Day's end: Deer Meadow
Day's miles: 12.2 miles
Total trip miles: 144 miles
This morning we slept in a little bit (6:15am), which I very much appreciated considering the day I had yesterday. I bandaged my blisters using more of Aaron's sleeping pad, popped a few Advil, and tried not to think about how much walking would hurt today. There was a silver lining though... today's hiking would be almost a constant decline, and I was very excited about that.
In the early morning the trail took us over a small river a few times that had grown in size a bit due to the rain from the previous day. After creek hopping for a little bit, the trail opened up to reveal the most beautiful valley. Ahhh, yes. A constant, all-day decline and a beautiful valley view - this day was shaping up to be pretty nice.
Hiking next to the Kings River
Looking down into Le Conte Canyon
Same canyon a little farther down the trail - couldn't help myself.
Some nice wildflowers along the way.
We continued hiking downhill through Le Conte Canyon and some fern-filled stands of trees until we eventually came to the Bishop Pass trail. The Bishop Pass trail is a bail-out point on the JMT which is 11.6 miles long. I took a moment to consider taking this bail-out trail and quitting right here. After all, my feet (and leg) weren't in the greatest shape by any means, and the trail would only get more difficult from here on out. While I mulled this over a bit in my head, Aaron checked the trail register.
"Hey! Guess who just passed through here a few hours earlier?!"
"Who?"
"Rob!"
I couldn't believe it. Both Aaron and I had very much enjoyed hiking with Rob in the beginning of our hike and had missed his company since going our separate ways on the trail a few days earlier. We had already split up from him once after VVR and reconnected on the trail right before we hit Muir Trail Ranch - could we do it again??
Hiking through a fern-filled bunch of trees.
After seeing how close we were to reconnecting with our friend on the trail again, I quickly dismissed using the Bishop Pass bail-out trail. We continued hiking until we found a nice spot in the shade next to the Middle Fork Kings River to take a break and fix our feet. During our break we were passed again by two guys, one of which was the same person who offered to take our picture on the top of Muir Pass. We talked for a bit about the storm last night, and found that he and the three other people in his party hadn't been able to get off the top of Muir Pass last night when the storm got going, so they actually had to camp inside of Muir Hut. Man. I would have loved to stay inside some enclosed space instead of hiking down the other side of Muir Pass on top of snow, boulders, and through rivers with one trekking pole all the while being chased by a storm. Oh well. Next time.
We got moving again and kept up a pretty even pace for the rest of the afternoon. I wanted to try to get as far as we could today so that maybe we could catch up with Rob tonight or tomorrow. I had a feeling that Rob would try to make it up the Golden Staircase to camp near one of the Palisade Lakes because of all of the photography opportunities that would be there. Pushing on that far would be a tall order for us today, and sure enough we both (really, mostly me) started to feel pretty worn out in the afternoon, so the farthest we made it that day was Deer Meadow, which was right before the (steep) Golden Staircase.
Some wildlife we passed along the way.
We found an obvious campsite, and guess who shows up to camp nearby? The same guy we had met on the top of Muir Pass, and the rest of the three people in his group. One of the people in his group wanders over to our camp later in the evening, and introduces himself as No Trace and his wife as Unbreakable. We had seen them in Toulumne Meadows sharing cheeseburgers with other thru-hikers a little more than a week ago - what a small world! We talked for awhile and found that he and his wife had hiked the AT, PCT, and the JMT a few years ago. This time they were doing the JMT with one of their sons and his friend (Doc Greenburg and Pancho Via), who were both out to conquer their first long-distance hikes. We talked about trail names, and why people decide to do long distance hikes like this. He shares that the simple lifestyle is something that keeps him and his wife coming back for more. During the conversation we're warned that long-distance hikes like this tend to get under people's skin in such a way that after they return to their regular civilian life, they will crave long-distance backpacking trips like this one in the worst way.
"Whatever the reason - the lifestyle, the people you meet, the animals you see, the views, the challenges, the unique experiences - you'll be back."
...months later, having finished the JMT and completed our first long-distance hiking adventure, I can still vividly remember that part of our conversation and now understand exactly what he meant!
You can enlarge any of these pictures by clicking on them.
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