160 Miles on the John Muir Trail, 1992
THURSDAY, JULY 2 -- DAY 4
I awake at 6:30am, expecting to have sun on me by now, but the sun is rising directly behind prominent Gemini, an impressive peak to the east. I slept cool last night, much to my surprise -- especially my feet, but also my torso! I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. The overnight low was a chilly 22°. I'm disappointed in my new, expensive sleeping bag -- it should have handled that easily! Its rated for 10° and I had it overstuffed to make it even warmer, so 22° should have been no problem. However, I am glad that its has a Goretex cover because the tent condensed heavily again and the bag was up against the tent walls all night.
I guess I'm also a little unhappy with my tent. This tent is so small that I can't help touching up against its sides. That's not really a flaw with the tent, but rather just something that I have to live with in a tent that's so small. I'm wondering if I should have brought a larger tent on this trip, but of course the whole idea of carrying such a small tent is to reduce pack weight. My other tent would have added an extra 3 pounds and would have raised my pack weight up to 64 pounds! That would have hurt.
My food is still in the tree, thankfully. No bears again last night. I fetch the food bags and begin organizing my pack. The cheerful little bird is singing again this morning and it helps to brighten my spirits, but I'm in a little bit of a down mood because of my sleeping bag's poor performance. I suspect now that I won't be spending my last night on the summit of Mt. Whitney, as I had originally planned. If I was cool at this altitude of 10,600', how bad will I fare at 14,500'? My bag just may not be good enough for that.
The stars were brilliant last night! And the sky is clear this morning too, thankfully. The air is calm and the surface of Marie Lake appears glass-smooth, at least for now. The sun is quickly on me and it feels marvelous! I spread my sleeping bag out to dry and cook freeze-dried scrambled eggs for breakfast. I've suddenly become tired of these eggs and will switch to oatmeal each morning from now on for as long as it lasts, which may be most of the of the trip.
At 8:30am, everything is dry and packed away and I'm ready to go. Its taken 2 hours again to break camp. Just where does the time go? It is another gorgeous, clear morning and the temperature is already above 40° as I leave. As soon as I walk away from my campsite, a marmot and a chipmunk move in to look for scraps. There are gulls flying over the lake. I didn't expect to see them here, so far from the sea.
I pass by the fishermen's camp on the lakeshore. There are six of them altogether -- four men, a woman and a teenage boy. My hips and shoulders feel okay today, but my middle back is still a little sore or maybe just "tired" describes it better. My left ankle/boot problem is still there, but is no worse. As I climb the final half mile to Selden Pass, I notice that my legs feel sapped from all the climbing yesterday. I tire quickly.
I arrive at scenic Selden Pass at 9:00am. Its nice here, 50° and nearly calm. I am quite comfortable and content to lounge around for several minutes. There is a sign here and I set up my tripod and take a few self-pictures. The views are good to the south, but the north side with Marie Lakes is the most scenic. Heart Lake is nearby to the south.
After about 20 minutes I leave the pass start down, now with 7 or 8 miles of downhill walking ahead. I am tired from yesterday's substantial climb and am ready for downhill walking. The grade is steep at first as I descend through a pretty little alpine meadow to Heart Lake and then on down to thread between the two Sally Keyes Lakes. These last two lakes are have pleasantly wooded shores that would make for excellent camping. I meet two elderly backpackers heading the opposite direction. One appears to be in his 60's, and the other in his 70's. Good for them for getting out here and not letting age get in their way.
A level trail takes me through pine and fir forest. Something's bothering me and I'm not quite sure what it is. After I think about it for awhile, I realize that I'm still in a bit disgruntled because of the inadequacy of my expensive sleeping bag. I bought the bag especially for this trip and had anticipated that it would easily handle anything that I might encounter down to 10° or even less, but it just doesn't seem to be that good. There's nothing I can do about it but try to put it out of my mind and think about the enjoyable aspects of this trip to get back into a good disposition.
During a brief stop, five horse riders come by and stop a couple of hundred yards away. I don't really care for horses in the wilderness because they beat up the trail and poop all over it, both of which I could happily do without. The trail begins a long, long descent on a moderate grade into the San Joaquin river valley (south fork). This is a big elevation drop to the valley floor about 2000' below me, and I am glad that I don't have to climb it going the other way. The trail descends into the valley on an exposed hillside. I meet two guys doing a backpacking loop out of Florence Lake, which is in the valley below and a few miles to the west. Twenty minutes later, I meet four more horse riders, also out of Florence Lake, who are with the five riders that I met an hour ago. By noon, I am much deeper into the valley but still not at its bottom, when I come to the junction with the trail to Florence Lake. A sign here says that it is four miles to Piute Creek and eight miles to Evolution Creek, my probable destination for tonight.
The temperature is much warmer, nearly 70° at this lower elevation of 8000'. I want to stop for lunch soon, but I'm low on water and will have to wait until I come to a stream. Its easy walking now as the trail parallels the river, but stays several hundred vertical feet away from its bank. This section is very reminiscent of northern Arizona -- dry, warm and a little dusty with semi-open pine forest. There are even a few aspens and manzanita here. In a half hour, I come to the junction with a second trail to Florence Lake. I meet four middle-aged backpackers coming up this trail, turning my way onto the JMT. I trudge onward, but I'm getting tired and need to stop, although there's still no water.
There's a robin running up the trail, 10' in front of me. He must be injured, because he doesn't fly. He just runs ahead for a little ways and stops and looks back. When I keep coming, he runs ahead again, but eventually he wises up and runs off to the side. Finally I arrive at Piute Creek and fresh, cool water! But someone is already here, occupying the only good resting site, so I cross the creek on the steel bridge and continue on down the trail, now entering Kings Canyon National Park. The map shows that the trail stays close to the south fork beyond here and I will stop for water in a few minutes when I have a private spot.
I pass through a field of stunted, 4' high manzanita and arrive at a good resting spot beside the river about a mile beyond the Piute Creek crossing. The river is beautiful and it feels wonderful to finally stop for a much-needed rest. I am really feeling dry and tired. I spend nearly an hour here, relaxing in the warm sun beside the splashing south fork of the San Joaquin, which is actually more like a wide, fast-flowing stream. While I am relaxing on a rock, three dayhikers pass, headed north. DAYhikers! I wonder where they're coming from?
After a half hour, I'm rested up and ready to go. I'll probably push for Evolution Creek, three miles away, and stop there tonight. Its a stupendous day -- clear, sunny and 70° -- just really, really nice! The south fork is very delightful and interesting through here: rippling at times, raging at others. I stop for a few minutes to adjust my boots and the four middle-aged hikers (3 men, 1 woman) that I saw at the Florence Lake trail junction catch up with me. They too, are planning on camping at Evolution Creek tonight. They will continue south towards Goddard Pass tomorrow, while I will turn easterly and follow Evolution Creek up into Evolution Basin and Muir Pass. These are nice people, aged 45-55, and seem to have much experience in this area.
I move on, leaving them when they stop for a break, and continue following the south fork upstream. I come to a place where the trail crosses the river on a steel bridge and have to wait while five more horse riders cross the bridge. I cross the bridge and a mile later come to a trail junction with the Goddard Pass trail. My trail crosses back over to the east side of the river on another steel bridge and enters a large flat area with many campsites and many aspen bushes, not trees -- bushes.
Its now 4:00pm and I could stop here -- the time is right and I'm tired, but no, I choose to bite the bullet and push on up the steep, rocky switchbacks into Evolution Valley. The last group recommended against it, saying that it would be hot and difficult in the evening sun, but I've never been one to shy away from a challenge. I'll be glad in the morning to have this climb behind me. The grade is steep and tiring with many switchbacks, but fortunately it is not extremely long. After a half hour of climbing the rocky face, it eases somewhat and follows brushy Evolution Creek upstream into Evolution Valley. There are lots of mosquitoes and I don't particularly care for this area -- I'm starting to wish I had stayed below. I pass through an awkward log gate and then come to a wide stream crossing that I am forced to wade.
This is the first place so far on the trip where I wasn't able to cross a stream on a bridge or stepping stones. The creek is too wide here for either, being about 100' across. Its shallow, but still over the top of my boots, so they and my feet get soaked. One thing about Gore-Tex boots: they don't let water in, but they don't let water out either! I have to stop, dump the water out of my boots and wring out my socks before I can continue with any degree of comfort. I guess if I was thinking, I should have stopped before the stream crossing and changed into my camp shoes, but its too late now.
I pass pretty Evolution Meadow, wide and grassy and full of mosquitoes. Hopefully, I can find a campsite that's off the trail and away from the stream, where the mosquitoes won't be so thick. About ¼ mile beyond the meadow, at 5:20pm, I find such a place, although its not really an established campsite. It is a good spot though and who knows when the next acceptable site will come along, so I drop my pack and begin making camp. There are less mosquitoes here, but there still are some.
I set up the tent, filter water, wash up and do laundry. A couple of hours later, I sit down to my dinner of freeze-dried onion and green peppers. The sun has just disappeared behind a mountain and the mosquitoes are really swarming now! Thank goodness for my mosquito head net! With long pants and long sleeve shirt, I have only my hands to worry about. There are some wonderful, flutey-sounding birds in the forest -- some type of thrush perhaps, as I remember from my Indiana birding days. I have also heard birds like these on wooded peaks in Arizona. The temperature is 50° and the evening is calm and fairly nice. There is a new crescent moon, but it won't be giving much in the way of moonlight tonight.
I want to finish making my bed, but the mosquitoes won't leave me alone long enough to do that. I hang my food in the best available tree and it is hung well, but not as good as I would normally like. The mosquitoes just about eat my hands to pieces during this operation -- I would apply the highly-effective mosquito repellent, but I'm trying to avoid doing that just before bedtime. Finally at 8:45pm, during a gap in the mosquito horde, I am able to fly into my tent, make up my bed and hit the sack.
Day 3
Day 5