Day 63, Moving On

Part 2, The Sierra Nevada, Day 63

Moving On

Miles: 16.51

PCT Mile: 931.48

Today is my 2 month Trailversary!!! 2 months of hiking, and it's been an adventure. All this hiking has masked what I've Really been doing out here, which is....searching for Bigfoot. 

I did not sleep well last night. I was dreaming hard about being lost in the wild and I kept waking up with no idea where I was. A few times I fell back asleep without knowing I was at Shadow Lake. Weird. When I did wake up, the lake was beautiful, but the sun was rising directly on top of the water making picture taking difficult. I left by 7 and followed Shadow Creek up into the hills.

It was a lovely morning to hike. Shadow Creek was raging, and the snow capped peaks surrounded the valley. 

At the point below, I met a section hiker named Tom.

Tom was a nice guy. Really talkative...almost too talkative. Even when I tried to walk faster to get away, he kept right up. 

He asked if I wanted to get high with him. I politely declined, and instead, he told me about the day he dropped acid On the trail. That day was today. As in, right now. No matter how fast I walked, he was behind me. When I stopped, Tom stopped. He showed me dozens of pictures of a snake on his phone. One snake.Telling me what his favorite Grateful Dead songs were wasn't enough, so he sang them. We arrived together at Garnet Lake.

Luckily, something in the water demanded Tom's attention, because he was staring right through it for a solid minute. When it was clear that he wasn't going anywhere, I quietly slipped away. Good luck on your journey Tom. 

Garnet Lake was the first of many stunning lakes I'd see today. Crystal clear water with Mt. Banner and Ritter standing behind like giant sentinels. 

The JMT alternate turned out to be the right choice by far. Thanks to a tip from a former teacher of mine, I was able to stay down by the lakes instead of up on a ridge with the PCT. There was more ups and downs, but the scenery was special. The next of the "gem" lakes was Ruby Lake. 

I love the symmetrical reflections.

This was followed by Emerald Lake.

I saw many southbound JMT hikers today and few PCT'ers, but I think this is simply because I'm hiking Northbound. The other PCT hikers are behind or ahead, and most I talked to beforehand were also taking the JMT alternate.

At Thousand Island Lake, the trails merged again. I was back on the PCT. (Or JMT, depending on which trail you're hiking.) 

I could see why it was named Thousand Island Lake being peppered with so many little islands. 

It was here where the mosquitoes started to become a problem. More on that later. 

The trail went up all day and I was headed toward Donahue Pass, which, at 11,000 feet, was no small boy. The climb was gradual though. 

Water is my favorite thing in the world, so that's why I'm constantly taking pictures of it in all it's forms and presentations. 

I was hungry from not eating last night, so I stopped for lunch far away from water hoping to keep the mozzies at bay. The mosquitoes are inescapable, so I just had to swat for awhile. 

Same old tortilla deal. That's "turkey," pepperoni, and cheddar cheese on a tortilla. 

This time I had the secret weapon:

I snagged a bunch of them from a deli in Mammoth. Then there's this bad boy:

To be honest, I wasn't that hungry today. I needed energy though. 

It was still early so I read for an hour while fighting off skeeters and giant carpenter ants. Thru hiking is so glamorous. I continued on at 1 pm. 

Being by myself in such beauty with the hot sun, I felt so sleepy. I took this shameless selfie to keep things fresh.

By this point the climb became serious business. It was a tiring climb with high stair like steps. It was the last big climb before my resupply tomorrow at Tuolumne, so I was motivated to keep moving. 

Below is the view of the valley I climbed up to get to the top of the pass. 

The top was filled with adorable marmots, but they scurried away before I could capture a pic. There was some snow.

The other side held a wonderfully green canyon and Yosemite National Park.

I sat and soaked up the sun for awhile, being careful not to sit in Marmot shit. It's a real danger that I've avoided thus far by remaining vigilant. 

It was getting late and I started down toward the valley at 4:30. As usual, the trail down was covered in snow so I just went straight down. 

The small lake below blew my mind with it's aqua blue water. 

The mosquitoes were terrible. Each time I stopped I was swarmed by mozzies. 

Each hiker who passed me wire a head net, and I was eventually forced to put mine on. 

I have DEET as well, but I'm saving it for further down the trail. It's gonna get even worse, folks. I'm counting on it. 

There were two parallel trails here, which confused me. Which one should I walk on? 

I chose neither. That'll show 'em. 

I made camp at a spot away from water hoping there'd be less skeeters. I was swarmed. My tent, which I just left open, is filled with them. The next 150 miles will be extra challenging psychologically, I think. 

I made ramen, which is still tasting good, but getting too bulky to carry. 

I have 10 miles to my resupply tomorrow, and then I'll likely hike on. I'm in serious bear country, so I'm being extra careful with my food storage. Tomorrow will be special with the scenery I think. It's so nice to be hiking solo again.