Camas hiker to ramp up Pacific Crest Trail miles

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. — Feeling healthy and rested after enjoying a Fourth of July celebration, Camas hiker Jake Rose plans to crank up his daily mileage on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail in hopes of making Canada by mid-August.

Rose, 21, spend the holiday in Mammoth Lakes, mile 906, after an eventful two weeks.

In late June, he climbed to the summit of 14,500-foot Mount Whitney along with a couple from Portland who he has paired up with on his 2,600-mile Mexico-to-Canada quest.

“Mount Whitney was amazing,” Rose said. “I was able to fly up without a pack and the altitude did not affect me one bit….I made it to the top quite early and was all by myself up there for about 45 minutes. The 360-degree view was awesome.”

Rose started encountering deep snow at Forrester Pass, elevation 13,200 feet, and daily distances dropped to 16 to 18 miles. At Muir Pass, he had eight miles of hiking non-stop on snow.

“Although it was extremely hard, the scenery was by far the best yet of the trip,” he said.

Rose left Red’s Meadows on Monday.

“I’ll be cranking up my mileage to over 30 per day in order to keep Canada in reach,” he said. “I’m going to give it a shot and see what I can do now that I am healthy and in great shape.”