Forester Pass: Along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)

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Duncan, my husband, has been hiking parts of the Pacific Crest Trail for the last 3 summers. The PCT is a national trail that goes from the Mexico boarder to the Canada border through California, Oregon, and Washington. Over a thousand hikers hike this trail every year, even though it takes 6 months or more to complete.
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This summer, our biggest trip was to experience a little of the PCT with Duncan. Kay and Clark have jobs, so they stayed home to be responsible. Duncan, J.D., Adam, Curt and I ventured off to mid-California for a real adventure, along with my sister, Janet, and her family. Here we are at Chicken Spring Lake.
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We hiked in some beautiful mountains! Now, these mountains are the High Sierras. In this range is the famous, Mt. Whitney, which is not on the PCT, but is the highest mountain in the continental U.S. We could see Mt. Whitney all along the way for about two days. This area is also part of the famous John Muir Trail. These pictures highlight our walk over Forester Pass, though there were other memorable moments as well. This seemed to be the climax for me, however. Forester Pass is the highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail and on the John Muir Trail.
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Look at us hiking toward Forester Pass. We were so so high in elevation here. Just coming above tree line! We camped above tree line among mountain top lakes the night after this and crossed the pass the next morning.
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Here is a good view of some of the lakes on the north side of the pass.
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​This is the last snow crossing before the pass. (North of the pass). Ben, Curt, Rob, and Garrett.
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At Forester Pass! You just can’t get an accurate feeling of the majesty of these mountains from the photos. We had been climbing for 3 days to get there and the feeling of being on top of it all is unforgettable.
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​Duncan, Kristin, Adam, Curt, Janet, J.D., Ben, Nate, Garrett, Rob at Forester Pass. It is funny that we look almost like we are in the desert here. We are actually at 13,300 plus feet in elevation! Look behind us. That is one of the very high mountain lakes that we passed as we ascended. These lakes have iceberg type chunks of bluish ice floating in them. They are frozen over at their shore lines. They are a gorgeous blue. It is interesting that there is so little vegetation and almost zero wild life that high. What an accomplishment – especially for me, the slowest but still determined. 🙂
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​Here we are descending from the top of Forester Pass! There was a couple miles of snow and ice hiking on both sides of the pass. This kind of hiking I had never done before. I had to be careful not to look around too much because I almost felt dizzy at times. Look at the huge mountains that are BELOW us here!
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We hiked through Bub’s River Valley next and camped at the Kearsarge Lakes for our last night on the trail. What a memorable time with my family!

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