Miles: 11.5 

Total Trail Miles: 788.2 

Ascent/Descent: 1921/3588 ft 

Start Time: 03:00 

End Time: 12:15 

Temperature: 9°C (48°F)

I woke feeling a mix of and excited and a tiny bit aprehensive about Forester Pass but overall I suprised myself by how calm I felt about it. I had slept well (using an extra set of foot warmers on my body kept me toasty warm) unlike on San Jacinto where I slept badly due to nerves out apache peak and fuller ridge. As we were packing up in the dark, three other hikers, Jess and two older men hiked passed - and they had Buddy's garmin! They had left KM the same day as us but a little later so must have been close behind us the whole time. We set off at 3 steadily climbing towards the approach, it was cold and you could feel the altitude but generally we are all in good form. It was beautiful hiking up under the stars above the tree line and we soon caught up with and passed Jess' group. We paused for a bar before the approach and it was just starting to get a little lighter so the mountains stood out against the now navy sky, we could see the chute and Forester Pass up above us. The climb up was steep but the boot track was good and the snow was icy and hard so we had good traction, I felt safe and comfortable. We followed the switchbacks up to the rocks and then found that the trail through the rocks was snow free. The next and almost final section was the steep traverse of the chute. We went one by one and as you stepped out onto the snow you could feel how exposed and step it was but again the boot track was solid and after a few steps a smile appeared on my face, I could do this. As we stepped up onto the pass we whoopped and cheered, e had done the highest pass of the PCT in the highest snow year on record, we felt accomplished and pretty badass. E enjoyed the sunrise from the top and took lots of photos. I also spread some of dads ashes on the pass, it was emotional but I knew he would be proud. The views were next level, we felt fully up in the snowy and rocky mountains snow and looking down the other side felt like looking into a ski resort with none of the infrastructure. We had a big traverse of the top and then we cut some corners by glissading down, the two flags were really steep and to be honest the first one freaked me out more than the pass but they were good fun once you got going. We continued down and the sun rose and the day got warmer. We took a breakfast break by the river but knew we couldn't stop for too long as another storm was forecast. As we c m closer to Monday the snow got slushier and it felt like we were walking like we were drunk, slipping and sliding all over the place. We walked through an avalanche wreck of fallen and snapped up trees that looked pretty fresh. A little later on a tree half buried in snow pounded up right in front of me like a Jack in the box. Shortcut potholed right up to her shoulder shortly after realising her crampons were on the wrong way around which was why they kept falling off, soon after than we set up camp not wanting to go any further in the slush. We were over the moon to find large dry tree wells that we could fit our tents in for a dry camp. We hung out in the sun until bedtime rolled around. Jess and her group also rolled in and camped near by