DAY 23: Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake

I woke up this morning (after some delightful food dream of which I can't recall the details) to Maddie gently shaking me awake at 7:30.  Apparently Dave had called us up to have some breakfast with them.  So with few mosquitos, no condensation in our tent, and a warm night from me actually wainf enough, we quickly scampered up the hill to join them.  Sure enough, as I nibbled on my oatmeal, they produced a veritable feast of eggs, bacon, blueberry frickin pancakes, hashbrowns, and bagels with cream cheese and honey (an excelllent combination courtesy of Collin).  Although we felt tremendously guilty accepting the nibbles of delicious food because we had literally nothing to offer in return, we were very grateful and enjoyed them while we all talked.  It feels so great to be socializing with people, as weird as that sounds.  The isolation is absolutely amazing out here, devoid of distractions and time wasting, but having a fun group to enjoy it all with is wonderful.  Down the hill, however, was a group of 15 noisy kids making their way to Whitney as well.  Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but 15 is just too much to handle.  I'm all for socializing, but that size group sort of dampens the vibe of isolation that we are used to enjoying.  Of course it's nothing I can really rag on them for, except for that I wish we were not hiking concurrently with such a large group.  It's not a big deal though, we're all trying to enjoy the same things.

After breakfast, they headed out while we packed up.  We then got out our water shoes for a stream crossing. Boy was I not expecting the water to be so damn cold.  I'm talking ice bath make your feet throb cold.  I crossed and then went back to get Maddie's backpack for her because ever since her tumble at Baxter Creek, she has felt understandably uneasy about crossings.  Little did we know that this would be the first of three such crossings today, which is exactly three more than we would have liked.  

Hiking up from Tyndall Creek

Bighorn Plateau

But not even frigid water fordings could ruin this amazing day. For starters, today comprises about 6% of the 15-20% of the trail that we have actually deemed pleasant to walk on.  The grade was good for the most part on the smooth footpath, and the weather was phenomenal.  We blew through miles today, stopping occasionally to cross streams or chat with Dave and Collin.  I listened to a lot of Tina Fey's book, and did a lot of thinkinf and reflecting.  Backpacking is the ultimate exercise in living in the present moment for me.  Although I could, as I'm sure many do, focus intently on the destination (Whitney), I prefer to revel in the minutia of every day living (chores, the views, etc.).  Sure some of it's tedious at times, and there's even quite a bit of pain along the way, but it's one of those activities that's rewarding before, during, and after the experience.  Before, you get excited planning the trip; during, you get spectacular vistas and time to yourself to be at peace; and after, you look back and day, "woah, I did that!"  And it's not always deep and reflective thought that fill the time.  In fact, to the contrary, many of my thoughts are random, stupid, or a combination. Today, for instance, I thought a funny series of animated music videos could be made using the president's cabinet as the members of a boy band called One Directive, with Obama as the lead soloist (for those who didn't catch it, this reference is mocking the real boy band, One Direction).  Stupid, but it made me laugh nonetheless.

Onward to Whitney

Toward the end of our day though, Maddie's feel began to act up in a big way, probably because I forgot to tighten it for her this morning.  So with our progress slowed to a trudge, she pushed through and we got to Guitar Lake around 4:30.  We immediately set about erecting the tent and cooking mac and cheese, our final dinner on the trail (whaaaaaat?!?)!  It was sensational.  Followed by a Nutella on tortillas, trail mix, and a raisin walnut Whenever Bar.  Calories = warmth, I've discovered.  With stomachs full, we sat and soaked in our last gorgeous night on the John Muir Trail.  I can't believe it's actually coming to an end.  I can't believe I've successfully blogged every day about it.  But I can believe we made it.  It's been one of the toughest challenges either of us has ever faced (again, this has been one of the wettest, most turbulent weather months in many people's recollection), but we've hung in there, motivated by the rewarding scenery, our sense of purpose, and each other.  We're not at the summit yet, so I'll lay off on the premature celebration and emotional significance of it all until my next post.  But for now, I'll leave it at how special these 23 days and 23 nights have been.  

Getting closer

Finally at Guitar Lake

Guitar Lake!

Maddie, so exhausted from dealing with her Achilles and the food coma that had overtaken her, went to bed, while I went down to bid farewell to our new friends.  As we will be getting up (hopefully) several hours earlier than them, we may not see them tomorrow, and I wanted them to know what a pleasure it was hanging out with them.  With goodbyes exchanged, I headed back to our green tent and finished our chores and setting up for tomorrow.  The tentative plan is to sleep in our hiking stuff so we can just stuff our things and bolt in the morning.  We want to get down to the portal as early as possibly to prevent John from having to sit around for too long.  I'll let you all know how it ends up tomorrow!  

Our last sunset

Until then, an extra early goodnight and thanks for reading!  

Enjoying our second to last day on the trail!