Miles: 9.8 

Total Trail Miles: 771.5 

Ascent/Descent: 2646/1746 ft 

Start Time: 03:00 

End Time: 12:45 

Temperature: 9°C (48°F)

After last nights discussions we decided it was neither sensible to make it all the way to Bishops pass in one stretch or sensible to do Mt Witney due to the storms forecast for the next 3 days so we decided we would have two short days leading up to Forrester Pass so we can get close but then do it early out the morning so we have plenty of time to be down the mountain before the storms roll in. So we adjusted our plan to just do 10 miles today. It started with a river crossing though, Rock Creek, it was right next to where we camped which ment we had to cross it first thing in the dark at 3am. It was raging pretty fast and we knew there was a fallen tree creating a bridge just upstream. The log was pretty wide and had some branches sticking out of it, it went from the snow on one side to a large rock on the other, it was pretty scary seeing the water rage under it knowing how cold and fast flowing it would be if we fell. Buddy bravely tested it out first, dropped his pack on the other side and then came back to help us, he said it was a bit scary but doable. He and Beer Slide both kindly said they would happily do two trips over and take mine and Shortcuts bags over for us, balancing with the weight of the packs would have been terrifying. As I stepped down from the snow and onto the log my legs started shaking, poles in hand I slowly edged along the log as soon as the broken branches where in reach I put my piles in one hand and used the other to hold onto the branches as I crossed. The cramps helped with grip a bit too so we didn't slip on the slightly damp and probably icy log. Beer Slide was on the other side ready to grab my hand once I was in reach. My heart was pounding and I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me once I made it onto the rock. Shortcut was even more nervous but also made it over slowly in the same way, Buddy stood down by the water edge ready to grab anyone that fell in before they were swept away. Yeehaw crossed next, scared of heights but did soo well balancing with his pack on. The whole ordeal ment we didn't really start hiking until almost 4. We had a big climb after and we were certainly awake for it, As we reached the top the sun was rising and we were once again blessed with incredible views. We had a good close up of Mt Whitney looking ahead. We bumped into 3 hikers coming from Mt Whitney, Primo, Shaman ans Big Grill, The has done KM too Cotton Wood Pass then skipped 20 miles to come back in over the Whitney Portal and were now headed to Bishops Pass. We walked and talked with them for a bit, it was surreal seeing other people out here as other than the guy at our camp last night we haven't seen anyone in days. We had two more rivers to cross, Whitney Creek and the Wallace Creek right before camp. Luckily neither were too deep or dangerous. Whitney Creek went just above the knee but wasn't fast flowing and Wallace Creek was about the same depth and a little more fast flowing but not bad. The water was icy cold but we dried off after both in the sun. After the second crossing we picked up our tents on snow again and hung out in the sun until it was bed time.

Posthole moment of the day: I postholed just above a tree well, my left leg went straight down all the way to ny waist causing me to lose my balance and flip head first backwards into the tree well with just my postholed foot holding me from falling all the way down to the bottom of the tree well, luckily it was a deep one so i didnt wack my head on a tree or rock and Yeehaw was next to me so grabbed my arm pretty quick and pulled me up