After spending all afternoon the day before pounding out the miles through LeConte Canyon we were eager to get back into the alpine. We broke camp and were on the trail by the usual 6:30am heading for Mather Pass. Within a few miles we started the 4000’ climb towards Mather Pass (12,100ft). We laced back and forth on the ‘Golden Staircase’, an impressive set of switchbacks that ascended the steep head of Palisade Creek Canyon and were rewarded with Palisade Lake at the top. We couldn’t pass up taking a break at the sandy beach and turquoise blue water, so we had our mid-morning snack while cooling off our legs in the frigid water.
After an hour of lounging in the water and grassy meadows, we tossed the packs on and ground out the final 2000’ to the top of Mather. Towards the top of Mather the views really opened up and we found ourselves again in a massive open bowl with ancient glacier moraines and small, deep blue colored tarns.
At the top of Mather we could see south all the way to Pinchot, our next pass…some speedy hikers knock out both Mather and Pinchot in the same day, but we were just hoping to get to the base of the pass by sunset. We had some leftover bacon from dinner the night before, so our usual lunch of peanut butter and honey tortillas were supplemented with dried bananas and bacon…maybe it only tastes good when being out in the woods for a long time, but we thought they were great.
Down from Mather there were more impressively carved switchbacks into what would otherwise be a 4th class scramble over terrible rock, and then we were out into the flats of another huge plateau that a glacier had carved out thousands of years ago.
We made quick time and were at the base of climb to Pinchot by late afternoon. We rallied and knocked off a small 800’ climb to get back above treeline so we’d have some nice views that evening…it was well worth the effort. We passed by a ranger station just before finding camp and got an updated weather forecast…clear weather through the end of our trip…what a relief to hear that!
Today was our last mandatory 4000’ day, so we felt happy that we’d only have 3000’' climbs in the days ahead.
The Golden Staircase on our way to the Palisades
The Palisades
Palisades Lake
Almost at Mather Pass
The view at Mather to the south
Long ways still to go today!
Bacon makes everything better!
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