Bishop - Whitney Portal

So, after a delicious pizza dinner and catching up on hours of Olympics-watching at the motel we were staying at in Bishop, we had the most comfortable sleep of all time. Seriously, if you ever want a semi-sketchy drive up motel bed in the eastern sierras to feel comfortable, you should hike 135 miles first.

So, we woke up, and hit the local breakfast place - Erik Schats Bakery. Delicious. Also, by reading some of the things on the wall, apparently the bakery has caused an awful rift in the Schats family. The Mammoth, CA Schats Bakery is an imposter!! Imposter!!

Okay, so we made some phone calls to figure out how we could manage transportation. There is a bus from bishop to lone pine (about 60 miles), and then we planned on hitchhiking from lone pine to the whitney portal. Scary, but we were feeling particularly ballsy after our big hike. We lounged by the pool, had sandwiches, read the new york times. Things that seem totally incredible after being in the wilderness for awhile.

We walked over to the K-Mart parking lot, where the bus (more like a van) picked us up. I bought a $7 skirt because I couldn't stand the idea of wearing my dirt and sweat covered hiking pants anymore. The bus went well, we met a funny lady who told us that her husband was a famous long distance hiker, we met a seasoned thru-hiker, we met some funny local teenage boys. After about an hour and a half, we made it to Lone Pine. We walked over to Portal Drive and set up shop to hitchhike.
After waiting about 40 minutes, a guy in a truck who worked at the cafe at Whitney Portal drove by and stopped. He loaded us and our backpacks in, and we drove the 30 minutes up to.... my car!! It had survived the three weeks we left it. No bear attacks. While exciting that everything was in tact, it signaled the end of our adventure. We headed to a La Quinta in Bishop, then hightailed it to Oregon the next day.

[Lucy]
Miles: 0!

Bishop Pass Trail - Bishop Pass Trailhead

It seems that if there's any place to have to leave the John Muir Trail, it's Bishop Pass. I was set for a somewhat easy hiking day (after a really steep ascent) that would probably be a lot less spectacular once we got up over the pass and out of Kings Canyon, so I took a ton of pictures of Le Conte Canyon on our way up the pass. It's the tourist in me, I guess, thinking that all the most beautiful things will end up being inside the national park. But the whole day was filled with unbelievable views, basins, lakes, streams, and Inconsolable Ranges (well, just one of those). The set of lakes that stairsteps down from Bishop Pass on the north eastern side of the Sierra rivals parts of Kings Canyon with a whole different style of spectacular. It's a combination of desert and alpine that doesn't exist at all on the western side of the Sierra. They should make it into a national park or something so I know to take pictures.
Bishop Pass is also an easy place to re-enter society because after cresting the pass you start gradually running into more and more people. Everyone we talked to helped us feel good about our hike, even though we didn't make it to Whitney. One woman we passed had left her camera a few miles below her on the trail, but didn't want to go back down for it because the trail was so steep. After leaving her, we began a treasure hunt for a few miles until we found the camera. Hopefully she picked it up at the bait shop where we left it when she came back down the trail. Too bad she couldn't take any pictures, though.

The amount of day hikers on the Bishop Pass Trail gave us hope that we'd be able to find a ride from the trailhead to Bishop, CA (over 20 miles from the trailhead). Although we had to wait for a little while, we got extremely lucky that Judy, a guide for Elderhostel who leads tours in the area, not only gave us a ride to Bishop, but also gave us a tour of Bishop and dropped us at a cheap motel with a pool. Neither of us had hitchhiked before, and I'm not sure we were expecting to be confronted by that kind of generosity. Thanks, Judy!

True to my dreams of the last five days, we ate everything the Bishop Pizza Factory had to offer us for dinner. Then we called our parents, watched the news, and BATHED (maybe that one came first). It's definitely weird being in a room with a bed and a television, but also extremely comfortable. Really, this is unparalleled comfort. It makes me unable to really worry about how we're going to get to Whitney Portal tomorrow to pick up Lucy's car.


[Matt]
Miles: 10-ish non JMT
Total: 135.8 (JMT)

Helen Lake - Somewhere on the Bishop Pass Trail

This was our first full day of hiking for a while, which took its toll on both of us. My feet were definitely thanking me that we are getting off the trail soon! After an early start, we hiked down Muir Pass, following cascading waterfalls down granite faces. After a couple miles of descent we hit tree line -- it's amazing how tropical and verdant vegetation looks after being away from it for a couple of days!

By early afternoon it was time to say our goodbyes to the John Muir Trail -- we came to the Bishop Pass Trail, on which we were getting out. I think Matt was more sad/disappointed than I was to leave the trail. I'm sure we'll finish the 80ish miles to Whitney some other time, and I am still proud of the amount we've done. We hiked a couple of miles up the Bishop Pass Trail and found a nice campsite. Since we're below 10,000 feet, we had a campfire to celebrate our last night in the woods.

It's crazy we'll be in civilization tomorrow (after 10+ miles). I'm pretty excited about a shower, but less so about dealing with the logistics of our return. Matt is very excited about "real food" -- we haven't had fruits/vegetables in 15 days! He keeps talking about food he wants to eat. We're planning a pizza extravaganza for tomorrow night!

[Lucy]
Miles: 7 JMT Miles + 2 (or so) non-JMT miles
Total: 135.8 (JMT miles)

Evolution Lake - Helen Lake

Today we hiked to the moon. There is no plant life on the moon except for things that are less than two inches tall. There are, however, tons of frogs on the moon. Wanda Lake, near the top of the moon, is full of all different types of frogs that jump into the lake as you walk past. Since they're moon frogs, though, when they swim near you as you're filtering water, you sometimes scream. Lucy did that.

There are storms on the moon too. The first rain we've had to contend with all trip hit us as we were nearing the top of the moon. We got out the pack covers, then waited out the rain in the hut on the top of the moon. But the rain has started again, occasional drops on the rain fly. It's nice so long as it stays pretty light.

Although the moon is pretty, and although I was pretty sure Muir Hut (at the top of the moon) was going to be kind of cool, I was not expecting to be astonished by Muir Hut's coolness. After seeing almost no one today (except one guy planning to be in Tuolumne Meadow in 3 days), and after seeing almost nothing alive, we ran into the Hut. Surrounded by moonscape, the last thing you expect to think is cool is something man-made. But it was warm, it's construction was really cool (kind of a stone igloo), and somehow it really fits into the surroundings. Like: of course this awesome little stone hut would be sitting on top of the moon. I've never seen anything like it.

From Muir Hut we just wandered on down to the other side of the moon and set up camp at Lake Helen. Still no life to speak of, except one fat marmot and a chipmunk. A lot of the lakes up here look like the beaches of Jamaica -- white granite leading up to emerald green water that fades to a deep, beautiful blue as it gets deeper. Sort of like white sand beaches and clear ocean. Except different, because we're on the moon.

[Matt]
Miles: 5.5
Time: 128.8

McClure Meadow- Evolution Lake

So, today started out with both of us mulling over the possibility of hiking out over Bishop Pass. As Matt said, our various injuries had us moving slower than anticipated. Our ability to get to Whitney (at least 90 more miles) in seven days was looking dim. While pondering our options, I went to go filter water from a nearby stream. While kneeling down to filter, I slipped into the stream. A rock cut off the top of my toe and tore a big chunk of my toenail off (gross, I know). I was bleeding pretty badly and I was pretty shook up, but Matt helped me clean and bandage it.
It's pretty difficult to put pressure on it (like, say, a 35 lb backpack). So that pretty much made the decision for us that we should hike out at Bishop. But, we still have food and we are in a gorgeous area -- the Evolution Basin -- so we decided we'd take it slow and hang out for a few days. So we hiked (slowly!) the five miles up to Evolution Lake and set up camp in the early afternoon. I have heard a lot of hype about this lake, and it totally lives up to it.
HUGE granite walls surround the lake itself, and the outlet cascades over a 3,000 foot drop. Which is right where we are camping! It's a little scary to be camped so close to a cliff, but the sunset was amazing. Tomorrow we may do the same as today -- hike a few miles up the basin to another lake, spend the afternoon swimming and just relax. As much as part of me is disappointed we aren't finishing the JMT this trip, it also feels like a weight has been lifted. We don't have to be stressed about mileage, timing etc. -- we can just relax and enjoy the amazing scenery. Plus, we can always come back and finish the 90 miles to Whitney another time.

[Lucy]
Miles: 5.2 Miles
Time: 123.3 Miles

Muir Trail Ranch - McClure Meadow

We're camped at the western edge of McClure Meadow. I don't even want to think about how many pictures I took of the sunset illuminating the mountains at the end of the meadow as the almost-full moon rose behind the mountains. To be honest, I was pretty unconvinced about the beauty of Evolution Valley when we finished climbing out of Goddard Canyon. I had heard it was unbelievable. Then we kept hiking an interminable 2 miles through the valley and past Evolution Meadow until all of a sudden I understood why people think this valley rivals Yosemite Valley. We even camped on a site that has me sliding sideways into Lucy, just because it has such good views.

Actually, this place is trying way too hard. At approximately six thirty, a lone cowboy rode at a slow trot from the west end of the meadow to the east, followed by five unroped donkeys. At about six forty-five, he went back to the west end of the meadow, donkeys in tow. And finally, fifteen minutes later, the whole scene repeated. It's like the sunset, the moon, and the mountains of Evolution Basin weren't enough. "You know, we should add some seemingly wild horses trotting through the meadow." Then they didn't get the shot the first time, so the cowboy kept riding back and forth until they got the exact right shot. By "they," I mean we, probably. We might have taken a few pictures of that too.

Despite this idyllic scene, we're thinking about altering our route tomorrow. Since pain has been spreading through Lucy's feet and my knee, we're starting to develop a plan that has us exit at Bishop Pass in four days. We're both starting to limp pretty seriously, which is not only hard when going up and down passes, but pretty bad for the rest of the body parts that are picking up the slack. So to avoid further injury, I think we're going to start out tomorrow with six miles, and stay at Evolution Lake. From there we'll continue over Muir Pass and then back up and out over Bishop Pass.

Although getting this close to finishing the whole trail and not actually finishing would be disappointing, I'm still really excited to be in Kings Canyon. I've been hearing great things about it for years, but since it's almost totally inaccessible by road, and since the good stuff is extremely far from roads, I've never been. This part of the trip is amazing, and right now we're planning on continuing through some of the most amazing country on the JMT, so if we end up not finishing, I'll still be really glad to have seen this part of the Sierra.
[Matt]
Miles: 9.2 (JMT miles); 1.5 (non-JMT miles)
Total: 118.1 (including 1.7 JMT miles not walked)

Rosemarie Meadow - Muir Trail Ranch

Lots of milestones today! We hit 100 miles, picked up our last resupply, and went to a natural hot spring for the first time. The day started with the climb over Seldon Pass, where we passed the beautiful Marie Lake. On our descent we went past Heart Lake and between Sallie Keyes Lakes. We saw a family of grouse, big and healthy!

The descent down Seldon Pass was tough on my feet. I'm trying not to be a wuss but have about 10,000 blisters that shoot extreme pain into my body when going down a mountain. It's weird, but I look forward to the uphills much more than the downhills.

We got to Muir Trail Ranch around 3pm, and immediately got our bucket and started sorting through what we had sent ourselves and trying to figure out how to put 9 days of food in our bear canisters. The Ranch also puts out buckets of food that hikers didn't want or never came to pick up. It's amazing! There must have been 100 Clif Bars - up for grabs! Unfortunately, whatever you take you also have to carry for 100 more miles, so we didn't take much. We also donated a lot of veggie jerky -- we are definitely sick of that, and it's heavy.

After sorting through our food, buying propane and Advil, and using the internet (73 new messages!), we set up camp a little ways away from the Ranch. We then visited Blayney Hot Springs -- so cool! The water is a perfect temperature even if it is a bit muddy. There is a lake right by it to wash off afterwards. Anyway, after some blister care tonight, I'm hoping that the pain will subside and the next hundred miles will look a little more feasible.

[Lucy]
Miles: 8.4 (non-JMT miles 0.9)
Total: 107.2

Lake Edison Trail Junction - Rosemarie Meadow

It's becoming clear to us both that we may not have prepared for the trip in certain vital ways. First, our knowledge of exit points seems to have escaped our memories. Although this makes it harder to jump ship, it also scares me when we descend things like Bear Ridge. Second, our collective knowledge of foot-health and maintenance is pretty low. Since blisters and bruises have been plaguing us, it seems like some research on the subject would have been in order. Both these things seem like areas of knowledge we should have in order to survive in the woods for three weeks.

But this lack of knowledge makes me wonder about a whole host of other things I might not know. If someone gets bitten by a rattle snake, does the other person really walk them out to safety? For how long? What are the symptoms of giardia? Can Lucy really go ahead and eat mountain blueberries? I don't ask these questions on the trail constantly, but they come up every now and then and I realize that this 200-mile walk could be pretty dangerous. The flashes of recognition about our vulnerability out here scare me every once in a while.

Then we meet people on the trail, and I feel a lot closer to society. Today we met some people who are camping near us and will be camping near us until the end of the trail. The primary concern was no longer our vulnerability, but paying them back for the oatmeal cookies they gave us in the middle of the day. Lucy decided mini Snickers were a good repayment, so we ate them around their campfire for a while. I wish I had a name for them, but all I can come up with is Oatmeal Cookie -- which only describes one of the 3 guys -- or The Hans -- because they were all traveling solo until they met in Red's Meadow and decided to travel together. Or maybe they're just Team Anti-Vulnerability, because having people around out here is really necessary to staying sane.

So that's probably one of a million reason I'm glad to be doing the trail with Lucy. Even though we get spaced out on the trail or stay silent as we trudge through the last 500-foot climb, I'm thankful that she's willing to entertain whatever ridiculous comments I make at ten thousand feet. It makes even the most monotonous, dusty, or difficult parts of the trail a lot of fun.


[Matt]
Miles: 11.2
Total: 98.8

Chief Lake - Edison Trail Junction

We knew today was going to be a relatively easy day, so we took our time getting up. I think we got out of the tent at 7:20 - a record for lateness! It was really nice to sleep in. When we hit the trail, we finished the steep Silver Pass. The green butterflies that Matt like were abundant. It's fun hiking above the tree line.

By 11am we hit Silver Lake, where we had decided to stop and do some laundry. Because we usually don't get to camp until 4 or 5, it's too late to do laundry if we want the sun to dry the clothes. So a midday lake is perfect, especially when we have a light mileage day. If you have done laundry while backpacking before, you know it is exceedingly frustrating. You can't get any soap in your "source" water, so we fill a gallon bag with soapy water and a gallon bag with rinsing water. The water gets dirty fast (the trail is dusty!) so you have to refill/change the water often. It isn't very efficient, but it does the job.

After a LONG (over two hours) laundry and lunch break, we hit the trail again. Mostly downhill today, but nice vistas every once in a while. You can definitely tell it is no longer the weekend. WAY less people hiking. We're camped right under the start of the climb up Bear Ridge, at a really nice campsite. Tomorrow we have 13 miles and 3000 feet to climb. Ouch!

[Lucy]
Miles: 7.4
Total: 87.6

Duck Creek - Chief Lake

What started out as a beautiful, moderate day ended up being pretty disheartening in the end. The primary reason, I think, was a lack of food on the trail. We still don't really have appetites, which seems pretty normal from people we've talked to, but no appetite doesn't mean you don't need to keep eating constantly. By 5pm, finding a campsite became a frustrating, aimless hike around Chief Lake. I'm pretty sure the search would have been pretty relaxing if we'd kept up our calories.

But as I mentioned, the day started off beautiful. Virginia Lake lured us into a long rest stop, with glittering blue water. The fish in Purple Lake were out and jumping, ready to be seen from the shore. Even people we passed on the trail were fun -- a simple, "Hi, how are you?" from Lucy got one cowboy to answer, "So good I can't stand myself." A large helping of meadows and lakes and streams and cliffs made today pretty scenic.

When we got to camp tonight, though, some important foot business needed taking care of. Lucy has been growing a blister on her pinky toe that today threatened to engulf the entire toe. After a little field surgery involving Purell, stolen sample-size first-aid cream, and a Leatherman, Lucy's toe is starting to look normal again. But we're both a little wary about her ability to walk on it tomorrow - I'm not exaggerating about the size. So a rest day might be in order depending on Lucy's ability to move.

Our campsite is really nice tonight. We're on the northwest side of Chief Lake, near the outlet stream, and we can see glimpses of Lone Indian Lake if we walk over near the ledge. As the sun set, it lit up the tops of the peaks on Silver Pass, turning them yellow and orange. This is the highest place we've camped so far, at over 10,000ft, and well worth it. The alpine lake scenery makes for an amazing setting. Even when you haven't eaten enough trail mix.

[Matt]
Miles: 10.1
Total: 80.2

Red's Meadow - Duck Creek

There's nothing like "real food" to power you through a day of hiking. We started the day with eggs, french toast, and hash browns at the Mulehouse Cafe at Red's Meadow. Delicious! All of our buddies were there as well, eating huge amounts of food. It was sad to leave Red's Meadow, but I felt way better about our chances of finishing the trip after our brief stay there.

We got on the trail around 9am, and started the day with an ascent through an area that was burned in the 1992 "Rainbow Fire." Burn zones are really interesting so far as seeing how the forest regenerates itself. We had a lot more uphill - a six mile, no water, dusty ridge hike. Our campsite is gorgeous, great views of the Silver Range and right above Duck Creek.

We had a little bit of a disaster when cooking dinner tonight. One of the plastic bags that held our dinner (miso tofu soup + instant brown rice) got a hole in it, spilling rice and soup mix onto the ground. Not the best if you are trying not to attract critters/bears to your campsite! Cleanup required a lot of grain by grain pick up - no fun. The meal was eventually salvaged, but dishes/clean up took a lot longer tonight. Tomorrow we tackle Silver Pass - we're hoping to get to the top and camp at a lake above 10,500 feet. Too high for mosquitoes!

[Lucy]
Miles: 11.4
Total: 70.1

Rosalie Lake - Red's Meadow

There's nothing like the thought of real food, a hot shower, and a store to get you motivated to hike 8 miles downhill. Even though we didn't get on the trail until late, we made it to the Meadow by about 1pm, meeting up with a bunch of people - Laptop, Built to Spill, Our Neighbors (Ben and Kristen), and Mariners Hat. It was really nice to stop early and just rest for a while instead of hiking until 6pm.

We hiked on the JMT through Devil's Postpile National Monument, which is something that sounds unpopular among JMTers (people we've talked to and our guidebook). It's a pretty hot, exposed, dusty section of trail, but guide books that say you can't see the monument from the JMT are pretty wrong. You can see the entire set of basalt columns from across the canyon, although picture taking isn't optimal, and Laptop told us that they're really cool up close.

Although yesterday and today had us in pretty low spirits, I think today has helped out a lot. We just kind of hung around the backpacker camp and the Red's Meadow store, chatted with other hikers, ate dinner at the grill with Our Neighbors, and let our feet recover. Most of all, it's helped talking to other JMTers - it's much harder to get disheartened when you're part of a community. You can joke and complain and share stories to help get you excited for the next day. Even though our guide book says tomorrow is the most boring day of the JMT.

So we're hoping to pick up our spirits tomorrow after a real breakfast. Our hard end date is starting to really kick our asses, though, and we're thinking about selling the tickets we have for the music festival in order to slow down and enjoy this a little more. Who needs another music fest?

[Matt]
Miles: 8.6
Total: 58.7

Rush Creek Forks - Rosalie Lake

Every morning I wake up thinking, "Today has to be easier than yesterday." But, inevitably, every day I leave the trail thinking, "This has to be the hardest day so far." Part of this is that my legs stop working at approximately 3:30pm, so whenever we hit camp I am usually running on fumes.


Although we had every intention of waking up early this morning, we got on the trail a little before eight. We had an early pass, which was relatively easy. We saw the famous Thousand Island Lake, which was incredible. We went by Emerald, Ruby, and Garnet Lakes, stopping for a long lunch and swimming break at Garnet. After this we had a huge descent, followed by a very steep ascent, before hitting Rosalie Lake, where we are camped.

We have an awesome campsite, although we can hear some high school kids further up the lake. Those kids these days! Tomorrow we hit Red's Meadow, which is making me very anxious. Mostly because it presents an opportunity for escape that is going to be hard to resist.

That makes it sound like I'm not having a good time. I am. I am having an amazing time. It's just REALLY hard, and it's easy to get a little wimpy about it. But moments make the hardness worth it - like laying in the sun at Garnet Lake today, surrounded by huge mountains and glaciers. And eating weird backpacker chocolate mousse watching the sun set above our campsite.

I just need my legs/feet to get on board, and I'm good for another two weeks.


[Lucy]
Miles: 10.2
Total: 50.1