Island and Donohue Passes

PCT 2018 Day 44, June 5, Tuesday.

Start campsite at mile 915.9, 8.7 miles from Island Pass

End mile 933.6 at campsite

Miles walked: 17.7

I was not able to camp very close to Island Pass (10.2k), so a mid-morning climb would mean soft snow and post-holing. The ascent was not too bad, with enough land exposed that you could find bits of trail and walk around snow often.

Same situation coming down.

In the afternoon, near Donohue Pass, this ridge reminded me of a Ginsu knife.

Donohue Pass (11.1k) had much more snow on the trail-south side compared to previous passes.

Near the summit of other passes is often clear of snow, but not this pass.

Coming down meant even more snow and post-holing.

Finally past the snow, the path lowers to a lovely meadow at 8.9k.

I did not see PCT hikers all day, but did see a group of south-bound section hikers after the last pass.

Author: Jim, Sagebrush

Jim (trail-name Sagebrush) codes audio software for Windows, Linux, Android, and embedded systems. When not working at sagebrush.com, he enjoys backpacking, which this blog is about.