Day 18 – 7/18/18
~14.2 miles
Cascade Lake to Twin Lakes (Finish!)

We woke up unsure if it would be our last day on trail. We knew we had ~15 miles left, but it’s hard to know how fast/slow miles will go on the high route. And a southbounder we talked to a few days back made a big deal of our second to last pass, Stanton Pass, saying the partner he’d started out with got freaked out and turned around at that point.

The first pass, Sky Pilot Col, was just a bunch of talus and scree on the way up. We saw exactly one sky pilot (flower). On the way down, we hit a bunch of snowfields and for the first time, I would’ve liked to have had microspikes. Hitting those north facing snow slopes in the morning without them was a little less than ideal. Still, it wasn’t that bad, and I’m happy with our decision to not carry spikes or ice axes this year.

The slow and long descent from this pass had us thinking we’d end up camping a few miles from the finish, especially with the anticipated slowness of Stanton Pass coming up.

But after some electrolyte drink mixes, our energy levels picked back up and we made good time to Stanton. The descent was supposed to have class 3-4 downclimbs, and the guidebook talked of very careful scouting, and handing off packs to the most experienced person, etc. I’m not sure where this class 3-4 stuff was. We zipped right down without complication, nothing worse than we’d already done.

Descending Stanton Pass

One final pass, with an easy ascent took us to the east side of the Sierra Crest and to the top of the valley that would lead us to our end point, Twin Lakes.

The guidebook warned these final miles were slow. There were actually pretty decent use trails through much if the descent, but they would disappear into the willow now and then, which was frustrating when we were so close the end…and town food! On this last day of our trek, my hiker hunger kicked in. I had 2 bars, dried fruit, and corn nuts all for first breakfast.

Just before 7 we made it into civilization, had a satisfying dinner at the restaurant, and even got coin op showers in the campground! Oh, and I got yelled at by some RVers when I dared to put my food in “their” bear box (they weren’t at every site, just scattered around the campground). These same assholes also turned on a super bright spotlight aimed directly at our tent at bedtime. Aren’t front country campgrounds the best??

We’ll hitch out tomorrow and make our way back to our car, which we left in Independence. Since we finished ahead of schedule, we have enough time to go visit LoveNote, Burley and family (baby #2 just arrived!).

Overall, I’m undecided how I feel about the SHR. I liked parts of it, but some other parts felt kinda “meh, what’s the big deal about the Sierra?” Which I know is blasphemous, but…is kinda how I’ve felt previously about them. I did enjoy the physical challenge of the route, and the solitude for much of it. I also think the mosquito situation really impacted my enjoyment of the route. Much of the time, we just couldn’t pause and take even 5 minute breaks for views or rest. The northern end was better, but then we had the wildfire smoke the last 3 days, spoiling the views we worked for. Ask me again after I’ve been back at work a few weeks and the memory of the mosquitoes has faded and I’m sure I’ll have a more favorable view of the route!