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!