DAY 7: Reds Meadow Resort to Deer Creek

As I mentioned yesterday, resupply day is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand we get reenergized with our carefully selected meals and snacks, but on the other hand, we have to carry those 5 days worth of carefully selected meals and snacks. We slept in until 8ish and I went to get out of the tent, when I noticed little silk threads strung all over my pack and my side of the tent. 

A closer look through my mesh tent revealed tons of baby spiders migrating over my back. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm Ron Weasley when it comes to spiders—after all, I've taken care of many a spider "situation" for Maddie at her house—but I have always harbored a quiet mixture of dread, hatred and fear toward the foul creatures. I went to quickly open the mouth of my pack when I saw the mama spider fall nearly on my hand. I recoiled and (sorry Kelly, I know your affinity for spiders) smashed at it through the tent. Upon closer examination and some thorough google searching, I believe it might have been a brown widow, but I'm no expert. Regardless, it was an unpleasant way to start the morning, made all the more unpleasant by the fact that Maddie's side was spider-less. Certainly a "why me?" moment...

Anyway, we packed up and left the campground to eat at the cafe, where Maddie had some french toast and breakfast potatoes while I devoured some french toast eggs and sausage, as expected.  Afterward, we got our resupply box and set about stuffing the contents into our bear cans. It was sometime during this process that Maddie looked down and asked, "do my calves look bigger?" I told her indeed they did, and she seemed so absolutely pleased with herself. With Maddie's calves two sizes bigger, we thought the weight wouldn't be as jarring as it was. We had both packed a little too much food (not nearly too much relative to other people though), so remnants went into the hiker barrel, a red barrel of discarded items (mostly food) donated by other thru-hikers who overpacked and needed to shed weight.  Needless to say, my oatmeal made it's way safely into the barrel, after I had labeled it "super healthy oatmeal."  I felt a compulsive need to advertise the product for other ransacking hikers, simply because having worked so hard to create and package my oatmeal, I could hardly bare the thought of it going to waste!  On the other hand, I feel a bit disingenuous as some poor hiker might happen upon those bags and be psyched to eat some unique oatmeal mixture only to realize they would have been better off eating the soles of their shoes.  So I figured those little baggies were doomed to be deposited in the trash at some point, and I have divorced myself from thinking about the whole affair.  After uploading some posts and calling the parents, we bid farewell to our resort.

Goodbye loud backpacker campground

Once again: pretty goddam excited

Leaving Reds Meadow Resort

Selfie for my mom's sake to show the bags under my eyes aren't too bad

Our itinerary for the day consisted of 6.5 miles and over 2000 feet of climbing, but it coincided with the Pacific Crest Trail, so the grade was quite gentle and pleasant. Though seemingly interminable in length, the ascent offered some great views of the mountains and reminded me of my 3-day PCT backpacking trip last fall. I didn't get too many photos as we charged along through the peaceful, if somewhat monotonous, forest. We aren't all that far (only about 5 miles) from where Kelly, Lauren, Maddie, and I were a week ago, at gorgeous TJ Lake!  I cycled listening to my audiobook and the sounds of nature as we climbed, and it offset the discomfort of my newly weighted down pack.

Panorama beginning our climb

One of a few inspiring vistas today

Clouds threatened rain, but the sunny forecast held true today!

A pleasant meadow on our way down to Deer Creek

Maddie cruisin'

When we finally got to Deer Creek at 3:30, we seriously entertained pressing on, but the next 5.5 miles are the longest waterless stretch of the trip, so we thought we'd just get an early jump on them in the morning so we could (HOPEFULLY) swim in a lake tomorrow! Instead we made some truly delicious rice noodle miso ramen from whole foods and snacked. I made an improvised clothes line with my extra guy lines, and we have now hit the hay at 7:30pm. Maddie just took, wait for it, HALF a Bennedryl and is now getting a little silly.  I did warn her of it's sedative properties. Tomorrow is another day of mostly climbing, but at this point we are much bigger fans of climbing than descending, so that in conjunction with a lake swim would make for a great day!  

Hard at work making ramen at the campsite #PlacesMyPotGoes

Maddie, goofy having taken some Bennedryl, trying to hide from the camera

Once again forgot a couples shot, but hopefully we'll get a good one tomorrow! Thanks for reading, and goodnight folks!

Day 6: Garnet Lake to Reds Meadow

I'm going to warn you, most of today was hiking our 15.2 miles (a lot) downhill (the worst) through dense forest (nothing particularly awe-inspiring to note), so substance to this post will likely be minimal. I've got some pictures for ya, but don't expect much commentary.  

We woke up around 7:30am, relatively late, with the sun warming up the inside of our tent, and Maddie was not feeling so great. Grogginess doesn't do it justice and we now suspect she was a bit dehydrated. One sure fire way to perk up in the morning? Taking a dip in a chilly lake!  I still couldn't get over how amazing the views were from our site, and taking a dip beneath Banner and Ritter was pretty spectacular.  Our submersion was fantastic, and our timing could not have been more perfect, as dark clouds were beginning to encircle our slice of paradise.  We packed up as fast as we could, donned our rain gear, and shoved off just as it began to drizzle. Our day would consist of around 14 miles, a solid 2000 feet of climbing and many more feet of descending. 

One last picture of our garnet lake site

Looking back at Garnet's northern shore

We started the day with a good 250 foot climb out of Garnet. We were not too psyched to be rained on, as we've only had 1 rainless day out of 6. 

The beginning of a long series of descents today

It's much too early to be donning rain gear, isn't it?

I thought we had put June gloom behind us...

Still quite pretty though

Like I said, not many interesting things about most of today, we just pushed on through the light rain and down down down until we hit Shadow Lake, which was interesting because it was so beautiful! Definitely a contender for favorite lake!  

#SelfieSunday with my stylish rain garb

Panorama of Shadow Lake

Shadow Lake, my favorite spot of the day

We took a lunch break at Shadow Lake and regrouped before a fairly long ascent up to Rosalie and Gladys Lakes.  I powered up the switchbacks as fast as I could, both to test my endurance a little bit and so that I could meditate at the top while I waited for Maddie.  It was wonderful, and there was a much-appreciated break in the rain for the next couple of hours.

Gettin' fancy with my filters by Rosalie Lake

It's a beach day at Gladys Lake #PlacesMyPotGoes

A short 200 foot ascent past Gladys Lake and it was all down hill for 7 or so miles to Devil's Postpile National Monument. We ran into a man wearing Maddie's bee-themed gaiters, except this guy and his girlfriend actually keep bees.  Pretty cool. The ascent was long and tedious, devoid of many views. I listened to the sounds of the forest as we descended, and then put in headphones and listened to my audiobook by Mindy Kaling, which is hilarious by the way.

We found a man wearing Maddie's matching bee gaiters!

One of several sweet log crossings

The darkness...

...and the light!

Upon reaching Devils Postpile it had begun to rain again, and we had earlier agreed that if the rain came, we would bypass visiting the monument up close and instead push on to our destination, Red's Meadow.  The JMT did offer some great views of the monument, however, and it was still very beautiful to behold.

Looking down on Devil's Postpile

Pretty cool stuff

Hydration situation 

Crossing the middle fork of the San Joaquin river

#SelfieSunday part 2

We crossed the San Juaquin River and completely missed the junction up to Reds Meadow.  I kept wondering if we were close yet, and I was just a smidge too tired and lazy to check the app on my phone, so I continued waiting for the junction to arrive.  One thing I've noticed is that you're really tired when a mile starts to feel like way more than a mile. And it's at this point you begin to lose faith in your navigation system, thinking, "we should have been there by now!"  The misleading part was that I felt reassured by the consistent string of horse droppings, whose presence I believed served as breadcrumbs of sorts, leading us to Reds Meadow Pack Station. Finally we saw a sign that indicated we had missed the junction, so we had to climb an extra 200 feet backward to Reds Meadow Resort.  

Once we strolled into the "resort" area, we booked it straight for the Mulehouse Cafe. On the subject of nomenclature: I'm beginning to realize that the images in my head that I associate with certain words do not match their actual forms.  These backcountry establishments boast names that conjure much more elegant designs in my head. When I think of the Tuolemne Meadows Lodge, for instance, I picture a more down to earth version of the Awhanee Hotel in Yosemite Valley, a rustic, yet grandiose log structure with a warm hearth and friendly concierge. And when I dreamt of reaching Reds Meadow Resort, the word 'resort' stirred images of spas and fine dining, and at the very least, a swimming pool.  I want to be very clear that I am by no means complaining—visits to these reminders of civilization are cherished beyond measure. Cell service to assuage my worrying mother and post blogs to entertain my father alone is a godsend.

Back to the cafe. There's a phrase I've heard tossed around in the backpacker community called the "hiker hunger," and from what I can tell, it echoes my description of our fanatical, unrelenting obsession with dreaming about food. I kid you not when I say that I have experienced very few things as viscerally satisfying as nourishing my food-obsessed body with some fresh food. Granted, the standards for "mind-blowing" in describing such a meal are markedly lowered than in the real world, but it's all relative here, folks. Hiker hunger can justify the exorbitant prices of even the most mediocre of foods.  Not that the food I've had on this trip is mediocre, the burgers have been quite good.  Tonight, I stuffed my face with a burger (the kitchen was nice enough to grill some onions for me), cole slaw, and APPLE PIE!  I somehow possessed the wherewithal to snap photos of my entree, but was not so cognizant when the dessert arrived. That pie was consumed in mere moments.  

After taking a wrong turn/1 mile detour

Suffice it to say, I'm pretty goddam excited at this moment

Grub time

Forgot to take a picture of our apple pie until after we ate it in 5 seconds

I honestly would have ordered a shake and another burger, but I had too much food in my bear can to justify buying more food only to throw what I had in the giveaway barrel.  We meandered our way another 10 minutes to the backpackers campground, a noisy area shared with raucous car campers. It wasn't that I was annoyed—I am sure I would have loved to enjoy myself the way many of them were—but when your circadian rhythm has you clamoring for sleep at 8pm and their party is just getting started, it's sort of a bummer.  So now we sleep beneath the low boughs of a tree, grateful to have made it after a long day.

Well...yay?

If I could click my heels and wish something, I'd wish my heels didn't hurt too much to click them to make wishes...

About to hit the hay! #PlacesMyPotGoes

The rainy day couple

And now, devoted readers (love you mom and dad), I'm going to bed. Tomorrow, we become slightly less happy campers as we add ten pounds of food to our packs. On the flip side: I'm ordering a fat breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Can't complain one bit!

DAY 5: Upper Lyell Canyon to Garnet Lake

Today marks our longest mileage day so far (only to be replaced by tomorrow's planned day) at 11.2 miles. I know we're not those PCT/AT folks crushing 20+ miles a day, but hey, it's still some grueling stuff our first week out!  As planned the night before, we woke up early to get the bleep out of our buggy campsite. Actually, now that I think of it, our particular patch of lush tent space is a bit reminiscent of the classic film, A Bug's Life, in which the bugs were much funnier than in our real life version. We were out by 7am, which is late by some standards, but we are getting faster and faster at breaking camp.  So with few words, we kept our mosquito headnets on for quite some time as we climbed upward toward Donahue Pass. The ascent offered incredible views, and in retrospect, the hardest part was really the section we knocked out at the end of yesterday's hike.

Beginning the climb

Finally above the Mosquitos

I think I speak for the both of us when I say that the climb up Donahue felt incredible. Perhaps it was the delicious, nutritious meal we had the night before, or the escape from the vicious skeeters. Either way, we powered up that pass. We were at the top by 9:30am, at which point we were seriously craving some breakfast.  We found a nice rocky perch overlooking the other side of the pass, and miraculously, I noticed that we had cell reception. As much as I completely relish this time apart from technology, it was pretty sweet being able to FaceTime my family from a mountain pass. Sorry I missed you Mom!  It was great to hear the voices of Ryland, Lauren, and my dad.  So there we sat, eating and showing off our amazing vista. I was disappointed to discover the Thai chili lime almonds I bought at trader joes were too spicy for me to eat, as they comprised a sizable chunk of my planned daily calorie intake. Word to the wise: test out your food! Never fear, we packed plenty of (too much) food.  On a separate note, I have heard many the warning not to trust marmots, but I have to admit, those little guys are some of the absolute cutest things alive! I'll keep a watchful eye on my food though...

Up, up, and up

Looking back down toward Lyell canyon

Crossing over from Yosemite into Ansel Adams Wilderness stop Donahue

Our first shot of a curious little marmot

Rush Creek Drainage

Panorama of other side of Donahue Pass

Half an hour flew by—I swear I could have napped there for hours—and we decided to get a move on.  I saw little wisps of clouds above and wanted to ensure we didn't get caught in any terrible weather again.  Heading down the south side of Donahue into the Rush Creek drainage was one of the best stretches of trail we've experienced thus far.  The landscape mimicked what I can only describe as a cross between a well-kept mini-golf course and Alice in Wonderland, where every grassy knoll could feasibly house the rabbit hole. The streams were flowing, the sun was shining, the sounds were charming...it was just too perfect.

#SelfieSaturday

We're having a rockin' time!

The lovely mountains

I guess it defeats the purpose of taking off my ridiculous hat if it's displayed so proudly in the foreground...my bad.

And so we proceeded down down down until we hit the bottom of the ascent to Island Pass. At this point in the afternoon more clouds had formed and I suspected we might have to contend with some more interesting (maybe not the best word) weather.  By the numbers, this pass is not particularly impressive. It's not the tallest, steepest, or longest, by any stretch. But the trail up is so utterly full of gnarled tree roots that the wind Donahue had previously blown into our sails during the morning was quickly robbed by Island pass. We trudged to the top where we sat by a small lake and ate a snack. We were tired, in poor moods, and I dropped our fuel bottle in the water. Not a big deal in hindsight, but an added insult to injury in the moment.  And just our luck: it started to rain.

After the long slog to the top of Island Pass

Maddie atop Island Pass

It started out as a light drizzle. But I had been watching the clouds all day and the sky was changing rapidly. We headed down toward Thousand Island Lake as the thunderstorm erupted from where we'd just been. It was a bit eerie, but the sound of thunder is thrilling nonetheless.  As much as Maddie and I were looking forward to swimming in Thousand Island Lake, we were forced to continue walking down the adjacent ridge longingly gazing at it's shimmering water. It looked dazzling.  

Dark, ominous clouds converging on us

Thousand Island Lake!

It was early enough in the day that, rather than set up camp, we decided to continue slogging through the rain to reach our goal of Garnet Lake.  We passed beautiful Emerald Lake and Ruby Lake, but by the time we made our last ascent to Garnet, Maddie needed her foot retaped. It was at this moment that I think we both reached our day's low point. My hip belt was rubbing the skin raw (I abjectly failed at my pre-trip weight gaining goal), the skin on my heels was sloughing off, and my back was giving me a bit of trouble.  I was assured by my doctor and physical therapist that my slightly bulging disk would not pose a threat to my trip, but one of my belt loops has been pressing right on the trouble spot.  Maddie, meanwhile, has raw spots on the pads of her feet. So we stopped as I knelt down to fix her feet. It was wet, cold, and we both just wanted to sleep.  Our charge to Garnet was made that much more stressful by the fact that we were essentially racing other hikers to find choice campsites. Finally after some tough searching, I claimed a decent spot right next to the lake. 

Descending to our home for the night: Garnet Lake

In an erratic manner I've noticed to be entirely befitting of the Sierras, the weather eased up suddenly and our plans to jump into the tent morphed into a quick dip in the lake before cooking dinner. While cooking I took a cool picture of my cooking pot with Mounts Ritter and Banner in the background. I then thought it would be a cool segment to do here and on instagram, so I present to you the first installment of #PlacesMyPotGoes.  We'll see where it finds itself next!!

Took a dip when the sun showed itself for a few minutes

On Banner, on Ritter, on Donner and Blitzen!  #PlacesMyPotGoes

Some curry for ma lady

Last of the sun we saw before retiring for the evening

So today's been a long one, and I'm thoroughly happy to be in bed. And now my hands are tired from this blogging thing. So goodnight! We miss you all very much!

Conquering our first major pass together. I guess there's a metaphor in there somewhere but I'm too tired to figure it out.