Hiking and Things: DAY 14: Evolution Meadow to Evolution Lake

You guys, I feel like we're on Naked and Afraid, except I just ate a cliff bar rather than rotting parrot brains...and I'm wrapped up in my sleeping bag and not banana leaves...and I'm inside our tent rather than beneath a shifty lean to. Okay okay, I guess there may be a couple of differences.... But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Our plans to wake up (relatively, for us) early at 6:30am worked well for half of us. And this may come as a shock to everyone, but I was the one up and packing at 6:30 sharp. Maddie groggily coughed and mumbled a request for 30 extra minutes, so I happily gave her another 45 minutes to wake up on her own while I packed and ate my stale granola. It was stale because I had poked a hole in the package several weeks ago so that I could smush it in with the rest of my Muir Trail Ranch resupply bucket. Eventually she showed signs of life and sluggishly started putting her stuff away. I was pretty surprised at this role reversal, as I am usually the one to moan and plead for more sleepy time.

With Maddie fast asleep, we take a moment to appreciate the calmness of the forest #PlacesMyPotGoes

We set out at around 9:07, a little disappointingly late, but neither of us are complaining. Fellow backpackers, please withhold judgment. We walked at a decent pace, accounting for the caution with regards to Maddie's Achilles until we reached McClure Meadow for a break. Interestingly enough, we have been leap frogging with a group of three, and one guy, seemingly quite fit, is really struggling because of a similar Achilles issue. It sucks to watch someone else go through that and we are trying to mitigate any future aggravation to her heal. We're going at a pace that entails remaining better safe than sorry. She's a real trooper.

McClure Meadow

We'll be headed somewhere up there...

We ran into a ranger who warned us of the lingering stormy weather we had heard about and experienced yesterday. Again, this did not phase us in the slightest, as we have become accustomed to these challenges. Today, though, looked different to me right from the start. On every day that we've experienced rain, I've been able to pick out at least a small patch of blue sky somewhere in the distance. And each day, the rain has been relatively fleeting, lasting no more than two hours at a time. On this morning, the entire valley was enveloped in a dark grey sheet of sky. No optimistic patches of sunshine. Solid and menacing.

Undeterred, we pushed onward up the canyon. As most of our environs this afternoon consisted of thick forest, I don't have many pictures for you. We took bets on when it would start coming down on us. She said 11:30, I said 12. And I won. Right at 12:03 a light drizzle turned into a downpour that would not let up for...wait for it...the next 6 hours.

But at that point, we were holding out hope that the storm would last an hour at the most. So, donned in our rain gear, we began our 1000 foot climb through the trees. Soon thunder clapped loudly all around us and reverberated across the valley. The sound is exhilarating every time! The highlight of the day, however, was when we passed two hikers, a father and daughter, parked under a tree in their ponchos. Upon our approach, the man smiled and said, "wow, now you sure dressed for this weather. That is an awesome rain gear setup you have!" To which I replied, "you just made my day." You see, in spite of the endless teasing (you know who you are) I get for looking, for lack of a better description, like a homeless person who knocked over a clothing rack at REI, I feel no greater sense of satisfaction than when the functionality of my stuff makes other hikers jealous. If I sound like the most smug person in the world right now, that's because I am.

I think the person inputting the coordinates on my map app sneezed when programming this scribble that was actually just one switchback...

The rainy valley below

Enough gloating. The side effect of trudging uphill in rain gear is that you get quite damp on the inside from all of the perspiration. The layers at least keep me warmer than if I just charged through in my sunny weather clothing, but I get wet nonetheless. And although I'm kept a little warmer, the ultimate result is that I just have to keep pushing to keep my body temperature up. The climb really did seem interminable, though I took frequent breaks to devour the myriad bars stuffed into my hipbelt pocket. Just as we were approaching Evolution Lake, I came to grips with the suspicion I had held from earlier in the day, that this rain would last a while. We made the decision to camp at Evolution Lake, which would provide the best camping opportunities for until after Muir Pass. And when we got to the lake, it started thundering and raining even harder, the sound echoing louder than we have heard so far. Frustrated and getting really cold, I was feeling quite anxious. Maddie was keeping her cool and helped me quickly deploy our tent in the rain, a rather unpleasant and messy business. We scrambled into the vestibule and changed out of our wet things as fast as we could. It was exhausting, and to add insult to injury, in my haste to stake out our tent, I slipped and jammed my right thumb onto one of the stakes. It's nighttime now and it's still throbbing, but I don't think it's anything too serious. All in all, contending with the elements today proved even more challenging than in Yosemite on DAY 2. To our credit, morale only dipped for a few brief minutes as we lay shivering in out tent.

Just before the thunder and rain got really intense

Once inside the tent, it became about getting warm, so we blew up our sleeping pads, through on almost every layer we have, and zipped our sleeping bags together before curling into one large down-embraced blob of coziness. And to the sound of a robust rain hitting our tent canopy, we both dozed for a little bit. We woke up an hour or so later to some more of the same, feeling grateful we had made it safely into our shelter. For the next couple hours, we passed the time dozing, joking around, reading, snacking, listening to Tina Fey's Bossypants and talking.

My I'm-frustrated-it's-still-raining face

My oh-well-I've-come-to-terms-with-the-fact-that-I'm-stuck-here-indefinitely face

Just when we would think the rain was petering out, it would pick up again with gusto. It reminded me very much of the scene in Austin Powers, in which Austin goes pee for the first time after being frozen for decades. He stands at the urinal peeing, and just as it sounds like he's about to stop, the stream continues, and the scene goes on like that for a solid couple minutes. Today I just looked up, and shook my fist at the sky, muttering, "curse you Austin powers."

Today was actually really nice chilling out in the tent with Maddie. I mean, it's not like we've had a shortage of time to talk to one another. Yet, being trapped in the tent in a thunderstorm for hours on end was among the most fun parts of this whole trip for me so far. Our conversation has revolved mainly around the things that we miss back home--our friends, family, food, television...but mostly the food. Maddie rambles about hot chocolate, blankets, her fleece polka dot pajama set, and Netflix as much as I ramble about Baja Fish Taco. As the rain was dwindling down, laughing I said, "see, being stuck in the tent isn't even that bad." To which Maddie responded starting to giggle, "yeah, because I don't have to walk!" Cue the laughter of two exhausted hikers with only each other to laugh with.

The rain finally let up around 5:40pm and we tentatively poked our heads out of the tent. There were several other tents scattered around the lake, hikers undoubtedly as frustrated as we were with the rain. We bravely ventured outside to cook, as well as take a gander at the beautiful lake beside which we now stood awe-struck. The stormy atmosphere seems to make it even more beautiful.

Lakeside

Panorama of Evolution Lake

Maddie

My trusty pot #PlacesMyPotGoes

So as to conserve battery for tomorrow's pass (on which I pray I get service), I will keep the rest of the night brief. We talked with another hiker, whose group we have been passing back and forth for several days, and she was really nice. Maybe if our schedules align on a less turbulent weather day, we can all play cards together. If not, Matt, get ready, because we are anxious for some company and someone with whom to play cards. Speaking of, I want to send a shoutout to my best friend Matthew Shackley, as today marks the glorious day of his birth. I wish so badly I could be there to celebrate with you! For those who don't know, Matt has graciously offered to haul us our last 5 days of food over 12 miles and some 3000 feet of elevation gain. He'll be joining us (if all goes according to plan) at Rae Lakes and spending several days with us. You'll read about those good times when they happen. Until then, happy birthday man, we can't wait to see you!!

And now everyone, it's time for me to conserve battery and go to bed. Wishing you all the best and missing you too!