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