PCT 2014 -Preparing for this year's section hike
For this year's section hike, hiking buddies Jingle Bell and Mr. Bob (doesn't have a trail name) will be joining me from Reds Meadows to Donner Pass. We are really hoping that we will be able to get a walk-in wilderness permit when we arrive in Mammoth Lakes on July 27th. My soon-to-be-retired husband will be our resupply person and will follow along in our motorhome. What a deal. We are also going to acclimate via the Mammoth Mountain Inn. This was very successful the past two years when section hiking on the JMT.
Training for this year's section hike has been pretty tough with unusually hot weather in the Pacific Northwest. Oh well, I guess we will hike ourselves into shape. Resupply boxes are almost done, just have to figure out those last handful of lunches...
July 28th: Miles: 9 Rosalie Lake
After spending the night at the Mammoth Mountain Inn, we boarded the 8:15am shuttle bus for the ride over to Reds Meadows. We were dropped off at the Devil's Postpile and found our way over to the John Muir Trail. The day was already muggy and we were pretty sure we were going to have thunderstorms later in the day. There were a lot of backpackers going north and south on the trail. We came across a group of backpackers going our way who looked like they were in their early 20's. They were entertaining themselves playing games by calling out a name and then dropping their packs and running around like crazy people. One game was something like hide and seek and another was some sort of pirate's game. We left them to their fun and continued our way uphill until noon. That's when the lightning and thunderstorms started. We made our destination of Rosalie Lake and quickly put up the tents as the rain started. Then it dumped. It let up a bit around 4:30pm so we could make dinner. The temperature dropped quite a bit and the rain started back up again. Back into the tents again for the night. We only made nine miles today but we were pretty beat from the day's high humidity and warmth.
July 29th: Miles: 7 Thousand Island Lakes
Late last night we woke up to hollering and yelling around midnight. And then a blood curdling scream. It was in the distance, probably at Gladys Lake. At first we thought it was just the kids we passed yesterday, and then thought maybe they were suprised by a bear. We never did find out. Got up early after about 12 hours in our tents due to the rain. Lovely morning weather, perfect for hiking. Hit the trail about 7:30am and hiked north towards Thousand Island Lake. Ran into quite a few entertaining people on the trail. Stopped and had lunch at Garnett Lake. Such a beautiful lake. We arrived at Thousand Island Lake around 12:30pm - pretty short day of seven miles but it sets us up for the long haul over Donahue Pass tomorrow . Bob is really feeling the elevation and was pretty pooped. It gave me the opportunity to wash some clothes and take a hike to the end of the lake and back. Arrived back in camp just in time for the afternoon thunderstorm and rain. Jingle Bell is dealing with some issues with her feet. One of the arch of her foot is pretty bruised and is getting quite painful. She also developed a blister on the bottom of her foot. Hopefully she can continue hiking when we arrive at Tuolumne Meadows on Thursday.
July 30th: Miles: Donahue Pass and Lyell Forks
I was so bummed to wake up this morning to find it overcast and threatening rain. I was so looking forward to a beautiful sunrise against the mountains and lake. We hurried through our chores and packed up hoping to beat the rain. As we started up the trail towards Island Pass it started spitting big drops. My trusty umbrella worked very well until it got so cold we had to stop and put more clothing on. Then the rain dumped. I get the most interesting looks and comments from people when I use my umbrella. I've used it everyday so far, either for sun or rain. Quite the handy backpacking item. At our 10am break, a lovely deer wandered past us. The animals here are so trusting. Stopped for a quick lunch and fill water bottles before climbing over Donahue Pass. It wasn't as bad as I feared going northbound. Two years ago I hiked it southbound and it was a bugger. On the north side of the pass it was a long descent to Lyell Forks. We saw many hikers going southbound, some with fear written all over their faces. Not sure if was from the steepness of the trail, the weather, or simply being new backpackers wondering what they got themselves into. Found a nice site off the main trail, did the usual chores and called it good for the night. Tomorrow we meet up with my husband who is bringing our resupply boxes. We're also looking forward to a hamburger at the general store!
July 31st: Miles: 13 Somewhere North of Tuolumne Meadows
It was quite chilly last night - about 45 degrees. It also rained a bit. We were looking forward to meeting up with Dave for our resupply and getting a hamburger at the store in Tuolumne Meadows. It was an easy hike, no passes to go over, and mostly downhill. It was so great to have clear and sunny skies overhead. We stopped halfway down at a beautiful turn in the Lyell River, soaked our feet and dunked our heads in the cold water. Felt so good to get the dust and grime rinsed out. Bob has been having an issue with his left knee and was considering leaving the trail at Tuolumne and rejoining us seven days later at Sonora Pass. He finally decided to continue on with us. We arrived at the general store around 1pm and there was Dave and our dog Bella waiting for us. At this point we had put in 10 miles. Bob wanted to go back to the motorhome and spend the night and take a shower. Jingle Bell and I nixed that idea. We need to stay on schedule in order to finish the trail in time. Jingle Bell is having quite the issue with blisters on the balls of her feet. She is having to slow down alot from the pain. But she wants to push through with it. After our yummy hamburgers and beer, we finished our resupply chores and were ready to continue north to find a campsite. After saying our farewells, off we went to connect back up to the PCT. Three miles later and still no designated campsites to be found. Jingle Bell couldn't go any further so we found a flat spot at a turn in the river and called it good for the night. We are a bit nervous as we are now in Yosemite National Park where it is well known to have black bears everywhere. Bob had too much food to fit in his bear canister so he hung a sack in the woods. We'll see if it is still there in the morning.
The scenery here is so beautiful. No wonder there are so many people on the trail. Oh, I have been wondering where the pack horses are this year. We haven't seen nary a one so far.
Jingle Bell has had quite an adventure with her food. She brought two boiled eggs to have for lunch and found they both has gone bad. Then she had some turkey sausage and it all had gone bad. We were so happy for her when she made a freeze dried teriyaki chicken dinner and she liked it!
I seem to be doing okay so far. My feet were quite tired this evening, but no blisters so far.
August 1st: Miles: 15 Miller Lake
August 2: Miles: 13 Benson Lake
Woke up early and found the lake basin filled with smoke. The sunrise was a fiery red ball creeping over the ridge. Kind of a slow start this morning. Jingle Bell didn't sleep at all last night and was concerned about the mileage we needed to put in today. We started out on a steep two mile descent to the valley floor and then spend the rest of the morning going uphill. Saw one deer slowly munching her way alongside the trail. The climbs were steep and exhausting. We made it to Smedberg Lake and took some time filling water bottles and making the decision to go four more miles to Benson Lake. We ran into a couple who were actually thru hiking the PCT and were doing this section over again with their nephews. They said if we could make it to Benson Lake, we would really enjoy it as it was like the "Jewel of the Rivera". The boys said they had such a good time there, they stayed two nights. Plus it was like being on Maui with sandy beaches. Well, we had to go stay the night there now. They also warned us about this fellow who was sleeping on the side of the trail by the lake. Kind of creepy. The trail down from Smedberg Lake to Benson Lake was hell. So steep and rocky. It took us three hours to go 4.6 miles. Jingle Bell was really suffering due to lack of sleep the night before. We finally arrived at 6pm, and the boys were right, it was a really cool beach! The wind was blowing pretty hard so we set up tents a little bit in the woods. There is a summer work party who has set up camp plus some people who have a bunch of llamas grazing in the grassy field behind the sandy beach.
August 3rd: Miles: 10 Stubblefield Canyon Creek
Woke up to cloudy skies. Decided to take a casual morning and not dash out of camp. I had hoped for sunny skies so we could enjoy the sandy beach, but it was not to be. Broke camp at 8:30am and spent the day going up and down. There was a beautiful lake at one of the ascents that I would have loved to stay at. Jingle Bell was again struggling with the technical ascents and descents. She seems so exhausted and I'm worried about her. As we were approaching the last pass before heading down 1.2 miles to a campsite, it decides to thunderstorm and rain. We quickly zipped over the top and made our way carefully down the steep trail. Ran into three Dads and their sons going southbound.
We set up camp, Mr. Bob and I did some clothes washing and he hung his up on his clothesline. I had mine clipped to my tent. All of a sudden, Mr. Bob yells, I turn around and here is this female deer yanking Bob's underwear off his line and running away with it. It was hilarious. The deer did drop the underwear as we were yelling at it. For the next hour we threw sticks and rocks at it trying to chase it away. Two other hikers joined in trying to chase the deer away. All the wet clothes had to go into the tents. We hope they dry by morning, although I have my doubts seeing how cold it is this evening. Oh well, we'll see what the morning brings...
August 4th: Miles: 10 Grace Meadows
No exciting events with the underwear snatching deer this morning. She didn't even put in an appearance. It was a slow day of walking as Jingle Bell was not feeling well. By lunchtime it was apparent that something was going on. It appears that Jingle Bell has a bladder infection. We are doing our best to get the miles in so we can meet my husband at Sonara Pass on Wednesday. We will have to find a medical clinic when we arrive in Lee Vining so we can confirm our self-diagnosis. It was cloudy and quite cool all day and started raining right after we found a campsite and set up the tents.
We did see a beautiful doe and her special boyfriend, a 10 point buck just over one of the passes. They were amazing to see.
That's it for tonight. Just listening to it rain on the tent. Thank goodness I have earplugs...
August 5th: Miles: 13 Kennedy Canyon
It was so cold all day hiking out of the last miles of Yosemite National Park. We wore our windshirts, rain jackets, and rain pants almost all day. Once we humped over the last pass, it was downhill for miles. We went through a few canyons that had park-like settings to them. So beautifully 'groomed' by animals and the weather. Jingle Bell seems to be worse today. We tagged up with another hiker today, named Richard, who is an R.N. out of San Diego. He gave instructions to Jingle Bell to eat and drink a ton of water. She doesn't want to drink because it makes her have to continually stop for a potty break. We discussed the situation with Richard and he provided a backup plan which I'm pretty sure we are going to do tomorrow. We are taking an easier route down to Hwy 108 and hope that my husband sees the change in plans from my SPOT. We will come out about 5 miles to the east of the original meeting place. Then we will find a doctor/medical clinic/hospital so we can get treatment for Jingle Bell.
August 6th: Miles: 8 Hwy 108
It was 39 degrees this morning when I got out of the tent at 6am. It had been blowing so hard when we went to bed last night that I put the tent in storm mode. So glad I did! Based on Karen's health issue, we decided to take the plan B route which has less elevation gain and miles. We started the long uphill to the intersection where the PCT takes off to the left and the alternate trail goes down to Levitte Lake. Took our morning break with a gorgeous view of the lake and surrounding mountains. Had a tiny bit of floating cell service so sent a text to my husband letting him know that we were deviating from the original plan. Afterwards we hiked down the steep terrain and were very surprised to see trucks and gravel roads down at the lake. Asked directions from a fellow at the lake to get to Hwy 108. Walking on the gravel road, we were almost to the highway when lo' and behold, here comes the Calvary (husband Dave and friend Reid) with beer and cider. Stopped in Bridgeport and had a great cheeseburger. Had a nice drive back to Lee Vining and the motorhome. Mr. Bob and Jingle Bell decided they wanted to find a hotel instead of tent camping behind the motorhome, so we dropped them off at one of the local hotels. Found out that the closest medical facility was in Mammoth Lakes so Jingle Bell was able to get an appt for tomorrow afternoon. After cleanup, we all went out to dinner at a local BBQ restaurant. Good food. Meanwhile Mr. Bob decided to book a flight home from Reno and catch the bus to Reno in the morning. He is done with the hiking.
August 7th: Miles: 0 Zero Day
Spent the morning doing laundry and sorting out our next resupply box. Mr Bob caught the morning bus to Reno. Adios, Bob. After lunch we headed to Mammoth Lakes so Jingle Bell could get to her doctor's appt. Meanwhile, the guys wanted to take the gondola to the top of the mountain to see the surrounding area at 11,000 ft. I stayed in the kiddie area watching the kids do the zipline waiting to hear from Jingle Bell. Finally she calls and says she definitely has a bladder infection and has a prescription for antibiotics. Off to Rite Aid she goes while we make our way from the Activities Center. Back at the motorhome we cook dinner and relax. Jingle Bell decided to take a tent site behind the motorhome and may already be regretting it due to the amount of noise coming from back there.
August 8th: Miles: 0 2nd Zero Day
We were hoping to continue our section hike but Jingle Bell has had a bit of side effects from the antibiotic she is taking. We decided to wait one more day to see how she feels Saturday morning. If she can't continue, I will have to make a decision if I should continue on the trail by myself, or figure out another option.
Dave and friend Reid wanted me to go on a five mile trail that makes a loop connecting numerous lakes. I can't remember the trail name - you can take a boat ride across the lake to start the loop. I was a bit hesitant because my husband is not in hiker shape. But we went anyway and had a good time. The guys kept asking me if this was what the trail I have been hiking on was like, and I said yep, pretty much except the staircasing part we have to do in the Sierras. It took us a few hours to make the loop and when we arrived back at the boat ramp, we could see a squall moving in and creating whitecaps on the lake. It was quite breezy and choppy but we made it back without an issue. My poor dog's paws were a bit chewed up from the sharp rocks, so she will have to take it easy for the next few days. Back at the motorhome Jingle Bell was still having issues so I gave her a very old Immodim AD pill in my first aid kit to help with her issues. While we were away hiking, she watched a couple of movies to pass the time.
August 9th: Miles: 9.5 Somewhere North of Sonora Pass
Yay! Jingle Bell is ready to continue on the hike! She got a good night sleep and was ready to go. My husband drove us 1.5 hours back to Sonora Pass and after waving goodbye, we set off up the hill at 10am. After a little ways, we realized that this couldn't be the right trail - it was way too steep. A fellow was coming down so we asked if this was the PCT cause it didn't feel right. He said no, we were on an old Jeep trail. He was a retired forest ranger who had been at the job for 40 years and knew these mountains well. He told us how to make our way over hill and dale to the PCT so we wouldn't have to go down that steep terrain. What a guy.The next two miles were totally uphill and for some reason I was totally wiped out. Tried my umbrella to get the sun off me but it was too windy. Took about two hours to go two miles. Whew. On the backside, we stopped for lunch and admired the view. Heard some howling in the valley below us and wondered if it was a wolf since the lake below was called Wolf Lake. The rest of the day was hiking downhill, which was perfect considering how tired I was. Accidentaly flushed out a pheasant on the trail and scared the bejeezes out of me. Arrived at the last campsite just before the next uphill, set up the tents and immediately took a nap. Felt much better after that. Finished up dinner just in time for the thunderstorms to arrive.
August 10th: Miles: 11 Middle Fork Wolf Creek
I was quite bummed to wake up a few times last night and find my air pad partially deflated. I love this air pad - it's so warm. I scrutinized the inflate/deflate valves, looked over every inch of seam and both sides of the pad, and nada. We are in an area where lakes are few and far between so I can't dunk it to find the pinhole. Guess I'll have to keep inflating it every night until I can swap it out for my older one in the motorhome.
This day was the least favorite of the trip so far. We thought we could belt out the 11 miles in no time at all, but didn't take into account how hot and humid it would be today. Then right after lunch we came across a barbed wire fence and gate across the trail. No worries, we have seen this many times. What we didn't expect was cows, cows with huge cow bells, cow patties everywhere, the stink, and the ripped up stream beds filled with more cow pies. We didn't dare get any water from any of these sources. Can't wait to leave this cow range. Then at 3pm the thunderstorms started. Big loud kabooms. Didn't see any lightning, thank goodness. Only met one person on the trail today who was going southbound. He started in Sisters, near Bend Oregon, and has been on the trail for 2.5 months. He loved my umbrella and asked if he could take a picture. How could I refuse?
The terrain is definitely changing now. We're seeing big domes of lava popping up everywhere. Finally found a nice campsite located at the Middle Fork Wolf Creek. The water looks clean so we filtered some for dinner and breakfast tomorrow morning.
August 11th: Miles: 13 Ebbett's Pass
Full moon last night - I awoke at midnight to pump up my leaky air pad and Jingle Bell started asking me all these questions thinking it was time to get up. She didn't realize how bright the moon was.
Our hiking day went well. We met quite a few women backpacking today, it was very enjoyable swapping stories with them. Two gals were thru hikers - they had started in April at the Mexican border with the herd, stopped short of the Sierras as they didn't want to deal with snow, so they bounced up to Oregon and did Oregon and Washington, and then can back to the CA stateline and headed south. They were planning on hiking to Lone Pine which is where they started their switchero. They have been on the trail for four and a half months. Ran into another retired forest ranger - he too had been on the job for 40 years. He is now a professor of geology at Humboldt University. He was quite fascinating to talk to as he knew about these weird formations that looks like big dumps of concrete. Too bad he was going southbound, we would have loved to tag along with him to learn about the new type of terrain we are just now getting into.
Our mileage went fairly quickly and we arrived at Ebbetts Pass at 2:45pm for our resupply from my husband and our friend Reid. My dog Bella's paws are still injured from that 5 mile hike we did a few days ago so she stayed in the car. I knew there was a reservoir right around the corner so we drove there so I could fill my air pad with air and dunk it in the water to find the leak. We found it quickly - it was on one of the interior seams on the top side. So while Jingle Bell and I did our resupply, the guys fixed my air pad. We'll see how it holds air tonight! The guys also wanted to hike about a quarter mile with us and take pictures so off we went down the trail a bit. We finally waved goodbye and we continued to the upper reservoirs to camp for the night. Big thunder and lightning came in right after dinner. Whoowee was it loud.
So while we have been on adventure, Dave has been having one of his own - with our 2006 Subaru. While we were in the south Sierra, one of the tires got a flat on the sidewall. He had to go to Gardnerville to Les Schwab and buy four new tires. Yesterday, he and Reid had to move the motorhome and car to South Lake Tahoe, and the radiator went out on the car. They limped it to South Lake Tahoe and Dave was able to buy the parts to repair it. They spent three hours this morning getting it done. Whew. Poor guy. Tomorrow Reid leaves for home so Dave will be on his own for the rest of our hiking trip. We will see him in four days - I hope nothing else go belly-up...
August 12th: Miles: 13.2 Lily Pad Lake
We woke to cold windy conditions, and they stayed that way the whole day. We might have enjoyed the scenery more if we hadn't had to spend so much time trying to stay upright in the wind. We were thankful that the wind was at our backs, but holy moley did we have a struggle. At one saddle it had to have been blowing a constant 40 MPH and gusts up to 50. We screamed our way to the top, using our poles as leverage so we didn't topple over. As I sit here writing this, it is still really windy. I hope the wind doesn't damage my tent. I did see a mommy deer and her tiny baby fawn as I crested a hill. They took off like a shot leaping and bounding away. We came into an area where we were no longer in the wilderness and there were dirt roads everywhere. We stopped at the first lake we came to hoping to set up camp for the night, but there were cars and people there. Felt very uncomfortable with that situation (plus the campsites were awful) so we continued until we reached Lily Pad Lake. Yes, there really are lily pads in the lake! Listened to a couple of ATV's zip around on the roads. Hope they stay off the PCT. Cleaned up (even washed the hair), made dinner, and then hid in our tents away from the wind.
August 13th: Miles: 14 Somewhere North of Carson Pass
oday was another howling, windy day. We thought yesterday was windy. Boy, were we wrong. We started the morning climb and ran into four southbound fellows from Portland, Oregon. Had a short visit, swapped stories, and compared windy days. One guy had a critter chew a hole jn his side backpack pocket, and to make matters worse, his Camelbak sprung a leak down his backside. They said it was extremely windy near Lost Lake so we went on our merry way well advised. Well, the winds started well before Lost Lake. We had to stop and put on our rain jackets as it was blowing so hard and so cold. We got to the top where we could look down on the Blue Lakes Reservoirs and practically were blown over. I put on my rain pants too as I was becoming a popsicle. It took us a lot of time to get over that section. We stopped just before Lost Lake in the trees to eat lunch, trying to stay out of the wind. Continuing on, we again hit tons of wind so we just stayed in our jackets trying to stay warm. The wind followed us all the way to Carson Pass. We knew there was a visitors center there and about 3:45pm Jingle Bell puts the metal to the floor and burns rubber trying to get there before 4pm. She was hoping to buy a goodie - something different than freeze-dried food. We missed it by 5 minutes. But the nice volunteer guy gave us directions on how to find the trail and where the next water spot was. They didn't have any water either. So off we went, after already putting about 13 miles in, looking for water and a place to rest the bod's. Had another little climb to make - ran into a gal who graciously gave us a bottle of water, and two other gals who said that we were almost to this little pond but it was a bit nasty looking. They recommeded to keep on going for this little stream a ways down the trail. We found it, but there wasn't anyplace to pitch a couple of tents. Another half mile we found a better stream and a so-so flat spot that we called home for the night. Jingle Bell got a blister on one of her toes this afternoon. Bummer...
August 14th: Miles: 11 South Lake Tahoe
oday was a nice easy hike through rolling meadows. Still had a bit of wind but nothing like the past two days. Just before lunch we got cell svc and was able to send out a handful of journal entries. Dave also sent a text saying he and our dog Bella were hiking the trail towards us. Oh no, I was pretty sure he was without daypack, water, sunscreen, or hat. I responded that he should only go a little ways in and that we had at least five miles before we hit Hwy 50. We started hiking as fast as we could in order to reduce the amount of time they would be on the trail. We finally started down a steep, rocky section, and who do we see ahead of us? Dave and Bella, sans daypack, water, sunscreen, or hat. Aack. Offered the use of my umbrella but he didn't think he needed it, but needed the water I was carrying. Finally made it back to the car. Dave told us that he had to take our car to the repair shop to find out what was going on with the radiator. Found out that both the cooling fans were broken and had to be replaced. Once we arrived at the motorhome, off he went to drop the car to the repair guy. Found out it would cost us $ 500 to replace the fans. Another unexpected expense for this trip. Meanwhile Jingle Bell and I enjoyed long hot showers, and really good pizza for dinner.
August 15th: Miles: 0 Zero Day in South Lake Tahoe
Did the usual zero day things - dried out the ground cloths, sorted out the food for our last leg of the trip, took a nap. Decided to finish the trip in five days instead of six. Didn't want to do much walking or hiking on this zero day - we really wanted to rest our feet. Dave and I went. out to dinner at this great Japanese restaurant for sushi. Yum, yum. That's about it for this day....
August 16th: Miles: 11.7 Gilmore Lake
Got an early start this morning, took showers, packed bags, ate breakfast, and headed for the trail. Was very pleased that we were hiking by 8:10am. About two miles on Jingle Bell needed to shed some clothing and accidentally left her sunglasses sitting on the stump. Once she realized it, back she went looking for them. Thankfully she found them! We continued on our way and the trail took us past Echo Lake Resort. Talked to a nice ranger who reminded us of the rules, took our pictures, and then pointed us in the general direction of the trail. We were a little confused at first, but we figured it out and hiked the two mile length of beautiful Echo Lake and continued upwards towards our goal of Gilmore Lake. We ran into another ranger who wanted to review our wilderness permit (first time this trip). We passed with flying colors. We were quite taken back how many people were on the trail. It was a zoo. There were people everywhere. It was a super hot day and I had my umbrella out. I was stopped so many times to talk about this umbrella, it was getting pretty funny. We had to stop a few times and get out of the son/heat so it took us much longer than anticipated to hike 11 miles. Once we arrived at Gilmore Lake to spend the night, we were shocked how many people were already here. We got one of the last campsites for the night. Wow, this is much worse than the JMT. The Desolation Wilderness is gorgeous though. No wonder so many people are here. We are wondering if this is what it is going to be like for the next four days. Whew, something we will have to get used to...
August 17th: Miles: 15 Richardson Lake
Had quite a little experience with another chipmunk last evening while I was reading my book before bed. I glanced outside and saw this chipmunk running full tilt towards mytent, launched itself from a rock about eight feet away, slams into the top of my tent shaking it violently, jumps again up into the tree above me, and proceeds to chatter nonstop like it was all my fault. I immediately looked in the direction it came from thinking that something big was chasing it, but nada, nothing.
Got ant earlier start this morning as we had a hill climb over Dick's Pass. Arrived at the top and oohed and aahed over the vision of multiple lakes down below. We passed by Upper, Middle, and Lower VELMA Lakes (there ya go Forget-Me-Not, three lakes names after you!) We should have gotten more water at the last lake as it was an extremely dry 7.5 mile uphill/downhill event to the Richardson Lake. Most of the afternoon terrain was in the woods but boy, was it hot. We were so happy to see the lake at 3:45pm! It was a 15 miler today and our feet were pretty sore and tired.
As we were getting ready to make dinner, we were completely surprised to see Richard walking towards us. We haven't seen him since just before Sonora Pass. We got caught up on our travels and enjoyed sharing stories.
August 18th: Miles: 12 Dry Camping on High Ridge
So last night I was sleeping away and was awoken by a 'skritch, skritch, skritch' against the tent siding. I slapped the side of the tent and whatever it was scurried away. Fell back to sleep but was woken twice more by the same sound. Turned on the headlamp and hunted around the inside and found a bag of freeze-dried apples that must have fell out of my Ursack (food bag). I moved it away from the edge, wrapped it in extra plastic and moved to the middle of the tent. No more visits from the hungry little mouse the rest of the night.
After reviewing the maps once more with Richard, we decided that there was not going to be much water available during the day's hike. Richard asked us if it was okay to give one's self a trail name. We said sure, why not, so with our blessing, Richard is now known as 'Gas Passer'. It's not what you think it might mean - he is a nurse anesthetist, someone who gives and controls the gas during surgeries. We thought it was a very cool trail name! Off we went, in anticipation of meeting up with Dave who was bringing us Subway sandwiches for lunch at Barkers Pass. As we were heading up the trail, lo and behold, a shirtless studly young fellow was coming down the trail with a partially filled water jug. Gals, you know the type, the sexy guys on the front of the romance novels. Ooh La La. That is the trail name I have given him even though he will never know. The seven miles went very quickly and sure enough there was Dave and Bella partway down the trail talking with Gas Passer. We wolfed down our sandwiches, handed off garbage and dirty clothing no longer needed, kissed the hubby goodbye, and headed up the trail. We were also surprised how many day hikers were on the trail here. We came around a corner and met back up with Gas Passer at a gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe. Took a few pics and kept going. Arrived at a potential campsite with flowing water but it was too early for Jingle Bell and me to stop for the day. Because there was so little water on the trail, we cameled up, filtered water for our big water bags (64 oz each), and hiked on to dry camp about 3 miles further down the trail. Gas Passer decided to stay at the first campsite. Whew, the extra water was quite heavy especially since we had a big uphill switchback to tackle. Finally made the top and found a great campsite. Dry camping isn't too bad if you are prepared for it. Had a fabulous sunset and took pictures.
Augut 19th: Miles: 11.3 Squaw Creek
No exciting events happened last night, thank goodness. It was in the middle 40's at 6am. The hardest part was rolling out of bed since it was still pretty dark outside. We are definitely moving towards fall. We had an easy hike in the morning with beautiful views of Lake Tahoe. Stopped at the top of Alpine Meadows ski resort for a snack and waved to a couple of fellas on a ATV making their way to the top of a lift to do some maintenance work. Could see Squaw Valley in the distance and made our way downhill losing about 2,300 ft elevation. It was a bummer as we had to go back up the other side once we hit the valley floor. We carried a bit of extra water just in case we didn't find the springs or flowing creeks noted on several maps and on Halfmile's waypoints. As we were descending, all of a sudden here comes two mature mountain bikers with their three dogs roaring down the trail scaring the life out of us. For one thing, we were in a designated wilderness, and the second thing, they were on our PCT!! How rude! They zipped on by before we could give them a piece of our mind. They turned off the trail at the Five Lakes Basin. We could tell, because of the bike tracks. Well, I fumed on that for awhile. The afternoon was spent making our way uphill in the hot sun to the Squaw Valley ski resort. The trail actually goes underneath one of the ski lifts. We were back on the downhill now and came to Squaw Creek. This was our go/no go decision to stay here for the night or to fill up our 64 oz bags again and continue for another few miles and dry camp. The creek won out as we were filthy and the opportunity to clean up was too hard to resist. As we were lounging around our tents, in comes Gas Passer. We were surprised to see him as we thought he would stop a few miles short at another campsite a little bit off the trail.
August 20th: Miles: 13 Last Day
Well, today is the last day on the trail for Jingle Bell and me. Jingle Bell is definitely ready to be done with the trail. I'm always sad to be finished with the section hike each year, but fresh food, a hot shower, and rest my feet sounds really good right now. We said our goodbyes to Gas Passer and headed down the trail towards Donner's Pass. We were warned to carry extra water as there wasn't any water available for the last 10 miles. The weather was perfect for hiking and the morning went quickly. We met a mom and her daughter who were doing their very first backpacking trip from Echo Lake to Donner's Pass. They were on their seventh day and were totally ready to get off the trail. Then the afternoon was spent going uphill and the closer we got the more excited we were to finish our section hike. About six miles from the end, we hiked up and over a saddle and was amazed at the beautiful views before us. So hard to describe. Will post photos when I return home. Dave and Bella were at the trailhead waiting for us with refreshments. The drive down back to South Lake Tahoe was gorgeous. This is one amazing place. We definitely want to come back down and ride all the paved bike trails (plus all the incredible hiking!). Back in town we showered and then went out to an Italian restaurant. Very good!
This is the last journal entry for this year's section hike. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed every mile under our feet. We met great people, saw a variety of wildlife, experienced a vast amount of weather changes, and left with a huge amount of respect for the Sierra.