Pacific Crest Trail - Day 91 - Island Pass

I’m getting mixed messages from you here, aspen tree.

These probably started as Basque arborglyphs subsequently complemented by hiker initials.

An insane amount of work has been put in gathering and heaping deadfall through this stretch.

“Take a forest scene like this with an unbelievable amount of deadfall and chop it into neat little piles far enough apart that they pose less of a fire risk.“ Old growth forests can withstand fire because there typically isn’t anywhere near this much fuel on the forest floor. I’m not sure if the deadfall is from bark beetles, logging refuse, or otherwise, but it’s great to see evidence of forest management in any case.

Up up up! I’m pretty sure fuchsia is the most eye catching color you can wear in a forest.

This entire trail has been in bloom. Amazing.

Willie Stargell famously said “Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor's mailbox.“ This butterfly 🦋 hung around for a few seconds and posed.

We could hear this waterfall from across the ravine. Bliss.

Two completely distinct types of rock. And flowers thriving taking root in the cracks.

Thousand Island Lake. Upsettingly it was only filled with beautiful fresh water and not salad/sandwich dressing. Easy calories are harder to come by than ever.

Wait. What?! This is aptly named the Ansel Adams Wilderness.

The surface of the PCT changes with each mile. It looks like someone got very fed up with slipping on this smooth piece of granite and added some traction. My Dad did something very similar to his freshly poured concrete garage floor with a mechanical chisel followed by a chain battered with a sledgehammer.

Now that I think about it, a Garmin InReach is basically a wilderness version of Life Alert.

A very simple bridge with two trees laid tip to tail with a flattened top side. I’m pretty surprised we haven’t seen more of these across creeks. There’s usually a sketchy log somewhere within a few hundred yards of each crossing - I suppose it’s wilderness after all, suck it up.

I couldn’t take my eyes off this massif under darkening storm clouds. An unbelievable scene. Outside is cool.

A pine tree Rorschach test.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

This is the 112th marmot we’ve seen. He was super chill hanging out on his rock taking in the storm clouds. We named him Marmalade 112.