Day 4 – 7/2/17
~16 miles
Wright creek to Junction Meadow (Bubbs Creek)

It’s been really warm this entire trip. Like, I don’t even put on shoes or a jacket to get out of the tent and pee in the middle of the night warm. 
This warmth is probably why Wright Creek didn’t drop all that much overnight. The trail crossing was still what I consider impassable this morning when we got moving ~5:45am. We did find a place to safely cross not far upstream. Same with Tyndall Creek a few miles later. 

Then it was the long slog to Forester Pass, which actually wasn’t so bad because a steady stream of PCT hikers has beaten down a nice path through the otherwise heavily suncupped snow fields. It’s really fun to hike this again, bringing back so many PCT 2011 memories. The pass itself wasn’t bad at all and provided lovely views of the basins on each side. 

It’s interesting to see the routes chosen through the snow when trail is obscured. It’s a very different path on the north side of Forester than in 2011, when we all glissaded straight down the west side of the ridge, whereas this year the path stayed closer to the true trail underneath the snow, slowly working its way down the east side of the ridge. Perhaps because everyone carries GPS now?

Around 10,000′ the snow finally gave way to consistent trail and we cruised the afternoon downhill. We’re camped at only 8,000′ tonight, so I think that will help us feel better and recover a bit.