After an extremely cold morning, I headed north from Harts Pass on the final stretch of the PCT. I traversed across the side of Slate Peak, which was covered in a dusting of snow, then up to Buffalo Pass. I continued around to Windy Pass under Tamarack Peak to Foggy Pass then Jim Pass. The trail then went around Devils Backbone, over Shaw Creek and down into a valley to reach Holman Pass. Today I covered 13.6 miles, 21.8 km.

I woke up to a completely frozen tent, opening the zipper was a struggle. This was certainly the coldest morning on trail, even colder than the snow way back in Mt Laguna. I can’t know for sure exactly what the temperature was, but the forecast back in Harts Pass was calling for 14 °F, -10°C. I packed up very slowly, making sure to keep myself warm and dry the whole time.

When I got on trail, the sun was out and snow was dusted over everything. I was so glad to be in the sun, but the air was still bitterly cold. I climbed up the side of the snowy ridge and took in all the views on this bluebird day. The green pines, white snow, golden larches and blue skies made this one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever hiked in.

The trail wrapped around Slate Peak on the way up to Buffalo Pass. As I worked my way around, I got some great views to distant peaks with fresh looking snow on them.

I walked through Windy Pass and up to a high spur before dropping into the shadow on the other side. By the time I got here, it was after midday, but the air on this side was still icy. I noticed that the sun never really got high in the sky, I’m moving north just as the sun moves south and the difference in daylight is noticeable.

Later in the afternoon, I found myself in permanent shade where the ice hadn’t been able to melt off the ground. I filled up my water bottles at Shaw Creek in frigid cold. Last Strap caught me up as I filtered water. We chatted for a moment before Pie Guy, Random and Extra came around the bend. I was astonished to see Extra again, I’d met him on the evening before I took Cottonwood Pass to Lone Pine, and hadn’t seen him since. Lunatic arrived as I was packing up from filtering and we walked and talked halfway to camp before he picked up the pace to reach his spot a bit further up from my target. On the last descent to camp, I got to chat with Mule, who I’d heard of through the others. I arrived at camp just as it was getting dark, later than I would have normally liked but in these final days it really doesn’t matter. Since it was late, I ate ramen for the first time on the entire trail, it really doesn’t sustain and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone for regaining strength, tastes great though.