Day 58-Magic Makes Short Days

Tuolumne Meadows at mile 942 to Glen Aulin at 948

I had the grand plan to sleep until 8:30-ended up sleeping until 6 a.m.  I got up around 7 to run some town errands before parking myself at a picnic table in front of the general store for the day with a dozen other hikers.

We originally thought we were going to leave around 10 or 11.  We had very good intentions, but then we had to wait to say happy birthday to Nightingale, then eat a little more, and then the three of us packed up.  It was about 1:30 and we were minutes away from leaving when a van pulled up and the driver asked if we wanted any food.  A dozen hikers swarmed to the van.

They unloaded all things hikers love:  cakes, donuts, watermelon, bags of fruit, chips, salsa, lemon aide, orange juice, and beer.  The food filled a table and overflowed to another one.  It became clear very quickly that I wasn't going anywhere very soon.

Around 2:30 Portrait put on his pack.  Opus and I looked at him like he was crazy-there was still food to eat after all. But he took off with plans to go farther than six miles to the next place to camp.  It's hard to know if and when we'll be seeing him again.

Opus, Nightingale, and I left around 4 o'clock-most of the food was gone at this point.  The trail started out on a paved road then a dirt one after a bit.  We sampled the water from Soda Springs-it was a carbonated mineral spring (I thought it tasted bad).

The trail followed a river, crossing it a couple of times.  It was mostly flat, but whenever it went up or down there were stone steps that looked like they would have taken months to build-they were beautiful.  The rest of the time the trail was sand or crossed large smooth rock outcroppings near the river.  In one of the sandy stretches Portrait had written Happy Birthday Nightingale with mini pine cones.  Nightingale loved it.  That was the only sign from Portrait that he was ahead.

Nicest pit toilet on the trail

We made it to camp just before seven-feeding time for the mosquitoes.  They kind of put a damper on such a lovely place to camp.  Lots of people here: thru-hikers and backpackers, but no Portrait.  Some one had a smokey fire going, but it was too much smoke for me to enjoy (and it was still kind of mosquito-y). It will be a good test of my tent tonight to see how well it keeps out mosquitoes.

Day 57- A Thousand Jumping Fish

Mile ? To Tuolumne at mile 942

Last night I was up late-for a hiker-and this morning was on the lazy side.  I packed up and called home while eating breakfast.  We didn't leave camp until just before 7, but we were planning a short day.

The trail went up some, but it skirted Agnew Pass and went to 10,000 Island Lakes instead.  The lake was beautiful, but hard to enjoy with the thousand mosquitoes buzzing around.  The surfaces of the lake was rippling with a thousand fish jumping for mosquitoes.  It was pretty neat.

When we stopped at 9:30 for a snack it became clear it was going to be a day of very short breaks due to mosquitoes.  I put on deet for the first time on this trip and wolfed down a breakfast bar.  About a half hour later we took another short break-my shoulders demanded the break this time (usually the breaks are a demand for food).

There was a lot of water to cross or walk along so no relief from the mosquito, but as long as we kept moving they weren't a problem.

The climb up to Donohue Pass just about did me in-the trail it self wasn't hard, but it felt like a long time to climb up and my snack was completely used up.  Hiking is hard when you bottom out on fuel.  I couldn't really enjoy the climb because I was too hungry, but the mosquitoes weren't going to let me stop, and I was pretty close to the top.

There was a lake at the top of the pass so we climbed to the top of the hill next to the pass hoping for a breeze and bug relief.  And found both.  Collector joined us shortly after we got there.  It was a very pleasant place to have lunch (I had to have a pre-lunch of just a plain wrap before I could take the time to cut up summer sausage and cheese for a wrap) and then I ate all my peach ring gummies even though I meant to only eat a few.  Opus, Portrait, and I all packed up, stood up, and put our packs on at the same time without any discussion.  Collector thought it was pretty funny, but we've shared enough lunches at this point to know when it's time to move on.

There was some snow on the downhill side of the pass, but hardly enough to mention.  We were worried more about the mosquitoes in the valley-we heard they were supposed to be bad.  We followed a stream, crossed a lake outlet, crossed a waterfall, followed more streams and there were not really any mosquitoes.  It was such an unexpected treat, but we still looked down at the valley floor thinking the 10 miles on the valley floor next to a river were going to be horrible.

Crossing the lake outlet after lunch

They weren't. We had decided that we were going to Tuolumne today after all during lunch based on a southbound JMT's warning that the mosquitoes don't stop until the store-after lunch that advice seemed silly.  About 3 miles from the store we stopped for a quick break and I seriously thought about staying stretched out on a rock looking at clouds the rest of the day.  I have never felt so lazy going into a town stop.

Nevertheless the last 3 miles went by quickly.  We got to the Lodge around 6:30-just in time to wait an hour to be seated for our meal.

Day 56-Devil's Post Pile

Mammoth Lakes at mile 903 to Mile ?

Hitching out of town was easy. We got a ride from a guy who works for Search and Rescue. He told SAR stories almost the whole way to the trail head.  We were dropped off just after 8 a.m. and were back on the PCT (after taking the side trail from the parking lot to the trail) at just after 9 a.m.

We stopped for a quick snack break after getting on trail, but our first real break of the day was the hot springs at Red's Meadow.  Nothing at Red's was open yet because of the wind storm at the end of last year.  The resort looks close to opening-most of the down trees have been taken care of.

The hot spring was in the camp ground behind the bath house.  The water felt hotter than the pools at Deep Creek back around mile 300.  I didn't stay in for long-the hot day and hot water made me feel slightly sick so I sat with my feet in the cold stream nearby instead.

The Devil's Post Pile

About a mile after the hot spring we came to the Devils Post Pile-rock post standing 40 feet tall.  It was very cool looking.  We dropped our packs and took the side trail to the top of the pile.  It was like standing on a massive bee hive-all the post are hexagon shape.

The top of the post pile

The PCT split off from the JMT for 14 miles and we had lunch at the base of some falls right after the split.  The sun was so hot I didn't want to leave our shady spot.  It didn't help that the miles were crawling by.

After lunch the miles seemed to go by a little quicker as we walked along a river.  I kept falling behind-tired and weighed down by my pack.  The trail spent most of the afternoon in the valley-easy walking-thankfully.

Around four it started to climb up.  I kept sipping on my water until I got nothing but air on from my hose.  We took a snack break near the middle of the up where I drank the rest of my water.  In 700 miles of desert I never ran out of water but did in the Sierra's.  It wasn't a big deal like it would have been in the desert-there was a water in a mile.  Turned out to be pond water that tasted like leaves.  I took a little hoping to find something better. 

The trail came across some pit toilets, trash cans and a road-the wilderness of the Sierra's seems to have ended.  Then the trail really went up-switchbacking through a meadow-a very hot meadow and I drank my leaf water happily.

Around 5:30 we stopped by some awesome red rocks for shade and a snack.  We looked at the maps and picked a camping place nearly four miles away, and started walking again.  Halfway there we were treated with one of the best views:  mountains with glaciers, a lake glittering in the late afternoon sunlight, white fluffy clouds-it was stunning.  If we had water we would have stayed and camped.

We walked about a mile and found a beautiful stream and we still had the beautiful view.  For awhile we thought about camping in a rather crummy spot-sandy soil, rocks every where, no flat spots, but great view-but in the end decided to move on to our original destination.



Sunset for dinner


Moving on was the right choice.  It had the wonderful view and nice places to pitch a tent.  While making dinner the sun turned all the clouds pink-my favorite sunset so far, and I can't imagine it can be beat after leaving the Sierra's.

Days 55-Zero Day in Mammoth



Possibably my new favorite thing to eat for breakfast:  French toast with a scoop of ice cream



Day 54-Nero to Mammoth

? Mile to Side Trail to Mammoth at mile 903



Opus making his way through one of the many patches of down trees in the miles leading up to Mammoth



Portrait and Opus at the 900 mile marker that they built



Day 53- In the Water

Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) at mile 878 to mile ?

The ferry ride back to the trail in the morning felt warmer than yesterday's ride.  We saw Nightingale at the dock and and gave her some snacks (one of the guys had the idea to send food to her with a JMT southbounder, but she was at the dock). The snacks.seemed to really make her happy.  There were also a handful of people that I hadn't seen for awhile so we exchanged quick updates.

We didn't get back to the PCT until 10:15-a late start for a hopefully a high mile day.  And even though it was early it was already hot out.  The day started out slow-with an uphill.  My breakfast stuck with me for all of the uphill-which was pretty awesome.

We did stop next to Mono Creek for a break.  The water was clearer than any piece of glass and the bottom was sandy-very inviting.  While Portrait and Opus had snack on the bank I wadded into the water.  It wasn't too cold.  I did the slow torture way of getting into cold water (deeper inch by inch), but I did get all the way in.  I went under and quickly made my way to the shore to dry off and warm back up.

I started hiking before the others but they caught me minutes later at the next river crossing. I had dry shoes and socks, but for some reason I splashed on through like a kid in a puddle.  It was great and really helped me stay cool on the way up.

The trail crossed the creek a few more times and eventually it lead to the bottom of a cascade.  It was beautiful.  It wasn't a lot of water, but thin white ribbons slipping down smooth rocks.  The trail was on a little shelf where the water pooled and then plunged off the shelf.  I splashed through-totally enjoying myself.

The trail went up to the top of the waterfall and we tossed in baby pine cones and twigs to see who had the best ride over the falls.  None of this was getting us any closer to Mammoth, but it was fun.
Once we left the river we did get a little more serious about the hiking, but only until the 1/3 of the way done marker that Portrait made (Opus and I had snack while being eaten by  mosquitoes). 

We hiked for aways without stopping-made it to the top of the ridge and then we had a snack break-a quick one of course because the mosquitoes also wanted a snack.  The trail was on a side hill after our break overlooking a lake in a valley.  I was at the front, Portrait behind me, and Opus last. We hadn't been going ten minutes when we heard cursing from Opus and I turned and saw him limping around on one foot.  He'd rolled his bad ankle while looking at the lake.  He sat a minute, rubbed it, and got out his ankle brace.  While he was putting it on we heard whistling and Buster came around the bend.

He said he was happy to see us-he had packed out a whole pie from VVR that he needed help eating.  Opus said he'd be happy to help, but Portrait and I don't eat pie.  We went down to one of the many lakes and oddly enough it wasn't too buggy.  Buster ate pie, I ate pudding, Portrait ate candy, and Opus had beef jerky and pie.  Two southbound JMT hikers helped finish the pie.

After dinner we had a couple more miles planned.  Portrait and Buster took off down the trail. I stuck with Opus who was walking slow and careful.  We weren't going too much farther-just to the next lake.  It wasn't the long day that I would have liked, but it was fun.

Day 52- A Ferry Ride

Mile 862 to Vermilion Valley Resort at mile 878

At 5:30 Opus woke us up.  Town days are special which usually means early wake-up calls to maximize time in town.  Typically I wake up before 6 if I'm alone and usually earlier when camped with others.  I was still sound asleep when Opus called my trail name-I didn't sleep that well and may have been a little reluctant about waking.  Once I was up I was packed quickly.  I had cold oatmeal for breakfast and then we left camp to hike up Selden Pass.

With most of the climb done the night before it made for an easy climb to the top of the pass.  The guide book calls this the easiest of the passes and I thought it was quaint while hiking up-it had trees, it was smaller than the others, it just seemed nice.

It did have a patch of snow at the top that took about three steps to cross-we almost had to put on our micro spikes.  the view was wonderful.  It might be my favorite view from any of the passes so far.  On the north side looking out there were so many lakes in the valley.  There is a rock up there that looks like it's on the edge of the pass-we all stood on it for pictures with the lakes behind us.

After second breakfast it was time to head on down.  The trail went along the lakes we had looked down on.  They were still lovely close up, but the mosquitoes were hungry so there was no lingering (not that we wanted to anyways with a 4:30 ferry to catch to the resort).

After a few miles of downhill Bear Creek was waiting.  This was supposed to be our other most challenging ford.  There were some mosquitoes to swat at while I took off my shoes and zipped off my pant legs.  I crossed in my camp shoes-not really supposed to do that, but the water was low, and the crossing was easy.  We left the creek before the bugs could make too much of a snack on us.

The trail followed the creek for awhile, and we cruised right along.  We stopped for a short lunch before we started the five mile descent down to the trail junction for the resort.  The beginning of the downhill was on hot exposed switchbacks-I don't know why I thought the Sierra's were going to be 70 degrees every day, but they are much hotter.  It was a relief to get into some big pines. Although it seemed like half of those pines had blown down during last year's wind event and they hadn't been cleared yet.  It was slow going around and over them-it was a little taste of what might be waiting up ahead.

We arrived at the trail junction around 3 p.m. and set off on the 1.3 side trail to the ferry boat landing.  That 1.3 seemed to take longer than the rest of the day-side trails are usually like that.  But eventually the lake came into view and it dashed my hopes of going for a dip.  The water was choppy and the landing was right next to the outlet and seemed to have a good current and there wasn't a beachy area near by-just really deep water.  It felt nice to rise off with my bandanna though.

At 4:45 Opus, a JMT southbounder and I boarded the boat to the resort and dinner.