This morning was very exciting! As I was awake at my usual 5am, I decided to have an early start to beat the sun as I was going to have a really tough climb in the afternoon.
So by 6:30am I was motoring down the trail, lost in the peacefulness of the morning quiet when all of a sudden I was shocked out of my boots by "ALLISON!", it was Shannon (& Ed), who were camped trail side. A quick chat and a confab of our tentative destinations and I was away again.
30 minutes later there's a rustle and a crash and a fuzzily antlered deer bounds across my path! Cool.
Exactly 30 mins later again (no kidding, I checked my watch each time) I saw something out of the corner of my eye, about 20-25 yds away, BEAR! Run, deer, Run! Wait a sec, Go, Allison, Go!
My last deer, a doe, was grazing on the trail just before 9am. I was able to follow her for a bit and got this snap. Quite the morning!
A series of PCT-ers passed by today and I had a little chat with each. All warned me about the Golden Staircase, that big climb coming up, so I in turn described what was in their future at Muir Pass. I got worried about how much my pack was weighing due to all my good eats in my bear can, so I actually off-loaded some candy bars and cookies to the last, grateful, PCT guy.
The sun that I was trying to avoid, had actually been hiding behind high thin clouds all morning, broke free just as I reached the start of the Golden Staircase. Great. Up. Up. Up. It's not called 'golden' cause it's special, it's named after the honey-colored rock it was chiseled out of. Pictures cannot depict the unevenness, rockiness, nor length as it kept changing direction, plateauing, climbing, but here's a few.
Having already put a fast 8 miles on my legs before hitting this baby, I can safely say this was one of my hardest days ever. All I wanted was a puddle at the end to throw myself into but the first crook of the creek at the top was already occupied, the second had a CCC team fixing the trail (Thanks, Guys!!) so I had to wait till the beach at Lower Palisades Lake. Aaahhh...
Tonight's camp is at Upper Palisades Lake, last stop before Mather Pass!
Today's Miles: 14
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