We woke up late at 7:30, and we treated ourselves to an even more leisurely pack up routine. You see, most backpackers like to get on the trail as or before the sun comes up. We, on the other hand, tend to take our sweet time, so much so that I consider getting out before 9 to be commendable. We have agreed that for this last leg of our trip, we will do our best to wake up earlier so as to make our ascent of Whitney before sunrise less jarring.
Cruising past lower Palisade Lake was torture. It was arguably the most swim-worthy, beautiful lake I've seen so far, but we saw some scattered clouds and opted to keep pushing. If I could come back and go swim anywhere, it would be this beautiful, hard to reach lake. We then climbed up and up and up toward Mather Pass. I found the scenery today to be breath-taking, but Maddie considered most of it a little too desolate for her liking. I think her slight lack of enthusiasm today may have to do with how much our emotional and physical reserves were drained yesterday.
Still, we pushed on, enjoying the sun while it lasted, for some thick ominous looking clouds were beginning to cluster behind and ahead of us. On our way up we ran into crews from the CCC, which I believe stands for Civilian Conservation Corps (correct me if I'm wrong), working to improve the path up over Mather. And boy, could the path use the work, as there were substantial sections of rocky terrain that made progress somewhat slow. As we climbed though, the views got better and better. I just can't get over how remote and vast this expanse of wilderness is. Although we see at least 20 people a day, it feels like it belongs to only me. Just soaking in the grandeur of it all makes me happy to be out here when any pain sets in.
We didn't spend too much time on Mather. It was spectacular, but we didn't want to be caught in any sketchy weather. So down we went, some 2000 feet, with beautiful views from the plateau toward Pinchot Pass. I was loving this section, evidenced by the several videos I filmed which I sadly can't post here. It wa such a nice, gentle grade to the bottom. Maddie, feeling the effects of yesterday, was not enjoying it as much. I proposed a hypothetical scenario in which a helicopter landed right in front of her, ready to take her home at her command, and I asked if she would take the ride. We both laughed when she gave an exaggeratedly pensive "ummmmmm..." But in the end, we both agreed we'd send the helicopter away passenger-less, as we've come too far, and afterall, we still are having a pretty good time. We are also somewhat fatigued and homesick. One can only rant about wanting Baja Fish Taco (or in her case, hot chocolate and Netflix) so many times before it becomes an unhealthy obsession.
Speaking of food, I thought I'd share quickly what we eat day to day, for those curious about such things. Today I had half a bag of my oatmeal (just the right amount so as to not make me gag, which I view as a HUGE win), some turkey jerky, a tortilla with almond butter, and some banana chips for breakfast. Personally, I try to squeeze in 600-700 calories for breakfast to get me going. Throughout the day, I usually snack on 4 bars of roughly 200 calories each, as well as turkey jerky, banana chips, and dried blueberries, cranberries, or apples as needed/wanted. For the bars I've given myself quite a variety, and if you are interested, I've tried just about every one out there and can give some suggestions. These snacks usually last me until dinner, where I usually get in about 500 more calories. Tonight we had Maddie's (and mine) absolute favorite: trader Joes white cheddar mac and cheese. For dessert I usually have another tortilla with peanut butter and some jerky and banana chips. Tonight I tried to get a little extra because I woke up cold last night, which for me is a sure fire sign that I didn't eat enough.
Once at the bottom of our day's descent, we faced the choice of either ending early for the day, and this giving ourselves a hell of a climb in the morning to get over Pinchot Pass, OR climbing a thousand feet and a couple miles to our goal of Lake Marjorie. We couldn't tell if we'd get rain or not, but we tentatively decided to push up the switchbacks to the lake. On the way, we passed the Redlands group and were tempted to camp there, but decided to push just a little further. We found a decent campsite just before the lake and just decided to pull up there. The clouds all around us are dark and gloomy, but we're dry and can't complain because it's still quite beautiful.
Tomorrow we are likely going to cut our originally planned 13 mile day short, and shoot for Woods Creek, where I am immensely looking forward to crossing the awesome suspension bridge! With an early morning start, hopefully we'll beat the weather over the pass and down the 3500 feet. With the end almost in sight, and nearly 2 weeks without talking to our families, we are excited to finish out strong. And we are really looking forward, as I've said pretty much every day, to seeing Matt for a few days. Fingers crossed our rendezvous goes according to plan!
Goodnight everyone!
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