John Muir Trail (JMT)

just past the Rose Lakes junction – just pass the Piute Creek junction

10,035 – 8,050 (+ 855/ – 2,840) – 11.7 miles  *Selden Pass

Free Maps Online – Day 14 – Map 10 and 9

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

SilkE left out first in the AM and we followed after a while. The rest of the climb really began to cement the bond between us three boys. SilkE may in fact be a slow climber, but nobody can take a break or fifty like Jake and Joe and Nick! She beat us to the top of Selden and waited for about an hour! Part of our delay was the scenery! The whole trail is amazing, but hitting Marie Lake and the other lakes and tarns on the way up to the pass was breathtaking. It is hard to assign value judgements to the views, but I liked the scenery from VVR to Mt Whitney even more than from Yosemite Valley to VVR, and this was a small dose of what was in store for the rest of the trip.

SilkE left us at the top of Selden. She had a short timetable and decided to try for Mt Whitney instead of lollygagging with us and just going out Kearsarge. By this time though, Joe was with us and we were with Joe. We lost SilkE, but we were still Fox Force Five! Fox, because we had a foxy chick. Force, because we are a force to be reckoned with. And Five because there are one, two, three of us!

From Selden Pass, we could see down into the next valley and a little bit of the next ascent. The climb down was OK, but it felt rather l o n g. What we did not know was that the next climb would take us TWO DAYS. I stayed ahead of the guys most of the day and we kept tabs on one another with our now world famous “Whoop”s. I may have to find a way to get you some access to audio samples of whooping…

Near the end of my day’s tank of gas, not surprisingly – right about 6:00 PM, I waited for the guys at a bridge and the border with the John Muir Wilderness and King’s Canyon National Park. Before we left the bridge we met a hiker and discovered he was not walking the PCT or the JMT, he was walking home. He lives a few miles up the canyon from that bridge! Cool and a little random…

More mosquitoes at camp tonight, but we had a nice meal and hit the hay.

Stay Tuned: Tomorrow we meet our first large group of PCT hikers and the greatest Trail Crew Lady of All Time!

VVR – just past the Rose Lakes junction

7900 – 10,035 (+ 2135) – 9.4 miles

Free Maps Online – Day 13 – Map 10

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

We had a great final breakfast. Truth be told, it was Kevin’s day off and big Roy was manning the helm. These were not as good as Kevin’s. They were good, but nothing to write home about. Every one of Kevin’s meals was write-home-worthy. Jake and I each packed out a #6 for dinner. I could hear Roy asking Olive something about peppers and said, “Yep. Everything just wrapped up in a burrito!” What we did not discover until dinner that night, Big Roy threw the side of potatoes into the wrap with the eggs too! These were at least 1 pound burritos. Jake packed out a whole peach-berry pie – probably three pounds. Olive wrapped it in two layers of foil, and Jake wrapped that up in his tent and carried it at the top of his pack.

We all finished our packing and reconvened for the ferry – Jake, Joe, Elena, G-Man and I and a few nice folks I just did not get the chance to talk with much.

There was a passel of folks waiting to catch the ferry back into VVR when we got off. As they departed, Joe gave them a Casa De Luna Salute!

Elena told me previously that she was fast downhill, but SUPER slow uphill. She took off right after a picture to start getting up the hill and assured us we would catch her.

G-man, Pop Joe, Jake and I messed about taking pictures and getting our heads right to resume the walking. On the 1.4 mile trail back to the JMT/PCT, G-man, Floyd, and Pop Joe came up with a trail name for Elena and she loved it – SilkE. I don’t remember if it had happened back at VVR or not, but certainly by the time we finished that 1.4, we were Fox Force Five! We said a happy/sad goodbye to G-man and resumed the JMT.

I spent some time hiking with SilkE and found out that she is an actress and teaches acting as well. That is part of the reason she was in long sleeve pants and shirts – to protect herself from the sun to maintain her youthful glow. We all agreed and told her she looked early 20s. She did the Dance of Joy and said she was 34.

Getting on towards 6 PM, SilkE and I were in the vanguard and I called a halt at a place with decent camping options so that we could all re-unite and make our first real decision as a group. To camp now or later? I knew I did not have too long left in me, but thought I could go a while longer. But I wanted to touch base with everyone else and see how they were doing. In addition to my “normal” re-supply stuff for 10 days, I had that 1 pound Burrito. Jake was in the same boat plus the three-pound pie. SilkE was ready for more. Jake said he could go on, and Joe wanted to get some more in as well.

We went on. A short while later we stopped for a moment, and when we started hiking uphill again, Joe was cruising! (I was to learn over time that Joe does not maintain that breakneck pace, but different things kick in his turbos for a bit.) I not only could not catch Joe, every time I got close, he pulled more speed out of somewhere and went faster up that mountain. I called out and announced that I was done. They could go on and I would catch them in the AM, but I was ready to stop. This was sort of a pivotal moment. Jake was going to stay with me despite his desire to keep hiking with these fun folks. SilkE and Joe both wanted to go on a bit, but after his first 5-7 days alone, Joe decided to camp with us. SilkE agreed as well, but it did take a minute. We found a great camp near some fresh water. The mosquitoes were out in force and we ate in our head-nets with rain gear on to keep the biting to a minimum. After dinner, Joe and SilkE had some pie. I think Floyd did also. I abstained as I am not a big fan of the sweets, and Kevin told us that the crust was made with lard – which was not to attractive to me.

We hit the hay ready for sleep after a decent climb.

Tomorrow: Will SilkE and Joe stay with these two crazy dudes?

Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) – Two Full Zero Days!

VVR on Facebook

7900 (+/- 0) – 0.0 miles

Free Maps Online – Day 11 and 12 – Map 10

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

I am sure I will end up leaving some folks out, but these are the hikers I remember most:

Sye & Alex, Southern & Rubs, Spencer, Bukket, Pappa Joe, Grey Wolf, G-Man, Tank, Hisu, Cheese, William S., and Elena (soon to get a new name).

Jake and I found cribbage and backgammon in the games cabinet and threw some dice and played some crib. Sye taught us how to play Euchre just before he left. Hisu knew how to play also, so Hisu and Jake teamed up and Sye and I teamed up. Sye had to leave mid game, but Bukket was interested and he took Sye’s place. Fun game and some good times.

We talked a lot with Sye, Alex, and Spencer and watched them pack – envious of their lightweight gear and gourmet food collection. Sye and Alex also had some rodent proof stuff sacks they made themselves out of a fabric lined or threaded with Kevlar that they bought from an outdoor fabric/supply store near Seattle. Spencer kindly said that we would meet again as he was meeting other friends and going out Kearsarge as well. It was nice, but we knew, we ain’t catching up to nobody. We couldn’t catch the cold if it walked any faster.

Southern and Rubs were only there a short time, but they were both highly entertaining and seemed like nice guys. Southern had this thing – he just seemed indomitable and like he would have to lose a leg or something to take the smile off his face. Great attitudes on these guys.

Grey Wolf seemed to be hiking alone, drifting in and out of other groups as chance would have it, but utterly content with his hike and his own company. We did not talk a lot, but we did chat about the trail and hiking and how privileged we were to be out there doing it. And we had that whole Milk bond going for us 😉

I did not get to talk too long with Tank or Cheese either, but we did share some nice time around the fire and the eatin’ hall. Tank was unflappable. Cheese was filled with fun and joy.

William S. was another cool and surprising fellow. We talked about his past experiences on the PCT, JMT, and other hikes. We chatted about hiking with dogs. After reviewing our schedules a little, he told us that we should call him once we hit Kearsarge and he might be there and would happily give a shuttle to town and back. Later he said he should still be in the area and if we did not have anything else worked out, we should call him and he would pick us up at Mt. Whitney and drive us back to our car in Yosemite!!

G-Man was another happy happy guy. We also talked about how lucky and grateful we were to be allowed the privilege of distance hiking in the Sierras. We talked about many things, and he became a part of our group the last day and evening. A few more adventures with G-Man pending…

I did not talk with Elena much at VVR. But I did lend her my charger for her phone, and we looked at maps and talked schedule a bit together. It seemed that we had a similar schedule in mind and she decided to join us for a while to see how walking together worked out.

And then there is Pappa Joe. We sort of met over the Stanley Cup finals. Joe lives near LA and was rooting for the Kings. Jake is a big fan of the Phoenix Coyotes. Every time the Kings scored (which was about 37 times that game) Joe gave out a cheers. It was fun. The next morning Floyd was talking with Joe as Joe was just easing into his first zero and it took about 3 minutes for Floyd to decide that another zero was called for. We had not planned to leave until the 4:00 pm shuttle and then only walk about 1.5 miles and camp, so it did not take too long to get me on Team Zero as well. We hung out with Joe most of that day and since there were three beds anyhow, invited Joe to tent with us that eve.

Who knew that we would only spend about 4 days apart over the next month!

Stay Tuned as Fox Force Five is Born and Elena gets a trail name…

Squaw Lake – Lake Edison Ferry and VVR!!

10,300 – 7900 (+ 450 / – 2850 ft) – 9.4 miles  *Silver Pass

Free Maps Online – Day 9 – Map 11 and 10

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

The rest of the climb up to Silver Pass was fine and the views were nice up there. Then it was a whole lot of downhill to VVR. A few blowdowns, but nothing too bad. There were one or two areas where we had to simply cut a switchback, but we stayed on trail as much as possible.

There were three stream crossings. Nothing too terrible. I was able to rock hop the first two, but had to walk through the last one.

We made it to the ferry zone with almost two hours to spare, found some nice sand, took off the boots and laid down in the sun until 4:45 when the ferry arrived.

We rode over with Southern and Rubs – two awesome and funny PCT hikers.

We were checked-in by Sweet Marie, got ourselves a private tent-cabin, got our free beer, and began the relaxing. Knowing that we would zero the next day helped make everything feel super and lovely and easy.

Alex and Sye were there with their friend Spencer. We talked with them a bunch and met many other fine folks over the next few days.

It is going to be difficult to capture all the great experiences at VVR, and I am certain I won’t be able to get them into chronological order, but I shall share the highlights and try to give a sense of what it was like for us to be there.

Johnston Meadow – ½ way between Deer Creek and Duck Lake

8120 – @ 9600 ( – 645 / + 2125 ft) – @ 13.6 miles

Free Maps Online – Day 8 – Map 12

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

More blowdowns on the way and all through DPNM – but not at all as bad as we were told. There were some difficult parts, but nothing like what we were warned about. And the trail crews were out in force rocking those trees. We met a nice NPS worker who was leading his advanced crosscutting class.

Across from DPNM, we could see the field of devastation from the fire a few years back that added to the blowdowns this season. We did not know at the time that we would actually walk through that field of burned trees.

We found poor signage through the park, though it was closed and maybe not all the signs were out. We ended up down at Rainbow Falls, which was also nice. Luckily, that’s where I figured out what was happening before we walked all the way to Fish Creek. We backtracked and rejoined the JMT. The climb out was nice.

When we saw that the trail was taking us into the field of burned trees we were excited. As in other instances throughout the trip, it was fascinating to look at something on the horizon and then be there walking in it a few hours later. Getting a close-up look at the way the land responded to the fire was also interesting – seeing the new life growing through the bones of the old.

The hike up to Red Cones and the walk along the ridge there was also lovely. Anytime you get to walk on “level” ground after a lot of descent and ascent, it feels nice!

We found a host of crap at a creek crossing – old fuel canisters and a Bear Can that felt full. The stuff was heavy and rusty. Sadly, we left it there. That was some trash we just could not pack out.

A little hiccup later in the day…We could not tell whether or not that creek with the trash was Deer Creek. There is no water between Deer Creek and Duck Lake – about 5.5 miles. About 1 mile after the creek, I realized that had been THE creek and we were kinda screwed. I kicked into gear to try to make Duck Lake before dark. The distance between Jake and I grew steadily and after a bit I heard him calling out. Luckily, he was fine, just wanted to re-connect. Also luckily, not long after that reunion, we found an unmarked stream and set up camp for the night.

Can you feel it? We are getting closer to VVR! It is also clear to me at this time that I am probably going to run out of food before we get there.

Stay Tuned!

Ruby Lake – Johnston Meadow

9680 – 8120 ( – 1,560 ft) – 10.7 miles

Free Maps Online – Day 7 – Map 13 and 12

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

Another night where I was not cold despite the cold air effect of sleeping next to an alpine lake!

We did a shorter day after yesterday’s exertions of Long walking (for us) and 2 passes. This was also the beginning of the descent into Devil’s Postpile and the sea of blowdowns we had been warned about back in Yosemite Valley.

There was a huge fire in the area, I think in the late 90s. And the large storm that came through recently knocked down a ton of trees. We were warned to expect 40-60 miles of blowdowns near Devil’s Postpile. I found that odd since the trail is only in that area for a fraction of that distance. We interviewed all the Northbound hikers we met to ask about the situation and discovered that the trail crews were in full effect clearing the PCT and JMT. (The Devil’s Postpile area is another where the JMT and PCT diverge for some miles.) But we still thought it prudent to allow for extra time here, and to not set ourselves up to tackle the whole region at one go.

We did have some blowdowns to negotiate, though we could see evidence of the trail crews’ work also. Much of the time we could stay on the trail and go over, under, or through. But there were a few instances where leaving the trail was unavoidable. Generally, you head for the root ball and can navigate that way, but there were also places where so many trees came down in one place from different directions that there was no clear “best” direction. Having two people saved a lot of time as we could split off and report findings on good routes through the trees.

It was a beautiful day of walking and we were ready to stop when we did. A few miles of blowdowns makes 10 miles feel like 15. Our friends the mosquitoes came back tonight, but we found a nice sandy camp amidst large rocks overlooking a fast flowing stream, donned our head-nets and got into tents as quickly as possible.

My feet are doing better. The past few days I have been sanitizing them in the morning. Then applying liquid New Skin. And finally covering the area with Duct Tape. In the evening, I sanitize again and lather on some ointment. The Duct tape stops further rubbing and I don’t even notice them during the day!

Stay tuned for Day 8 – our intrepid adventurers get a little bit turned around in Devil’s Postpile National Monument!

Lyell Canyon – Ruby Lake

8900 – 9680 (+ 2,160 / – 1,380 ft) – 15.8 miles  *Donahue Pass and Island Pass

Free Maps Online – Day 6 – Map 14 and 13

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

I was not cold last night! Joy! Joy!

The rest of the hike along Lyell Canyon and up to Donohue Pass was really fantastic. (You will find in short order that I shall run out of adjectives – and none of them are good enough. Check out the pics.) We did run into patches of snow, some of which obscured the trail. But I can’t think of better place to have to stand around and look at the scenery in order to do a little trail-finding. The pass itself was probably the worst, route finding wise, but we got it sorted out. I should stress that this was very easy snow to walk on, the difficulty was simply with locating the trail.

Up on top we got our first taste of altitude hitting 9,680 feet. Our first 360 degree views. Our first clear look at some of the path ahead. Standing there and being able to see Mammoth was fun. We were not actually going to Mammoth, but I knew that Red’s Meadow and Devil’s Postpile were close to Mammoth. As a map guy {“Get your maps out Renfro(e)”} it was awesome to be able to look out into the wild and see where we would descend and turn and climb!

By the time we got down to Thousand Island Lakes, we were both ready to stop, but we could not figure out where to camp, so we moved on. (I imagine that we would have no trouble with this now, but we were still Sierra Newbies.) The first place we found was also our first “no camping area under restoration” site. I was tempted to camp there anyway, but after a small search, Jake found nice, legal camping and we were soon in our tents.

Looking at the maps before bed I realized we did TWO passes in one day! I had to look at the maps to find that out because one was the second JMT pass that it is difficult to even notice, Island Pass.

I am feeling good, grateful for my new-found warmth – but getting a little concerned about my feet and hoping that I can turn this whole “blistered heels” thing around.

Stay tuned for Day 7…

Zero day in Lyell Canyon.

Free Maps Online – Day 5 – Zero – Map 14

Photos Open to the Public on Facebook

Last night was the coldest so far and one of the coldest we would face on the whole trip, and it was the warmest I had been thus far. All the new gear worked splendidly and the feet-in-stuff-sack trick, Brilliant!

Despite that. It was still very cold outside when I awoke. As expected, my boots were frozen solid. There was frost all over my tent inside and out. I spent quite a while trying to light a fire with wet wood. My efforts succeeded in wasting all of my fire-starter (dryer lint) much of our “excess” paper, and I got a wicked nice burn on the tip of one finger.

But, the sun came out and started to work its magic. Jake and I had a quick discussion and both agreed to take a zero, get our gear dried out, and let Donahue Pass – our first real test a few miles ahead – thaw out for the day as well.

With that choice made, we spread our gear out on large flat rocks in the sun and enjoyed a lazy day in the beauty of Lyell Canyon. We did eat a little too much of our extra/emergency food and squandered some iPod power as well – but it was a lovely time.

Stay tuned as the walking begins again on Day 6