JMT Day 15: Weather-Wise

Yesterday I raced down Pinchot to escape the weather, which luckily kept to the heights until the night, when it showered all over my tent and clean socks.  My tent had rain drops that I was able to wipe away with the useless piece of material that was supposed to be my camp towel; the rest of the wet stuff I hung on the back of my pack to dry like some vagabond. Hmm, maybe I am.

The sun shone bright most of the day, making it humid and hot for the relentless  hiking I put in today. It was not quite 5 miles of steep stony steps down to Wood's Creek -2000', then across the "Golden Gate of the Sierras", and 

then 6.7 miles and +2000' up. Who knows what the total elevation loss/gain was, but my feet just felt like they were walking in molasses. The distance and rise/fall are hard enough but the footing sucks. Slow, slow, slow.

I reached Lower Rae Lake and saw a guy walking towards me in a hard hat. Thinking he was part of a trail crew, I waited to have a chat. Turns out he's a climber from Napa, here to do Fin Dome, this Class 5 climb. He was surprised that I hadn't been rained on throughout the day like him.

My tentative goal today was to get over Glen Pass but with my slowpoke mileage and the grey clouds building, I camped instead just short at the junction to 60 Lakes. No big deal, with another Pass due the next day it was either 10m today / 13m tomorrow, now it'll be vice versa.

I had my camp set up by 2:30pm, so had lots of time to recuperate. A Colorado couple from MTR who is shadowing me (they shared same knoll by the lake last night) swung by, and went further down the side trail to camp. They were kind enough to let me use their Sat Phone to cancel my Keasarge Pass hotel & resupply - I have just enough food to go all the way to Whitney though I regret giving away my sweets & cookies 2 days ago!

Early dinner, cause I was cold, hungry & bored. Into my tent at 5:45pm to snuggle up to my iPhone and the rain started to pour. I've been very lucky with the weather!

Today's Miles: 10.8

Thought: My odor repels me, why doesn't it the mosquitos?