JMT Day 6: Skeeter Mania

Today was mosquito hell. They were active a good hour before they were supposed to be this morning so I broke all the rules and made & drank my coffee in my tent, and it took an  Act of Congress for us to drop our drawers to answer the call of nature! 

The day just didn't get any better. The skies were grey and sprinkly. We had planned a hot breakfast at Lake Virginia which was 2 miles down the trail but just as we found a nice secluded spot in the trees with a view of the lake, the skies opened up. Misty, God bless her, carried on with her eggs and bacon while Jo and I threw up a tarp and huddled.

Thirty minutes later the storm broke and we ventured out into a whole new world. There were bits of blue sky, the dust was packed down, everything had a little sparkle to it and we were happy. The trail became attractive again and we turned the rocky descent to McGee Pass Trail into a herbology and flower discussion.

Then hell enveloped us as a plague of voracious biting skeeters swarmed us as we reached Fish Creek, and they just wouldn't let us go! For hours we tried to stop for a snack or lunch but any longer than resting for a quick breather they'd attack and we'd have to move on. Not until we hiked 5 more miles and got above the treeline could we finally stop.

We'd thought of camping at Squaw Lake but it was still a bit early so we carried on. Just then the skies opened again and we quickly donned our ponchos and hiked on thru the rain. 

Luckily these mountain showers are quick and 20mins later we doffed our plastic saunas and started up the final ascent to Silver Pass. We LOVE passes!

The trail is well-graded and the wildflowers, sturdy stunted trees, the reflective tarns, jagged peaks and expansive views make it just phenomenal.

Silver Pass Lake was just a half mile down the other side and we found a delightful sheltered spot in the open plain

between the trail and the water. And best of all? No mosquitos!!! 

Today's Miles: 9.4

JMT Day 5: A Grind

Yesterday we made the decision to carry on from Red's, so we collected our resupply from the store, crammed some into our bear canisters and gave all the excess away. By 4:45pm we headed out through an old burned area that to me held a strange kind of stark beauty, then up and up through forest switchbacks. Heavily laden with all our new food it was slow going but we found a perfect solitary camp spot just past Red Cones on a hillside looking across at the buildings atop Mammoth Ski Mountains. Total miles: 12.7

Today's hike was pretty much just a grind. The first 6 miles were a steady dusty up through a sparse forest with lots of dead wood. It was overcast, which kept it cool, but also dimmed the beauty of the scenery. We tried to find some salvation in the beauty of the wildflowers so we concentrated on getting some great close ups of them.

We had a little descent down to Duck Creek right about lunchtime so we stopped and tended to our burgeoning blisters and had a little rest.

The sun came out just as we made camp at Purple Lake and suddenly all was good with the world again. Amazing what a little blue sky can do for your mood!

Today's miles: 10.1

JMT Day 4: A Long Road Down

We're starting to feel the dirt, as soon as we wash get dirty again as everything is sitting in the dirt, we sit in the dirt. Dirt, dirt, dirt. A mani/pedi is definitely in the top 10 To-Do's when get home though they may take one look at us and charge us double! There's a promise of a shower and perhaps even laundry at Red's this afternoon; that with a cheeseburger will make us 3 happy campers!

I think because we were on the last day of this section and about to hit the Restart button, this morning we had a "One Thing" conversation: what's your favorite thing that you brought? What one thing do you wish you brought? What do you dislike the most? Etc, etc. We also reminisced about our drive here and the beginning of our trip. Eric driving us up and the first night at Yosemite; funny though, we didn't talk about the days ahead...

All morning we hiked down through a peaceful forest of huge pine trees. We were feeling great and making fun of ourselves in the shadows.

Jessica & Jason, semi-new newlyweds,  passed us in the forest while we trying to take pictures of Alpine Lilies. They were kind enough to pull out their wildflower guide and we spent several minutes oohing and ahing over plants we recognized seeing.

Our lovely forest turned into a dusty tree graveyard as we entered an area affected by a severe windstorm 3 years ago. We even came across a work crew that stopped us so they could fell a tree to widen the trail for the "animules" that use the PCT. It was a bit distressing to see all the devastation but there's already a lot of new plant growth taking hold.

It was a hot long dusty road into Red's. We were so thankful for that first sip of our cold drink and the shower was nirvana. And then there was this!

Note: soon we won't have reception for days on end so it will be a long time till we blog again.

J.A.M.

JMT Day 3: Half Mile Turtles

Ugh, another early early wake up. I can't help it, it seems. So I started rattling around my tent, packing up and lo & behold Misty appears at 6! Jo follows, and by 6:30 we're drinking coffee, 7am on the trail. This will make the day's planned mileage so much easier to obtain.

We had camped just below Island Pass but it was an easy climb to a magical place. Unlike the forbidding Donahue, Island was long, flat, and lush with lots of little lakes, trees and grass. It was like finding Xanadu in the Sierras!  We stopped a while and had a hot breakfast and some email time.

Then we descended in a long circling of 1000 Island Lake.  Today was "Lake Day": 1000, Ruby, Garnet, Shadow, and Roaslie. All so stunning. 1000 first...

I would have swim at Ruby as it was so clear and so deep but the patch of snow at the water's edge made me think it might be just a wee bit frigid. Besides, it was only 10:30am, too early in the day. 

We had lunch and a rest by gorgeous windy Garnet Lake - we rarely need an excuse to soak our toes.

Then there was the hot dry climb out of Garnet, and then an incredibly steep rocky descent right after. Luckily there were zillions of wildflowers cheering us on.

We met up with Ed and his family (from Day 1, we pass/they pass a couple times per day, at the Shadow Lake junction. The older daughter Shannon & her Dad are hiking the whole JMT. She's about 19, been carrying a 45lb pack and fast! Kelly, her younger sister and Kristin, a family friend are only along as far as Red's Meadow, which they need to reach by noon tomorrow. As we're camping tonight at the same place and plan to arrive there late afternoon, they are going to have to motor! They took this for us:

The trail skirted the very edge of Shadow Lake thru dense forest, so we had only  tantalizing glimpses of the cool water. Luckily the forest continued as we started up dozens of long endless switchbacks, thankfully offering us welcome shade as the afternoon sun started to beat down on us.

Up and over the crest was pretty Rosalie Lake, with the sun glinting on the small ripples caused by the wind.

We contemplated staying there but it was only 4:15pm and Gladys Lake was just another half mile further. Just as we were deciding what to do a trio of PCT-ers trod by so we asked them what Gladys was like and were there and campsites. They were actually so intent on covering their miles today it took them a minute to even remember the lake they just past, then they said they thought it would take us an hour to get there! Really? .5 miles? We may look slow but we're no 1/2 mph turtles!! That was challenge enough.

Gladys is a pretty little lake but it took us a little while to find a campsite that wasn't swarming with mosquitos. We had to backtrack a little and search up some granite rocks to find 2 perfect little sites. We set up the tents and took off to the little sticky muddy beach for a bird bath & clothes wash me, and a full body immersion for Misty and Jo! Sorry, no cameras allowed.

We had to prep our dinners in bug nets as the mosquitos were bad but the breeze picked up enough that we could eat al fresco.

There's really not much to do after eating as when the sun goes down, the temps drop, the winds die down and the bugs return. The only place to go is bed.

Today's mileage is 10.7. Walked in over 9.5 hours that makes us: Mile....Mile And A Half Turtles!!!

JMT Day 2: Donahue Pass

Another cozy night but freezing morning on the trail. 4 degrees Celcius at 6am - at least that kept the mosquitos away until the sun broke over the mountain and the warmth brought them out in droves. Misty forewent breakfast in order to expedite our departure but it was still 8:15 by the time we headed out.

Jo wasn't feeling on top of her game  (altitude?) so I carried her bear can/food and tent for the day so we could all keep a nice slow and steady pace. The scenery was so stunning however that I think we spent as much time snapping photos as hiking!

We started off on well-graded switchbacks guarded by tall pines until we exited the treeline and came out onto a meadow surrounding a beautiful tarn and our first stream crossing of the day.

This was the approach to the approach of Donahue Pass. More stone cut stairs and switchbacks took us higher to a 2nd tarn and the final push through a rocky moonscape to the top. 

There were lots of hikers congregating at the top, hands to ears as this was one of the few places with cell reception on the trail! We all hurriedly dragged out our phones to connect to the outside world,  then generally just hung out talking to others, enjoying the fact that we were leaving Yosemite and entered the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Misty & Jo continued on while I spent an hour trying to post the blog(!), then followed after.

The 270° view down the south side of the pass was sincerely breathtaking. It took three full frames of my camera to capture it so I know I can't post just one that will do it justice. Jagged peaks extended alongside me to my left and right, all descending steeply to a humongous valley of boulders, streams, and shrubs, extending to a long view of distant snow-capped mountains including not only passes we'll traverse in a few days time but also some ski runs at Mammoth. Misty and Jo were far ahead of me waiting for lunch so I made my way over the edge over and I carefully picked my way down into the wonder.

We met tons of PCT-ers again today and all were happy to exchange at least a small greeting, if not tips on the trail ahead and some stories of their trip so far. One solo hiker even stopped us to tell us some jokes! Because of all our dilly-dallying the day crept along until we realized we were running out of time to cover a 2nd mountain pass and still make a good camp site. So we called it done at Rush Creek, making it a 6.6 mile day. At the end everyone felt great but a little tired; we've plans for an earlier start tomorrow with our sights set on Rosalie Lake.

Day 1: A Walk In The Park

Brrr, what a shockingly cold morning! Waaay colder than anticipated, somewhere in the mid-30's guesstimated from Jo's little thermometer. Both Misty & Jo were uncomfortable during the night so our first stop after our morning coffee was the Tuolumne Outfitter store to pick up a sleeping bag for Jo, which she had not brought (!) and a jacket for Misty.

By 9:40 am the sun had warmed things up nicely and we headed out through the campground on our first day of the JMT! Eric walked with us to the start of the trail, where we gave big hugs in thank yous and received best wishes in return. He will spend a few more days in this area & Mammoth, and promised to be just a phone call away in case we needed him. What a star!

The trail was easy and quite level, and paralleled Tuolumne River the rest of the morning. The scenery was breathtaking: some times we were threading through the trees with a babbling brook beside us, other times we were in a wide open meadow with a sauntering stream meandering past.  We were in good spirits with lots of happy chatter.

At noon we stopped for a nice interlude by the water, soaking our feet in the water, and having a quick snack while we purified some drinking water.

And so the day went: hike an hour or so, then have a break by the river to admire the views and extoll on the beauty of the day. The temperature was perfect, a refreshing breeze blew all day, the views were unending. We stopped and said hello to 2 dozen or so hikers coming northbound, many of whom were PCT-ers, working their way up from Mexico. We also leapfrogged a family of four the whole day. The father Ed, and older daughter Shannon will actually be hiking the whole JMT, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of them.

At 2pm we stopped for lunch, creekside of course, and Jo entertained us by dropping to her skivvies and leaping in for a bird bath, with all the accompanying shrieking one would expect from bathing in glacial snow melt. Misty & I dutifully soaked our feet, hoping that would keep any swelling or blisters at bay; we carefully dried our toes, reshod ourselves, then packs on and away we went - only to discover a wet stream crossing 10 yards down the trail! Not being bothered to take our shoes back off again we opted for our first log crossing. It was a team effort to get all 3 of us across dry and in one piece but we succeeded!

And so on we went, merrily ticking off the miles until about the 8.6m mark when we reached the end of Lyell Canyon and the trail started to climb up towards our first pass. We had to get to a higher elevation to avoid the mosquitos that were always hovering just at the edge of the breeze but we all had very heavy packs on and the day was getting late and we were tired. We trudged up almost a mile of stony steep switchbacks to reach our campground at the bridge at Lyell Forks and we agreed we could absolutely go no further. 'Twas about a 10 mile day all told.

(we camped near the treeline pretty much straight up from the bend in the creek in the pic)

It took a bit of looking to find two narrow campsites large enough for our tents amongst the rocky outcroppings under the tall pine trees and we had just enough time to set up camp, collect water and cook up our dinner before the sun set and it was time for us to crawl into our tents.

JMT -1 day: Yosemite

Transportation Day! It was an early start, for sure. Up at 4:50am so I could do all the last minute prep for leaving a house for 3 weeks: A/C up, water off, bathrooms cleaned, washing done, etc. thank goodness for lists! Jo picked me up at 6am, and we met at Misty's at 6:30. A huge transfer of gear, resupply & food between cars, then we were off to meet Eric.

Eric Baecht is a fantastic hike leader who kindly offered to drive us to Yosemite, so we rendezvoused with him at 7am and set off in two cars for Lone Pine, CA. LP will be our finishing point of the hike, the closest town to Whitney Portal, and where Misty will leave her car so that we'll have transportation for our ride home. I had contacted the local Chamber of Commerce, and with a small donation we could park her car in their back lot for the duration of our hike.   From there it was a short drive to Independence, where I dropped off my last (3rd) resupply (where I'm hiking out to stay at a hotel for a night and Misty & Jo are having horse packers bring their resupply in to them on the trail.

A quick lunch at the famous Schat's Bakery in Bishop, a mail drop for our 1st resupply at the Mammoth Lakes Post Office, then on to Yosemite!!

The road kept rising higher and the mountains got closer and closer and finally we arrived at

It was magical, our arrival. Sharp peaks still dotted with snow seemed within arm's reach as we drove along the main road, high mountain tarns hosted hopeful fisherman at their shore's edge, and a couple of deer grazed unconcernedly as we drove past them on the road.

The first office we passed was the permitting Wilderness Office so on a wing and a prayer we stopped by to see if perchance we could change our July 3rd start to a tomorrow start. The ranger took  our info, asked some questions, then just kept staring at her computer monitor, not ever really letting on that it was possible until her printer spat out a new permit!  With our stomachs in our mouths we took our new permit, and walked out saying: "Damn! Now it's really really happening!"

We stumbled to our campsite, set up our tents in a daze, saying "tomorrow we start!"