some time from the snow, and we may want to rethink our next section. We need to know how much snow the storm dumped on other passes and what the forecasts predict for the next week. Do we continue onwards? Skip ahead to the end of the Sierra? We’ll do some research and planning over lunch at a diner tomorrow when we have internet access.