From the beginning of my ride in April, I had been warned about Forrester Pass, the highest of the passes on the PCT at 13,000 feet. It was an imposing pile of rock, that's for sure, and as we approached, I couldn't even see where the trail went--it seemed just to dead-end against a wall of stone. Then I realized that we were going basically straight up the wall, on a tiny thread of a trail. I was glad that it was just Shyla and me on this section, although I was humbled when I met a pack string on the other side, clearly headed over the pass from the other direction. There were two riders on horses, each of them leading three mules, and the packs on the mules where the biggest loads I've ever seen. It was hard to even imagine how the mules could negotiate the narrow ledge or the tight switchback at the top. But clearly, they could. I have a new-found appreciation for mules!

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