Day 15

Day's start: Deer Meadow
Day's end: Lake Marjorie
Day's miles: 16.7 miles
Total trip miles: 160.7 miles

This morning we tried to wake up early (5:30ish) to get a jump on what was going to be a long day, and do you know what we saw as soon as we crawled out of the tent? The backpacking family packing up their gear! I couldn't believe how fast they had packed up their tents and gear! Clearly, we still had some learning to do in the "efficient packing up" department.

We packed up as fast as we could, I bandaged up my poor feet, popped a few Advil and we got on our way. I was feeling better than I had yesterday, so we tried to rock our way up the Golden Staircase which was actually quite steep. After awhile of struggling behind Aaron, I decided to use his iPod to jam out a little and try to forget about the pain my feet were causing me - again, I'm amazed at the difference a little music can make... didn't pack my iPod because I didn't want another thing to worry about on this trip - oops. Won't make that mistake next time.

View from the bottom of the Golden Staircase...

 ...and nearing the top

After making it up the Golden Staircase, the trail leveled out a bit and wound around the Lower and Upper Palisade Lakes, which were just beautiful. When we were able to catch our breath a little, we discussed how far behind Rob we might be. We figured that we couldn't be too far behind him, and that it was very possible that he had camped near one of these lakes last night - the view was just beautiful.

Hiking around the Palisade Lakes, I found myself focusing so much on the ground and trying to really make up time for my slow ascent up the Golden Staircase. Normally, I would feel a little like I'm missing out on the beautiful scenery, but today guess what I found?? A penny! And it was heads up, no less! (It's the small things - don't make fun). I figured that this had to be a sign that we could really finish this adventure and that maybe it would get a little easier?... perhaps?... At any rate, a heads up penny is most certainly good luck and we might be able to use some of that in the coming days.

Lower Palisade Lake

After passing the scenic Lower and Upper Palisade Lakes (and finding my lucky penny!) we started to switchback up to the top of Mather Pass. I popped the iPod back on, and kept up a good pace a little behind Aaron. The trail started out pretty level, but when we neared the top the trail turned into mostly larger boulders, which were much harder to hike on and slowed us down quite a bit. We could see a few groups of hikers (including the backpacking family) a little farther in front of us going up the pass, which made me dig a little deeper and try to pick up the pace.

Nearing the top of Mather Pass

When we finally reached the top of Mather Pass we saw lots of other groups of people taking a break and enjoying the view.
"Man, wouldn't it be nice if a helicopter landed right here, right now and dropped off some cheeseburgers and fries?"
"Yeah! Cheeseburgers, fries, AND rootbeer floats!"
What was that? Other hikers talking about food?? Aaron and I mosied over to where the other hikers were, hoping to join in this conversation on our favorite topic: food. After a quick chat, we found they were "weekend warriors" (people just out for a weekend backpack trip), and learned that this was the food they would be enjoying in about two days time.
Jealous.
I guess I'll just stick with my dehydrated, boil-in-a-bag food and delicious (soooo kidding) trail mix. Ugh... That rootbeer float helicopter sounds pretty awesome right about now.

Rootbeer float and cheeseburger people

 They offered to take our picture instead of sharing their snacks... oh well.

Looking north from Mather Pass...

...and to the south, where we are headed.

After snapping a few pictures and enjoying a well-deserved Snickers, we shouldered our packs, picked up a quick pace and carried on down the south side of Mather Pass. Towards the bottom of Mather we came across a marmot who was clearly posing for us. Awesome! We both watched it for a good long while and took entirely too many pictures - clearly our idea of entertainment has changed a tad. Carrying on down the trail, we came across the backpacking family taking a lunch break next to a stream and decided to stop for our own break and chat for awhile.

Marmot!

The trail after descending from Mather Pass

Most of the afternoon was downhill, which I really appreciated, until we crossed South Fork Kings River. After that we climbed as far as we could toward Pinchot Pass to make the next morning a little easier. Because we had pulled a lot of miles today, we figured we might run into Rob again, but no such luck. By the time we came to Marjorie Lake the sun was setting and we decided we were home for the night.

 Nearing Marjorie Lake

Home for the night

You can enlarge any of these pictures by clicking on them.